The Kim Caldwell System

[WVU05UT09]

I'm interested to see the Florida and Mississippi State games early in the SEC. On paper Tennessee should win but both opposing coaches have seen the "system". I think you may get some indication in both games how easy it is to pick apart and/or whether it has actually changed since last year.

 

[VA_VOLFAN]

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Appears to be pretty cupcakey

I am curious how they look? Are they improving , hustling, playing the system? I will see how they do in Big12 play

 

[VA_VOLFAN]

I have confidence and trust with Kim Calwell. In two seasons LVs will be cutting down the nets.

Kim is that you? If it is so some rebounding and lay up drills

 

[VA_VOLFAN]

We would almost certainly be 14 and 0 with whom they have played thus far. I think it was a smart move by her to schedule like she did. They don't have a lot of power and are going to lose several games coming up still it make them look good right now to be undefeated.

Would our players be playing hard and in a system that supports their talents ? That’s my thing. Her players look like they had fun from the few clips ours look miserable even in blowouts.

I dunno. Just very meh and I love the LVs so hopefully they figure it out.

 

[Volfan2012]

Would our players be playing hard and in a system that supports their talents ? That’s my thing. Her players look like they had fun from the few clips ours look miserable even in blowouts.

I dunno. Just very meh and I love the LVs so hopefully they figure it out.

Don't think it is fun to play our coaches system. If you play it right you need to work much harder than a regular system. I don't know if it gets better as the season progresses, but looks to me like some of the players wish they were somewhere else.

 

[larjoranj]

Mighty Ducks. Flying V

 

[StorrsCentral]

Great historical recall.

This example also raises the question of why Geno, Dawn, Vic, Kim Mulkey, and other elite coaches have not adopted some version of "this system". We can raise the same question on the men's side, where you find periodic attempts to run something lilke this but few sustained example of success.

Are these elite coaches just too set in their ways or just not visionary enough to "see" the genius of "the system?," which in one form or another has been around a long time.

For a school like Quinipiac or say Marshall, who are always recruiting from the mid to lower tier of the talent pool, going kamikaze might be a decent strategy. If you can create a enough chaos, maybe you can throw a more talented team off their game and get the occasional upset.

I think we have seen with the LVs, that once good teams have a scout on this chaotic, mad scramble approach, they figure out how to manage it pretty well and exploit its gaps. So, then we are in a trade-off situation. Does chaos factor create enough positive plays to outweigh the "exploited" weaknesses?

Another relevant question is this: When you can recruit from the upper levels of the talent pool, does this system, which may maximize the collective potential of "workhorse" players, get the best out of "race horse" players?

We have some preliminary data points from the pre-season but the conference games should give us a more definitive answer.

Yeah, I think UConn, LSU, and SC should switch to Kims system, after all they haven't been doing too well with the system they run now. What's wrong with them?

 

[glv98]

Yeah, I think UConn, LSU, and SC should switch to Kims system, after all they haven't been doing too well with the system they run now. What's wrong with them?

Coach Gabe was actually asked last year why other coaches don’t try this system. His answer was (a bit smugly)that others just don’t want to work this hard. This staff appears to me to overvalue work for works sake. Sweat and tears, yes. Efficiency and simplicity , no.

 

[Volpatine]

Glad to lose Vitello over this debacle
Worth it imo

 

[b_gann]

Her quote is an interesting interpretation of her job. If I recall, White said she was hired to win a national championship. I don't recall him saying she was hired to run "a system" come hell or high water.

I know, he wanted more up tempo, exciting basketball (I am mean didn't we all?) but lots of schools can play "fast" within a more conventional structure.

CKC seems very ego-invested in "the system" and I sort of wish she was more ego-invested in winning a NC (and she has a D2 title on her resume).

One thing that stood out to me in the Louisville game was a short stretch, where Mia Pauldo played absolute lock down half court defense. She stayed tight to the Louisville PG, kept her squared up and kept hands up to avoid fouling. Unfortunately, the PG made a pass and then another pass led to a wide open back door cut because only one person playing lockdown defense creates a four on one mismatch (in any system).

So, Pauldo as a freshman knows how to do it. If you have natural lateral quickness, as pretty much all the LVs have, it is not that hard to learn to stay low, tight and not touch foul. Could you imagine what this team could do if they got Coop, Pauldo, Zee, Latham, and Civil all playing half court defense with that intensity?

It is kind of tragic that all the defensive effort is spent chasing ghosts in an easily broken high press.

Take all this with a grain of salt, as I have watched on a few LV games this year and last. I was very excited by the Caldwell hire. I was hoping she'd be the Bruce Pearl of women's basketball given the style of play and excitement. However, we're getting the early Bruce style of play without the success. There was a reason Bruce went away from the press after the first couple of years. For one, it's hard to press equal and high-level talent. They won't turn the ball over like inferior teams. For two, it's hard to get the buy-in from high level talent to come in and play that way.

You'd also like to see better offensive flow from her teams either way.

 

[KnoxLikeUs]

This speaks volume of the head coach and staff. They actually believe they are preparing this team for success. They believe that they have a strategy to beat coaches on the opposite sideline that are exposing the coach’s system, taking advantage of the predictability of the system, and yet UT coach best response is a hypothetical scenario of players demeanor during supposed epic meltdowns (when I see the coaching staff sitting in chairs side by side looking like deer in the headlights) putting all the responsibility on players to execute flawlessly in a flawed one dimensional system.
Man this is officially a lost cause at this point. The writing is on wall. This team won’t make the NCAA tourney running this system.

 

[chuckiepoo]

There definitely seems to be an intrasquad trust issue. Having low assists coupled with low % is not a formula for success. Need to see the ball make it through the hole a little more often.

Looked much more in Sync last night.
…NSync, boy band? …should be easy to remember…

 

[volfan102455]

Coach Gabe was actually asked last year why other coaches don’t try this system. His answer was (a bit smugly)that others just don’t want to work this hard. This staff appears to me to overvalue work for works sake. Sweat and tears, yes. Efficiency and simplicity , no.

There is working hard and there is working smart. To be successful at anything one does you MUST use both to obtain the right mixture for success.

I personally think working smart is the bigger driver to success of the two. Working smart typically leads to achieving more because you eliminate what is not working or productive maximizing what "working hard" brings to the table.

Great coaches "work smart". They are flexible and define what works well for the team of players they have on the floor in relationship to their opponent. All opponents are not created equal in terms of skill set. "Smart" coaches who focus on giving their players the best chance to win, will adjust on game-by-game basis. They don't just throw out a system and pray they win because their players "worked harder".

It is a gimmick system. I fear this is all CKC knows and doesn't really know any other style thus cannot adapt.

 

[glv98]

There is working hard and there is working smart. To be successful at anything one does you MUST use both to obtain the right mixture for success.

I personally think working smart is the bigger driver to success of the two. Working smart typically leads to achieving more because you eliminate what is not working or productive maximizing what "working hard" brings to the table.

Great coaches "work smart". They are flexible and define what works well for the team of players they have on the floor in relationship to their opponent. All opponents are not created equal in terms of skill set. "Smart" coaches who focus on giving their players the best chance to win, will adjust on game-by-game basis. They don't just throw out a system and pray they win because their players "worked harder".

It is a gimmick system. I feal this is all CKC knows and doesn't really know any other style thus cannot adapt.

Agree. I’ve been saying for a while that this is a work harder, not smarter system. As I said above, this staff seems to value work for work sake, as if hard work alone is a magical pill.

 

[volfan102455]

This speaks volume of the head coach and staff. They actually believe they are preparing this team for success. They believe that they have a strategy to beat coaches on the opposite sideline that are exposing the coach’s system, taking advantage of the predictability of the system, and yet UT coach best response is a hypothetical scenario of players demeanor during supposed epic meltdowns (when I see the coaching staff sitting in chairs side by side looking like deer in the headlights) putting all the responsibility on players to execute flawlessly in a flawed one dimensional system.
Man this is officially a lost cause at this point. The writing is on wall. This team won’t make the NCAA tourney running this system.

I listened to this - she points out the issues, but she fails to address the issues during the game. When these meltdowns happen, there needs to be a timeout with redirection communicated to the players. It seems like the thought of coaching during the game is a foreign concept.

 

[glv98]

I listened to this - she points out the issues, but she fails to address the issues during the game. When these meltdowns happen, there needs to be a timeout with redirection communicated to the players. It seems like the thought of coaching during the game is a foreign concept.

Communication between staff and players is emerging as a huge issue. Staff has said repeatedly, their plans and practices are not being translated to the floor.

That probably explains why the players are playing last year’s 3 chunking offense while the coaches claim they changed that to a more measured, inside/out offense at the first of this year. Clearly they are not on the same page.

 

[volfan102455]

Communication between staff and players is emerging as a huge issue. Staff has said repeatedly, their plans and practices are not being translated to the floor.

That probably explains why the players are playing last year’s 3 chunking offense while the coaches claim they changed that to a more measured, inside/out offense at the first of this year. Clearly they are not on the same page.

Clearly - being used to watching Pat Summitt over the years, that is when she would have either called a time out or clearly articulated to her players from the sideline that she was not pleased. These coaches just let them continue what is not working and then say "it isn't us".

I hope things change after the break - but beginning to think the writing is on the wall.

 

[volfan102455]

I also believe that CKC is being driven by the fact that this has been successfull everywhere else. But she needs to realize she is in a very different league.

 

[KnoxLikeUs]

That is because there is only one game-plan. It is only so many ways you can tell someone to do the same thing in a different way.
And the opponents know the game-plan due to its predictability after the 1st quarter. No way a team should be able to adjust to your entire system after one quarter of basketball if they have the personnel to matchup to your roster. Winning comes down to not just the players on the floor but coaching to make adjustments is 50% of the game as well. So as you stated, you never allow it to keep happening if you are coaching in-game.

I listened to this - she points out the issues, but she fails to address the issues during the game. When these meltdowns happen, there needs to be a timeout with redirection communicated to the players. It seems like the thought of coaching during the game is a foreign concept.

 

[creekdipper]

Communication between staff and players is emerging as a huge issue. Staff has said repeatedly, their plans and practices are not being translated to the floor.

That probably explains why the players are playing last year’s 3 chunking offense while the coaches claim they changed that to a more measured, inside/out offense at the first of this year. Clearly they are not on the same page.

Chunking Express...an inscrutable work of cinema....

 

[Volfan2012]

There is working hard and there is working smart. To be successful at anything one does you MUST use both to obtain the right mixture for success.

I personally think working smart is the bigger driver to success of the two. Working smart typically leads to achieving more because you eliminate what is not working or productive maximizing what "working hard" brings to the table.

Great coaches "work smart". They are flexible and define what works well for the team of players they have on the floor in relationship to their opponent. All opponents are not created equal in terms of skill set. "Smart" coaches who focus on giving their players the best chance to win, will adjust on game-by-game basis. They don't just throw out a system and pray they win because their players "worked harder".

It is a gimmick system. I fear this is all CKC knows and doesn't really know any other style thus cannot adapt.

Looks totally to be our problem especially on offense. In last nights game team worked harder on defense than I have seen them do all season. On offense a bunch of really terrible decisions made all that defensive work just work for no reason. Someone on here posted that in the analytics we were determining the weaknesses and strengths of every player and that was going to be the way they played. I wonder when that starts cause I am quite certain of most of the players weaknesses and strengths on offense and well over half the team has decided to play in another direction away from their actual offensive abilities.

Like I have said in many other posts. I think the freedom aspect of the system where players can do as they please is causing us serious harm in being able to be more consistent scoring team. I just don't see the point of letting players that can't shoot the three shoot them. I can't see letting players drive the ball that don't have that ability to do so. We do have drivers and shooters on this team and learning those roles is where were really going wrong. We have way to much of drivers shooting threes and three point shooters trying to be drivers. We also have bigs who think they are point guards and try to dribble the entire court when they should be giving it up to a guard. It all comes out to make the offense look like its looked in several games this season. So learning roles has not been accomplished and until that happens we'll struggle with offensive efficiency.

 

[volfan102455]

Looks totally to be our problem especially on offense. In last nights game team worked harder on defense than I have seen them do all season. On offense a bunch of really terrible decisions made all that defensive work just work for no reason. Someone on here posted that in the analytics we were determining the weaknesses and strengths of every player and that was going to be the way they played. I wonder when that starts cause I am quite certain of most of the players weaknesses and strengths on offense and well over half the team has decided to play in another direction away from their actual offensive abilities.

Like I have said in many other posts. I think the freedom aspect of the system where players can do as they please is causing us serious harm in being able to be more consistent scoring team. I just don't see the point of letting players that can't shoot the three shoot them. I can't see letting players drive the ball that don't have that ability to do so. We do have drivers and shooters on this team and learning those roles is where were really going wrong. We have way to much of drivers shooting threes and three point shooters trying to be drivers. We also have bigs who think they are point guards and try to dribble the entire court when they should be giving it up to a guard. It all comes out to make the offense look like its looked in several games this season. So learning roles has not been accomplished and until that happens we'll struggle with offensive efficiency.

I agree but I think the problem is that this system doesn't really have well stated roles. It is more like ... if you think you have a shot take it approach.

 

[volfan102455]

And I don't really like being this critical and had hoped CKC was young and full of innovative ideas to get the Lady Vols back on top - but that does not seem to be the case. She just seems to be stuck in using her own system regardless and has yet to learn that it won't work effectively "as is" against the best coaches.

 

[madtownvol]

It is a gimmick system. I fear this is all CKC knows and doesn't really know any other style thus cannot adapt.

I am in your choir on the first sentence. Per the 2nd one, I think it is a case of won't adapt.

The X and Os of basketball are not quantum physics. It is just not that hard to tweak this system into being an aggressive half court, that occasionally uses a full court press as surprise attack. CKC has the players for it. It does not seem as though they have been really rehearsed on the fundamentals of good one on one defense, as all the effort seems to be directed at learning CKC's "be in two places at one time" system. And it is not that hard to emulate teams that have deep benches but still manage to let their team build chemistry via systematic substitutions.

I do understand the general idea. We are going to create so much havoc and unpredictably with our constant high energy pressing and seemingly random hockey-style subbing that opposing teams will be overwhelmed and confused. Against good teams ( and even some middling ones), the actual results look more like this:

 

[madtownvol]

Communication between staff and players is emerging as a huge issue. Staff has said repeatedly, their plans and practices are not being translated to the floor.

That probably explains why the players are playing last year’s 3 chunking offense while the coaches claim they changed that to a more measured, inside/out offense at the first of this year. Clearly they are not on the same page.

If I am a teacher with a class of Rhodes scholars and I keep complaining they can't learn what I am teaching them, maybe the problem is my teaching methods. Just sayin'....

This is 2 or maybe three times after a comfortable win, that CKC has uttered this complaint. Objectively, it is just an odd stance for a coach to take in a post-game press conference.