Jacki Silar

Pat Summitt took the microphone, orange and white confetti scattered around her feet, and made a bold proclamation after her 1,000th career victory last month.

“We may be young and we may be inexperienced,” she told the crowd, “but our goal is to be in St. Louis at the Final Four.”

The fans roared. They believed. I believed. Heck, this is Pat Summitt. If she announces her goal, no matter how unlikely, you must believe. Better than getting a stare from those piercing blue eyes.

But, increasingly, it became obvious that the Lady Vols weren’t getting much better as the season progressed. Summitt started unloading on them at postgame news conferences. She booted them from the locker room. The Lady Vols wound up a 5 seed in the NCAA tournament, the lowest in school history.

Summitt articulated her frustration during a taped ESPN interview Monday night, saying she questions if she can even reach these players. She said the players in this generation don’t seem as motivated. (And how about the awkwardness of Summitt detailing her frustration and then ESPN cameras cutting to a silent team gathered in her house?)

And you wonder how much this NCAA tournament will change Summitt, will change the Tennessee roster, will change the appeal of her profession to the greatest coach in women’s basketball history. The woman despises losing. Hates it. I’ve seen her hint at roster changes after an Elite Eight loss. What if the Lady Vols, for the first time in school history, can’t even make the Sweet 16?

Think about Summitt’s plight with this generation of players. Summitt grew up on a farm, raking hay, milking cows, harvesting tobacco. She spent her 16th birthday on a tractor. She rehabilitated a knee injury to train for the Olympics while teaching four classes, taking four classes and coaching the women’s basketball team without an assistant. She plans almost every minute of every day.

Now she’s coaching a generation of players who don’t always seem to want more, give more, know more. Everyone knew Tennessee would briefly bow out of the national championship picture after last year’s starters took their game to the WNBA. The troubling part of this season is the lack of progress.

Will it keep Tennessee out of the Sweet 16 for the first time in 28 NCAA tournaments? The Lady Vols’ first-round opponent in Bowling Green, Ky. — 12th-seeded Ball State — shouldn’t pose too much of a problem despite an 11-game winning streak. Ball State lost to Alabama earlier this year.

Fourth-seeded Iowa State, assuming it gets past East Tennessee State, is the team that stands between Tennessee and history. The Cyclones are exactly the type of veteran team that could give Tennessee problems, with senior forward Amanda Nisleit, junior guard Alison Lacey and 6-foot-4 senior forward Nicky Wieben.

Even if the Lady Vols do win, top-seeded Duke likely awaits. For the first time in maybe forever, we’re not expecting Tennessee in the Elite Eight.

But should we think that way? We’ve seen Summitt enter the tournament with 10 losses before, as a 3 seed in 1997. People doubted her then. And the Lady Vols won the national championship.

“I keep thinking about that,” Summitt said.

So, for now, I’ll still believe in Summitt’s words from five weeks ago on that special night. Maybe the Lady Vols, who did give Duke a scare late in their game in the regular season, will play in St. Louis. But if not, you have to wonder about the changes looming in Knoxville.