This could also be a reason that the system needs to be reassessed and tweaked Maybe it's just too darn hard to learn. Maybe it's not worth it to always have rough early seasons as CKC has told us to expect. Maybe it's not a positive to be limited in recruiting experienced players from the portal because the learning curve is too steep.
It didn't stop them from picking up key Portal players with limited eligibility left last spring. Janiah Barker's whole career has been learning and unlearning. We're her 4th school. If anyone can learn a new system quickly, if that system can be learned quickly, it should be her.
I dunno... if it's the
system that's hard to learn, then shouldn't CKC have had
less success with her previous teams, which were made up of less experienced, less accomplished, less athletic (if you count size) players? If anything, her system is less complicated, less about Xs and Os, and more about each player utilizing her skillset, her on-court personality, to achieve more shot attempts than the opponent through generated turnovers and offensive rebounds.
I agree, if it was Xs and Os being too complicated, that they should dial that back, simplify, or wait to install everything.
But if it's just ingrained habits and attitudes having to be unlearned, then I'm not sure how a coach could strategically tweak things like... going straight into aggressive defense after a made basket, seeking to force turnovers every second you're out there on defense, pushing the ball downcourt as rapidly as possible on offense, and playing without constant bench instructions.
I keep hearing CKC say, as last season, that players are doing it right in practice but falling back into old habits during games. If she sees this happening more at Tennessee than it did at Glenville State or Marshall, then I'm thinking it must be because players at this level have already played far more hours of basketball, nearly year-'round, and thus those old habits are more deeply set, more instinctive, and thus coming out when she turns them lose to play the actual games.
If that's the case
(and I know I may be full of hooey) then the only adjustment that would make sense would be to work with more players over successive seasons, until their old habits have been fully purged and replaced. Our best clue to whether or not that will work would be to observe how much Coop, Zee, Latham and Boyd improve/adjust over last season, once they get adjusted to playing with all their new, still assimilating, teammates.
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Geez, it's obvious when I should be doing other writing--I get so long winded here instead! Apologies...]
