By Elizabeth A. Davis
The Associated Press

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - The Tennessee Lady Vols burst out of their locker room, pass a picture of Chamique Holdsclaw with the rest of the 1997 national championship team and run onto the court at Thompson-Boling Arena. The thousands of orange-clad fans remain standing and clapping until the Lady Vols score their first point.

Then the crowd hushes a bit, and a familiar voice hollers, "Good job, ladies!" Later, it's "rebound, Ty, rebound!" Then "she's palming the ball" or "three seconds."

The sound of coach Pat Summitt's husband, R.B. Summitt, yelling encouragement to the players or derision toward the opposing coach and officials, is just another part of Tennessee's home-court atmosphere.

The top-seeded Lady Vols will try to take advantage of playing at home again this weekend in the NCAA Mideast Regional.

Tennessee, which won in the first two rounds in the subregional to increase its NCAA tournament home record to 42-0, will play fourth-seeded Penn State on Saturday. No. 2 seed Villanova and No. 6 seed Colorado will play in the other regional semifinal.

In the cavernous Thompson-Boling arena - its 24,535 seats pared down to 17,400 for the tournament - it's hard to imagine a player being able to hear a particular person in the stands.

"He's a voice that kind of sticks out in the crowd because he's sitting right there," Tennessee junior Tasha Butts said. "He's always like, 'Good job, Tasha! Good hustle!' His voice is very distinctive."

R.B. Summitt's voice doesn't conflict with his wife's yelling instructions to the players. He sits across the court from the team benches, not behind as many coaches' spouses do.

President of a local bank, R.B. Summitt has a good view of everything from section 121, row 1, seat 12, which is directly behind press row and the radio and television announcers.

"I like to see (the players') expressions (on the bench)," he said. "It's like sitting across the table from someone."

He says he was given the choice of where to sit when Tennessee started playing in Thompson-Boling in 1987 shortly after its construction was completed.

But his wife might have had a say.

"Yes, I did. I got him away (from the bench)," the coach said, laughing. "Obviously R.B. has been one of our biggest fans. Certainly I hear him whether we're home or away. But I always know where I can find him at home. I'm glad he's across from our bench and not behind. I might have trouble communicating in the huddles."

R.B. Summitt knows nearly every referee and opposing coach and shouts out their names during games.

In Tennessee's 81-51 win over Virginia in the second round on Monday, Cavaliers coach Debbie Ryan got mad when Anna Crosswhite was called for a foul on Tennessee's Gwen Jackson.

"Oh, sit down Ryan!" R.B. yelled from his seat.

He never yells anything obscene - although he's been accused of it - or boos.

As far as being a loud fan, he doesn't apologize.

"Why holler if you're not going to be heard," R.B. Summitt said. "(The players) are out there doing their best. Maybe they need something positive to get them over the hump."

The Lady Vols are 225-11 in Thompson-Boling Arena and have won 18 straight home games overall. Penn State is 0-2 in Knoxville, but both games were played before Thompson-Boling was built.

Penn State also hosted a subregional this year and was able to extend its home winning streak to 20.

"It's a tremendous streak, and that's something that we have started on our own," Penn State guard Kelley Mazzante said of Tennessee's wins. "Now we have to go in there and try to break it."

It's hard to say if playing at home was a big boost for Tennessee in the first and second rounds or if it was more of a distraction for the opponent.

"It was definitely hostile when we you are playing in front of 10,000 fans," Virginia's Anna Prillaman said. "They got off to a good start."

The Tennessee-Virginia game only drew 6,772 people, far off the Lady Vols' average home attendance this season of 12,902.

But at least one fan was as loud as ever.