Knowing the coach's system and signing up, one would think they buy into it???????
Well, you would think they bought in, but clearly the last group of signees weren't bought in.
Which puts them in the tournament. We pretty much just lived this.
They can make a 76-team NCAA Tournament with a 7-9 or maybe even a 6-10 SEC record. Might even be able to make a 68-team NCAA Tournament at 7-9.
If that's the case they may as well do away with the WBIT
The only teams that truly don't have a chance to make the NCAA tournament are the bottom tier ones that are left out of their conference tournament.
I think they should unless they're going to rebrand it for mid-majors. There's almost no chance that a mediocre P4 team doesn't make the NCAA tournament with a 76-team field.
True and I am sure the coaching staff have gone over the expectations of the program and the players are all in. Otherwise, why go if you aren't all in?
As someone who in over two decades of teaching undergrads has watched critical thinking skills go down the tubes (thanks to the rise and proliferation of the internet, but more crucially, the smartphone, and also the developmental losses owing to covid), I would argue that hearing about and even watching the system in action is one thing (especially if one has no lived experience with it) and actually playing in it is another. Simply put, how Caldwell frames the system (everyone plays and gets substantial minutes in 2-minute intervals, during which span we do a full court press and make high-volume shots from behind the arc) probably sounds reasonable, especially to players whose minutes would increase, until reality hits--that is, until players experience the frustration of just settling in only to be taken out; of being the "hot hand" only to be taken out; of getting into a zone, mentally speaking, only to be taken out; of getting a lead or digging out of a hole only for substitutions to result in the loss of the former or the re-creation of the latter, etc., etc., especially since, as witnessed this past season, Caldwell's substitutions have zero to do with what's actually happening within the flow of a game, and as she's said, her intention this coming season is to institute the system and nothing but the system. A question: when a coach is this dogmatic about her approach, she probably doesn't bother analyzing film and devising strategy specific to the strengths and weaknesses of the opposing team, correct?
So how do you explain last year?? They should have been all in, if it was year 2 for many of them.