BAD news;Another marriage issue Tamari Key’s was discovered in critical condition..

As always, the Tennessee players fielded some fun questions at Lady Vol Media Day. The clock expired before all players could be interviewed in preseason, so we had to catch up later to get the whole team to complete the series by class. Next in the lineup is junior Tamari Key, who was interviewed last fall.

Key, a 6-6 center, averages 9.9 points and 8.1 rebounds a game and leads the team with 81 blocks. She is now in third place on the all-time list at Tennessee with 239 blocks, trailing Sheila Frost (249) and Candace Parker (275). Last January, Key was named to the Naismith Women’s Defensive Player of the Year Watch List by the Atlanta Tipoff Club.

“Our defense would have to change if we didn’t have Tamari,” Tennessee Coach Kellie Harper said this season when asked about a hypothetical situation of a Tennessee defense without its center anchor. “We would have to do things a little bit differently, I believe. And I think we could. I think we could be a good defensive team, but I think it would look very differently, probably have to change some things schematically without her.”

Key has that kind of effect on an opponent’s scouting report. It was Key’s fourth quarter defense against Georgia that allowed the Lady Vols to come back and win. With six games left in the regular season, Tennessee will need Key’s presence to loom on both ends of the court.

During Media Day last October, the junior fielded the following inquiries: Favorite Halloween candy; teammate she would pick to walk across a cemetery at night; something she would invent; sport besides basketball; favorite season; first time to pick up basketball; what animal would she be; introvert or introvert; teammate who took the longest to get ready for picture day (she used a teammate’s full name for that answer); and jersey number and why.