It hasn’t been the prettiest start for Lady Vols basketball, but Kim Caldwell’s squad is still out to a 2-1 start with the lone loss coming by three points to a top-10 opponent, NC State. On Monday, the AP Poll was refreshed and saw Tennessee on the move.
Heading into the second week of the season, the Lady Vols clock in at No. 12 in the poll. This is a four-spot drop, after being slotted at No. 8 heading into the year.
This position is good for fifth in the SEC. Tennessee comes in behind just No. 2 South Carolina, No. 4 Texas, No. 5 LSU and No. 6 Oklahoma. The Lady Vols will also play No. 1 UConn, No. 3 UCLA, No. 13 Ole Miss, No. 19 Vanderbilt and No. 23 Kentucky this year. NC State moved up to No. 10 in the poll after beating UT in Greensboro.
More From RTI: What Lady Vols Basketball HC Kim Caldwell Said After 11-Point Win at UT Martin
After dropping the game to NC State at a neutral site, the Lady Vols thrashed ETSU by 50 at home. After the game, Caldwell wasn’t pleased with the performance, though.
Just two days later, Tennessee went on the road to play UT Martin in the Pat Summitt Heritage Classic. The Lady Vols only won by 11 points, despite being about a 30-point favorite.
“We play an effort-based system,” Caldwell said after the game. “If you go out there and don’t give effort, you’re going to look silly. That’s what happened for the first two quarters. You can’t do this if you’re not going to play hard. It’s really all dedicated to playing hard, flying around, playing together and we don’t have that right now.”
The Lady Vols return to Knoxville for their next game, against a third-straight in-state opponent. This time, it’ll be Belmont coming to town on Thursday at 7 p.m. ET. The game will air on SEC Network.
