In the modern era of college athletics, the recruiting trail starts with keeping your players. Every year, coaches must recruit the players on their roster to stay and not enter the transfer portal. Simultaneously, they must recruit high school athletes and players who have entered the transfer portal.
Lady Vols basketball coach Kim Caldwell seems to be off to a great start in all aspects of the recruiting trail. Multiple players have announced that they are returning without entering the portal.
Tess Darby and Jewel Spear have announced they are returning next season despite the coaching change. In the new era of college athletics, it is common for players to at least enter the portal and test the waters when the head coach changes, but Caldwell has done a great job keeping her players home.
Those two players combined for 18.3 points and 7.8 rebounds per game for the Lady Vols last season. Spear more than doubled Darby's production last season, but having two veterans returning for one final year is huge in building momentum for the future.
The only Lady Vols basketball player to hit the transfer portal so far has been Karoline Striplin, who averaged 7.2 points and 3.1 rebounds last season. Caldwell didn't waste any time looking for production to replace Striplin and Rickea Jackson, who the Los Angeles Sparks drafted.
The Lady Vols are bringing in Syracuse transfer forward Alyssa Latham, who averaged 8.6 points per game, 7.0 rebounds per game, and 1.3 blocks per game last season as a freshman. This is a big pickup for the Vols as Caldwell looks to build a strong future for Lady Vols basketball.
We will have to wait to see how Caldwell's coaching style translates on the hardwood, but she's off to a great start on Rocky Top. The college basketball spring transfer portal window will close at the end of April, and at that point, the Lady Vols will have their roster for the 2024-25 season.