What's going on with this team

[Rooster1]

I watched the game. Saw the post game handshake. What exactly is the point you’re trying to make here?

The point? Her players displayed more sportsmanship than she did. That about sums it up.

 

[glv98]

The point? Her players displayed more sportsmanship than she did. That about sums it up.

It’s also the same thing Barker did to Cori Close, who had almost the exact reaction Yo did - surprise, shrug, laugh. Someone seriously think they were reacting to nothing?

 

[zeppelin128]

Kim Caldwell is what is going on with this team.

 

[OllVol]

Sounds like 2-7 should cause a riot, a lynching of those responsible, torching of the AD's chicken coop in your view. If you read these pages with any frequency—obviously you do not—you would be aware of a few things beyond

Of course it’s terrible. About half the fans here blame the coach and/or the system. Another half blame some or many of the players. The third half, the more nuanced and saner group, say there is enough blame to besmirch all of the above. And, of course, upholding a time honored tradition, a fair number are calling for the defenestration of AD DW. So, therefore, the arithmetic is clear, simple, and wrong, just as Mr. Mencken taught us to expect.

You seem unaware that quite a few of those losses have been to teams ranked well above our ladies. And some were games we should have won. And we would have won them except for some nefarious plot by the biased, incompetent announcers, or the refs, or the faulty optics of the arena, or a sinister spell cast by the AI in the sub-basement of the opponent's Alchemy department. And never forget Darth, lest the olde traditions fail.

It's a terrible state of affairs, and you should write to the Editor of your local tabloid, with copies to Mr. P. Fulmer and the ASPCA. Next, call a meeting of The Daughters of…(your choice. I'd pick the group with the best cookies and the record of the most indignant hollering.). Key words to include in protest press releases include…

NIL
portal
Pat
Kellie
quitters
turnovers
“turning over in her grave”
“invented women’s basketball”
S&C
Holly
LVFL
shameful

That should get you off to a good start. If you need further assistance, please stop by again. Your opinions are very important to us.

Thanks again,
Complaint Department
After Hours Desk
GBO

Proving once again that being funny isn't easy.

 

[mudcat1973]

The top issues in my opinion are
1. The emotional fragility of the best players who are upperclassman. This group is where leaders are typically found but have not been there in pivotal games and reportedly in practice. This team more than most teams needed this due to all the Freshman players who are contributing on the team. The emotional fragility may also contribute to some more conflict and dissention within the team, but this part is speculative.
2. Coach Kim not doing well in dealing with the emotional/interpersonal issues on the team. She seems really bright in all areas that I can tell except for emotional intelligence. Some of her reactions suggests that she just isn't nuanced at all in this area, such as she saying I guess the team needs me to yell at them all the time so they would be reminded to do the game plan. This may not be a big obstacle until you deal with a team full of emotional issues, which is likely to increase drastically in this crazy NIL era. Hopefully, she will be learning quick from this year.
3. The combination of the first two issue leads to the third major issue, which is there has not been a player or group or players or a coach who has been able to consistently reach this team when it is falling apart emotionally. This has led to either me-ball or just quitting. There has been some improvement in this area, but more is still needed.
4. No player improvement. Only Latham among the 8 players who played college ball last year has shown significant growth in their game from last year with extreme regression with Zee, Jersey, and to a lesser extent, Boyd.
5. NO Ruby - basketball and emotional impact on team.
6. The schedule is part of the problem. You would never guess for all the extreme hysteria going on right now about the losing streak that actually this team has looked decent in the SEC except for 4 games, 2 of them coming in the 4 games in 8 days stretch. We looked pretty good to very good in the other SEC 8 games we played. After seeing the team for a bit in the preconference season, I think many of us were thinking our final SEC record would be somewhere between 8 and 8 to 10 and 6 with a real optimistic take being 11-5. Well, we not that far off in that we will be 8-8 at worse and possibly 9-7 if we got a much-needed win against Vandy. No one would argue that because we were 6-0 to start the SEC that the team and Kim are great, but there seems to be a popular narrative that the team, coach, and the system are pitiful now that we are losing to top 10 teams that we expected to lose to in the first place. No team has won at either OU, UCLA or SC this year, and only LSU has won at Ole MISS after they were dominated by OM the first three quarters, but the worn-out Ole Miss team was so exhausted that they couldn't shoot in the 4th quarter.
I agree that the horrible showing against A&M helped further intensify the narrative that this team and coach are completely off the rails, but overall, we are not a team getting progressively worse. Our games against Mizzou, Texas, and even OU illustrate that. The team earlier in the year would have been smashed by Texas and OU.

How do feel about rematch with Alabama in second day of the SEC tournament if it happens?
Your odds of that game % winner?
If want to

 

[Majors]

Apathy setting in.

 

[LV renaissance]

How do feel about rematch with Alabama in second day of the SEC tournament if it happens?
Your odds of that game % winner?
If want to

That is a good question. I would prefer to face a team that we played poorly against in the regular season, as this seems that it would be motivating to make amends for the poor performance. I think we played fairly well against Alabama and they might want revenge in that matchup. I imagine the team as well as many fans are wanting this difficult regular season to be over. So, I hope this team will have the outlook that the postseason represent a much-needed reset. Going with this, I think we will beat whoever we play in our first round of the SEC even if it is Alabama.

 

[37620VOL]

It’s also the same thing Barker did to Cori Close, who had almost the exact reaction Yo did - surprise, shrug, laugh. Someone seriously think they were reacting to nothing?

Not exactly the same thing.

CKC was a little fast but still touched hands and muttered "good game", she should have lingered a half-second and made eye contact -- it was typical sore loser stuff.

Barker made a show of it, big time, intentionally disrespectful -- no touch, no words, threw hands up.

But, to your point, a coach *should* be more mature than a player.

 

[Amb3096]

Not exactly the same thing.

CKC was a little fast but still touched hands and muttered "good game", she should have lingered a half-second and made eye contact -- it was typical sore loser stuff.

Barker made a show of it, big time, intentionally disrespectful -- no touch, no words, threw hands up.

But, to your point, a coach *should* be more mature than a player.

She did shake her hand.

But barely. And then she did all the other things you said she did to make a big production out of it. She should have been suspended for those antics, frankly. There's no place for that kind of behavior.

 

[VOLINVONORE]

The top issues in my opinion are
1. The emotional fragility of the best players who are upperclassman. This group is where leaders are typically found but have not been there in pivotal games and reportedly in practice. This team more than most teams needed this due to all the Freshman players who are contributing on the team. The emotional fragility may also contribute to some more conflict and dissention within the team, but this part is speculative.
2. Coach Kim not doing well in dealing with the emotional/interpersonal issues on the team. She seems really bright in all areas that I can tell except for emotional intelligence. Some of her reactions suggests that she just isn't nuanced at all in this area, such as she saying I guess the team needs me to yell at them all the time so they would be reminded to do the game plan. This may not be a big obstacle until you deal with a team full of emotional issues, which is likely to increase drastically in this crazy NIL era. Hopefully, she will be learning quick from this year.
3. The combination of the first two issue leads to the third major issue, which is there has not been a player or group or players or a coach who has been able to consistently reach this team when it is falling apart emotionally. This has led to either me-ball or just quitting. There has been some improvement in this area, but more is still needed.
4. No player improvement. Only Latham among the 8 players who played college ball last year has shown significant growth in their game from last year with extreme regression with Zee, Jersey, and to a lesser extent, Boyd.
5. NO Ruby - basketball and emotional impact on team.
6. The schedule is part of the problem. You would never guess for all the extreme hysteria going on right now about the losing streak that actually this team has looked decent in the SEC except for 4 games, 2 of them coming in the 4 games in 8 days stretch. We looked pretty good to very good in the other SEC 8 games we played. After seeing the team for a bit in the preconference season, I think many of us were thinking our final SEC record would be somewhere between 8 and 8 to 10 and 6 with a real optimistic take being 11-5. Well, we not that far off in that we will be 8-8 at worse and possibly 9-7 if we got a much-needed win against Vandy. No one would argue that because we were 6-0 to start the SEC that the team and Kim are great, but there seems to be a popular narrative that the team, coach, and the system are pitiful now that we are losing to top 10 teams that we expected to lose to in the first place. No team has won at either OU, UCLA or SC this year, and only LSU has won at Ole MISS after they were dominated by OM the first three quarters, but the worn-out Ole Miss team was so exhausted that they couldn't shoot in the 4th quarter.
I agree that the horrible showing against A&M helped further intensify the narrative that this team and coach are completely off the rails, but overall, we are not a team getting progressively worse. Our games against Mizzou, Texas, and even OU illustrate that. The team earlier in the year would have been smashed by Texas and OU.

I agree with number 5.

 

[VolTenn25]

The point? Her players displayed more sportsmanship than she did. That about sums it up.

Players also don’t get fired for being avg. I can understand the human aspect of being irritated after a loss knowing with each one that comes my job becomes a little less stable. (She was aware of these standards when she signed up) but nevertheless, she’s young. She’ll learn from her missteps. She’s never had a light shine that bright on her before. I just think that it’s stupid to continue to harp on that one moment of alleged bad sportsmanship. It would have been more noteworthy had she not shaken her hand. But she did. Move. On. Everyone, coaches included, can grow from this season. Big lessons are being learned.

 

[GUNTERSVOL]

Cannot figure out how to display the data from our season stats, BUT suggest you go view them, especially the turnover numbers.

2 things stand out,
1. our seniors and lead Jr’s way out pace our FR.

2. As bad as those numbers look, we still have like 120 LESS than our opponents. Guessing that reflects more of ours against GOOD opponents and most of opponents from weaker opponents.

The turnovers are way out in front on my OMGs with eye rolls during the games. Bet it has been covered in game reviews.

Don’t know how to COACH around this. The fact we play bad ball in long sequences to get way behind and THEN good ball in long sequences to Close the gaps multiple games is mind boggling. Same players, same coaches and same schemes….. different results WITHIN most games.

NOT A CLUE.

 

[volsagain]

Cannot figure out how to display the data from our season stats, BUT suggest you go view them, especially the turnover numbers.

2 things stand out,
1. our seniors and lead Jr’s way out pace our FR.

2. As bad as those numbers look, we still have like 120 LESS than our opponents. Guessing that reflects more of ours against GOOD opponents and most of opponents from weaker opponents.

The turnovers are way out in front on my OMGs with eye rolls during the games. Bet it has been covered in game reviews.

Don’t know how to COACH around this. The fact we play bad ball in long sequences to get way behind and THEN good ball in long sequences to Close the gaps multiple games is mind boggling. Same players, same coaches and same schemes….. different results WITHIN most games.

NOT A CLUE.

Watched the Glenville championship and the next season lose in the final 4. Easy to see how much better the offense was in the championship. The final 4 lose is what we see at different stretches of the games now just throwing up 3s as quick as possible. The championship team moved the ball much better shot 3s when open or drove the lane when they closed up on them also made the layups. The final 4 lose got down by 20 started playing better closed it up to 3 I think and started throwing up everything again. So this showed me the offensive system works when run by competent players with good guards. Think she lost the main 2 guards from the championship team.

 

[Go47]

I won’t comment on the “why’s” of their play of late. I will say . . . They are flat out terrible on defense. They seemingly have no plan on how to guard in the half court . . . At all. I’m not sure if it’s a players or coaching problem or both. But I think that aspect is indisputable.

This season is a wash I suppose. Next year CKC will have to show something . . . Or she will be shown the door.

 

[LasVegasBill23]

I won’t comment on the “why’s” of their play of late. I will say . . . They are flat out terrible on defense. They seemingly have no plan on how to guard in the half court . . . At all. I’m not sure if it’s a players or coaching problem or both. But I think that aspect is indisputable.

This season is a wash I suppose. Next year CKC will have to show something . . . Or she will be shown the door.

Yes, for my opinion.... it is not so much THAT they are losing ..... it is HOW they are losing......

- the body language of disinterest
- the apparent non-buy-in of the system
- the lack of hustle and effort (how can big girl Reagan Beers outrun our ladies down the floor?)
- the gestures and taunting after made baskets
- the total lack of leadership (can ANYBODY step up?)

collectively they look like they are in summer camp. this is WCBB, and we compete in the SEC!

 

[VolFan_stuck_in_the_901]

So what would Coach Caldwell's "KPIs" be for next year in order for her to escape the hot seat? Guessing it would be something like:

- 20+ regular season wins
- 10+ wins in the SEC
- Don't get blown out in historic fashion by ANYONE (in other words, have "competitive" losses)
- Top 3 seed in the NCAA tournament
- Sweet 16 AT MINIMUM

 

[VolFan_stuck_in_the_901]

If she manages to do all that, then she'd be slightly ahead of where she was at the end of Year 1 and would get a Year 4 (although from that point forward she'd need to be making it to the E8 or Final 4 on a semi-consistent basis)

 

[vols90]

So what would Coach Caldwell's "KPIs" be for next year in order for her to escape the hot seat? Guessing it would be something like:

- 20+ regular season wins
- 10+ wins in the SEC
- Don't get blown out in historic fashion by ANYONE (in other words, have "competitive" losses)
- Top 3 seed in the NCAA tournament
- Sweet 16 AT MINIMUM

Would be really nice, but I’ll be surprised if she can pull that off. Depends on who stays, the portal recruits, and if she tweaks her system (ie. crazy subbing)

On another note, isn’t there something in the coaching contracts at UT that they need to compete for a conference title at least once every 5 years? I’m pretty sure I read that somewhere when Kellie was let go because some people said that was Danny’s reasoning for the firing. Someone please correct me if I’m wrong! But if that’s true, do we think CKC can meet that expectation?

 

[Chipperbones]

When Cooper played for Kim last year, she often said that she really liked the system. I think that this year’s issues for her are chemistry, probably not so much with the freshman, but perhaps some portal players. She has always had this type of body language even in high school. A lot of it is just her personality. But yes something is definitely different this year. I’d love to see her stay and have a great year next year with a supporting cast of returnees and new additions.

 

[brittannica]

When Cooper played for Kim last year, she often said that she really liked the system. I think that this year’s issues for her are chemistry, probably not so much with the freshman, but perhaps some portal players. She has always had this type of body language even in high school. A lot of it is just her personality. But yes something is definitely different this year. I’d love to see her stay and have a great year next year with a supporting cast of returnees and new additions.

she also is constantly posting the twins and hyping up Civil. idk. I do think some of it is just her personality, but there is something going on. I do not think it's the freshman.

edit: voice to text is horrific

 

[Chipperbones]

Early in the year she said this is Coop’s team. But Kim doesn’t really act that way now, so maybe Talaysia has taken a step back from trying to be the team’s savior. I don’t know. The psyche of young athletes sometimes has to be stroked. Disregard the NIL—they are still young adults even if we like to think they should be treated as pros.

But I agree she is always hyping the twins, probably because she is trying to keep them. Mia has been glue for us most of the season and hopefully can turn it around after the concussion. But Daddy provided added pressure and maybe she feels that. Mya has been playing a lot more than Boyd lately for sure.

Last year Cooper was our go-to player when we needed a bucket. She went on scoring spurts that were mind boggling. We have seen a little of that but not as much as we need this year. She does seem a step slower but I am wondering if adding some additional muscle mass has compromised her speed. Obviously they are working on adding strength—didn’t Prawl say she had added 7 pounds of muscle since arriving?

I hope Coop returns though and can really shine. Her high school was covered in my local paper so I feel like I have watched her grow up as a player. Was so disappointed she was a Gamecock and was elated when she transferred. Would have loved to see her on the court with Rickea!

 

[Rooster1]

Players also don’t get fired for being avg. I can understand the human aspect of being irritated after a loss knowing with each one that comes my job becomes a little less stable. (She was aware of these standards when she signed up) but nevertheless, she’s young. She’ll learn from her missteps. She’s never had a light shine that bright on her before. I just think that it’s stupid to continue to harp on that one moment of alleged bad sportsmanship. It would have been more noteworthy had she not shaken her hand. But she did. Move. On. Everyone, coaches included, can grow from this season. Big lessons are being learned.

Sad sailor that doesn’t find the wind.

 

[Talon2]

I don't think it's the 'lower ranked' vs. 'superstar' personality conflict that's derailing the team. UConn, UCLA, SC and Texas are loaded top to bottom with superstars, and they aren't having any such issue. Even LSU has a roster full of divas, but KM has those egos in check.

The mistake is the types of players Kim picked up from the portal. Cooper was mercurial, Wolfenbarger was presented wrapped in a big red flag but was still recruited, and it was obvious from very early on her in her career that Barker was a handful. This was known from the get-go. Maybe the reason they ended up at Tennessee is less because that was THE destination instead of other coaches just knowing better what they'd be getting. You can't combine players with difficult personalities with a coach who can't get them to fall in line. Both sides are failing miserably at that and are equally at fault.

I also wonder if Pat was still coaching today, would these be players she would want on her team? Fans were raking Angel Reese over the coals for her "finger licking good" nonsensical theatrics a few years ago, but not a peep about Prawl and her gunshot gesture/technical foul in a closely contested game.. I also didn't realize this is the second time a player on the team made that gesture. She needed more of a chewing out than Kim gave her, even if she knew she messed up the moment she pulled that stunt.

Great to see you back Amb

 

[chuckiepoo]

Sounds like 2-7 should cause a riot, a lynching of those responsible, torching of the AD's chicken coop in your view. If you read these pages with any frequency—obviously you do not—you would be aware of a few things beyond

Of course it’s terrible. About half the fans here blame the coach and/or the system. Another half blame some or many of the players. The third half, the more nuanced and saner group, say there is enough blame to besmirch all of the above. And, of course, upholding a time honored tradition, a fair number are calling for the defenestration of AD DW. So, therefore, the arithmetic is clear, simple, and wrong, just as Mr. Mencken taught us to expect.

You seem unaware that quite a few of those losses have been to teams ranked well above our ladies. And some were games we should have won. And we would have won them except for some nefarious plot by the biased, incompetent announcers, or the refs, or the faulty optics of the arena, or a sinister spell cast by the AI in the sub-basement of the opponent's Alchemy department. And never forget Darth, lest the olde traditions fail.

It's a terrible state of affairs, and you should write to the Editor of your local tabloid, with copies to Mr. P. Fulmer and the ASPCA. Next, call a meeting of The Daughters of…(your choice. I'd pick the group with the best cookies and the record of the most indignant hollering.). Key words to include in protest press releases include…

NIL
portal
Pat
Kellie
quitters
turnovers
“turning over in her grave”
“invented women’s basketball”
S&C
Holly
LVFL
shameful

That should get you off to a good start. If you need further assistance, please stop by again. Your opinions are very important to us.

Thanks again,
Complaint Department
After Hours Desk
GBO

Excellent! I ain’t reading the intervening pages. Got a pretty good idea they source your list well.

 

[AllVols3]

Great to see you back Amb

No place for that crap anywhere, let alone on the court. She was so surprised that she actually hit a 3, she freaked out (not really).