Bringing in a group of eight new faces has been a nice change of pace for Lady Vols basketball coach Kim Caldwell this summer, especially with five of them being freshmen.
Caldwell said she’d like to be further along at this point in the offseason, but the second-year Tennessee coach is also adjusting the players’ workload so they have legs when March rolls around.
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“They’re hungry. I think they are excited, which is great when you have a group that is excited to play your style of play, that comes ready to work every single day,” Caldwell said on Aug. 28 in her first media gathering since May 1 in Johnson City. “It’s refreshing as a coach to just get a new group, especially when you have so many young ones that they don’t know any better other than to come to practice every day and work hard.”
Caldwell has “about five pages worth” of takeaways from her first season with the Lady Vols. It includes notes like more team bonding, a lighter summer load, more individual film and extra shooting.
Kaiya Wynn cleared from Achilles rehab
Senior guard Kaiya Wynn has been cleared and back in practices after her Achilles injury, Caldwell said.
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Wynn tore her right Achilles before the start of the season on Oct. 18, 2024. Caldwell said she believed Aug. 27 was Wynn’s last day of needing to go to rehab.
“I’m proud of her, she has gotten back into things, and she has hit failure and she has not blinked,” Caldwell said. “She has not pouted. She has not quit. She has not given up, and I know that’s a hard injury to come back from. We praise her publicly, because to see her handle it and not show any emotion or any frustration, that’s tough, and she’s a tough player for that.”
Janiah Barker as a leader, Zee Spearman’s confidence
Janiah Barker transferred to Tennessee from UCLA, where she was Big Ten Sixth Player of the Year during the Bruins‘ run to the Final Four. The 6-foot-4 senior forward will add a lot on the court for Tennessee, but Caldwell believes she’ll be an important leader, too.
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Barker has been vocal in practices and saying all the right things to her teammates.
“She hasn’t been on the floor a whole lot, but she’s in the gym, and she is loud,” Caldwell said. “I don’t know that she’s necessarily had a strong leadership role in the past, but we are really going to rely on her to have that here.”
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Senior Zee Spearman returns after a strong first season at Tennessee. The 6-4 forward played for USA 3×3 Basketball this summer, and Caldwell believes it will be good for Spearman’s confidence, which she struggled with last season.
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“I think being able to represent our country has been huge for her, because I think she realizes that she’s not the player she was when she got here,” Caldwell said. “The sky is the limit for her, and (we’re) just continuing to build her confidence and show her who she is now versus who she used to be. It’s going to be an ongoing battle with her, but USA Basketball definitely helped, and it was fun to watch her play.”
Cora Hall is the University of Tennessee women’s athletics reporter for Knox News. Email: cora.hall@knoxnews.com; X: @corahalll; Bluesky: @corahall.bsky.social. Support strong local journalism and unlock premium perks:knoxnews.com/subscribe
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: How Kim Caldwell described addition new players for Lady Vols basketball
