Lady Vols basketball is almost here, and with the 2026-27 season less than a week from tipping off at Food City Center in Knoxville, the early read on this roster is starting to take shape. After a couple of practices and an open exhibition, there’s enough to start sorting out who looks ready to carry the load and how this season might unfold.
The safest bet for the Lady Vols’ top player is Kaylene Smikle. Tennessee brought her in to be the best player on the roster, and so far she has looked every bit the part.
She was outstanding in the open scrimmage against the boys’ practice players, then followed that with another strong performance against Florida A&M in the exhibition. Smikle has moved well in her recovery and has consistently gotten to the rim for easy chances.
SEC play will be a tougher test, but she has looked like an All-SEC caliber player to this point.
Smikle also projects as the team’s leading scorer. If she doesn’t end up at the top, Naomi White would be the next name to watch.
Conveniently, those two were the Lady Vols’ top scorers in the exhibition against Florida A&M. Smikle’s scoring ceiling gets even higher if her 3-point shot is falling with regularity.
If that part of her game shows up, she should be hovering just under 20 points per game, if not above it.
From beyond the arc, Rylie Theuerkauf looks like Tennessee’s best shooter. The Lady Vols have several players who can knock down threes, but Theuerkauf stands out after hitting 40.6% from deep last season at Georgia.
She should get plenty of looks this year, and while that number could dip below 40%, it would still be surprising if she wasn’t in that range. Avery Mills would have been in the mix here, too, if she hadn’t torn her ACL this offseason.
On the glass, Fatmata Janneh is the clear pick to lead the team in rebounding. There are other capable rebounders on this roster, including Aaliyah Moore, who could post strong numbers with the minutes ahead of her.
But Janneh has already shown she belongs among the SEC’s best. She averaged 9.7 rebounds per game at Texas A&M last season, and she looks set to own that category for Tennessee.
The defensive edge goes to Kennedy Fauntleroy. Picking the best defender on a team is never simple, but Fauntleroy has the strongest case.
Kim Caldwell appears to think so, too. Fauntleroy said Caldwell set a goal for her to win SEC Defensive Player of the Year before the season starts.
As a key piece of the press, she could pile up steals in a big way. She also arrives with recent hardware, having been named American Conference Co-Defensive Player of the Year at East Carolina.
If there’s one player who could swing the whole offense, it’s Naomi White. Her scoring burst against Florida A&M stood out, and if that becomes a regular thing, it gives Tennessee a major lift. That matters even more if the Lady Vols get bogged down in half-court possessions, where White’s ability to score would be especially valuable.
As for the season as a whole, a 20-12 finish with a 7-9 mark in SEC play feels like the most likely path. The nonconference schedule looks a little unusual, but it should be manageable enough for Tennessee to get through mostly cleanly.
The projected losses are UCLA and UConn, with a split against Virginia Tech and Baylor. Once league play starts, the degree of difficulty rises.
A finish around .500 in the SEC would line up with what the Lady Vols did in both seasons under Kim Caldwell. If the losses are competitive rather than lopsided like last year’s, that should still leave Tennessee in a comfortable NCAA Tournament position.
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