Lady Vols announce OOC Schedule

#2
#2

2025-26 Women's Basketball Schedule - University of Tennessee Athletics

The official 2025-26 Women's Basketball schedule for the University of Tennessee Volunteers
utsports.com utsports.com


See no reason we can't put up 10 and 2 or 9 and 3 at the worst with this schedule. Four tough road games for sure and two neutral with the NC St game not really that neutral. UConn there and UCLA there stand out as the two we might not be able to win although never know we might upset one or both of them.
 
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#4
#4
Volfan2012 said:

2025-26 Women's Basketball Schedule - University of Tennessee Athletics

The official 2025-26 Women's Basketball schedule for the University of Tennessee Volunteers
utsports.com utsports.com


See no reason we can't put up 10 and 2 or 9 and 3 at the worst with this schedule. Four tough road games for sure and two neutral with the NC St game not really that neutral. UConn there and UCLA there stand out as the two we might not be able to win although never know we might upset one or both of them.
Click to expand...
Only 2 weekend games at home. Rest of the home games are weekday. Kinda tough for ticket holders who don't live close.
 
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#6
#6
Coach Caldwell and AD White just orchestrated arguably one of the most intriguing regular season schedules in this era.
Every game being winnable for the Lady Vols despite a tough schedule.
CKC seeing her team beat UConn the eventual National Champions and going on the road against Ohio State in the NCAA tourney blowing out a team that was ranked within the Top 15 most of the season in year 1 was the blueprint.
CKC then goes on to secure the #1 (per ESPNW) transfer portal and #1 (per 247Sports) high school recruiting classes in the same year.
No game that this highly talented and elite LV team win this season will be considered an upset this is a Top 4 - 5 roster.
 
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#7
#7
I wish we were playing Memphis again.

"Including our conference opponents, our schedule includes the top six teams and 10 of the top 20-ranked programs in the early preseason polls," Caldwell said. "We have our work cut out for us, but I believe our challenging non-conference opponents will better prepare us for what we're going to see in the Southeastern Conference.

"We're a little out of balance in terms of home and away ranked opponents, and that's something that takes some time to even out."
 
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#8
#8
Volfan2012 said:

2025-26 Women's Basketball Schedule - University of Tennessee Athletics

The official 2025-26 Women's Basketball schedule for the University of Tennessee Volunteers
utsports.com utsports.com


See no reason we can't put up 10 and 2 or 9 and 3 at the worst with this schedule. Four tough road games for sure and two neutral with the NC St game not really that neutral. UConn there and UCLA there stand out as the two we might not be able to win although never know we might upset one or both of them.
Click to expand...
No real marquee OOC opponents at home until SEC play. We have home games vs. No. 4 Texas and No. 17 Vanderbilt. Road games at No. 1 South Carolina, No. 2 UConn, No. 3 UCLA, No. 5 LSU, No. 6 Oklahoma and No. 13 Ole Miss, and neutral site battles with No. 9 NC State and No. 17 Louisville. This schedule is tough enough.
 
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#9
#9
Rickster said:
No real marquee OOC opponents at home until SEC play. We have home games vs. No. 4 Texas and No. 17 Vanderbilt. Road games at No. 1 South Carolina, No. 2 UConn, No. 3 UCLA, No. 5 LSU, No. 6 Oklahoma and No. 13 Ole Miss, and neutral site battles with No. 9 NC State and No. 17 Louisville. This schedule is tough enough.
Click to expand...
For all that bitched about last year’s OOC schedule:

 
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#10
#10
mcannon1 said:
I wish we were playing Memphis again.

"Including our conference opponents, our schedule includes the top six teams and 10 of the top 20-ranked programs in the early preseason polls," Caldwell said. "We have our work cut out for us, but I believe our challenging non-conference opponents will better prepare us for what we're going to see in the Southeastern Conference.

"We're a little out of balance in terms of home and away ranked opponents, and that's something that takes some time to even out."
Click to expand...
I would think 2026-2027 we will see UConn, UCLA, SC, LSU, and Middle Tennessee all at home. The balance it bad road this coming season will reverse to being home favorable the next.
 
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#11
#11
Memphis was a decent game but they wouldn’t stand much of a chance with CKC in year 2 so I figure it was a great idea to look at some different teams w/ a different style of play.
Also the small group of fans constantly talking about these away games are simply missing the point. It’s not a single game on the schedule that is not winnable.
Many of the ranked road games the Lady Vols will be favored to win including NC State, Louisville, Ole Miss, Oklahoma, among others.
I’m not sure where Standford, Middle Tennessee State, and a few others will be early in the season when they play Tennessee but the Lady Vols will be heavily favored in those games.
Lastly, just because a game is on your homecourt doesn’t mean you will win.
UConn, UCLA, South Carolina, and LSU will get beat by this 2025-2026 LV team if they assume like some of the fanatics that playing on the road is an automatic disadvantage.
The 2024-2025 LV team literally won the road in the NCAA tourney against an highly ranked opponent on their homecourt a handful of months ago on their way to the Sweet 16. I don’t see any non conference opponent that will present more of a challenge to play in their arena than Ohio State.
I think Coach Caldwell knows exactly what she’s doing and is using that as an advantage inside of the locker room.



mcannon1 said:
I wish we were playing Memphis again.

"Including our conference opponents, our schedule includes the top six teams and 10 of the top 20-ranked programs in the early preseason polls," Caldwell said. "We have our work cut out for us, but I believe our challenging non-conference opponents will better prepare us for what we're going to see in the Southeastern Conference.

"We're a little out of balance in terms of home and away ranked opponents, and that's something that takes some time to even out."
Click to expand...
 
#14
#14
Overall very tough but reasonable schedule. I’m excited to see how they match up early against NC State and UCLA. I think NC State will be a little better than expected even with the players they lost to graduation. I’m super interested to see how the UCLA game will turn out. It will be a huge test on the road as we all saw how that turned out for SC last year. However, I remember how UCLA got ran out of the gym in their final four game against UConn. The pace UConn played with was a nightmare for UCLA. Will be fascinating to see if TN is capable of creating a similar game.

Plenty of other non-cupcake games should be interesting as well including Louisville who will be much better than last season. I’m sure those who can attend home games are disappointed in the lack of decent home games overall this season.

Also, it will be cool to see the team reunite with Destinee and Ace during the UT Martin and Belmont games. I’m sure both of those players will gets a lot of minutes at their schools this season!
 
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#20
#20
BruisedOrange said:
Does anyone know what the Columbus State connection is? I wonder if Carson-Newman wanted a change, or if we wanted to help out CSU for some reason?
Click to expand...

That was my first thought at seeing the schedule: What about Carson-Newman? I can't imagine them being the ones who decided not to play Tennessee this season since having the opportunity to play the Lady Vols not only helps them financially, but it's a nice recruiting tool. Athletes from smaller schools get a genuine thrill getting to experience games against the major schools, and especially to play in an arena like Tennessee's.

I would also like to know what the Columbus State connection is.
 
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#21
#21
When I first heard of all the good OOC opponents we were facing, I was worried about how this would play out. Now, when you see how they are nicely interspersed among some cupcakes, it doesn't seem quite like the gauntlet I feared. I hope our SEC schedule also has a better mix than last so we don't play 5 to 6 ranked teams in a 3-week schedule, especially when they will be mostly on the road.
 
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#22
#22
lvocd said:
[...]

I would also like to know what the Columbus State connection is.
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csucougars.com

Women’s Basketball Bolsters Staff with Hya Haywood - Columbus State University Athletics

COLUMBUS – Columbus State University women's basketball Head Coach Matt Houser has announced the addition of a new member to the program, bolstering the coaching
csucougars.com csucougars.com

Cultivating a new sprig on the coaching tree?

FTA:
The Lady Cougars program is pleased to announce the hire of Hya Haywood as a graduate assistant. Houser and staff are pleased to strengthen the corps with an additional graduate assistant coach in Haywood. Hya began her coaching journey as the head girls coach for North Junior High in Evansville, Ind. In her first season, she guided the team to a championship game appearance, finishing with a strong 12-2 record.

"I'm thrilled to have Hya on our staff," Houser said. "She was an outstanding player at Glenville State and brings with her experience from a system very similar to ours."

Ooooh! Similar system--that should be fun to watch!
 
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#23
#23
BruisedOrange said:
csucougars.com

Women’s Basketball Bolsters Staff with Hya Haywood - Columbus State University Athletics

COLUMBUS – Columbus State University women's basketball Head Coach Matt Houser has announced the addition of a new member to the program, bolstering the coaching
csucougars.com csucougars.com

Cultivating a new sprig on the coaching tree?

FTA:
The Lady Cougars program is pleased to announce the hire of Hya Haywood as a graduate assistant. Houser and staff are pleased to strengthen the corps with an additional graduate assistant coach in Haywood. Hya began her coaching journey as the head girls coach for North Junior High in Evansville, Ind. In her first season, she guided the team to a championship game appearance, finishing with a strong 12-2 record.

"I'm thrilled to have Hya on our staff," Houser said. "She was an outstanding player at Glenville State and brings with her experience from a system very similar to ours."

Ooooh! Similar system--that should be fun to watch!
Click to expand...
Nice! Kudos…
 
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#25
#25
BruisedOrange said:
csucougars.com

Women’s Basketball Bolsters Staff with Hya Haywood - Columbus State University Athletics

COLUMBUS – Columbus State University women's basketball Head Coach Matt Houser has announced the addition of a new member to the program, bolstering the coaching
csucougars.com csucougars.com

Cultivating a new sprig on the coaching tree?

FTA:
The Lady Cougars program is pleased to announce the hire of Hya Haywood as a graduate assistant. Houser and staff are pleased to strengthen the corps with an additional graduate assistant coach in Haywood. Hya began her coaching journey as the head girls coach for North Junior High in Evansville, Ind. In her first season, she guided the team to a championship game appearance, finishing with a strong 12-2 record.

"I'm thrilled to have Hya on our staff," Houser said. "She was an outstanding player at Glenville State and brings with her experience from a system very similar to ours."

Ooooh! Similar system--that should be fun to watch!
Click to expand...
On reflection... this is also CKC taking the reins of the program to the extent of diverting from a tradition that (IIRC) Pat began. Noteworthy.

But, in the same breath, it's exactly what Pat would do, investing in a former player.
 
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