2025 Recruiting

[Lucy]

She committed to UNC.

Well crap!! This is a big miss in my book!!

 

[OldNSlow]

Dumpster Fire of epic proportions.

 

[KnoxLikeUs]

1/2 of the “big hit”

 

[37620VOL]

Dumpster Fire of epic proportions.

The end of the SC game?

 

[37620VOL]

Dumpster Fire of epic proportions.

Our last 3 NCAA tournaments?

 

[37620VOL]

Dumpster Fire of epic proportions.

Our highschool recruiting prior to CKC?

 

[BruisedOrange]

Two things I learned early on that lead to a blessed life. Stay the hell out her kitchen when she’s cooking. ( of course I was welcome to do dishes and empty the trash.) …and, “Yes, Dear”. (?)

The blasphemer says, "Whipped!"

 

[knoxvol52]

Two things I learned early on that lead to a blessed life. Stay the hell out her kitchen when she’s cooking. ( of course I was welcome to do dishes and empty the trash.) …and, “Yes, Dear”. (?)

Well when I was married I done all the cooking. My wife was beautiful but she couldn't boil water without scorching it.

 

[brentcontractor]

That starts with Ruby who was transferring to Tennessee prior to her arrival. She closed the deal yes, but all of those players minus the player from Pitt had been recruited at one time or another by the previous staff and I don't know if any of these players in this class rate nearly as high as Rickea, so that may be a bit of a stretch.

During Kelly's time here, a number of great players were always on the verge to commit here and then they did not. I wanted Kelly to be successful. Dream story. Lets stop living in the past and more forward.

 

[Mafiaboss]

I love Kellie. She’s LV royalty. When she was hired to replace Holly, I was thrilled. My only concern was recruiting. Well…. I don’t know the specifics as to why players did not commit to her program, but I’m sorry it didn’t work out.

Big CKC fan, tho!

 

[Dadof2Vols]

I love Kellie. She’s LV royalty. When she was hired to replace Holly, I was thrilled. My only concern was recruiting. Well…. I don’t know the specifics as to why players did not commit to her program, but I’m sorry it didn’t work out.

Big CKC fan, tho!

I am not a CKC fan from a Tennessee perspective. Although I will say her track record to this point looks good for the opportunities she has been given.

I am excited about the hire. It appears she has done about as well to this point with the Portal and 2025 recruiting as vol fans could have hoped for.

I am hoping to be a CKC fan soon….maybe it won’t take the whole month of November to start becoming one but a am opening to becoming a CKC fan as soon as she earns it on the old pine bench.

 

[mcannon1]

 

[mcannon1]

2025s who have posted offers.
# ESPN ranking

#11 Dee Alexander to Cincinati
#30 Aubrey Beckham to Georgia
#5 Divine Bourrage not in top 6
#14 Nyla Brooks To NC
#1 Aaliyah Chavez not top 6
#40 Jaida Civil
#3 Jasmine Davidson
#27 Madison Francis
#79 Lena Girardi not in her top 5
#41 Holland Harris
#63 Layla Hayes not top 8
#21 Taliyah Henderson To N.Carolina
#35 Lauren Hurst
#45 Adelaide Jernigan not in top 3
#7 Zakiyah Johnson not in her top 6
#8 Grace Knox
Alyssa Koerkenmeier to St. Louis U.
#57 Destiny Lunan
#12 Leah Macy to ND
#17 Brynn McGaughy To Washington
#50 Jordan Ode To Michigan State
#23 Keeley Parks
#13 Mia Pauldo To Tennessee!
#49 Mya Pauldo To Tennessee!
#15 Deniya Prawl
#9 Emilee Skinner
#31 Lara Somfai not in top 3
#13 Hailee Swain To Stanford
#56 Janiyah Williams To Oregon

 

[Ratvol]

Quoting CKC from her 8/29 press conference, on recruiting to her system:
"You have to be a very, very, very special type of player to play this way. And if you're the #3 recruit... that's just an example, or, whatever recruit, Top Ten... maybe you don't fit. Right? Maybe we just don't recruit you. But maybe you're #77 and you're perfect for us. But it has to be a style of play thing.
...you need athletes that can score, that can go downhill and transition, that want to play fast."
----------------
Beyond what the coach said of the system that she's been running--successfully--for 9 years... consider that if Nyla's game does not fit this system, then coming to Tennessee would have been a setback to her development as a player.

It sounds like Nyla will be playing in a system that fits her strengths. Family members may be struggling right now to say goodbye to a long held dream of Nyla playing in orange & blue... but once they see her at UNC and compare that to what CKC will be doing, everyone will be happy.

Logic and Intelligence will not be tolerated on this board. We call it the way we see it and if we don't see it, we make things up...

GO LADY VOLS

 

[glv98]

Logic and Intelligence will not be tolerated on this board. We call it the way we see it and if we don't see it, we make things up...

GO LADY VOLS

I call it like I see it and I don't care how they fit in any system, turning down #3 for #77 for any reason is neither logical nor intelligent. Sounds good on a motivational poster, but failure to get more #3s and continuing to fill the roster with #77s (or 30s and below) is exactly why we have a new coach.

I'm still not convinced recruiting to a strict "system" instead of recruiting top elite players and building a system around them, like Dawn Staley does, is a winning proposition. But that's JMO and I hope I'm wrong.

 

[volbeast33]

I call it like I see it and I don't care how they fit in any system, turning down #3 for #77 for any reason is neither logical nor intelligent. Sounds good on a motivational poster, but failure to get more #3s and continuing to fill the roster with #77s (or 30s and below) is exactly why we have a new coach.

I'm still not convinced recruiting to a strict "system" instead of recruiting top elite players and building a system around them, like Dawn Staley does, is a winning proposition. But that's JMO and I hope I'm wrong.

I think you are creating your narrative from very limited information.

 

[glv98]

I think you are creating your narrative from very limited information.

LOL all my info is limited at this stage in my life. But this is more opinion. And mine is I'd rather have truly elite talent and build a "system" around them than less elite talent who adhere to a God like "system". That's based on several years of seeing the LVs fail (except one time in the transfer portal) to snare top elite players and suffer because of it. In the end, it's all about the talent, not the system they play in.

 

[BruisedOrange]

LOL all my info is limited at this stage in my life. But this is more opinion. And mine is I'd rather have truly elite talent and build a "system" around them than less elite talent who adhere to a God like "system". That's based on several years of seeing the LVs fail (except one time in the transfer portal) to snare top elite players and suffer because of it. In the end, it's all about the talent, not the system they play in.

Well, we all hope we're all happy by end of the season.

But this hire was the hire of a coach with a definite system, which has proven effective enough in the past, at two levels of play, that Danny White became convinced this coach and her system were the best hope to hang more National Championship banners. So Danny White committed to, not only this coach, but to her system--and to recruiting the best players for this system.

It probably hasn't been emphasized enough that one of the advantages to this system is that you're no longer recruiting for the exact same players as every other established and proven basketball power. When you are able to recruit to your system then your staff has only to teach the system they know. Weeks aren't wasted making adjustments as you learn more about your new players, and teaching new plays to fit the players you have.

That's how Kelley was having to recruit, and the results (maybe even regardless of how much NIL we offered) were that we'd inevitably land a few but miss on the top tier players. Then the staff had to adjust their preferred game to get the most out of the players they'd landed---who (or so it seemed) tended to have the dimensions and skills of champions, but lacked the foot speed of the top tier players.

An underemphasized negative to that approach is that your upper classmen can't fully teach and mentor younger players outside of practice, because each season they are learning the new wrinkles and adjustments themselves.
-----
As for the recruiting, in a game of rock-paper-scissors, if the top 10 teams are all trying to recruit the biggest rocks... there's logic in taking the paper route.

To abuse another metaphor, there should certainly be no judgement against fans who prefer apples over oranges (and I gotta figure all of us VFLs belong in some kind of fruit basket!).

But as of 2024, the Lady Vols basketball program, from top to bottom, is committed to oranges.

So no matter how highly rated a premier apple peeler is in quality, materials, and design...
it's gonna be useless with oranges.

 

[Orange.]

LOL all my info is limited at this stage in my life. But this is more opinion. And mine is I'd rather have truly elite talent and build a "system" around them than less elite talent who adhere to a God like "system". That's based on several years of seeing the LVs fail (except one time in the transfer portal) to snare top elite players and suffer because of it. In the end, it's all about the talent, not the system they play in.

"God like" is a tell. Talent vs system is a false dichotomy.

 

[Voluble2]

LOL all my info is limited at this stage in my life. But this is more opinion. And mine is I'd rather have truly elite talent and build a "system" around them than less elite talent who adhere to a God like "system". That's based on several years of seeing the LVs fail (except one time in the transfer portal) to snare top elite players and suffer because of it. In the end, it's all about the talent, not the system they play in.

You are reading way too much into a single remark, as can be seen by our offer list.

She is going after highly ranked players who fit the system and the program culture. That is the same as every other coach out there who doesn't just indiscriminately offer every kid above a certain ranking.

I can even give you an example of what she was talking about. Tamari Key was a great player, but she would be awful in this system. She wouldn't be able to play at our pace and has no outside shot. It would make sense if we took a lower ranked player over her. Whereas she was just what Kellie needed for the system she ran and helped us tremendously.

We will know soon enough if Kim will be able to get us back on track, but I have seen fewer red flags at this stage than with the previous two coaches --- which is why we are left to parse sentences looking for negatives. We are still at the talking a good game and recruiting stage right now. The proof will come on the court after she has had time to build her roster and implement her system. But early returns are promising.

 

[glv98]

"God like" is a tell. Talent vs system is a false dichotomy.

That Kim's dichotomy, not mine.

Maybe it is reading too much into the #3 vs #77 statement, but I do think she means it right now. I'm raw to statements like that bc that's exactly why the LV program declined and why Kellie Harper is w/o a job. We have to land top 20 talent consistently or we won't catch up.

I agree we're all in on the system, the oranges, at this point. It's new, exciting, forward thinking, etc. But I still think assembling the top talent is more important than any strategy or system.

I also think eventually the system will smooth off the edges and become a preferred way to play and a general philosophy but not the be all and end all that determines who to recruit.

 

[Dadof2Vols]

Sometimes, Coach speak for recruiting to our system is not talking about the player doesn’t have desired talents but it is a nice way of only players who fit our Culture.

 

[Voluble2]

Sometimes, Coach speak for recruiting to our system is not talking about the player doesn’t have desired talents but it is a nice way of only players who fit our Culture.

This is indeed part of what she meant.

It would be different if she hadn't already shown she can and will bring in top twenty/borderline top ten recruits. Then you could maybe say it is a cop-out for why she can't get that sort of talent, or is sour grapes. But we have seen enough to know that is not Kim, and that she can indeed pull the talent.

 

[glv98]

It would be different if she hadn't already shown she can and will bring in top twenty/borderline top ten recruits. Then you could maybe say it is a cop-out for why she can't get that sort of talent, or is sour grapes. But we have seen enough to know that is not Kim, and that she can indeed pull the talent.

Not sure we've seen Kim can pull elite talent. If she gets Knox or Prawl, then yeah.

 

[ttharp]

This is indeed part of what she meant.

It would be different if she hadn't already shown she can and will bring in top twenty/borderline top ten recruits. Then you could maybe say it is a cop-out for why she can't get that sort of talent, or is sour grapes. But we have seen enough to know that is not Kim, and that she can indeed pull the talent.

BINGO! This.

We’re currently in on the #8 recruit. (Grace Knox)

We recently got a visit from a top 10 2026 recruit. (Brihanna Crittendon)

#1 recruit Aliyah Chavez spoke highly of the staff before narrowing her list.

Each of these players would fit well in the system. So would others who aren’t in the top 10, like Jaida Civil

Don’t understand why it’s hard for some get this.