2026-27 Lady Vols Basketball Team!

[spojo13]

Yes, unlearning involves both creating new neural pathways rather than the habitual ones as well as countering muscle memory a in one big interacting system. The cognitive part of understanding it is by far the easiest.

Exactjy! Very well put. It has to become instinctual which takes much longer to form than simple understanding.

 

[madtownvol]

Hmm... I thought I'd said my last on this, but in view of the multiple challenges posted since, I'll respond once, and only once, more.

Am I subject to confirmation bias? Of course. Everyone is. It's an unconscious process that we cannot observe or modify consciously. It screens the flood of external data hitting our senses (including reading forum posts) and globs onto and emphasizes what fits our beliefs, twists the ambiguous into supporting evidence, ignores any contrary evidence it can, and minimizes the importance of what it can't. As a result, our beliefs become more and more confirmed in our own minds as "reality." A great example of that was the post that triggered this particular set of exchanges which merely claimed that it took all of preseason for teams to learn Kim ball. Why in the world did I react to that? Because I read "preseason" as "pre-SEC" -- putting us back into the question of why teams who haven't learned her system win so much. So, yeah. Guilty as charged.

Has Kim talked about unlearning and learning in regard to her system, and that it takes a while to click? Yes, though never in a way that gets to the level of "forgetting everything they know about basketball." Is it a very different system that requires changes in both energy management approaches for players and learning some new aspects of defense and offense? Yes, absolutely. And while it would be easy to say that all coaches, and likely more so for top coaches, don't feel their teams have mastered their approach to basketball when the season starts, that wouldn't be fair. Kim's approach is, as we all know, substantially different in a number of aspects from most other systems and few if any of her players have ever played in anything like it. Full court press defenses are not a staple of most systems and I doubt many of her players had practiced full court press defense as much in their lives as they do in the first pre-season under Kim. For that matter, I've seen her offense described as a "modern 5 out" system, and my basketball knowledge isn't enough to say how common that may be for the players coming into her program. So, yes, lots to unlearn and some to learn, but not to the point that teams can't master it enough to win in November. They have. Repeatedly.

What about using AI to gather and summarize evidence? @1reVOLver brought this up. It's a really good point and one I think we are all going to have to wrestle with, mostly because AI can gather and organize more information that we either can or are willing to do. As an example, while I eyeball the substitution patterns I've had AI derive from ESPN play-by-play descriptions, I haven't audited those descriptions (wow! that would take time!) or even the counts the AI develops. I've looked for obvious mistakes, seen if the patterns seemed to fit what we all saw in the games, and put them out with a description of how they were derived so others can decide whether to accept or even to go digging for mistakes, possibly using other AI approaches. I've also recently posted analyses looking ino whether players shoot better or worse in Kim's system. And, no, I have not gone and checked those numbers. That's the kind of analysis, in the way the AI did it, that I've come to trust, and it's in a low-stakes environment. When AIs develop new drugs by algorithmically folding proteins (as they are), more testing is required. I think this kind of challenge is going to be more and more common.

So what am I going to do about future hyperbolic claims about the insurmountable difficulty of Kim's system or how her family hates her at Thanksgiving? Nothing. Have at it. Moving on.

What am I going to be paying attention to? The 26-27 team. They look like a great test of how quickly players can learn to effectively execute Kim ball. Although some on here have questioned the level of talent brought in, at least one poster whose opinion carries weight with me has said they are more talented than last year's team. I'll be interested to see if Kim gives any hints whether last year's experiment in reduced demands in the summer, both in terms of conditioning and how much of her system she tries to install, will carry over to this year. Her early statements seem to suggest she's going back to the very hard training earlier players described. I'll also be watching to see if the half-court offense looks better, and, if so, if it is more like what Kim's teams showed at Glenville State or gives sign of a significant influence from Coach Ferrara. (Not that I'll likely be able to spot all that much; I hope others on this forum will point out things I would have missed.) Also whether there is evidence of Coach Uzamere's influence shows up in post play, offensively and defensively. Lots of interesting questions to be answered and, I hope, a much more enjoyable season than last year.

Retro, you seem to be conflating the idea of "my system is hard to learn," and "it takes time to fully master" (which i think is the intent of Kim's statements) with can't be learned (as in see Kim's teams win in the early so the system can be learned and you all have confirmation bias).

It is fine that you want to defend the system against its many detractors. But this specific issue has been a, uh let's say puzzling line in the sand to draw.

But I agree we are all spending a lot of litigating the past when only the future really matters,

 

[greenwolfe@gmail.com Ran]

Based on what KIM has said, it appears that she is going back to the preparation she installed in her initial year at ROCKY TOP. She worked her team like dogs. She had them running and gunning until they were exhausted. And she had a few players who were good shooters from 3-pt range. Last year, she simply did not have those shooters. Only Cooper and occasionally Robertson were able to really make a few from range. This really hurt her system and the players she recruited to her team were not able to effectively compete against the better opposition. Now she has recruited a new team. They will more fully represent the kind of players she values. Not only will they have the shooters she desires, they will have the HEART, the Character, the Grit, the Desire, the Competitiveness, and the Work Ethic to at least represent Caldwell and the Lady Vols the way she wants them to. And that is the way it should be.

 

[Volfan2012]

The main thing that has to happen is we have to go from 50 percent twos, 30 percent threes, 64 percent free throw to 50 twos, 35 threes and 75 free throw and get our game shot total back up from 67 to 74 like the first team. This would be done by being able to cut the turnovers that last years team kept losing the turnover battle almost every game along with being a terrible shooting team. Just those two system fixes getting the three point up to 35 percent and free throws to 75 and an additional 7 shots per game like her first team here gets that scoring average up from 77 to 87. It is easy to look at last years schedule and see what an additional ten points in a game would have done to the record. I get a plus seven wins.
Her offense is not hard to learn it is just based on players being able to make the open shots from the three while the inside group being able to maintain.
Defense is where the problems come in and she really needs to tweak here. Stop the over pressing. Don't lose your man on the transition from backcourt to frontcourt. Just these two simple tweaks would probably stop six to eight points of the opposition scoring. Certainly means less trapping which certainly was the main factor teams used to get so many non guarded baskets last season.

 

[RetroVol]

Based on what KIM has said, it appears that she is going back to the preparation she installed in her initial year at ROCKY TOP.

I hope so. And that she goes back to putting in as much of her system as she can during the summer. As has been over-discussed, it is a different way to play basketball and players have to both unlearn some habits and learn others. And as one of our contributors pointed out, re-patterning behavioral responses under game conditions takes repetition. Moreover, there's a psychological aspect -- the feeling of having paid the price to be able to play the system, a sense of belonging to something special that's bigger than personal. Part of that could be team, and hard work together will help build that, but apparently Kim also wants to build it around the legacy of the LVs, beginning with sending each of next year's team a copy of Sum It Up.

 

[mike099]

This group will be entertaining to watch. I really hope the coach leaves hot shooters in the game for longer stretches of time. Also, put a limit on the number of 3’s a player can launch if it is obvious they cannot shoot a reasonable percentage from 3. Example is Spearman from last year.

 

[all_volz]

Those are all good points. I would add "the system" also seems to be striving for a version of positionless basketball.

The offense requires everyone to be 3 point shooter and capable of initiating the half court sets.
The swarming defense also requires a lot of positional fluidity in terms of who guards on the perimeter, who switches on who, who doubles in the post and so on. This is not a system with clearly defined roles so much as functions.

The five in need to be completely interchangeable with the 5 out and her subs do not correspond to any conventional notion of PG for PG, shooting guard for shooting guard, post for post. It's just Swarm A for swarm B and so on.

As far as the defense goes, it appears there are defined roles, or at least there appeared to be year 1. I could be wrong. Year 2 seemed either players were slow to react or maybe just didn't get it, don’t know, but either way it did not work. Players seemed to lose track of their assignment or communication was bad or maybe both

 

[Rooster1]

As far as the defense goes, it appears there are defined roles, or at least there appeared to be year 1. I could be wrong. Year 2 seemed either players were slow to react or maybe just didn't get it, don’t know, but either way it did not work. Players seemed to lose track of their assignment or communication was bad or maybe both

Well since CKC teams do not play any zone defense each player that is on the court has a player they are assigned to play defense against, this of course includes the subs when they enter. So it would only make sense that they do have defined roles on defense. It is assumed that they are trained on when to switch etc. which any man defense must be able to do based upon player movements and screens set. If there are not defined roles on defense in a man to man defense something is wrong. This applies to zone defenses as well of course, team defense always requires defined roles.

Some confusion exists on my part exactly how CKC’s teams are supposed to transition from a full court press back to defined man on man roles efficiently once the press is broken. That is above my pay grade I am afraid.

 

[Rooster1]

This group will be entertaining to watch. I really hope the coach leaves hot shooters in the game for longer stretches of time. Also, put a limit on the number of 3’s a player can launch if it is obvious they cannot shoot a reasonable percentage from 3. Example is Spearman from last year.

Expect the sub patterns to continue regardless of hot hand. If we can ascertain anything about Mrs. Caldwell at this point it is that she is supremely confident in her style of ball and after last season she will not waiver again in straying from that system.

 

[Deebowbear]

Expect the sub patterns to continue regardless of hot hand. If we can ascertain anything about Mrs. Caldwell at this point it is that she is supremely confident in her style of ball and after last season she will not waiver again in straying from that system.

Don’t blame her I would stay with the system that she has had success with in the past. She was a winner before she came here.

 

[Tenore]

Hmm... I thought I'd said my last on this, but in view of the multiple challenges posted since, I'll respond once, and only once, more.

Am I subject to confirmation bias? Of course. Everyone is. It's an unconscious process that we cannot observe or modify consciously. It screens the flood of external data hitting our senses (including reading forum posts) and globs onto and emphasizes what fits our beliefs, twists the ambiguous into supporting evidence, ignores any contrary evidence it can, and minimizes the importance of what it can't. As a result, our beliefs become more and more confirmed in our own minds as "reality." A great example of that was the post that triggered this particular set of exchanges which merely claimed that it took all of preseason for teams to learn Kim ball. Why in the world did I react to that? Because I read "preseason" as "pre-SEC" -- putting us back into the question of why teams who haven't learned her system win so much. So, yeah. Guilty as charged.

Has Kim talked about unlearning and learning in regard to her system, and that it takes a while to click? Yes, though never in a way that gets to the level of "forgetting everything they know about basketball." Is it a very different system that requires changes in both energy management approaches for players and learning some new aspects of defense and offense? Yes, absolutely. And while it would be easy to say that all coaches, and likely more so for top coaches, don't feel their teams have mastered their approach to basketball when the season starts, that wouldn't be fair. Kim's approach is, as we all know, substantially different in a number of aspects from most other systems and few if any of her players have ever played in anything like it. Full court press defenses are not a staple of most systems and I doubt many of her players had practiced full court press defense as much in their lives as they do in the first pre-season under Kim. For that matter, I've seen her offense described as a "modern 5 out" system, and my basketball knowledge isn't enough to say how common that may be for the players coming into her program. So, yes, lots to unlearn and some to learn, but not to the point that teams can't master it enough to win in November. They have. Repeatedly.

What about using AI to gather and summarize evidence? @1reVOLver brought this up. It's a really good point and one I think we are all going to have to wrestle with, mostly because AI can gather and organize more information that we either can or are willing to do. As an example, while I eyeball the substitution patterns I've had AI derive from ESPN play-by-play descriptions, I haven't audited those descriptions (wow! that would take time!) or even the counts the AI develops. I've looked for obvious mistakes, seen if the patterns seemed to fit what we all saw in the games, and put them out with a description of how they were derived so others can decide whether to accept or even to go digging for mistakes, possibly using other AI approaches. I've also recently posted analyses looking ino whether players shoot better or worse in Kim's system. And, no, I have not gone and checked those numbers. That's the kind of analysis, in the way the AI did it, that I've come to trust, and it's in a low-stakes environment. When AIs develop new drugs by algorithmically folding proteins (as they are), more testing is required. I think this kind of challenge is going to be more and more common.

So what am I going to do about future hyperbolic claims about the insurmountable difficulty of Kim's system or how her family hates her at Thanksgiving? Nothing. Have at it. Moving on.

What am I going to be paying attention to? The 26-27 team. They look like a great test of how quickly players can learn to effectively execute Kim ball. Although some on here have questioned the level of talent brought in, at least one poster whose opinion carries weight with me has said they are more talented than last year's team. I'll be interested to see if Kim gives any hints whether last year's experiment in reduced demands in the summer, both in terms of conditioning and how much of her system she tries to install, will carry over to this year. Her early statements seem to suggest she's going back to the very hard training earlier players described. I'll also be watching to see if the half-court offense looks better, and, if so, if it is more like what Kim's teams showed at Glenville State or gives sign of a significant influence from Coach Ferrara. (Not that I'll likely be able to spot all that much; I hope others on this forum will point out things I would have missed.) Also whether there is evidence of Coach Uzamere's influence shows up in post play, offensively and defensively. Lots of interesting questions to be answered and, I hope, a much more enjoyable season than last year.

Yawn

 

[greenwolfe@gmail.com Ran]

So lets look at the 15 players on this years LADY VOLS.

1. GABBY MINUS---A competitive BIG GUARD and the #3 player in GEORGIA. Effective in transition.
2. AVERY MILLS ----A proven shooter and a volume scorer. First team all CUSA.
3. NAOMI WHITE--Freshman of the year in the BIG SKY. And first team all conference.
4. HARPER PETERSON-- A 4-star player.
5. ZHEN CRAFT---- Very physical and a great rebounder.
6. RILEY THEUERKAUF--A proven, elite SEC shooter and scoring threat.
7. IRENE OBOAVWODUO--From the UK. A relentless rebounder with a smooth mid-range game.
8. HARISSOUM COULIBALY--A physical guard with a downhill scoring game.
9. FATMATA JANNEH--A double-double threat with a high motor. Also from the UK.
10. KAYLENE SMIKLE---A proven high usage scorer and shot creator. A physical defensive player.
11. SHAELYN STEELE--Kentucky's top recruit. A quick guard with defensive skills.
12. JADA EADS---A rebounding guard with defensive skills and shooting efficiency.
13. AALIYAH MOORE-- A physical forward and scorer with a high motor.
14. KENNEDY FAUNTLEROY-- All conference and co-defensive player of the year. Provides speed and pressure.
15. RILEY MAKALUSKY--All freshman team in conference and a proven shooter.

 

[ScreamingEagleVol]

So lets look at the 15 players on this years LADY VOLS.

1. GABBY MINUS---A competitive BIG GUARD and the #3 player in GEORGIA. Effective in transition.
2. AVERY MILLS ----A proven shooter and a volume scorer. First team all CUSA.
3. NAOMI WHITE--Freshman of the year in the BIG SKY. And first team all conference.
4. HARPER PETERSON-- A 4-star player.
5. ZHEN CRAFT---- Very physical and a great rebounder.
6. RILEY THEUERKAUF--A proven, elite SEC shooter and scoring threat.
7. IRENE OBOAVWODUO--From the UK. A relentless rebounder with a smooth mid-range game.
8. HARISSOUM COULIBALY--A physical guard with a downhill scoring game.
9. FATMATA JANNEH--A double-double threat with a high motor. Also from the UK.
10. KAYLENE SMIKLE---A proven high usage scorer and shot creator. A physical defensive player.
11. SHAELYN STEELE--Kentucky's top recruit. A quick guard with defensive skills.
12. JADA EADS---A rebounding guard with defensive skills and shooting efficiency.
13. AALIYAH MOORE-- A physical forward and scorer with a high motor.
14. KENNEDY FAUNTLEROY-- All conference and co-defensive player of the year. Provides speed and pressure.
15. RILEY MAKALUSKY--All freshman team in conference and a proven shooter.

You forgot to add “elite, we coming, Coach Caldwell and staff went federal” to your snapshot.
Extenuating the positives is a nice approach, though.

 

[1reVOLver]

You forgot to add “elite, we coming, Coach Caldwell and staff went federal” to your snapshot.
Extenuating the positives is a nice approach, though.

Ha ha ha! I have speculated that Wolfie is a sock puppet for KLUTZ,
but there are subtle differences. Wolfie suffers from irrational exuberance, while KLUTZ was just overly positive to the point of being obnoxious.

 

[VintageFan]

As Clint Eastwood might say, "Here's a question you have to ask yourself: Do you think Coach Jeff Walz using a conventional mode of play would secure more wins this season with this roster than Coach Kim will using her system? Well, do ya, LV Fan?"

 

[volbeast33]

As Clint Eastwood might say, "Here's a question you have to ask yourself: Do you think Coach Jeff Walz using a conventional mode of play would secure more wins this season with this roster than Coach Kim will using her system? Well, do ya, LV Fan?"

Who cares? He is not our coach. I hope we get a chance to play him in the tourney and beat his azz.

 

[1reVOLver]

While the Walz question simmers, or percolates, or sediments,
we may examine the Belichick Issue. Coach Bill's record prior to
becoming a Tar Heel was ELITE. He has an aptitude for accompanying young wimins. A football, like a basketball, may be passed, and is a handheld inflatable object.

Does this make CBB a valid potential successor to our beloved Chipmunk, or should Danny stick to heretofore undiscovered gems in the ranks of mid-majority?