Mechelle wraps up her visit to Knoxville with "An ‘outsider’ view of the Hall of Fame."

The passion for women’s basketball in Tennessee, combined with the organizational zeal of people there – led by 2010 inductee Gloria Ray – made the Hall of Fame into a reality in Knoxville. It was and still is an amazing achievement.

So what I’m writing is not meant to put anybody’s nose out of joint or to disrespect the work that’s been done. We all know what it feels like to have worked your tail off and then hear criticism and become very defensive. The thing is, if it’s constructive criticism, once you turn off the defense mechanism, you can usually find the value in it.