Earlier this week, Omaha Productions put on the Celebrating Pat Summitt Live Reunion Special in the Tennessee Theatre. Former Lady Vols basketball stars Candace Parker, Nikki Fargas and Andraya Carter joined ESPN reporter Holly Rowe and South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley to tell stories about Summitt.
In attendance were Tennessee players and the coaching staff. Just a few days later, the team throttled Winthrop, coached by LVFL Semeka Randall Lay, by 72 points. After the game Lady Vols head coach Kim Caldwell and players met with the media. Each commented on the experience during the press conference.
Here’s what they said.
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HC Kim Caldwell
On the Pat Summitt reunion she attended earlier this week, knowing more about the history of the program than the players
“I know. It’s sad, isn’t it? And it gets lost on me. And you’re in an arena like this and you walk down the hallways and you just see all of the history and it’s in our face every single day but it gets – you get to a point where you’re so worried about fixing what we need to fix. Let’s fix our foul shots, let’s fix our offense, let’s fix this. And you get just so focused on yourself. So I think it was really important for them to see, I don’t want to say the weight we carry, but to see what we represent and to see that everything that we are doing is bigger than us. And everything that we have has come from players and coaches that were here before us.
“They did a great job and they loved it, they weren’t whining, you know, you take people, you have players that you ask them to do stuff outside of practice, they really enjoyed it. They were talking about it the next day in practice, they were referencing they can only save two points and rebound. And I said I wish that we could do that. They wouldn’t even give me 15 minutes of practice. I asked for the first three drills where they could only give me two responses. But for them to hear about Pat and hear about her from her players and people that lived through it, I think it was such a valuable lesson for them. And again, sometimes it gets lost on me of what they don’t know and those reminders need to come back more often.”
F Alyssa Latham
On attending the Pat Summitt reunion show
“It’s just great just to know the history that we have here. What Pat Summitt did for our program, but also women’s basketball. It’s great to be a part of that history. You go out there and you play for that and that’s what we try to do every day. It’s just beautiful to see.”
G Mia Pauldo
On attending the Pat Summitt reunion show
“It was definitely inspiring. Like Lyss said, it’s a reminder that you’re not only playing for yourself, you’re playing for the fanbase. You’re playing for the history of the school. Every time we step on the court, we’ve got to play like we’ve got a chip on our shoulder.”
