Cal is quite likely to see more zone after other teams get tape. Maybe it won't be as much as Syracuse, but they will see it as the team is shooting horribly right now. So Madsen needs to figure out an actual *game plan* to compete against it.
Would former St Mary's guard Aiden Mahaney from East Bay be a possible portal/transfer guy for Cal next year? Athough he was highly sought after, he's not doing much with U Conn this year.
I watched first half and fast forwarded through the second mercifully. When we went on an 8-0 run and got to within 7 points I thought the lads might be able to come all the way back but Cuse hit back to back threes and that was the end of us. After that it was academic
We don’t have anyone that can finish in the paint…great example in a nutshell: they set up Campbell in 2H on a beautiful give from the L on dribble penetration for a layup as he drove from corner along baseline and he bricked it so bad the ball got stuck in the rim and went to Cuse on the possession arrow.
Sigh. One of the many reasons why Cal is one of the worst teams in the nation in the assists category.
I blame much of this loss on Madsen. Basketball 102, get a player flashing to the free throw line against a zone. They were standing around the perimeter passing with zero cuts.,watch the tape. Come on Mad dog you can do better. Very disappointing to watch that game and the lack of cohesiveness offensively and defensively this late into the season
They really miss Andrej and Omot…along with Wilkinson, those are the only guys that can create their own shots, let alone finish. In almost 2 years of watching Madsen offenses in Berkeley, guys winning individual battles has been absolutely vital…that’s basically the offense. When you only have available 1 guy that can possibly do that, this roster is gonna struggle, especially against zone and when you don’t have shooters to beat it.
They definitely had some open looks yesterday - they just missed, like, pretty much all of them. Which tracks, because this roster does not shoot well.
When you have to reload each season with guys from the WAC, Southern and AAC conferences, or with rotation guys, it’s gonna be a struggle to beat Power Conference teams unless you are incredibly efficient on at least one side of the ball, and they’re just not that.
Agreed. We had plenty of open looks and open bigs (Sosoko) under the basket and posted up and couldn’t hit shots or make a pass. I think Madsen needs to be more of a hard ass (as he hinted in the presser) about insisting on sharing the rock. This includes Wilkinson. I love his skill set but he needs to pass the ball more and shoot more efficiently.
He reminds me a little bit of Jerome Randle in his first 2 years. Obviously talented but an inefficient gunner and poor passer.
Madsen needs a consistent, capable big to anchor the post on both ends of the floor…we just don’t have that this year.
Aimaq with this roster, which is deeper, would have been intriguing.
We’re definitely a better team with Stoja and Omot. But even with those two healthy for a full season, this roster is nowhere near good enough to be relevant on Selection Sunday. Need a pro-caliber PG and big…until they have 3-4 legit professional players, and role players that can defend and hit an open 3, 15 wins will probably remain the ceiling….which is f-ing great compared to the Wyking and Fox disasters. But the next step in the re-evolution of the program is continuing to add players that can win 1-on-1 matchups at this level.
Another factor that might have been at play in terms of how the teams looked: Syracuse had been in the Bay Area since Monday. Cal meanwhile was traveling. They had just been in Dallas for their game on Wednesday. Though Syracuse also played midweek, while the Orange were here they did some enjoyable sightseeing, attended a Warriors game and, vs. the Bears last night, appeared to have a better hop in their step in the early going. Cal had some open threes that normally would fall at much better percentage. Tired legs often show themselves in poor jump shooting, and Cal’s shooting ills in the first half were uncharacteristically very bad. While the Orange zone was, yes, characteristically good, it wasn’t the ‘Cuse defense causing those misses of wide open threes. Cal looked tired.
Cal is quite likely to see more zone after other teams get tape. Maybe it won't be as much as Syracuse, but they will see it as the team is shooting horribly right now. So Madsen needs to figure out an actual *game plan* to compete against it.
Would former St Mary's guard Aiden Mahaney from East Bay be a possible portal/transfer guy for Cal next year? Athough he was highly sought after, he's not doing much with U Conn this year.
I watched first half and fast forwarded through the second mercifully. When we went on an 8-0 run and got to within 7 points I thought the lads might be able to come all the way back but Cuse hit back to back threes and that was the end of us. After that it was academic
Interesting that our strategy was to jack up 3's with a team that hasn't been able to consistently shoot this entire season.
We don’t have anyone that can finish in the paint…great example in a nutshell: they set up Campbell in 2H on a beautiful give from the L on dribble penetration for a layup as he drove from corner along baseline and he bricked it so bad the ball got stuck in the rim and went to Cuse on the possession arrow.
Sigh. One of the many reasons why Cal is one of the worst teams in the nation in the assists category.
I blame much of this loss on Madsen. Basketball 102, get a player flashing to the free throw line against a zone. They were standing around the perimeter passing with zero cuts.,watch the tape. Come on Mad dog you can do better. Very disappointing to watch that game and the lack of cohesiveness offensively and defensively this late into the season
Good point.
They really miss Andrej and Omot…along with Wilkinson, those are the only guys that can create their own shots, let alone finish. In almost 2 years of watching Madsen offenses in Berkeley, guys winning individual battles has been absolutely vital…that’s basically the offense. When you only have available 1 guy that can possibly do that, this roster is gonna struggle, especially against zone and when you don’t have shooters to beat it.
They definitely had some open looks yesterday - they just missed, like, pretty much all of them. Which tracks, because this roster does not shoot well.
When you have to reload each season with guys from the WAC, Southern and AAC conferences, or with rotation guys, it’s gonna be a struggle to beat Power Conference teams unless you are incredibly efficient on at least one side of the ball, and they’re just not that.
Agreed. We had plenty of open looks and open bigs (Sosoko) under the basket and posted up and couldn’t hit shots or make a pass. I think Madsen needs to be more of a hard ass (as he hinted in the presser) about insisting on sharing the rock. This includes Wilkinson. I love his skill set but he needs to pass the ball more and shoot more efficiently.
He reminds me a little bit of Jerome Randle in his first 2 years. Obviously talented but an inefficient gunner and poor passer.
Madsen needs a consistent, capable big to anchor the post on both ends of the floor…we just don’t have that this year.
Aimaq with this roster, which is deeper, would have been intriguing.
We’re definitely a better team with Stoja and Omot. But even with those two healthy for a full season, this roster is nowhere near good enough to be relevant on Selection Sunday. Need a pro-caliber PG and big…until they have 3-4 legit professional players, and role players that can defend and hit an open 3, 15 wins will probably remain the ceiling….which is f-ing great compared to the Wyking and Fox disasters. But the next step in the re-evolution of the program is continuing to add players that can win 1-on-1 matchups at this level.
We miss Andrej. And we threw up a LOT of bricks. But I've seen enough this year to recognize that this isn't necessarily a fluke.
We lost the game in the first five minutes.
this happened to be one of the first games I tuned into this year. woof. the shooting!
A majority of the backcourt is largely overmatched v P5 competition.
Another factor that might have been at play in terms of how the teams looked: Syracuse had been in the Bay Area since Monday. Cal meanwhile was traveling. They had just been in Dallas for their game on Wednesday. Though Syracuse also played midweek, while the Orange were here they did some enjoyable sightseeing, attended a Warriors game and, vs. the Bears last night, appeared to have a better hop in their step in the early going. Cal had some open threes that normally would fall at much better percentage. Tired legs often show themselves in poor jump shooting, and Cal’s shooting ills in the first half were uncharacteristically very bad. While the Orange zone was, yes, characteristically good, it wasn’t the ‘Cuse defense causing those misses of wide open threes. Cal looked tired.
I checked the box score before going to bed. Cal was shooting 4-19 at the time and my first thought was to wonder if Cuse was running a zone.