On the surface, it shouldn’t be a big deal. After all, the Tennessee Lady Vols played all of last year without Te’a Cooper. What does her loss mean this year?
Well, it actually means a lot.
Tennessee had a national championship caliber team next year with its three stars coming back in Mercedes Russell, Diamond DeShields, and Jaime Nared. Only Jordan Reynolds was set to leave.
Add in the No. 1 recruiting class for this year and the return of Cooper at point guard, and Warlick had all of her problems from this past year solved: no more issues with depth, talent, or veteran guard play.