John Adams: A basketball fantasy Pat Summitt fans could appreciate

What if there had been a cure?

What if the disease Pat Summitt contracted hadn’t been terminal? What if it hadn’t even been a career-ender?

I thought about that on the first anniversary of Summitt’s death.

When Summitt died last June after a long battle with Alzheimer’s, I didn’t think about the former Tennessee women’s basketball coach in the context of the sport that first made her famous. I don’t think most people did. They saw her as a role model or friend. They saw her as a charismatic ambassador for the university and state who would spend the last few years of her life helping raise money and awareness in the ongoing fight against a dreadful and widespread disease.

But a year later, I thought about the coach who won eight national championships and 1,098 games. I imagined the same disease with a different prognosis.

Then, I imagined a cured Summitt emerging from the throes of a disease that forced her to resign after the 2011-12 season. My guess is she would have been as driven and successful as ever.

And she probably would have won at least another 100 games and perhaps another national championship as well.

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The program slipped in Summitt’s last few years on the job. That was hardly a coincidence.

Former UCLA coach Billie Moore, a longtime friend and mentor to Summitt, often served as a consultant to a player she once coached on the U.S. Olympic team. She would watch game video and provide an educated critique from outside the program. She could practically read Summitt’s mind when it came to coaching decisions.

After Summitt’s diagnosis, Moore said she was puzzled by some of the strategic moves Summitt made as far back as three years earlier. Little did she know.

What a conversation they could have had if Summitt’s disease had been cured and she could have continued coaching. “What was I thinking?” Summitt might have said while smiling over those uncharacteristic in-game decisions.

Given a medical reprieve, Summitt would have been determined to make up for the lost seasons when she wasn’t at the top of her game. That determination would have been reflected in her coaching and recruiting.

Regardless of her coaching prowess, Summitt never minimized the importance of having the best players. She won three national championships with Chamique Holdsclaw. She won two more with Candace Parker. Had she been able to continue coaching, she likely would have pursued players of that caliber with more zeal than ever.

► More:Candace Parker wearing orange shoes to honor Pat Summitt

I don’t think she would have mellowed, either. Instead, she probably would have been more attuned to the value of discipline and less likely to let even the smallest detail go unattended.

The program would have flourished again at a Final Four level. Attendance figures would have reached all-time highs. And Summitt would have led the crowd in “Rocky Top” as players took turns cutting down the nets.

On the anniversary of Summitt’s death, that’s the best basketball fantasy I’ve got. The reality is Summitt has been gone a year, and there’s no cure for Alzheimer’s.

But maybe, in part because of the public fight Summitt waged, there will be a cure for someone else.

John Adams is a senior columnist. He may be reached at 865-342-6284 or john.adams@knoxnews.com. Follow him on Twitter: @johnadamskns.