The Kim Caldwell System
- Thread starter RetroVol
- Start date
The minute distribution in the Auburn game looked more like CKC's typical approach. But we've also seen where she's gone away from that, especially against Florida where the top six players got 165 minutes. What's going on, and why?
What's going on? Kim is sticking with her system as much as possible, though apparently ready to adjust, especially in the fourth quarter.
Why? Beyond just sharing the physical load, I think there are mental game, personnel development, and recruiting reasons.
Mental Game: CKC's brand of basketball, the "system," demands a strong mental game: focused, aware, and intentional. Players are constantly reading and reacting to random situations in rapid full-court transitions. This demands court awareness and constant decision making. Her teams need to be better mentally in the midst of rapid play sequences and pressure tactics, both defensively and offensively. When they are, they win the turnover and rebounding battles, end up with a shot advantage, and win, often big. When they aren't, and especially if they shut down and mope for a few plays, they turn the ball over, give up easy baskets, and get out rebounded. This can carry over into more pressure on shots resulting in poor selection and execution, and a negative spiral -- a "meltdown." I think she's going to use her approach as much as possible to keep the team learning with the goal of deploying it effectively against the tough February and beyond schedule. She'll adjust from it when necessary on a game-by-game basis, but expect to continue to see the system, including a deep bench and pressure defense, unless an adjustment is required.
Personnel Development: Kim develops players by playing them in meaningful minutes. They earn those minutes in practice, but they can feel confident about getting opportunities. She's talked about the effect of this system on team cohesion, which she experienced as a player and has seen as a coach. And she's been successful at developing players -- Spearman and Latham on this team are examples. Maybe even more so is that she has five outstanding freshmen and each of them has gotten and continue to get the opportunity to develop by playing meaningful minutes. Mia has come on strong. Deniya has improved. Civil continues to show flashes of brilliance. Mya is settling in. And Hurst, after not getting many opportunities early, seems to be coming into her own. If this approach let's her develop top-50 players and keep a big percentage of them (as yet unproven), that will be huge. Think about starting next year with these five freshmen even further along than they are now. Wowser!
Recruiting: And all of that plays into recruiting. Sure the "free to be me" aspect that Barker mentioned last night helps. Playing fast. Scoring lots of points. And, of course, all of this has to turn into winning, and at Tennessee that means championships, SEC and Nattys. But, when Kim sits down to talk to a recruit, high school or portal, she can say that they will get to play, that their effort in practice will produce meaningful opportunities in games, and that game production will produce even more opportunities. And recruits can see that in the stats and, hopefully, hear it backed up by players. A great example is Mya Pauldo, who has come on as the season has gone along and now may have earned the Twin Back Court a chance to start together.
There is one aspect of personnel development and recruiting that has to factor in: portal players in their final year. When a player like that makes a commitment, they have to get plenty of minutes to show what they can or cannot do. Wolfenbarger is this year's example. I think she's gotten more minutes than her production warrants, but she got them early in the year. Now, we may see them declining. But, when Kim is talking to some potential one-year transfer this spring, she can honestly say, backed up by evidence, that they will get every opportunity to flourish under her approach.
So, I expect to see as much of Kim's system as she can pull off with this team for the rest of the year. And, as frustrating to watch as it is when they lose focus and start making poor decisions leading to turnovers or easy baskets for the other team, I can see reasons for why she sticks with it.
Now, to all of those who say, "This system can never work at this level," you may be right. But there is evidence both ways, and Kim knows what she's seeing and what it means better than I do. Plus we are seeing her adapt. And, frankly, it's fascinating to watch her try. Go Lady Vols!
What's going on? Kim is sticking with her system as much as possible, though apparently ready to adjust, especially in the fourth quarter.
Why? Beyond just sharing the physical load, I think there are mental game, personnel development, and recruiting reasons.
Mental Game: CKC's brand of basketball, the "system," demands a strong mental game: focused, aware, and intentional. Players are constantly reading and reacting to random situations in rapid full-court transitions. This demands court awareness and constant decision making. Her teams need to be better mentally in the midst of rapid play sequences and pressure tactics, both defensively and offensively. When they are, they win the turnover and rebounding battles, end up with a shot advantage, and win, often big. When they aren't, and especially if they shut down and mope for a few plays, they turn the ball over, give up easy baskets, and get out rebounded. This can carry over into more pressure on shots resulting in poor selection and execution, and a negative spiral -- a "meltdown." I think she's going to use her approach as much as possible to keep the team learning with the goal of deploying it effectively against the tough February and beyond schedule. She'll adjust from it when necessary on a game-by-game basis, but expect to continue to see the system, including a deep bench and pressure defense, unless an adjustment is required.
Personnel Development: Kim develops players by playing them in meaningful minutes. They earn those minutes in practice, but they can feel confident about getting opportunities. She's talked about the effect of this system on team cohesion, which she experienced as a player and has seen as a coach. And she's been successful at developing players -- Spearman and Latham on this team are examples. Maybe even more so is that she has five outstanding freshmen and each of them has gotten and continue to get the opportunity to develop by playing meaningful minutes. Mia has come on strong. Deniya has improved. Civil continues to show flashes of brilliance. Mya is settling in. And Hurst, after not getting many opportunities early, seems to be coming into her own. If this approach let's her develop top-50 players and keep a big percentage of them (as yet unproven), that will be huge. Think about starting next year with these five freshmen even further along than they are now. Wowser!
Recruiting: And all of that plays into recruiting. Sure the "free to be me" aspect that Barker mentioned last night helps. Playing fast. Scoring lots of points. And, of course, all of this has to turn into winning, and at Tennessee that means championships, SEC and Nattys. But, when Kim sits down to talk to a recruit, high school or portal, she can say that they will get to play, that their effort in practice will produce meaningful opportunities in games, and that game production will produce even more opportunities. And recruits can see that in the stats and, hopefully, hear it backed up by players. A great example is Mya Pauldo, who has come on as the season has gone along and now may have earned the Twin Back Court a chance to start together.
There is one aspect of personnel development and recruiting that has to factor in: portal players in their final year. When a player like that makes a commitment, they have to get plenty of minutes to show what they can or cannot do. Wolfenbarger is this year's example. I think she's gotten more minutes than her production warrants, but she got them early in the year. Now, we may see them declining. But, when Kim is talking to some potential one-year transfer this spring, she can honestly say, backed up by evidence, that they will get every opportunity to flourish under her approach.
So, I expect to see as much of Kim's system as she can pull off with this team for the rest of the year. And, as frustrating to watch as it is when they lose focus and start making poor decisions leading to turnovers or easy baskets for the other team, I can see reasons for why she sticks with it.
Now, to all of those who say, "This system can never work at this level," you may be right. But there is evidence both ways, and Kim knows what she's seeing and what it means better than I do. Plus we are seeing her adapt. And, frankly, it's fascinating to watch her try. Go Lady Vols!
I agree with almost all this. I do think we’re headed for a hybrid system with less trapping and less subbing against better teams and in close games.
What does that tell us? If she had complete confidence in her system, you would think CKC would want to play it and nothing else when all the chips are down. If instead she’s backing off, that tells me she knows it won’t work in those situations.
I anticipate your response to be that Kims lack of confidence is because the players either aren’t getting it mentally or don’t have the willingness to execute the system properly. I think we’ve officially entered chicken and egg status on that argument, player vs system. But I maintain it’s the coaching staff’s job to coach them up and out of whatever shortcomings are happening. They did,after all, select this group of individuals.
Where I really disagree with you is on recruiting. Glass half empty, which seems to be my job, is that anyone who read your paragraph labeled Mental would have to wonder why the heck would I bother? Esp someone with short elig left. I’m going to spend half my last yr unlearning everything and relearning the worlds hardest to grasp system? One that I’ll never play anywhere else, and one that requires grueling special training and extra wear and tear on legs?
I think this system will have to stack up a lot of very impressive wins and several serious runs at championships to prove to recruits that it’s all worth it.
All that said, while I think the hybrid system is way more likely to work for now than pure system, I’m still a little uncomfortable with half assing the damn thing. As Ive said before, I’d like to get this ongoing question/experiment out of the way, one way or the other and get on with our basketball lives.
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Volfan2012
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She really backed off the press yesterday was no where the aggressive backcourt press that we have seen against the mid-majors. Of course the system really wasn't a factor yesterday she did go back to limited minutes for every player. That could've been by design or could've been because we took a thirteen point lead out of the first quarter.
The only thing that worked for us yesterday was solid defense in the front court and shooting the basketball. We also won the free throw line. What the system is designed to do otherwise on defense to win the turnovers we lost by 8 and win the offensive rebounds we lost by 6.
I still saw a lot of progress in the last three games not settling for three and more driving the basket and mid-range shots. Winning the free throw line. We can't blame the turnovers on the subbing as Barker had 5, Robertson had 5, Spearman had 3, Mia had 3 couple should've went to who she was throwing to and Cooper had 2. So only 7 turnovers off the bench was better than what the usual starters did yesterday.
Goodbye system, we hardly knew ye!
Retro hit it right on the head when he said as much as CKC loves her system, she loves winning even more. She’s definitely made adjustments necessary to help her win. Much more time for her core players, and much less trapping. More situational on defense and more patient on offense. Sounds like a really good compromise, especially while keeping up a high energy pace.
Sounds downright conventional.
Retro hit it right on the head when he said as much as CKC loves her system, she loves winning even more. She’s definitely made adjustments necessary to help her win. Much more time for her core players, and much less trapping. More situational on defense and more patient on offense. Sounds like a really good compromise, especially while keeping up a high energy pace.
Sounds downright conventional.
orangemadam
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Volfan2012
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37620VOL
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Alabama and Kentucky aren’t very good teams. I don’t see Tennessee having trouble beating Alabama on the road.
This Lady Vol team is different. They have as much or more talent than any Top 10 team in WBB.
They will have a decisive talent advantage over Alabama.
The difference during the 3-0 SEC record to start conference play is they are making progress in establishing team chemistry and players are learning their roles/fitting into the system.
Alabama does not have the athletes to run with this Tennessee team. They better focus on Missouri their next opponent.
This Lady Vol team is different. They have as much or more talent than any Top 10 team in WBB.
They will have a decisive talent advantage over Alabama.
The difference during the 3-0 SEC record to start conference play is they are making progress in establishing team chemistry and players are learning their roles/fitting into the system.
Alabama does not have the athletes to run with this Tennessee team. They better focus on Missouri their next opponent.
Unconditional Surrender
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madtownvol
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It seems that more energy is being exerted in the half court defense. There is still some full court pressing but not as much. Early in the MissST. game, the LVs were pressing and it was forcing MissST into mistakes but as the game went on, they starting breaking it and the LVs backed of to more token pressure and working on the half court defensive sets.
orangemadam
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johnnybravo
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@37620VOL posted this comment in the Alabama game thread, but I think it deserves a place here as it is so in depth and thoughtful about CKC's approach vs. the "Grinnell System."
I appreciate the discussion, but anyone saying that with no nuance is very misinformed. I think a lot of people are still treating “Grinnell-style volume” and “efficient offense” as if they can’t coexist, and that’s just not how Kim Caldwell actually coaches. It’s important to separate the original Grinnell extremes from the adapted version Caldwell runs. Her goal has never been “shoot bad shots for the sake of shooting.” The goal is more total shot attempts than the opponent, while still hunting shots the staff considers good.
Caldwell has been very consistent on this point.
In a preseason media availability on November 19, 2024, she said: “We want to play fast, but fast doesn’t mean careless. Players still have to know if a shot is a good shot or a bad shot.”
That alone undercuts the idea that she encourages low-quality attempts.
Later, after early-season games where Tennessee’s pace was high but efficiency fluctuated, she said on December 8, 2024: “The pace isn’t the issue. The issue is recognizing which shots we’re supposed to take and which ones we pass up.”
Again, that’s not Grinnell caricature basketball. That’s pace plus selection. What people miss is that shot clock timing matters for efficiency. Taking shots earlier in the possession can actually increase shot quality, not reduce it. Earlier shots are often uncontested or lightly contested, before the defense is fully set. Early decisions reduce turnovers, because you’re not dribbling into traffic late in the clock. You avoid the worst shots in basketball: forced, late-clock heaves taken at 2–3 seconds because nothing developed. You want a quality shot on every possession, either a close to the basket shot or an open three. She has always said this from day one.
Caldwell addressed this on January 12, 2025, saying: “Late-clock shots are usually bad shots. If we know what we’re looking for, we shouldn’t be waiting until the end of the clock to find it.”
That’s a key philosophical difference from how critics describe her system. The emphasis on early offense isn’t “quick chucking,” it’s decision-making before the possession deteriorates. So no, volume advantage (through turnovers and rebounding) and efficiency aren’t mutually exclusive. You can increase total shot attempts by playing fast, pressing, and rebounding. You can maintain efficiency by defining which quick shots are acceptable and teaching players to recognize them. That’s why her teams can outshoot opponents in raw attempts, set three-point and scoring records, and still talk openly about improving shot selection.
The idea that Caldwell “scrapped efficiency” or “encourages bad shots” just doesn’t line up with what she’s actually said or coached. What she’s doing is closer to modern pace-and-space logic applied aggressively, not a blind copy of Grinnell’s most extreme elements. Fast basketball and smart basketball aren’t opposites. In her system, they’re supposed to reinforce each other.
All of these quotes are from her first season. She hasn't changed the message, but I think she has improved the delivery of the message and the players are starting to buy in and self enforce efficiency this season.
I appreciate the discussion, but anyone saying that with no nuance is very misinformed. I think a lot of people are still treating “Grinnell-style volume” and “efficient offense” as if they can’t coexist, and that’s just not how Kim Caldwell actually coaches. It’s important to separate the original Grinnell extremes from the adapted version Caldwell runs. Her goal has never been “shoot bad shots for the sake of shooting.” The goal is more total shot attempts than the opponent, while still hunting shots the staff considers good.
Caldwell has been very consistent on this point.
In a preseason media availability on November 19, 2024, she said: “We want to play fast, but fast doesn’t mean careless. Players still have to know if a shot is a good shot or a bad shot.”
That alone undercuts the idea that she encourages low-quality attempts.
Later, after early-season games where Tennessee’s pace was high but efficiency fluctuated, she said on December 8, 2024: “The pace isn’t the issue. The issue is recognizing which shots we’re supposed to take and which ones we pass up.”
Again, that’s not Grinnell caricature basketball. That’s pace plus selection. What people miss is that shot clock timing matters for efficiency. Taking shots earlier in the possession can actually increase shot quality, not reduce it. Earlier shots are often uncontested or lightly contested, before the defense is fully set. Early decisions reduce turnovers, because you’re not dribbling into traffic late in the clock. You avoid the worst shots in basketball: forced, late-clock heaves taken at 2–3 seconds because nothing developed. You want a quality shot on every possession, either a close to the basket shot or an open three. She has always said this from day one.
Caldwell addressed this on January 12, 2025, saying: “Late-clock shots are usually bad shots. If we know what we’re looking for, we shouldn’t be waiting until the end of the clock to find it.”
That’s a key philosophical difference from how critics describe her system. The emphasis on early offense isn’t “quick chucking,” it’s decision-making before the possession deteriorates. So no, volume advantage (through turnovers and rebounding) and efficiency aren’t mutually exclusive. You can increase total shot attempts by playing fast, pressing, and rebounding. You can maintain efficiency by defining which quick shots are acceptable and teaching players to recognize them. That’s why her teams can outshoot opponents in raw attempts, set three-point and scoring records, and still talk openly about improving shot selection.
The idea that Caldwell “scrapped efficiency” or “encourages bad shots” just doesn’t line up with what she’s actually said or coached. What she’s doing is closer to modern pace-and-space logic applied aggressively, not a blind copy of Grinnell’s most extreme elements. Fast basketball and smart basketball aren’t opposites. In her system, they’re supposed to reinforce each other.
All of these quotes are from her first season. She hasn't changed the message, but I think she has improved the delivery of the message and the players are starting to buy in and self enforce efficiency this season.
Over the past two seasons, I've heard concerns from coach, players and fans about 1. Periods of meltdowns/lack of focused effort and 2. Players reluctant to share the ball, instead wanting to go it alone.
I wonder if RetroVol would take up the challenge of asking AI colleagues to show us the frequency and trends of both of these over last season and this one. No doubt you have to define what to look for, and I have confidence RetroVol is up to the task if chooses to accept the assignment.
I wonder if RetroVol would take up the challenge of asking AI colleagues to show us the frequency and trends of both of these over last season and this one. No doubt you have to define what to look for, and I have confidence RetroVol is up to the task if chooses to accept the assignment.
chuckiepoo
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Uh, I may have messed up!!
Sounds like a big project, but maybe a chance to develop some new capacities around agents and workflows automation. I think @chukiepoo is right, though the AI will have to calculate as I don't think shot clock is in the pxp -- the AI will have to calculate.
We'll see.
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