Whatever Happened to Controlled Chaos?

[livefaith]

Whatever happened to ''controlled chaos'' that has been a staple of the Buce Pearl era?

I know, we would not have wn tonight with it for 40 minutes. We could not have won that game with 6 players on the court. In all my years of following the Vols, I think that was the worst performance ever. Almost surreal.

But here's my question. UK and UA both play 6-7 players. We have 4 four stars who are not even in our 9 man rotation! Why not run the opponents guts out by throwing pressure with fresh bodies for 40 every night from here on out?

Last year CBP recognized the folly of controlled chaos and the change took us deep into the tourney. This year we have not really tried, and we may not make the NCAA @ all. Is it time to try?

Why not rotate Pearl, Fields, McBee, Bone, Woolridge, Hall, Maymon, & McRae in with starters for a Loyola-Marimount style track meet? Alabama & KY both would have had serious problems for 40 minutes IMO.

Our half court O is a joke anyway. Does anyone think this works?

 

[lbrjohn3]

Whatever happened to ''controlled chaos'' that has been a staple of the Buce Pearl era?

I know, we would not have wn tonight with it or 40 minutes. We could not have won that game with 6 players on the court. In all my years of following the Vols, I think that was the worst performance ever. Almost surreal.

But here's my question. UK and UA both play 6-7 players. We have 4 four stars who are not even in our 9 man rotation! Why not run the opponents guts out by throwing pressure with fresh bodies for 40 every night from here pn out?

Last year CBP recognized the folly of controlled chaos and the change took us deep into the tourney. This year we have not really tried, and we may not make the NCAA @ all.

Why not rotate Pearl, Fields, McBee, Bone, Woolridge, Hall, Maymon, & McRae in with starters for a Loyola-Marimount style track meet? Alabama & KY both would have had serious problems for 40 minutes IMO.

Our half court O is a joke anyway. Does anyone think this works?

I see what you are saying but I don't think it would work this year. We don't have enough speed, especially from the bigs, for this to be effective.
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[Spartacavolus]

We used to have Lofton and Smith out there together. Now we have Hopson and Tatum. Hop and tatum can't D up as well and can't shoot as well either.

 

[livefaith]

Both are valid points. But, Fields & KH seem to have some speed. And with less minutes, tey could maybe survive it?

No, Hopson and Tatum cannot keep dribblers in front,but they are longer which causes issues.

I'm afraid our upcoming games could knock us out of the NCAA. CBP sees these guys practice daily, but we have to do somehing it seems.

 

[papatomany]

Whatever happened to ''controlled chaos'' that has been a staple of the Buce Pearl era?

I know, we would not have wn tonight with it for 40 minutes. We could not have won that game with 6 players on the court. In all my years of following the Vols, I think that was the worst performance ever. Almost surreal.

But here's my question. UK and UA both play 6-7 players. We have 4 four stars who are not even in our 9 man rotation! Why not run the opponents guts out by throwing pressure with fresh bodies for 40 every night from here on out?

Last year CBP recognized the folly of controlled chaos and the change took us deep into the tourney. This year we have not really tried, and we may not make the NCAA @ all. Is it time to try?

Why not rotate Pearl, Fields, McBee, Bone, Woolridge, Hall, Maymon, & McRae in with starters for a Loyola-Marimount style track meet? Alabama & KY both would have had serious problems for 40 minutes IMO.

Our half court O is a joke anyway. Does anyone think this works?

The part that I don't understand is that Pearl did this (controlled chaos, that is) everywhere he's ever been, with any and all personnel. His point seemed to be it was all attitude and hard work; with the net result being forcing the other team out of their comfort zone. It's what he promised to bring when he was hired and he brought it successfully with mediocre players (saving Lofton and Smith) recruited by Buzz Peterson. Now that he's got his recruits exclusively, he decides it doesn't work.

So, either (a) that was a passel of really dumb recruiting or (b) maybe he thinks it's gimmicky and keeps him from being appreciated as a great coach or (c) perhaps he thinks it's the kind of thing that can make a mediocre team good but can't make a good team great. Feel free to add d, e, and f to the possibilities.

All I really know is that it was much more fun to watch and that you rarely thought any game was out of reach. (Down by 16...time for a spurt!)

 

[VolsSportsFan]

You realize we made it to the Elite Eight by going away from the "controlled chaos" don't you.

 

[LawVol13]

I enjoyed our brief stint of "controlled chaos" tonight that resulted in a Josh Harrelson uncontested dunk.

 

[livefaith]

All I really know is that it was much more fun to watch and that you rarely thought any game was out of reach. (Down by 16...time for a spurt!)

I've heard CBP say > once that if you keep things slow your players don't expect to win and thus play that way. Paraphrasing. Aggression sets the atmosphere for the team mindset.

I don't hear that now, and our deep team looks off balance and vulnerable most games.

 

[livefaith]

You realize we made it to the Elite Eight by going away from the "controlled chaos" don't you.

Yes. And noted it in OP.

We took out OSU and almost MSu, but the sweet 16 was handed to us as a gift. Not knocking it, but I wish we would have been so lucky the year we were #2 seeds or the y we fell to OSU on the Oden block.

Your point is 100% valid tho.

 

[Velo Vol]

Our half court O is a joke anyway.

There's not much debate about this.

 

[pdogg]

And Missouri went to the Elite 8 using an all out full court press. So I guess you can advance far doing a full court press. Hell Tennessee in the past mostly just pressed on the in- bounds pass and then backed off anyways. I used to want the Vols to mix there presses up and trap more like old school Arkansas to keep teams off balance.

 

[Vercingetorix]

The part that I don't understand is that Pearl did this (controlled chaos, that is) everywhere he's ever been, with any and all personnel. His point seemed to be it was all attitude and hard work; with the net result being forcing the other team out of their comfort zone. It's what he promised to bring when he was hired and he brought it successfully with mediocre players (saving Lofton and Smith) recruited by Buzz Peterson. Now that he's got his recruits exclusively, he decides it doesn't work.

So, either (a) that was a passel of really dumb recruiting or (b) maybe he thinks it's gimmicky and keeps him from being appreciated as a great coach or (c) perhaps he thinks it's the kind of thing that can make a mediocre team good but can't make a good team great. Feel free to add d, e, and f to the possibilities.

All I really know is that it was much more fun to watch and that you rarely thought any game was out of reach. (Down by 16...time for a spurt!)

It doesn't work, at least not consistently. It can be a great equalizer with an undermanned team, but you're just not going to be able to consistently beat good teams if you can't play halfcourt offense and halfcourt defense. It's boring but it's true. Press a team with a good point guard and you'll give up layups at the other end. And without those turnovers, your transition game is muzzled, and now you're helpless on offense because you have no idea what to do in the halfcourt. Except throw it around the perimeter a few times and then jack up a 3 with a hand in the shooter's face.

Which is pretty much what we're doing anyway, so honestly I wouldn't mind seeing us go back to the all-out press at this point as the OP suggests. I don't know how much worse things could get.

 

[kbowersjr]

I miss the fun of watching the games with chaos, maybe not back all the way to a style of pressing every play, but it certainly couldn't hurt to mix the press in as needed

 

[orangegrass]

Whatever happened to ''controlled chaos'' that has been a staple of the Buce Pearl era?

I know, we would not have wn tonight with it for 40 minutes. We could not have won that game with 6 players on the court. In all my years of following the Vols, I think that was the worst performance ever. Almost surreal.

But here's my question. UK and UA both play 6-7 players. We have 4 four stars who are not even in our 9 man rotation! Why not run the opponents guts out by throwing pressure with fresh bodies for 40 every night from here on out?

Last year CBP recognized the folly of controlled chaos and the change took us deep into the tourney. This year we have not really tried, and we may not make the NCAA @ all. Is it time to try?

Why not rotate Pearl, Fields, McBee, Bone, Woolridge, Hall, Maymon, & McRae in with starters for a Loyola-Marimount style track meet? Alabama & KY both would have had serious problems for 40 minutes IMO.

Our half court O is a joke anyway. Does anyone think this works?

It went the way of his first wife.

 

[tngivem6]

The part that I don't understand is that Pearl did this (controlled chaos, that is) everywhere he's ever been, with any and all personnel. His point seemed to be it was all attitude and hard work; with the net result being forcing the other team out of their comfort zone. It's what he promised to bring when he was hired and he brought it successfully with mediocre players (saving Lofton and Smith) recruited by Buzz Peterson. Now that he's got his recruits exclusively, he decides it doesn't work.

So, either (a) that was a passel of really dumb recruiting or (b) maybe he thinks it's gimmicky and keeps him from being appreciated as a great coach or (c) perhaps he thinks it's the kind of thing that can make a mediocre team good but can't make a good team great. Feel free to add d, e, and f to the possibilities.

All I really know is that it was much more fun to watch and that you rarely thought any game was out of reach. (Down by 16...time for a spurt!)

I know the feeling.
imo we don't run it because we don't have anyone who can pull up and nail a three pointer.

I
'm for bringing back the "controled chaos" back!!

 

[jamoke19]

I dont think it's as much the style we play as the desire to play. We don't get after loose balls like we have in the past. We dont put defense first (but when we do we do great - last 3 mins of 1st half).

My biggest thing is we dont have a chip on our shoulder. Last year, everyone counted us out because "our best player" was kicked off the team. And a leader like Chism took that to heart and paced us through the remainder of the season. Guys like Lofton, Prince, Jawuan Smith, et al. "werent good enough" to play for the likes of UK, Arizona, KU. And they went out and showed the people who believed that crap that they were wrong.

This year, we have a kid who was a MickyD's All American who doesnt have anything to prove. In his mind he's already going pro and he's doing all he can.

We just don't show the "us versus the world" mentality that seemingly every other Pearl-coached team had.

 

[armchair]

I know the feeling.
imo we don't run it because we don't have anyone who can pull up and nail a three pointer.

I
'm for bringing back the "controled chaos" back!!

Loften made controlled chaos seem brilliant.

 

[bamacheats]

It's morphed into uncontrolled chaos.
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[VOLinFL_]

It doesn't work, at least not consistently. It can be a great equalizer with an undermanned team, but you're just not going to be able to consistently beat good teams if you can't play halfcourt offense and halfcourt defense. It's boring but it's true. Press a team with a good point guard and you'll give up layups at the other end. And without those turnovers, your transition game is muzzled, and now you're helpless on offense because you have no idea what to do in the halfcourt. Except throw it around the perimeter a few times and then jack up a 3 with a hand in the shooter's face.

Which is pretty much what we're doing anyway, so honestly I wouldn't mind seeing us go back to the all-out press at this point as the OP suggests. I don't know how much worse things could get.

I was reading your post thinking 'does he really think this team has any sort of effective half court offense?' and then your last line summed it up perfectly.

I watched the game last night with my Gator friend and he was shocked when he actually payed attention to our team for an entire game how bad and unorganized it was.

 

[papatomany]

And Missouri went to the Elite 8 using an all out full court press. So I guess you can advance far doing a full court press. Hell Tennessee in the past mostly just pressed on the in- bounds pass and then backed off anyways. I used to want the Vols to mix there presses up and trap more like old school Arkansas to keep teams off balance.

Only one thing I disagree with here: even the token pressure after the inbounds helped force teams out of their comfort zone, and we overplayed the passing lanes, thus the back-door cuts that embarrassed us time and again while forcing teams to have to make plays if they wanted to score. That's why it's "Controlled chaos" instead of "40 minutes of Hell". Other than that I'm right with you. I remember many chances to deliver a knock out blow, when Bruce would kind of pull back.

 

[papatomany]

It doesn't work, at least not consistently. It can be a great equalizer with an undermanned team, but you're just not going to be able to consistently beat good teams if you can't play halfcourt offense and halfcourt defense. It's boring but it's true. Press a team with a good point guard and you'll give up layups at the other end. And without those turnovers, your transition game is muzzled, and now you're helpless on offense because you have no idea what to do in the halfcourt. Except throw it around the perimeter a few times and then jack up a 3 with a hand in the shooter's face.

Which is pretty much what we're doing anyway, so honestly I wouldn't mind seeing us go back to the all-out press at this point as the OP suggests. I don't know how much worse things could get.

Nolan Richardson would disagree with you about whether it could work consistently. Also, "press a team with a good point guard" such as in 2006-7 when Conley was Ohio State's point guard and you'll force 20 turnovers (5 by Conley with only 4 assists) and push them out of their comfort zone so that they shoot only 43% (despite Oden's 9 for 13). Only turn it over 8 times yourself and you get 12 more possessions. Don't press them and they'll only turn it over 8 times, shoot 53% and be able to come back from a 17 point halftime deficit. (If we had pressed in that second game from the get-go, shooting as well as we were at the beginning, we would have beat them by 30.)

I do agree that we were lousy in the half court, both offense and defense (except for Lofton's shooting, of course, and JuJuan's defense), and that if would could've played as well in half-court defense as we do now AND played "controlled chaos" we would've been unbeatable.

 

[Vercingetorix]

Nolan Richardson would disagree with you about whether it could work consistently. Also, "press a team with a good point guard" such as in 2006-7 when Conley was Ohio State's point guard and you'll force 20 turnovers (5 by Conley with only 4 assists) and push them out of their comfort zone so that they shoot only 43% (despite Oden's 9 for 13). Only turn it over 8 times yourself and you get 12 more possessions. Don't press them and they'll only turn it over 8 times, shoot 53% and be able to come back from a 17 point halftime deficit. (If we had pressed in that second game from the get-go, shooting as well as we were at the beginning, we would have beat them by 30.)

I do agree that we were lousy in the half court, both offense and defense (except for Lofton's shooting, of course, and JuJuan's defense), and that if would could've played as well in half-court defense as we do now AND played "controlled chaos" we would've been unbeatable.

I agree that a team that could play great in the half court on both ends of the floor while still being able to enforce a deadly fullcourt press when it felt like it would be pretty well unstoppable. Much like Nolan Richardson's Final Four teams. They could back right out of the press if they weren't forcing enough turnovers and cheerfully beat you in a half court game.

I love watching the press, but it has to one of your weapons rather than the whole gameplan. You have to be able to do something else when their guards start throwing over it and you start giving up easy buckets. Richardson's best pressing teams could do that easily; Pearl's pressing teams never had another mode to shift into.

 

[Truth]

Whatever happened to ''controlled chaos'' that has been a staple of the Buce Pearl era?

I know, we would not have wn tonight with it for 40 minutes. We could not have won that game with 6 players on the court. In all my years of following the Vols, I think that was the worst performance ever. Almost surreal.

But here's my question. UK and UA both play 6-7 players. We have 4 four stars who are not even in our 9 man rotation! Why not run the opponents guts out by throwing pressure with fresh bodies for 40 every night from here on out?

Last year CBP recognized the folly of controlled chaos and the change took us deep into the tourney. This year we have not really tried, and we may not make the NCAA @ all. Is it time to try?

Why not rotate Pearl, Fields, McBee, Bone, Woolridge, Hall, Maymon, & McRae in with starters for a Loyola-Marimount style track meet? Alabama & KY both would have had serious problems for 40 minutes IMO.

Our half court O is a joke anyway. Does anyone think this works?

We've out recruited this style. Bruce doesn't have the ability to scheme and make adjustments for his former "go to". Pitino could probably make something happen with a pressing system, but not this staff.

 

[VolsSportsFan]

Yes. And noted it in OP.

We took out OSU and almost MSu, but the sweet 16 was handed to us as a gift. Not knocking it, but I wish we would have been so lucky the year we were #2 seeds or the y we fell to OSU on the Oden block.

Your point is 100% valid tho.

Maybe it was handed to us, but we still had to beat OSU, and we did.

 

[Gentleman Jack]

Pearl sold us a bill of goods when he first arrived and each year he has been here he has slowly moved away from that style of play to what we currently have. If Pearl says he doesn't have the players to run "his" system, then that is his own fault. I don't understand how he has yet to recruit 1 pure shooter since he has been here. to run the "chaos" system, you have to have a shooter who can hit the 3. otherwise, his system is basically just effort and conditioning. maybe he has just recruited a bunch of lazy players?