After two seasons at Miami, Zee Spearman needed a change.
Unsure of what was next, Spearman knew entering the transfer portal was her best chance at a fresh start.
Not long after putting her name in the portal, she was on the phone with the newly hired first-year head coach, Kim Caldwell.
“I got on the phone with Coach Kim, and I was just like, ‘I really like her.’ The way she talks, the way she, like carries herself, like, makes it feel like you have a family and it’s like you’re gonna have the freedom to play however you feel like playing. And it’s actually have been like that since I’ve been here,” said Spearman.
That level of candor from Caldwell was refreshing for the then-sophomore.
However, the level of honesty Caldwell gives her players still has a shock factor to it.
“She can’t be too honest sometimes, but she is really honest. And so, like, that’s why I like her, because no other coach is going to be that honest with you. She tells you how it is, whatever you feel like you can be sad when they just want to tell you how it is, like, doesn’t really matter,” said Spearman.
The team emphasized that Caldwell is the same regardless of the time of year. From the offseason that felt like a ‘boot camp’ to game week of the NCAA Tournament. That consistency is something the team relies on heavily.
“It makes your mentality tougher. Makes you have a tougher mindset. When things aren’t going your way, like adversity. Like she does that even when things are going good and when things are going bad,” said Spearman. “So, our mindset is going to be stronger, because we have Coach Kim to be there, to always be on us every time.”
Having mental toughness is what Spearman was looking for when she took the leap of faith to leave Miami after two seasons.
She’s found that with the Lady Vols.
“Summer! It was in a boot camp like, I was like, ‘Oh Lord, this is gonna be a long season!” It was both running, like how she doesn’t care if you hurting that day. She doesn’t care. If you’re there warming up and the athletic trainer says, ‘you’re good,’ you have no excuses. So it’s like that toughness in her,” said Spearman.
In two seasons with the Hurricanes, the forward played in 60 games and started 10. She averaged 5.8 points and 5.0 rebounds for the Canes and shot 50.5 percent from the field.
One of Caldwell’s goals for Spearman was to make her a more well-rounded shooter, which certainly tested her mental toughness in the early months of being a Lady Vol.
“I knew I was going to have trouble, like, with my mindset, especially because sometimes I can be, like, my biggest critic. So I just knew, like, if I just kept, like, turning myself, everybody got your back. They have confidence in me, like to stop driving or something. Like, I just took that leap. I’m just trying just one game, you know, I’m saying it just like it became a pattern, like It felt good to actually play that way and have a good mindset,” said Spearman.
Spearman’s development on offense and playing for a coach who encouraged her to be confident in her ability was exactly what she wanted in her new home.
Her greatest development is reflected in her physicality in driving in the paint and more so, taking a three-pointer when it’s open.
Through 31 games this season, she’s made 20 triples. 10 more makes than she attempted in two years at Miami.
Those results led the now-junior to say she doesn’t feel like she’s in a box anymore. A realization she had shortly after arriving on Rocky Top.
“Probably in the summer when we started playing pickup. Like she really allows me to, like, actually pull away like you. I’m saying, like, feel comfortable and do things like she wants me to believe I can do, and things that she wants me to believe I can do also,” said Spearman.
That sparked Spearman’s journey to finding herself again.
“It was really just trying to find, like, my next home and find me again, also in the process. And I feel like I’ve done that since I’ve been here,” said Spearman.
That’s also reignited her self-confidence which has had a ripple effect on the whole team.
“I find that confidence in like, what I can do for others. If I’m putting that confidence in somebody else, I’m gonna have the confidence back in myself, because I let it go to pour into me as well. So it’s just like, if we all have confidence in each other, we’re all gonna show up,” said Spearman.