The Tennessee Lady Vols basketball team has a completely new roster compared to last year’s team. All 15 players either transferred in or are freshmen, and managing roster turnover like that can be challenging.

Yet Tennessee appears to be handling it well, as the Lady Vols are just as close as teammates who have been together for years.

Some of them spoke about it in a story on utsports.com, and here is what they said.

Lady Vols Embracing Sisterhood

Gabby Minus is a freshman who watched as Tennessee’s entire roster from the year before hit the portal one by one. Minus stuck it out with Tennessee, honoring her commitment, and she has been embraced by her new teammates.

"As soon as I got here, the people who were here before me welcomed me in full-on. That was really cool. I was just happy to be there."

The only other freshman on the team is Irene Oboavwoduo. A Manchester, England native, Oboavwoduo is adjusting to American life in Knoxville, and Minus is helping her a lot.

"One thing I'm (Minus) doing now is taking adventures around campus on my scooter with Irene, since we're the only two [Lady Vol basketball] freshmen on campus. We just explore and ride around. We see what's going on around campus."  

Georgia transfer Rylie Theuerkauf has been a leader on the team since arriving. The senior who started her career at Wake Forest spoke about what the team has been doing this offseason.

"We just do everything we can together. We don't get bored of each other. "We'll be in the gym for six hours a day (over the summer), and then we'll go get food [together]. Every Tuesday is Taco Tuesday. We just do little things, always together."

Naomi White was the Big Sky’s Freshman of the Year last season at Northern Arizona, but now she has to make a big jump to play in the SEC. She is excited for this opportunity and is ready to go to work for Kim Caldwell.

"Her (Caldwell) plan for this year is to be the hardest year that she's ever coached. She wants us to be better, do better. Not even just [in] basketball, but as people too."

Minus echoed the enthusiasm around playing for Coach Caldwell.

"She really wants us to be tough. Life is going to get hard after basketball, and it's hard in general. She wants us to be tough, and you really learn that here on the court.”

Fifth-year senior Kaylene Smikle was recently named to the Cheryl Miller Award Small Forward of the Year Preseason Watchlist. She says that the team is helping one another take on every challenge.

"I think we've taken the challenge head- on. Every challenge that we've faced, even if it's hard, we've gone through it together. We all understand that we're going to be tired or we're going to be uncomfortable, but learning to be uncomfortable together makes us stronger.”

In all of the challenges these ladies are facing, Theuerkauf added four words to best describe how the team is coming along.

“We're becoming a sisterhood.”

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