Forgive the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women's basketball team for being slightly coy about what to expect in Shawn Poppie's first season as head coach.
Even if the Mocs are reluctant to provide details, all signs point to a faster-paced yet relaxed style of play. Perhaps it's what's been shared about the conditioning program on social media. Maybe it's the easygoing nature shown by the coaching staff in workouts. Recruiting suggests the Mocs are going to get up and down the floor.
Will it work? That's to be determined, of course, beginning with the Nov. 7 season opener against Division II opponent Young Harris at McKenzie Arena. The Mocs' second game, two days later in Nashville, will likely provide much more information as they face Belmont, which has played in the past six NCAA tournaments and nearly upset Tennessee in the second round last season.
The Mocs were formerly NCAA tourney regulars, with 13 berths from 2001 to 2017, but they haven't been back since, and last season they went 7-23 overall and 5-9 in Southern Conference play. It was time for some change, which is why Poppie was brought in.
And when time comes to unveil just what type of change, the team will be ready.
"It'll be a complete 180 from what you're used to," senior forward Abbey Cornelius said. "It's been exciting. We have a big focus on energy and connectedness, so the sisterhood, the family has been a big focus. From day one when Coach Poppie got here, the energy was just a total shift, and it hasn't declined at all since that first day.
"It's only gone up."
When he got to UTC, Poppie created the acronym FIRST, which stands for Family, Integrity, Respect, Self-Discipline and Together, which are his core values for the program.
"With young people, when you can put acronyms to something and it gives them that mindset of a word, that one word sticks with them," said Poppie, a former Virginia Tech assistant
"Obviously, we're here to win championships, that's our goal, so that's where it started. Then to use each one as part of our culture, it kind of worked out organically that we had five weeks in the summer, so each week was a word and it really instilled our culture. They bought into it, it's something that we believe in and now it's put it in action."
He was able to keep a majority of the players from last season, a young roster that featured no seniors. UTC lost second-leading scorer Dena Jarrells to Youngstown State, while three other players on the 2021-22 roster — Pare Pene, Lara Habling, Leah Jones and Ruona Uwusiaba — are no longer in the program, with Pene and Uwusiaba having graduated. In addition, 2020-21 All-SoCon selection Eboni Williams is now at Tennessee State.
Poppie wasted no time making additions, bringing in three quality transfers: 6-foot-2 forward Takia Davis and guards Lamiah Walker and Yazz Wazeerud-Din, who was a two-time All-ASUN pick at Stetson. Davis, from Calhoun, Georgia, is an important addition because of her ability to provided a change of pace inside from Cornelius.
Poppie also signed guard Brooklyn Crouch, the 2022 TSSAA Class 3A Miss Basketball winner at Upperman, and forwards Raven Thompson (5-10) from Atlanta and Frode Flos Van Der Schans (6-4) from the Netherlands.
When it comes to UTC basketball experience, though, Cornelius stands out. She's one of four seniors this season, but the only one in the group who has spent her entire college basketball career with the Mocs.
When the former Hardin Valley Academy standout from Knoxville joined the program, the Mocs were coming off a 2017-18 season in which they had exited quickly at the SoCon tournament but, having posted a winning record overall and in league play during the regular season, made the Women's National Invitation Tournament. They haven't appeared in a postseason national tourney since then.
And while UTC won a record-extending 18th title at the SoCon tourney to cap the 2016-17 season, the program has won just a single game at the event since then — in 2019, when Cornelius was a freshman. So if there's someone ready to see things turn around, it's going to be her.
"Coach Poppie did a really good job of recruiting a great group of girls that not just fit his style of play, but they really fit in with our team that we already had here," Cornelius said. "We get along great, so it's been a lot of fun.
"It's hard to believe that this is my fifth year. Those last four years flew by, but I think this last year is about to be the best year."
And if so, perhaps the team will finish just as the acronym suggests — first.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3.