Fox has publicly admitted that for years he would not invite outsiders to come and guest speak to his team. He only wanted his players to listen to him. This kind of freak control is not what you want in a coach in this day and age. Give Fox credit, his team plays exactly how he wants them to ~ slow pace with some OK (not great) defense. He underutilizes the talent he has. He acts like a clown/bully/child on the sideline. And he doesn't recruit well enough at the PAC12 level. He fields a "competitive" team but not one that will be a consistent winner in the conference unless other teams get worse. In so may ways Fox is just not a Cal person and I throw up in my mouth each time he is shown on the TV. I refuse to watch MBB pressers and I do feel bad for the players.
Time for a new coach be it Gates or whomever. Anyone other than Fox next year. But Knowlton is a chicken shit idiot and won't do anything. How is it that the Chancellor felt Knowlton would be in such high demand that she gave him a 9 year contract? I doubt any other university would hire Knowlton if he became available Monday morning at 9 a.m. PST.
Yes, my answer to WFC's question "who would you like to punch in the face?" is indeed Fox with my follow-through tagging Knowlton on the bridge of the nose.
I would add that there are some bad optics keeping a white coach (especially one that looks like he was stand-in for Michael Douglas's character in Falling Down) around who has not produced demonstrably better on-the-court results than the black coach he replaced and who was quickly jettisoned. I know that behind the scenes the Wyking program was also hot trash, but keeping Fox past this year opens this this administration (of all the universities) to some (deserved) criticism and scrutiny.
Speaking of D, I’ve suspected this season that while Cal is certainly lacking in supremely talented ball players to contend with a UCLA, an Arizona, etc., they nonetheless could be better than they are, especially on defense. The thinking was to use the depth of this team as a strength, and extend and ratchet up that D to more of the aggressive, half court pressing style, like the one that got them back into this game.
Before the Kelly injury, you had: AK, Shepherd, Grant, Makale, Hyder, Joel, KK, Jalen, Lars, Sam, Obinna, Roberson ready to play in the rotation, with nagging injuries to MF/JH/MR at some point, plus Dmitrios in a pinch...that’s a lot of bodies to rotate in & out, so...why not press more in the half court, and be aggressive...force more turnovers, which leads to fast break points?
A defensive minded coach should be able to figure something out...Fox is so not the answer.
I think both of them can be excellent secondary scorers complimenting a lead scorer who can reliably create their own shot and/or create for others . . . the challenge is that those guys are hard for a team like Cal to find.
Similar players...my point is we’ve hardly seen what Sam can do. He is having a better FR year than Celestine did last year, and I’m anticipating a big leap next year (like, 10 & 7)...even bigger if he gets Grant’s touches, which he could (should).
His ceiling is unknown tho, because Fox doesn’t feature freshman, which is evident in Jalen’s PT in ‘20, & Sam’s this year....Sam & Celestine should average 25+ minutes here on out, yet Fox is gonna be a clown & only gave him a dozen minutes tonight, per usual. Stupid.
Alajiki is the more physical player, however, and tho he hasn’t done it much in his first year, he has serious potential to make a real impact down low on the block...he’s a quick, athletic, wide-body with strength, and has legitimate range and a motor. Dunno if you remember his freshman year, but I’m getting major Sean Lampley vibes, and Sam’s by far a better shooter from range than Lamps. Plus, Sam can legitimately guard 4 positions, and has rebounding upside. My only question is his handle, because with Shepherd/Kelly/Grant dominating the shots, there hasn’t been any chance for Sam to put it on the deck. Celestine is better at getting to the tin this year, but again, we didn’t see that much from Jalen last year, because of Fox.
With a better coach & scheme, both these kids explode next year. I have zero faith in Mark Fox to properly take advantage of these 2 players’ skill sets, tho.
Bears missed a valuable opportunity to benefit from a "Coug It" event.
agree. WSU, like Stanford kept begging us to win. However like in the Stanford game, we could not secure multiple rebounds that were the difference
Rebounds and loose balls...analytics probably say the Bears were unlucky...the eye test says these kids have bad hands and lack basketball instincts.
Fox has publicly admitted that for years he would not invite outsiders to come and guest speak to his team. He only wanted his players to listen to him. This kind of freak control is not what you want in a coach in this day and age. Give Fox credit, his team plays exactly how he wants them to ~ slow pace with some OK (not great) defense. He underutilizes the talent he has. He acts like a clown/bully/child on the sideline. And he doesn't recruit well enough at the PAC12 level. He fields a "competitive" team but not one that will be a consistent winner in the conference unless other teams get worse. In so may ways Fox is just not a Cal person and I throw up in my mouth each time he is shown on the TV. I refuse to watch MBB pressers and I do feel bad for the players.
Time for a new coach be it Gates or whomever. Anyone other than Fox next year. But Knowlton is a chicken shit idiot and won't do anything. How is it that the Chancellor felt Knowlton would be in such high demand that she gave him a 9 year contract? I doubt any other university would hire Knowlton if he became available Monday morning at 9 a.m. PST.
Yes, my answer to WFC's question "who would you like to punch in the face?" is indeed Fox with my follow-through tagging Knowlton on the bridge of the nose.
I would add that there are some bad optics keeping a white coach (especially one that looks like he was stand-in for Michael Douglas's character in Falling Down) around who has not produced demonstrably better on-the-court results than the black coach he replaced and who was quickly jettisoned. I know that behind the scenes the Wyking program was also hot trash, but keeping Fox past this year opens this this administration (of all the universities) to some (deserved) criticism and scrutiny.
Now I can’t look at Fox the same way without picturing William Foster.
Always loved that the Whammyburger manager is the sidler in Seinfeld that Elaine gives TicTacs to
No wonder he’s so in to D-Fens…..;-)
UPDATE:
Speaking of D, I’ve suspected this season that while Cal is certainly lacking in supremely talented ball players to contend with a UCLA, an Arizona, etc., they nonetheless could be better than they are, especially on defense. The thinking was to use the depth of this team as a strength, and extend and ratchet up that D to more of the aggressive, half court pressing style, like the one that got them back into this game.
Before the Kelly injury, you had: AK, Shepherd, Grant, Makale, Hyder, Joel, KK, Jalen, Lars, Sam, Obinna, Roberson ready to play in the rotation, with nagging injuries to MF/JH/MR at some point, plus Dmitrios in a pinch...that’s a lot of bodies to rotate in & out, so...why not press more in the half court, and be aggressive...force more turnovers, which leads to fast break points?
A defensive minded coach should be able to figure something out...Fox is so not the answer.
Celestine is our most talented player next year
He needs to develop his off hand, and improve his handle in general, but he's got the size, shooting, and defense to be a legit Pac12 shooting guard
Sam Alajiki would like a word. ;-)
The two of them will be the nucleus next year.
I think both of them can be excellent secondary scorers complimenting a lead scorer who can reliably create their own shot and/or create for others . . . the challenge is that those guys are hard for a team like Cal to find.
I would argue they’re even harder for a coach like Fox to find. Kids know that he can’t coach offense....who the hell wants to go play for him.
A scoring PG would be nice, tho.
Sam is a solid player, but Celestine is the far better talent IMHO (although he's a sophisticating so Sam might be in a similar place next year)
Celestine is shooting on the move, and while heavily guarded, add can drive and score, and post up and score
Celestine is the better defender, although again, maybe Sam will catch up next year
Hey, I'm in the Alajiki fan club too, but I just think Celestine is the better all around player
Similar players...my point is we’ve hardly seen what Sam can do. He is having a better FR year than Celestine did last year, and I’m anticipating a big leap next year (like, 10 & 7)...even bigger if he gets Grant’s touches, which he could (should).
His ceiling is unknown tho, because Fox doesn’t feature freshman, which is evident in Jalen’s PT in ‘20, & Sam’s this year....Sam & Celestine should average 25+ minutes here on out, yet Fox is gonna be a clown & only gave him a dozen minutes tonight, per usual. Stupid.
Alajiki is the more physical player, however, and tho he hasn’t done it much in his first year, he has serious potential to make a real impact down low on the block...he’s a quick, athletic, wide-body with strength, and has legitimate range and a motor. Dunno if you remember his freshman year, but I’m getting major Sean Lampley vibes, and Sam’s by far a better shooter from range than Lamps. Plus, Sam can legitimately guard 4 positions, and has rebounding upside. My only question is his handle, because with Shepherd/Kelly/Grant dominating the shots, there hasn’t been any chance for Sam to put it on the deck. Celestine is better at getting to the tin this year, but again, we didn’t see that much from Jalen last year, because of Fox.
With a better coach & scheme, both these kids explode next year. I have zero faith in Mark Fox to properly take advantage of these 2 players’ skill sets, tho.
Travis DeCuir......................................
"Would love for you to write a column about whether Kelly is going ot return to play for Cal next season."
I mean, the column would boil down to "I don't know."