Friday, March 29, 2002
Munoz, Vols have new role: Underdogs
Freshman finds place on team facing UConn
By Neil Schmidt nschmidt@enquirer.com
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Freshman Michelle Munoz has been playing a key role off the bench for Tennessee.
(AP photo)
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Michelle Munoz knows she and her Tennessee teammates will be big underdogs tonight in their Final Four showdown against unbeaten Connecticut, a team being talked about as the best of all time.
Yet the freshman forward from Mason High can cite a similar setup: the 1997 Final Four, when a UT team with 10 losses won a surprise championship. Munoz attended that title game — played in Cincinnati — and just the other day watched the HBO special that documented that season.
“I've been thinking about that,” Munoz said. “There's a lot of similarities. We're underdogs. But we know what we're capable of if we play our best.”
Munoz and another Cincinnati product, senior center Shalon Pillow (Taylor High), will suit up tonight when the Lady Vols (29-4) take aim at No.1 UConn (37-0) in the Alamodome in San Antonio.
This UT team wasn't supposed to be here, drawing a No.2 seed and having to upset top-seeded Vanderbilt in the Midwest Regional final. It has just one senior starter and no players who have won a national title.
“We are young, but from the beginning of the season we've matured a lot,” Munoz said. “We've accepted our roles. We've pushed each other to do things to win a championship.”
This is an unusually deep team. All 13 scholarship players play. Munoz (3.9 ppg) and Pillow (2.1) are role players — Munoz appearing in 26 games, averaging 9.8 minutes, and Pillow in 22 games, averaging 6.3 minutes.
Munoz was a three-time Nike All-American at Mason, and her Comets jersey hangs in the national Women's Basketball Hall of Fame. But there's an adjustment going to UT, where everybody is an All-American.
About a month ago, UT coach Pat Summitt had each player write descriptions of what they felt each player's role was. Summitt wrote the collective results on a chalkboard.
Munoz said she was stunned, but happy, to read that she was expected to shoot more. She leads the team in field goal shooting at 60 percent (36-of-60) and foul shooting at 86.2 percent (25-of-29).
Munoz didn't play or didn't score in 15 of UT's first 26 games. Since then, she has scored in nine straight, totaling six or more points in four of her last seven games.
She credits Pillow for helping ease her transition. Pillow's minutes have decreased from 337 as a freshman to 139 this season, but she remains an efficient player, ranking second on the team in field goal shooting at 54.5 percent (18-of-33).
“Shalon has been a great example,” Munoz said. “It was hard for me at first, thinking, "Man, I want to play.' But Shalon shows that it's all about keeping a positive attitude.”
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Munoz, Vols have new role: Underdogs
