ESPN.com - ncw - Catchings emotional before her final UT home game

Semeka Randall and Kristen Clement, who were freshmen on Tennessee's 1998 undefeated national champions with Catchings, and fifth-year senior Kyra Elzy will suit up against the Commodores.

Catchings, the reigning national player of the year and the Vols' top scorer and rebounder, will dress in street clothes and watch from the sidelines as she has since Jan. 15 when she tore the ACL in her right knee.

"I've thought about it. I've even started crying about it this weekend thinking about it," said Catchings, who is from Duncanville, Texas. "I would have never thought that things would be like this, that I would go out my last game and not even be able to play."

Since her injury, Tennessee (26-1, 12-0 Southeastern Conference) has won 10 straight games, including a 92-88 victory over rival Connecticut, and regained the No. 1 ranking this week.

Her absence is still evident.

The Vols needed Michelle Snow's game-winning basket with 1.1 seconds left Sunday to defeat LSU 75-73.

"We missed you a lot during the game yesterday. A LOT," Tennessee coach Pat Summitt said as she passed by Catchings talking to reporters after Monday's practice.

Moments later, Catchings responded: "I miss them too."

After the injury, Catchings declared she wanted to play one more time as a Vol in St. Louis, the site of this year's Final Four.

"I still think we're keeping that a goal. I'm not making any promises to anybody," team trainer Jenny Moshak said. "I think it's a goal for her to continue her work ethic with rehab."

Catchings undergoes aggressive rehabilitation, sometimes spending up to eight hours a day trying to regain her strength, muscle tone and mobility.

She can do lunges, one-legged squats, calf raises, dribbling and walking.

But "she can't cut, she can't run, she can't jump," Moshak said.

SENIOR NIGHT

Knoxville will say goodbye to Tennessee's senior class tonight as the Lady vols host Vanderbilt at 7:30 ET.

Senior Night will mark the final regular-season home game for Tamika Catchings, Semeka Randall and Kristen Clement, who were freshmen during the Lady Vols' 39-0 championship season in 1998. Fifth-year senior Kyra Elzy, a freshman on Tennessee's 1997 NCAA title team, also will be honored.

The four players have combined to win three consecutive SEC tournament titles.

All things necessary to play basketball.

Catchings can still hit those 3s, however. Sometimes she sneaks in some shooting practice.

"She wanted to talk me into letting her shoot a little before practice. So I let her just stand there and do a little shooting," Moshak said.

Not exactly what the coach ordered.

"I got yelled at today because I was out here shooting," Catchings said with a laugh.

Catchings will not be able to try running or any other basketball moving skill until she meets several criteria.

First, she has to have full range of motion, meaning straightening and bending of the knee as far as it will go. Catchings is still working on that.

Summitt has seen Catchings' improvement everyday.

"Tamika may have had a setback at least in mentally dealing with this injury, but I have been watching her since and she seems back to her old self," Summitt said. "She is focused and committed to rehab.

"She has picked up the pace as of late, as she has a lot of people encouraging her to do so. The first few days are tough as reality and atrophy set in and you realize that the range of motion in your knee has to be redeveloped."

Catchings has rehabilitation twice a day, usually with the second time during the Vols' afternoon practice. She sits on a table doing leg lifts or other exercises as the players run up and down the court and Summitt shouts out instructions and criticism.

"I know sometimes even here in practice it's hard to keep her focused because she's watching practice a lot," Moshak said. "That's her desire to be out there."

Catchings isn't impatient though.

"I feel like it's going as fast as it can go," she said, rolling up her blue jeans to reveal small bandages and incision marks around her knee. "I'm not going to rush anything."

Still, St. Louis and the national championship are looming.

Before the final buzzer sounds for Catchings' career, she says she'll be on the court: "Even if it's the last two seconds. Just to be there."

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