BOWLING GREEN, Ky. - University of Tennessee women's basketball coach Pat Summitt has won a few games in her time.
1,005 games, to be exact.
But for the first time in her 35-year career at the helm of the Lady Vols, Tennessee (22-11) didn't earn at least a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament, and Ball State University snapped the No. 5 seed Tennessee's streak of 27 consecutive Sweet 16 appearances in its 71-55 win Sunday night at Western Kentucky University's E.A. Diddle Arena.
"Our team, our coaching staff - we're very disappointed, to say the least," Summitt said. "Clearly Ball State put us on our heels early, and for whatever reason, we were not committed to defend when we had to defend."
Summitt - the NCAA's all-time leader in wins in both men's and women's basketball - said she was impressed with the Cardinals' confidence in a big-game atmosphere.
"This team is very well coached. [Ball State coach] Kelly [Packard] has done a tremendous job," Summitt said. "They play with great confidence, a lot of freedom and I thought we were tentative, maybe uptight, but you got to give credit where credit's due, and it's to this Ball State basketball team."
Packard said her team came into Sunday's game in awe of a program like Tennessee with its eight NCAA national titles, including championships in the past two seasons.
"We did come in with awe, we came in with complete respect for tradition, legacy - everything that Tennessee is," Packard said. "Right on the heels of that, this was an accomplishment that was a group of people with a big heart that came in here respectfully of an opponent, but had some real healthy, classy pride in our own talents that we've been given."
Asked about the historical significance of Tennessee's loss, Summitt said her team came out on the wrong side of history Sunday night.
"We let our fans down. We let our university down. We let our program down," Summitt said. "Unfortunately it's history, but it's not positive."
Summitt, a seven-time NCAA coach of the year who was selected as the Naismith Coach of the Century in 2000, said Sunday night's win for Ball State can give the Cardinals tremendous confidence as they play their second round game against Iowa State University on Tuesday night.
"I think [Ball State has] the leadership, I think they have the talent, I think they have the toughness and the competitiveness," Summitt said. "And I think [Sunday] they showed exactly what they could do against a team that is more athletic in some places, but certainly not as skilled or as efficient as this Ball State team."
As for the awe of not only playing, but defeating one of the most storied programs in the history of college basketball, Packard said she couldn't be prouder.
"I wanted us to play with class, and I wanted to play with character and I wanted us to finish, no matter what the outcome," Packard said. "It's okay to be in awe of an incredibly worthy opponent."
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