Cal Men's Basketball: Early Season Observations

An interesting, entertaining and at times confounding first 2 weeks in the 2023 season

Nov 20, 2023

This has been a very perplexing first two weeks. We came into this season with a notebook full of questions. That notebook has added a few chapters after a 2-2 start against four opponents in which we were favored in all games and appear to have a better roster than all of them. Here is what I do know;

I am having a blast covering this version of the Golden Bears.

There are many positive storylines on this season so far;

Jaylon Tyson won his appeal against the evil empire NCAA. He has been electric since stepping on the court.
Jalen Cone is the very definition of an outside assassin. You hold your breath when he launches a shot from long range.
Jalen Celestine has returned from injury and has a major impact, notably carrying this team to their first victory of the Madsen era.
The entire team is personable and plays with passion. Most importantly, they are playing for each other and appear to be having fun.
Haas Pavilion has not been full. But, it has been lively and energetic. The fans that are coming back are invested.
Mark Madsen’s postgame press conferences are actually interesting and entertaining. He is effusive in his praise for both teams, and calls out the deficiencies of the Golden Bears’ play. After the camera is off, he walks around to all attendees, fist bumps everyone, and says, “Thank you for attending and covering the game.”

At the same time, there are several storylines that are worth watching as the season progresses;

Fardaws Aimaq has been a strong presence, averaging 16 points and 8 rebounds a game. However, his inside/outside defense has been a weakness. Teams are having success pulling him out of the middle and attacking the open interior.
Injuries have hampered the Bears. Keonte Kennedy has not played, and will be back sometime in December. Devin Askew, Jalen Celestine missed the last game with leg injuries.
For a team that appear to have some depth, the second team has not produced at a reasonable level. Cal has 31 bench points all year, over nearly 140 minutes of playing time. For comparison, Pacific had 36 bench points against us in a single game. I get the feeling Madsen would like to have a tight 7-to-8 man rotation. Injuries have made that difficult, and he has had to rely on his starters as all games have been competitive. Still, there needs to be more impact from the second unit.
The team is 2-2, with one easy win, one tight win, one tight loss, and one loss in which they had a 9-point lead with 14 minutes left and ended up losing by 8. All games have been at home. Cal has been favored in all games. I think Coach Madsen would agree with me that their record should be better at this point.

Let’s look at some clips.

THINGS I LIKE

The Jaylon Tyson and Fardaws Aimaq Connection

On some plays, it seems that Aimaq and Tyson have a psychic connection. Their time at Texas Tech has given them a strong sense of how to play off each other. Here’s a nice play where Aimaq shows a nice touch on the bounce pass to Tyson, who immediately made a basket cut after giving the ball to Aimaq on the outside.

Jaylon Tyson’s First Step

When Tyson attacks, it happens so quickly and so smoothly that if you blink you may miss it.

This harkens back a bit to the earlier Tyson/Aimaq comments. Aimaq comes to fake a hard screen, and there is an opening for a half-a-second.

Tyson measures that Walker will follow Aimaq and that opening will not collapse. He does not hesitate, and attacks immediately.

Jalen Cone when he starts in the lane

Most of Cone’s action starts with him in the corner before he initiates his motion. There have been a few times this year where he starts in the key and shoots out top for the open shot. Watch this designed play coming out of a timeout from the Montana State game.

When he is in the lane, he does not draw the same defensive attention as he does when he starts outside. In this case, the defense collapses on the driving Tyson and Cone slips out to the top for the wide open three. It’s an excellent play design.

THING THAT NEED IMPROVEMENT

Aimaq the immovable force

Montana State’s Brandon Walker was a dominant force Thursday night. He scored 28 points on 11-of-21 shooting, showing an impressive array of footwork and spins that Cal could not cover. Many of his plays started outside, where he would get a high screen and gain momentum going to the basket. Here’s a play where he drives, and spins on Aimaq to get the basket and draw a foul.

Aimaq’s feet are heavy on this play. Near the end, he’s stuck in the position below and not in place to react to the spin move.

Aimaq had success when he put his body on Walker earlier and maintained contact. In the below clip, he gets through the screen and immediately bodies up Walker. The spin move and fadeaway is not effective in midrange.

It was a surprise to see Aimaq moved around in the low post as much as he was. He will need to work on his interior presence before he faces the PAC-12 behemoths.

Grant Newell Forcing The Action

Grant had three sequences on Thursday where he starts on the outside and has an advantage on his defender. He initiates by driving to the key, and the defense responds well. Those three plays resulted in 2 turnovers and 1 offensive foul on Newell. In the clip below, the defender moves laterally enough to never give Newell the corner. Newell tries to force a shot, but ends up with a travel call.

I am waiting for Newell to have his breakout moment this year and build on his strong freshman campaign. After three solid games to start the season, the Montana State game was the low point for him so far.

The level of difficulty ramps up the next couple weeks, as UTEP, Bradley/Tulane, San Diego State, and Santa Clara are up next. Of the remaing 7 non-conference games, 5 of them are away from Haas. Hopefully, Devin Askew and Jalen Celestine return this week and can help stabilize the roster.

In my opening game preview, I said this team will require patience from us fans as they work all season to build a cohesive unit. While a 2-2 record at this point may be a mild disappointment, it is way too early to make any pronouncements about the rest of the year. I am still withholding on making any season predictions until conference play approaches in late December.

At the beginning of the year, I asked for interesting and entertaining basketball. I wanted something to draw the fans back in, something to root for. Coach Madsen’s sincerity, the players’ commitment and energy and talent, the well designed plays like Jalen Cone’s 3-pointer above….all of it has me believing in this program and the direction it is heading.