Four players have left the Tennessee Lady Vols team that made the Sweet 16, two to the WNBA, a third to graduation and one to transfer. Meanwhile, Kellie Harper has added four players via transfer in addition to a five-star recruit coming in, so they should be loaded in multiple ways. What about the returning talent, though?
Rocky Top has 10 players set to return from last year, two of whom missed significant time due to injury. One of those players actually missed the whole year, which is like adding an extra player in addition to the transfer. How does this all balance out, though?
This post will analyze the potential impact of each returning player. It’s based on their previous production but also the depth at their position. They are a huge reason for the national championship expectations that have now reached Harper’s program. Here is a ranking of all 10 Tennessee Lady Vols returning for 2022-2023.
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She was part of a loaded recruiting class the first recruit Kellie Harper specifically targeted. Jessie Rennie was recruited as a sharpshooter out of Australia. She came out of Bendigo Senior Secondary College in Victoria and really provided a preview as to how Harper would focus on building her team for the future.
Three years in, though, Rennie has never really quite got it going. Her best year was 2019-2020, when she played over 12 minutes a game and appeared in 30 of them. Each season, as Harper has recruited more shooting specialist, Rennie has seen her minutes decrease.
It doesn’t help that Rennie’s three-point production went from over 46 percent as a freshman to under 12 percent the past two years. She could still be a valuable sharpshooter for the Tennessee Lady Vols, but given how loaded this year’s team is, it may be a good idea for her to redshirt and have a dominant fifth-year campaign in 2023-2024.