What Kim Caldwell said about the offseason progress of Tennessee Lady Vols basketball

What Tennessee Lady Vols basketball coach Kim Caldwell said while meeting with reporters Thursday afternoon at Pratt Pavilion:

If there’s an update on the status of Tennessee senior guard Ruby Whitehorn

“It’s a frustrating situation. We love Ruby, but she’s suspended indefinitely. And because it’s an ongoing legal matter, that’s really all we’re allowed to discuss right now.”

Her policy when Tennessee players have off-court issues

“It kind of is a case-by-case situation. This one is obviously a really tough one.”

How much further along this Tennessee team is compared to this time last year

“I feel like we’re behind. I don’t love where we’re at. But I’m also not a positive coach or person, so you always want to be further along than where you are. I think our players are picking up on things a little bit better. We do have some players that have had some experience that are on the floor, which helps. A little bit better leadership. But I would like to be further along.”

What she has liked about this Tennessee Lady Vols team so far 

“I think 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. 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.”

If she’s ever felt like her team was on schedule in terms of making progress in the summer

“I have three whole summers, my career.”

If it’s a normal feeling to feel behind

“I think last summer, maybe in hindsight, when I look at our year in review of last summer, I wonder if we did too much and that’s why we didn’t have legs in March. So I, as a coach, have really tried to say we’re not going to grind them into the ground. If we don’t get to this, we don’t get to this. And as a result of that, it’s not the normal pace that I like to practice at. But I’m trying to do a better job of realizing it’s a long season.”

How Tennessee’s returning players have reacted to that change 

“I think they appreciate it. And I think that when we are together, they’re giving everything they have, which I wouldn’t exactly expect less.”

Her biggest goals and priorities for the program this fall

“We need to find a way to be resilient. We need to overcome adversity. We don’t have, necessarily, a 3-point shooter, so we need people to step up and fill that role. We have a bunch of athletes. We have a bunch of people that are really good for us on both sides of the ball, but we need people to really accept the roles and kind of become obsessed with the role we need them to play.”

Balancing the number of returning players and freshmen that the Tennessee roster has

“It’s nice to have some people that know what they’re doing and that you don’t have to explain everything brand new. And you have some additional coaches, in a sense, that they can get to the players or their teammates before I do. We can talk a little bit better. The drills aren’t new. And again, when you have this many freshmen they don’t know anything other than to work hard in every single drill. 

They don’t know which drill sucks, they don’t groan, they don’t roll their eyes. 

They just do it and they do it with everything they have.”

If she likes that Tennessee’s non-conference scheduled is loaded this season

“Like? No. Do I think it’s necessary to make sure that we’re tested and we know who we are going into SEC play? Yes.”

Tennessee Football season starting on Saturday  

“We are excited. I mean, football season is a phenomenal time around here. And you can already feel the buzz on campus. You can tell that it’s coming. It’s great for us with recruits. Coach (Josh Heupel) does a great job. He’ll talk to our recruits for us, which is so nice and kind. He knows their names, he knows where they’re from, he does such a great job. And I think that’s something that every coach here does a really good job of as we support each other. And so we’re excited to get to watch and play.”

Her takeaways from Year 1 at Tennessee when she self scouted

“Oh, there’s about five pages worth of just little things here and there. Whether it’s more team bonding, a lighter summer load, more film, more individual film, extra shooting. There’s just a ton of different things that we can try to get a little bit better. And that’s what you have to do year after year is look at your past year and find ways you can improve.”

What she has seen from senior transfer forward Janiah Barker this summer, what kind of role she can have at Tennessee 

“I think that she’s going to be a great leader for us. She is vocal, she hasn’t been on the floor a whole lot, but she’s in the gym and she is she is loud, she is leading people, she is cheering, she is saying the right things. I don’t know that she’s necessarily had a strong leadership role in the past, but we are really gonna rely on her to have that here.”

What the offseason has been like for transfer forward Jersey Wolfenbarger

“She’s a player that is made to play the way we want to play. She’s so long and so big, but she runs so well. She can play multiple positions. We’re still working on her 3-point shot. I want her to kind of get her confidence back in that. And as I walked up here I saw her out there shooting three’s so that was good. I think she takes that seriously but she’s really good in transition, she’s good at protecting the rim and she’s just been doing that.”

If she took time to focus on the positives after her first season at Tennessee 

“I think when you look at last year, I will always say this, I appreciate that team. 

I loved those players. To make it to the Sweet 16 in year one, we wanted a little bit more. But that was a great step for our program. And if that group doesn’t buy in and they don’t play hard and they don’t represent us well, then we’re not able to recruit the way we want to recruit. We’re not able to build the way we want to.”

Senior forward Zee Spearman playing with Team USA in 3-on-3 basketball, how that has helped her development 

“I think one thing Zee struggled with last year was confidence and 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. The sky’s the limit for her and 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.”