The Lady Vols held media day this week in Knoxville, and when Kim Caldwell walked into the interview room, she noted how many local reporters were in the seats and set up on the platform with cameras. That’s the effect of year two after Tennessee reached the Sweet 16 and enters this season ranked in the top 10.

She also sounded like a coach who knows the expectations are high – and embraces the challenge – and, as always, was refreshingly transparent in her assessment.

“The last time I talked to you, I talked about we’re going to shoot less threes, and we seem to be settling for threes,” Caldwell said. “We’re not rebounding anywhere close to where I want to be rebounding. We’re not getting into the paint enough. We’re not putting enough pressure on the rim.

“We’re taking plays off or helps. It’s rapidly approaching. So, the energy has been good, the mindset has been good, still kind of growing, working our way into it, but a lot to clean up.”

Tennessee will host Columbia State on Wednesday, Oct. 29, at 6:30 p.m. at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center with the game streamed on SECN+. While it’s an exhibition game and doesn’t count, Caldwell knows what she wants to see on the court.

“We better be elite defensively in that game,” Caldwell said. “We better take great shots, and then the pace is really important. You’re always looking at who’s going to provide what, who knows their role, and what is our energy and our effort looking like, which it should be great, because we finally get to play in front of people.”

Caldwell’s full remarks can be read HERE, and the video can be watched HERE. A practice clip can be seen HERE.

The regular season for No. 8 Tennessee begins with a road game to North Carolina to play No. 9 NC State in Greensboro on Tuesday, Nov. 4. It’s technically a neutral site, but First Horizon Coliseum is 80 miles from Raleigh and 294 miles from Knoxville. Tip time is 4 p.m. – it’s part of all-day coverage of women’s basketball – and the game will be broadcast on ESPN2.

The Lady Vols will play the next five regular season games in the Volunteer State by hosting East Tennessee State on Friday, Nov. 7; traveling to UT Martin for the Pat Summitt Heritage Classic on Sunday, Nov. 9; hosting Belmont on Thursday, Nov. 13; traveling to Middle Tennessee State on Thursday, Nov. 20; and hosting Coppin State on Sunday, Nov. 23.

That is followed by a trip to the West Coast to play No. 3 UCLA on Sunday, Nov. 30, and Stanford, which is receiving votes in the top 25, on Wednesday, Dec. 3.

Caldwell will have a good gauge on her team entering SEC play, which starts on Jan. 1, 2026, with Tennessee hosting Florida.

Of the top 10 teams in the preseason poll, the Lady Vols will play seven of them in the 2025-26 regular season – four in the SEC and three non-conference foes with six of those games on the road, including UConn, South Carolina, LSU, Oklahoma and the aforementioned UCLA and NC State. The lone home game in that group is Texas.

The preparation for that is underway now.

“Our practices have been intense,” Caldwell said. “Our practices have been competitive, trying to keep it like that.”

Caldwell said she made a three-page list after last season after talking to her assistants and everyone connected to Lady Vols basketball, including strength and conditioning and the operations teams. One item was to upgrade the male practice team. The students are unpaid, though they do receive some new shoes.

“Shout out to our practice squad,” Caldwell said. “Our male practice team has been phenomenal. They show up every day. They play our players to their weaknesses. They make us better. We really spend a lot of time going up and down versus them and being competitive with them, so that when the ball goes up, we’re ready.”

Caldwell and her staff have assembled an athletic team with a lot of speed. Collectively, it’s the fastest team Tennessee has had in a bit.

A core of six returning players, including preseason All-SEC honoree Talaysia Cooper, provides a year of experience in Caldwell’s system. A top ranked high school recruiting class of five and three players from the transfer portal, including 6-4 senior forward Janiah Barker, who was the No. 2 ranked player in high school and is appearing on mock WNBA draft boards, provide Caldwell with options.

Kim Caldwell fields questions from the media. (Kate Luffman/Tennessee Athletics)

The five freshmen include three high school McDonald’s All-Americans in Jaida Civil, Deniya Prawl and Mia Pauldo, and twin sister Mya Pauldo and Lauren Hurst, both of whom were ranked in the top 60 nationally.

“They are our foundation,” Caldwell said. “We’re building around them. They’re phenomenal. They compete. They push our upperclassmen to be better. Our upperclassmen are playing in fear that a freshman is going to take their spot, and our freshmen are going to play. They’re helping us right away. They’re changing our culture right away, and we’re building around them.”

Maria M. Cornelius, a senior writer/editor at MoxCar Marketing + Communications since 2013, started her journalism career at the Knoxville News Sentinel and began writing about the Lady Vols in 1998. In 2016, she published her first book, “The Final Season: The Perseverance of Pat Summitt,” through The University of Tennessee Press and a 10th anniversary edition will be released in 2026.