There have been a lot of great Lady Vol teams. A lot, as you can tell from the eight national and countless SEC championship banners hanging in Thompson-Boling Arena
But what about this lineup: Kellie Jolly Harper, Kara Lawson, Tamika Catchings, Chamique Holdsclaw and Candace Parker. Could they beat just about anybody?
That was sort of the question that the SEC Network posted on Twitter Sunday night. Could that team, in the Pat Summitt era, beat five of the best South Carolina Gamecock players of the Dawn Slaley era?
The Lady Gamecocks, as you know, are currently one of the best programs in the country, no doubt. The Lady Vols, even with decades of dominance, have not nearly been as good lately.
But if you look at the dream teams posed by the SEC Network, who would win?
Of course, some loyal SC fans voted for their team in the comments. But the Lady Vol fans were incredulous.
"lady vols would run them out of the gym. why even post this hahaha," one person replied.
Another wrote, "The players in orange contributed to 5 national championships. And 4 of them are Olympians. The others? 1 national championship. This is laughable."
And another said, "Let's take this one step further. Three of those players -- Holdsclaw, Catchings and Harper (nee Jolly) were part of a 39-0 season won by playing in the nation's toughest conference. And Jolly and Lawson would come off an all-time Tennessee bench. This game wouldn't be close."
We tend to agree with the Lady Vols fans, of course.
Former Vol football player Peerless Price took it a step further, posing an even better dream team competition.
"Man stop. Lady Vols by 50! Better do a UConn versus the Lady Vols. This would be easier work by the Lady Vols. #VFL ," Price tweeted.
Then there's this guy, who knows a little something about basketball.
NBA superstar LeBon James backed the Lady Vols with his post, saying "No disrespect to those lady Gamecocks and their hoopers cause they can ball but THAT Lady Vols team would SMASH damn near any team. Now if you put them vs Lady Huskies(Bird,DT, Maya, B. Stewart, Lobo) now we talking. And yes I know they ain’t in the SEC," he wrote.
James is, of course, referring to the UConn Huskies, the team which the Lady Vols battled for dominance for about a decade.