The 1997–98 Tennessee Lady Volunteers basketball team, coached by Pat Summitt, is considered to be one of the greatest teams in the history of U.S. women's college basketball, going 39–0, and winning their third consecutive national championship, while playing one of the toughest schedules in the nation. The Lady Vols started off the season ranked number one in the nation, a ranking that would not change. ESPN called it one of the top ten moments in women's sports of the 20th century. After the season, Summitt authored a book about the season, entitled "Raise the Roof".
Preseason The Lady Vols had just come off of a somewhat bittersweet season. While they had won the national championship, they had lost ten games, including two to rival Louisiana Tech. That team was the first Lady Vols team since 1991 that did not win either the SEC regular season or tournament championship.
However, the team did return several players, including All-American Chamique Holdsclaw, and had a freshman class that was being called the greatest ever, which included Tamika Catchings, Semeka Randall, Teresa Geter, and Kristen Clement. Tamika Catchings won Miss Basketball titles in two states: Illinois, her sophomore year, and Texas, her senior year. Additionally, she led her high school to a state championship and a 40–0 season her senior year. She also performed a quintuple-double in one of her games. Semeka Randall was also accomplished, named Parade's Player of the Year her senior year, a two-time Miss Basketball, as well as a two-time state tournament MVP. Kristen "Ace" Clement came out of Pennsylvania, where she had broken Wilt Chamberlain's scoring record in Philadelphia of 2,205 with 2,256 points. The record had stood for 40 years. The fourth freshman, Teresa Geter, was not as well-known, but was considered to be the best player in South Carolina, and had been named Miss Basketball, just like the others. Chamique, Tamika, and Semeka would become known as "The Meeks" as the season progressed.
Regular season
Mississippi After an exhibition rout of US Armed Forces, the Lady Vols opened up the season unusually, with a conference game against Mississippi. Semeka Randall did not start the game. However, four minutes into the game, the Lady Vols were only up 4–2. At this point, Randall was put into the game, and Tennessee scored fifteen straight, on a run fueled by her. Randall scored 24, and star Chamique Holdsclaw added 23. This season opener has caused a lot of anticipation, as it was expected that this would be the game where all four of Tennessee's freshman played together. However, during a November practice, Clement had injured her foot, resulting in a stress fracture. After a discussion with the team doctor, Clement agreed to sit out the Mississippi game in order to be able to play the next game, against Louisiana Tech.
Louisiana Tech The Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters were ranked second in the country and was expected to challenge Tennessee for the national title. Tech returned all five of its starters from a team that had beaten the Vols twice the previous year. Tech came out on a 9–2 run, but led at the half by only a point. The teams played evenly for the beginning of the second half, before Louisiana Tech raised the lead to five with just over twelve minutes remaining. Summitt put her four freshman into the line-up, which went on a 12–0 run, giving Tennessee a lead they would never relinquish. Holdsclaw finished with a double-double (24 points, 11 rebounds), and Catchings contributed 17 points. Teresa Geter was a big contributor, as well, with five blocked shots. Clement was able to play the game, but it set her rehab back, and she would not play again for over a month.
Tennessee-Martin, Stanford, Portland, Texas, and the Big Apple Classic The next game was against Summitt's alma mater, Tennessee-Martin. Martin was naming their court after Summitt, and the game was just an excuse to attract a large number of people. Their meeting was not much of a game, as Tennessee won 73–32. Summitt's team followed this game with a 40-point rout of Vermont. The team next went on a road trip to the West Coast for their annual game against rival Stanford. Stanford lit up the court in the first half, sinking 57 percent of their shots, but it was not enough to keep the Lady Vols away. Down by one at the half, the Lady Vols played great defense in the second, allowing just five field goals and winning by 18. Holdsclaw had 25 points, and Catchings had 20. The Lady Vols next traveled to Portland, as part of Summitt's yearly effort to play at least one game near the hometown of each player. This game was meant more as a homecoming for Laurie Milligan, instead of an actual challenge, and they cruised to a 74–51 victory. December opened up with a game against rival Texas, who shot out to a 47–32 lead at halftime, and went on to win by 34, behind Catchings' 26 points. Next up was the Big Apple Classic, a home trip for Holdsclaw. The Ladies rolled over both opponents, beating George Mason and Manhattan by 30 and 50 respectively.
SEC/Big-10 Challenge The Vols then returned home for the SEC/Big-10 challenge. Florida lost by 10 to Purdue, and the Vols' game was against Illinois. The game featured an interesting match-up as Catchings' sister, Tauja, was a sophomore at Illinois at the time. Tennessee had a horrific start as they fell behind 41–19. By halftime, the lead had been cut to 41–24, despite only shooting 23%. In the second half, Tennessee cut the lead slowly, through turnovers and defense, finally taking the lead with 9:25 remaining. The Vols ended the game with a ten-point win.
Northern Lights Invitational The next trip was up to Anchorage, for the Northern Lights Invitational, a three-day, eight-team tournament. The first game was an easy win against Akron, in which Summitt played her bench frequently. The semi-final game, against Texas A&M, was not much more difficult. The Ladies won handily, 105–81, leading by as much as 25. Texas A&M's 81 points would end up being the most a team would score on Tennessee that season. The championship game was against Wisconsin, a team ranked in the top 10, but this ranking did not mean much, as the team ended 1997 with an 87–66 victory. The Meeks were named to the All-Tournament team.
Arkansas and UConn A rare New Year's Day game was played against SEC foe Arkansas, who was ranked just inside the top 25. Tennessee forced 26 turnovers, including 14 steals, en route to an 88–58 victory. This game was followed up with a home match with main rival UConn, who was ranked third in the nation. UConn led the series 4–3, but the Lady Vols had won the last matchup, and the undefeated Huskies wanted revenge. Thompson-Boling Arena seated nearly 25,000 fans, an NCAA women's record, and, as an experiment, the game was played in four quarters instead of two halves. The Lady Vols started off on a 10–0 run, but the lead was cut to 23–17 by the end of the first quarter. The second quarter saw Tennessee expand the lead, ending the quarter with a fourteen-point lead. However, UConn did not want to go away, and went on a tear in the third quarter, as a 20–7 run cut the Lady Vols lead to one point, before the team responded, ending the quarter with seven unanswered points. The final quarter was all Tennessee, and the game ended in an 84–69 win.
South Carolina and Florida The team started their SEC schedule back up with a trip to South Carolina. The Gamecocks were not much of an opponent, as the ladies more than doubled their points at the half (53–26), and finished the game 94–52. This game was followed up with another highly ranked opponent, the twelfth-ranked Gators. Once again, the Vols ran a talented team into the ground, as they only allowed 18 first half points, ultimately winning by a score of 99–60.
Georgia, Kentucky, and DePaul Tennessee had a three-game road trip up next, starting with the Bulldogs in Athens. Tennessee started the game strong, grabbing the lead, and finished the half on a 13–0 run. However, Georgia came back, cutting the lead down to nine with seven minutes remaining in the game. It was at this point that Semeka Randall scored thirteen points, sealing a 96–71 victory. This is the largest margin of victory in the Lady Bulldogs-Lady Vols series. Tennessee had 19 steals in the game, while shooting over 50%, and Holdsclaw and Catchings both scored over 20. The next game, against Kentucky, also had Tennessee making a late first half run, giving them a 19-point lead at the break. This lead was never given up, as the Lady Vols won by twenty-eight. The final game of the road trip was against DePaul, a good team who was, however, missing their two best players. Without these players, it was not much of a game, as Summitt's team started the game with twenty-one straight points and ended the game with a 125–46 victory, giving the team a 20–0 record. The team's 125 points were the second most in the history of the program.
Vanderbilt and Georgia The Lady Vols returned home and resumed their SEC schedule against in-state foe Vanderbilt, who was ranked in the top 10. Throughout the first half, the game was about even, until the Lady Vols got a slight lead with under seven minutes left, which they took to the locker room, 37–31. The second half, however, started out much differently, beginning with a 20–0 Lady Vols run. Tennessee led by as many as 35 points in the game, and ended the game with an 86–54 win. Catchings was named the SEC Player of the Week for her role in the DePaul and Vanderbilt games, scoring 35 and 22 points respectively. The final game of the month was the rematch with Georgia. It ended up being a blowout. Tennessee shot better than 60%, and Holdsclaw scored more points in the first half than the entire Georgia team. Tennessee broke the 20-steal mark, as well as the 100-point mark, winning 102–43.
Alabama, Old Dominion, and Mississippi State February began with another SEC match-up, this time against unranked Alabama. Starter Kyra Elzy tore her ACL during the game ending her season, during this game, while going up for a rebound. Meanwhile, Alabama was keeping close to the Lady Vols, by slowing the game down. At half time, Tennessee only had a 13-point lead. The team never did shake off the Crimson Tide, but did manage to pull out the win, 73–66. A trip to Ole Miss was next, and the team started off much better, score the first ten points of the game and having a 54–17 lead at halftime. Summitt let the bench play the rest of the game, ultimately winning 91–45. This game was followed up by a non-conference match against longtime rival Old Dominion, whom Tennessee had beaten in the previous year's national championship. The game was even for fifteen minutes, but in the last five minutes of the half, Tennessee was able to build a twelve-point lead. Holdsclaw took over the second half for the Lady Vols, scoring 24 points for an 85–61 victory, ODU's biggest loss in four years. This match was followed up with another conference game, this time against the Mississippi State Bulldogs. UT started out sloppily, and ended the half with only a nine-point lead. However, once again the team came out strong to open the second half, raising their lead and eventually had double State's points, with ten minutes remaining. The Bulldogs cut the lead to eleven, but then Summitt put Holdsclaw back in, scoring eight in a row, giving Tennessee another victory, 74–52.
Memphis, Auburn, Vanderbilt, and LSU