Pay attention to Tennessee — Ta’Niya Latson discusses her rise

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(Editor’s note: This is the last Basketball Wednesday of 2024. The IX is off next week, and will return with Golf Thursday on Jan. 2, 2025.)

Once upon a time, of course, Tennessee sat atop the women’s basketball world, with Pat Summitt as architect. When Pat was forced to retire, much too soon — in a fairer world, she’d be 72, still with us, experiencing this women’s basketball boom she did so much to create and possibly even still on the sidelines coaching — Tennessee did everything possible to adhere to the Summitt playbook, first with Holly Warlick, then with Kellie Harper, who attempted to recruit Summitt-type players and play in a similar style.

The returns, I would argue, would have diminished regardless — Pat won eight national titles, but in a very different, top-heavier women’s basketball climate. But despite success that would have ensured job security at most other programs, both Warlick and Harper were shown the door. The job looked, to many, impossible, asking for Summitt-level results in a far more challenging landscape. It was unclear what success would even look like.

Enter Kim Caldwell, whose elevation to the Tennessee head coaching job following one year at Marshall and a successful tenure at her alma mater, DII Glenville State, was met with skepticism by many. She took this challenge on directly when she met with the media in April: “I will never be Pat Summitt; nobody can be. I will strive every day to be somebody that she would be proud of.”

Her playing style is so different from Summitt’s. Those Tennessee teams defended extremely well, but Caldwell’s group is relentlessly pressing, forcing turnovers. It worked at Glenville State, it worked at Marshall, where she won a conference title in her lone season at the helm, and it is working so far at Tennessee, where the Volunteers are off to an 8-0 start. She had a ready answer for questions about her system back in April, too: “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think we could do it here.”

It’s incredibly entertaining to watch. The basic formula — faster than everyone, full line change five-at-a-time substitutions, no one plays more than about 20 minutes per game, force turnovers, generate extra possessions with offensive rebounds, take and make threes. Through eight games, Caldwell’s Tennessee is second in the nation in pace, first in opposition turnover percentage, fourth in offensive rebounding rate and 13th in percentage of points from three.

It’s that last part that still hasn’t completely fallen into place. The other stuff, they’ve not only impressed against lesser competition, they’ve forced established teams like Florida State and Iowa to play Tennessee basketball, and ultimately, lose while doing so.

In true Spiderman meme fashion, they played the Seminoles to a virtual draw, 16-16 in turnover department, but beat them on the boards, 50-39. Florida State, incidentally, is best in the nation in turnover percentage so far, at 11.4%, so 16 is well above average.

Against Iowa? A team run by Lucy Olsen, an effective playmaker who limits turnovers, the Hawkeyes allowed themselves to be victimized 30 times by turnovers, negating a 48-33 edge Iowa held on the boards.

“I tried like heck to get them ready with the press,” a frustrated Jan Jensen said after the game. “I obviously failed in that as a coach.”

But to be fair: who can adequately prepare for this? Essentially, what kept Iowa and Florida State in their games against Tennessee was a shooting drought by the Volunteers in both contests. Against Iowa, the Volunteers shot just 7-for-29 from three. Against Florida State, the game was actually three games — first, a close contest with Tennessee shooting 2-for-14 from three until midway through the second quarter. Then came a 6-for-6 spurt from deep, and the Volunteers opened up a 20-point lead. Finally, a 1-for-15 finish in the second half that allowed Florida State to come all the way back, losing 79-77.

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And against Iowa, I turned to my colleague Jackie Powell late in the game and confidently predicted that between Iowa’s experience and Tennessee learning a new system, the game would soon belong to the Hawkeyes. How immediately and completely wrong I was! Talaysia Cooper, an obvious alpha star even amid a roster filled with talent, took over the game. The Volunteers had worn Iowa out. They play Kim Caldwell basketball already, something ahead of schedule when I asked Caldwell about it.

“When I first started coaching them? Yeah, I didn’t ever think they were going to get there,” Caldwell said with a chuckle. “But no, they work incredibly hard. They’re athletic. And once they figured it out, they figured it out.”

As I have written before, basketball is math, and the formula seems straightforward: either neutralize Tennessee’s advantage on the boards (tough even with size, impossible without it) or their ability to force turnovers (only possible if you practice against the Florida State defense every day?) and you can stay with the Volunteers, since they only shoot 32.4 percent from three, right?

Well. About that.

The Volunteers just went out and made 30 threes in a win over North Carolina Central. 30! In 63 attempts! They scored 139 points. That is the most made threes by any Tennessee team ever. It is the most made threes by any NCAA team ever. No one expects them to hit 30 threes per game, but consider that the Tennessee season three-point rate is now 32.4%. Playing Caldwell’s style last year, Marshall lost only seven games all season, and exactly none of them came with Marshall shooting better than 32% from three.

All of which suggests that if Tennessee continues to get better at shooting the three — and Caldwell reiterated, that night in Brooklyn after beating Iowa, that she thinks this team has a much higher ceiling — they may not be the favorite to win the NCAA Tournament, but they might just be the toughest out.

Even so, on Rocky Top, no one would mistake them for Pat Summitt’s Volunteers. And they way they’re playing now? No one will be particularly bothered by it, either.

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This week in women’s basketball

Get to know Kiyomi McMiller.

Here’s Maitreyi Anantharaman’s take on the expansion draft.

Noa Dalzell caught up with Unrivaled’s Alex Bazzell.

Marisa Ingemi writes about the emerging Golden State identity.

Learn about Saint Louis’ Peyton Kennedy with Debbie Antonelli.

Great stuff, even by Jenn Hatfield standards, on Ivy League players navigating the basketball season amid final exams.

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Five at The IX: Ta’Niya Latson, Florida State

Mondays: Soccer

By: Annie Peterson, @AnnieMPeterson, AP Women’s Soccer

Tuesdays: Tennis

By: Joey Dillon, @JoeyDillon, Freelance Tennis Writer

Wednesdays: Basketball

By: Howard Megdal, @HowardMegdal, The Next

Thursdays: Golf

By: Marin Dremock, @MDremock, The IX

Fridays: Hockey

By: @TheIceGarden, The Ice Garden

Saturdays: Gymnastics

By: Lela Moore, @runlelarun, Freelance Writer