Tennessee’s fast-paced pressing style leads the Lady Vols into the AP women’s Top 25

NEW YORK (AP) - Kim Caldwell brought her fast-paced pressing style to Tennessee this season.

It had been successful when she coached at the Division II level at Glenville State and then last season at Marshall.

Now it’s working early in the season as Caldwell has guided No. 19 Tennessee back to the Top 25. The Lady Vols entered the AP women's basketball poll Monday for the first time in a year, ending the longest drought outside the Top 25 in school history. The team’s next game is Saturday against N.C. Central.

"I’ve tweaked it over the years, watched a lot of film," she said. "I know when we started playing it, we liked it.”

Besides pressing for the entire game, the Lady Vols constantly sub in fresh players every few minutes. Caldwell said that one of the assistants on the bench is in charge of the hockey-style substitutions that has players quickly shuttling in and out of the game.

The players have bought in to the system.

"We talked about it and we explained it to them," Caldwell said. "It is fun. People get so caught up that you're getting subbed out quickly, when you’re actually getting more possessions in 2-to-3 minutes then you would walking the ball up the floor."

Tennessee is 7-0 and coming off an impressive win over then-No. 17 Iowa on Saturday at the Women’s Champions Classic.

Iowa coach Jan Jensen said that it was difficult to prepare for Tennessee’s style and the Lady Vols eventually wore down the Hawkeyes mentally. Iowa’s last basket in the 78-68 loss came with 4:38 left in the game. The Hawkeyes led 66-62 at that point.

The Women’s Champions Classic will return to New York next season and in the second-year of a five-year plan. The doubleheader, which also featured No. 2 UConn routing then-No. 22 Louisville, drew over 9,000 fans.

Many teams are in final exams so the schedule is a bit lighter over the next two weeks. There are fewer marquee matchups this week.

No. 7 Maryland (10-0) is off to its best start since the Terrapins opened the 2018-19 season 12-0. Michigan State, which moved up seven spots to No. 17, is 9-0 and off to the best start in school history. The team won its first eight games twice, the last coming in 2020-21. Georgia Tech is also 9-0 and is off to its fastest start since 1977-78,

UCLA transfer Charlisse Leger-Walker will sit out this season while still recovering from an ACL tear she suffered in January. Leger-Walker received a medical redshirt and will return next season coach Cori Close said on Friday.

The NCAA's weekly NET rankings - one of the tools that the selection committee uses for the NCAA Tournament bracket - has South Carolina still as the top choice with UConn, Kansas State and Texas as the next three. UCLA, which is No. 1 in the AP poll, is fifth.