Rocky Top Talk, a Tennessee Volunteers community

Ohio State coach Jim Foster spent 11 years at Vanderbilt battling the women's basketball juggernaut just 160 or so miles away that is mighty Tennessee.

He gets to renew old acquaintances again on Saturday when his Buckeyes meet the Lady Vols and coach Pat Summitt in a regional semifinal game in Dayton, Ohio.

It doesn't sound as if he's missed bumping heads with his old nemesis.

Tennessee's Angie Bjorklund took a big step toward playing again with a return to women's basketball practice on Friday.

The Lady Vols senior guard, who has missed the past six games with a right foot injury, will shoot set shots and free throws today and practice Sunday with an eye toward playing against Georgia on Monday night at Thompson-Boling Arena.

After her stellar play against Vanderbilt on Sunday, Tennessee's Lauren Avant estimated that she received at least 100 text messages.
The well-wishers ran the gamut.

And while people have talked about Tennessee as a fourth contender and it has been accepted as common sense that the Lady Vols' RPI (#3 ahead of Baylor entering last night) will earn them the fourth number one seed it's not actually that clear that they'll be the lucky team to earn a trip to the Final Four.

Stop us if you've heard this one before: Vanderbilt gets a huge crowd at Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville, Tenn., gains a double-digit lead on loathed nemesis Tennessee, and then … OK, you know how this ends, right? If not, then you've either just recently tuned in to the Tennessee-Vanderbilt series, or you're a long-suffering Commodores fan who has just blocked it all out to save your sanity.

Tennessee's Angie Bjorklund missed another women's basketball practice Friday because of a right foot injury, and Lady Vols coach Pat Summitt all but ruled out the senior guard for Monday's game at Kentucky.

This process has been playing out for two-plus seasons for a team that's dominated by a seven-player junior class. Most arrived right after Tennessee had won consecutive national championships, which Summitt thinks might have distorted their perspective.

"It's not easy; it's hard,'' she said. "I've been doing this now for 37 years and yes, yes, eight championships are one thing. But I can think of all the ones that got away."