Don’t mean to pile on Lars, but Fox is asking a lot of him…while the guy has undoubtedly improved since he first stepped foot on campus, he’s still not the most skilled offensive player. We’ve constantly lamented the lack of spacing in the Cal O, especially compared with other teams. Anything that opens things up would help.
He's a high turnover, (relatively) low efficiency post player. . . who we have catching the ball 15' from the basket. This makes no sense to me - he's also a pretty poor screener, to be honest. He's best as an offensive rebounder or catching the ball one-step from the basket and laying it - a couple of times last night in the loss to Southern, Askew or one of the wings drove it baseline, dropped it off to Lars for a lay-up. So having him in the dunker's spot, instead of the pivot of our offense makes a lot more sense to me.
The other thing though, as janky as our offense is - our issue is our defense. We are a step late on EVERYTHING.
I'd like to see some extended playing time without Lars, then having him play he cleanup role (like they've done with Okafor in limited time). Don't run the offense through him, but let him work the rebounds and be a defensive presence.
Lars is a great person. But it is a mistake to have him be the central cog to the offense.
I honestly believe that barring a complete and total turnaround, Fox will be terminated at the end of the ‘23 P12 tournament.
A total transformation of the offense is the only real chance for that turnaround, and the few of us fans that still remain have been clamoring for a more uptempo pace since the beginning of last season…
Whether the stubborn bastard obliges remains to be seen, so we’ll see if it actually transpires. Suffice it to say, barring a 180, this clown’s days as the HC at Cal are likely numbered…finally.
No comments? I think it might feel pointless to comment on such a disaster. Hate to say it, as I appreciate your work, but it's not as though it is not possible to play effective offensive basketball...It is not as though some coaches do not know how to teach their players how to play offensive basketball...It's not as though there aren't books, and videos, of how to play effective offensive basketball. It's all the more pathetic that the team can sometimes, despite the lack of a plan, execute a play. Or that occasionally, a plan they have will work, one out of ten. Watching our Bears play basketball is much like watching kids play U6 soccer. Lots of energy, no plan. Lots of running around and moving the ball around, and no effective way to score.
I mildly disagree. They are running things with a plan. During the comebacks over the past couple games, it has not come from their hi-lo sets, but rather from sets such as the one above. They are more effective when they space it out, go at a more frenetic pace, and apply more on-the-ball pressure on defense. That has somewhat worked in small doses against the smaller lineups they've faced so far, but won't work as well when they face teams such as Oregon.
Well I'm not qualified to dissect offensive sets and respect your views. I only have the eyeball test. Cal under Fox does an enormous amount of passing the ball around the outside and then hoping some player can drive to the basket. I realize that is something teams do, but it seems to be all that we do. I will never forget watching Monty's team pick and roll teams to death. To my untrained eye, I could hardly predict what they would do each time down the court. Cal's current offense seems so much like what we saw with Wyking and Cuonzo, which is just run around and hope someone can make an individual play. It's just not a style of ball that seems to work if you don't have elite talent, which we don't. Our offense since Monty has been pretty horrible, and that's what I chalk it up to.
Great article, BP. Thank you.
Don’t mean to pile on Lars, but Fox is asking a lot of him…while the guy has undoubtedly improved since he first stepped foot on campus, he’s still not the most skilled offensive player. We’ve constantly lamented the lack of spacing in the Cal O, especially compared with other teams. Anything that opens things up would help.
He's a high turnover, (relatively) low efficiency post player. . . who we have catching the ball 15' from the basket. This makes no sense to me - he's also a pretty poor screener, to be honest. He's best as an offensive rebounder or catching the ball one-step from the basket and laying it - a couple of times last night in the loss to Southern, Askew or one of the wings drove it baseline, dropped it off to Lars for a lay-up. So having him in the dunker's spot, instead of the pivot of our offense makes a lot more sense to me.
The other thing though, as janky as our offense is - our issue is our defense. We are a step late on EVERYTHING.
I'd like to see some extended playing time without Lars, then having him play he cleanup role (like they've done with Okafor in limited time). Don't run the offense through him, but let him work the rebounds and be a defensive presence.
Lars is a great person. But it is a mistake to have him be the central cog to the offense.
I honestly believe that barring a complete and total turnaround, Fox will be terminated at the end of the ‘23 P12 tournament.
A total transformation of the offense is the only real chance for that turnaround, and the few of us fans that still remain have been clamoring for a more uptempo pace since the beginning of last season…
Whether the stubborn bastard obliges remains to be seen, so we’ll see if it actually transpires. Suffice it to say, barring a 180, this clown’s days as the HC at Cal are likely numbered…finally.
No comments? I think it might feel pointless to comment on such a disaster. Hate to say it, as I appreciate your work, but it's not as though it is not possible to play effective offensive basketball...It is not as though some coaches do not know how to teach their players how to play offensive basketball...It's not as though there aren't books, and videos, of how to play effective offensive basketball. It's all the more pathetic that the team can sometimes, despite the lack of a plan, execute a play. Or that occasionally, a plan they have will work, one out of ten. Watching our Bears play basketball is much like watching kids play U6 soccer. Lots of energy, no plan. Lots of running around and moving the ball around, and no effective way to score.
I mildly disagree. They are running things with a plan. During the comebacks over the past couple games, it has not come from their hi-lo sets, but rather from sets such as the one above. They are more effective when they space it out, go at a more frenetic pace, and apply more on-the-ball pressure on defense. That has somewhat worked in small doses against the smaller lineups they've faced so far, but won't work as well when they face teams such as Oregon.
Well I'm not qualified to dissect offensive sets and respect your views. I only have the eyeball test. Cal under Fox does an enormous amount of passing the ball around the outside and then hoping some player can drive to the basket. I realize that is something teams do, but it seems to be all that we do. I will never forget watching Monty's team pick and roll teams to death. To my untrained eye, I could hardly predict what they would do each time down the court. Cal's current offense seems so much like what we saw with Wyking and Cuonzo, which is just run around and hope someone can make an individual play. It's just not a style of ball that seems to work if you don't have elite talent, which we don't. Our offense since Monty has been pretty horrible, and that's what I chalk it up to.