Madison - The good news is that the University of Wisconsin women's basketball team is going into the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.
The bad news is that it is part of a display with Pat Summitt's used towel.
Summitt used the Badgers and her former assistant coach, Jane Albright, as a disposable prop Sunday as she recorded her 700th victory as Tennessee's basketball coach. The Volunteers - playing before the fifth-largest crowd in UW women's basketball history - wiped their hands with the Badgers, 85-62, and then tossed them into the corner.
The victory, although being of milestone proportions, was amazingly similar to Summitt's first 699. It was Tennessee running and jumping and pressing another opponent into submission.
Not even a hostile crowd of 11,861, who picked the matinee game over watching the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears on television, could help the Badgers. When the third-ranked Volunteers got their full-court game in gear midway through the second half, it was game, set, match.
The Badgers actually hung tough for the first 25 minutes and even enjoyed a 44-41 lead on LaTonya Sims' free throws with 15 minutes 33 seconds left. But almost as easily as turning on the on-switch, the Volunteers' full-court pressure clicked in and they were off to the races.
Tennessee went on a 22-5 run to grab a 68-50 lead with 7:29 left, effectively ending any Wisconsin dreams of an upset.
The game statistics tell an ugly story. Although the Volunteers didn't shoot particularly well - 39%, including an ugly 2 for 16 by All-American Tamika Catchings - they took a whopping 25 more shots than the Badgers (79 to 54).
The reason for that was twofold. Tennessee out-rebounded the Badgers, 48-34 - including 24 offensive boards - and forced 28 Wisconsin turnovers, losing just 13.
With the game played as a halfcourt affair for the first 25 minutes, Wisconsin was equal to the task. But when Summitt and crew imposed their will and turned it into a track meet, it was no contest.
"We went up by three points there (in the second half) and after that we didn't get the ball past halfcourt for what seemed like about an hour and a half," an emotionally drained Albright said.
"We did everything I know to work against a press. We even worked against six athletic, quick guys in practice and we didn't have any trouble getting the ball up the floor.
"(Tennessee) just does that to you. If I knew what they did differently (in the second half), I wouldn't be sitting up here as unhappy as I am."
When a team is unable to break a press, the first place the finger of blame is pointed is at the point guard. Dee Dee Pate didn't distinguish herself, committing six turnovers and not scoring in 20 minutes. Her backup, freshman Candas Smith, played a personal-high 17 minutes, turning the ball over five times and scoring three points.
"They seem to have the opposite problem," Albright said of her point guards, who seem to be moving toward job-sharing roles. "With Dee Dee, you want her to speed up and with Candas, you want her to slow down."