Caldwell Grades Her Team and Looks to Pac 10
HOUSTON, TX -- The Rice Owls played UCLA this past Wednesday inside Tudor Fieldhouse. UCLA won the game 82 to 64 and after the game, in addition to interviewing Rice players and Coach Greg Williams, I also interviewed UCLA's head coach Nikki Caldwell.
After nine seasons as an assistant coach at Virginia and her alma mater Tennessee, Coach Caldwell is in her first season as head coach at UCLA; and, besides getting her thoughts on the win over Rice, we discussed the upcoming Pac 10 conference season and how her squad (currently 8-1) is playing thus far this season.
"I think the players have bought into our philosophy and what our defensive system is," Caldwell said. "I think they're reaping the benefits of when you do play hard-nosed defense and you do get after it. I'm pleased in their efforts in trying to be that defensive team that you have to be in March to win."
"Right now we're not playing 'A' basketball. Not for 40 minutes. We've had spurts where we've looked really good; but, we have yet to put together a 40 minute game where we play all out defense for 40 minutes; rebound; and not breaking down with our defensive assignments and being able to execute our offensive schemes. We're getting there. We're a work in progress. The one thing I shared with them is all we're looking for is daily improvement."
"When you hit Pac 10, you've got to make sure you take one game at a time and that we're not overlooking our opponents. Our defensive system and defensive scheme is not going to change. It's still going to be the same. No matter who we're playing, we're still going to use scouting report defense. Especially during the Pac 10, everybody is going to know what you like to do. You're going to know what they like to do. It's going to boil down to how you do it and the matter of execution. That's going to be a thing for us going into the Pac 10 because it's so competitive there. Pac 10 teams typically beat up on each other. We just don't want to be on the receiving end."
After nine seasons as an assistant coach at Virginia and her alma mater Tennessee, Coach Caldwell is in her first season as head coach at UCLA; and, besides getting her thoughts on the win over Rice, we discussed the upcoming Pac 10 conference season and how her squad (currently 8-1) is playing thus far this season.
"I think the players have bought into our philosophy and what our defensive system is," Caldwell said. "I think they're reaping the benefits of when you do play hard-nosed defense and you do get after it. I'm pleased in their efforts in trying to be that defensive team that you have to be in March to win."
"Right now we're not playing 'A' basketball. Not for 40 minutes. We've had spurts where we've looked really good; but, we have yet to put together a 40 minute game where we play all out defense for 40 minutes; rebound; and not breaking down with our defensive assignments and being able to execute our offensive schemes. We're getting there. We're a work in progress. The one thing I shared with them is all we're looking for is daily improvement."
"When you hit Pac 10, you've got to make sure you take one game at a time and that we're not overlooking our opponents. Our defensive system and defensive scheme is not going to change. It's still going to be the same. No matter who we're playing, we're still going to use scouting report defense. Especially during the Pac 10, everybody is going to know what you like to do. You're going to know what they like to do. It's going to boil down to how you do it and the matter of execution. That's going to be a thing for us going into the Pac 10 because it's so competitive there. Pac 10 teams typically beat up on each other. We just don't want to be on the receiving end."
posted by Kris G @ 8:57 AM
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