I don't think you should have broken your rule. Bowser and Thorpe haven't played a minute this year. Both are sophomores, and would presumably have had an opportunity to show their growth as players. Kuany has shown that growth this year, albeit a year late, probably due to Covid issues last year. And having Thorpe would allow Fox to play with two bigs. Foreman and Shepherd have both been dealing with nagging injuries all season. All five of these players are Fox recruits (two from the portal). And now Kelly gets hurt right before a three-game stretch of winnable games. Give Fox a break. He inherited a dumpster fire from Jones and Williams, team development was hampered in Fall 20 by Covid, and now he's dealing with an inordinate number of injuries. And even with last night's loss, the team's improvement is notable.
I'm sure you saw this as well Nick, but Stanford's 2 offensive rebound putbacks were literally just Cal players fumbling defensive rebounds and completely losing awareness. The inability to use the snake high pick and roll over and over with JS31 and LT21 was painful. The fact that LT21 was our best player also says something. Fox not putting in Foreman earlier was heinous, especially with Kuany and Brown playing stand around and do nothing simulator.
Also thank God I didn't impulsively decide to go to this game you have no idea how close I was to hopping on caltrain from Santa Clara and going to this mess.
The two Stanford put backs after multiple cal players fumbling around were Stanford’s ‘clutch’ plays at the critical time of the game accounting for 5 points
Stanford looked as bad as cal, and those 5 points could have been the difference in the game.
I would disagree on foreman. He has a foot injury and obviously couldn’t go. He also could have made the difference in the game if healthy
We have both Kelly and foreman and we blow Stanford off the court
We have only Kelly and we win this game comfortably
Respectfully, hoopd, not sure this Cal team blows anybody out...but definitely like their chances better with Kelly.
Yet another game with limited minutes for Alajiki (11) compared to Kuany (27)...I’m sure Fox would point to “defense” as the reason, but even as a FR, Sam is one of your better players, and a shooter. Plus, he can guard 4 positions AND has a nose for the ball, something the other players do not.
Never seen a team flub so many loose balls/rebounds. These kids try hard, but they’re not instinctual basketball players.
I do think we would have blown Stanford out if we had both players. Kelly would have eaten their center alive, and with Kelly collapsing the defense shooters would get open looks, and Foreman had a break out game (and was 1-1 in his one minute)
I would not say the same thing about our games vs WSU or UW or any other team. It just that Stanford's center was terrible (even though he scored, there is no way he does that against Kelly, and there was no way he could have defended Kelly)
I still can't imagine how stanford beat USC twice. What I saw was a terrible team
Kelly's ability to dominate though is dependent not only on Cal's ability to get him the ball, but to do so down low in the block...I love AK22, but I'm not really confident in the supporting casts ability to consistently get him the rock, especially when he's fighting so hard for it in the post. With Shepherd, Joel & Grant, there is just too much dribbling, and we don't shoot it consistently enough...with Kelly, it's a tighter game, one we may win though.
Kelly definitely probably corrals 1 or more of the 4+ HUGE rebounds/loose balls in the key that Cal bobbled, flubbed or just plain missed.
I don't think you should have broken your rule. Bowser and Thorpe haven't played a minute this year. Both are sophomores, and would presumably have had an opportunity to show their growth as players. Kuany has shown that growth this year, albeit a year late, probably due to Covid issues last year. And having Thorpe would allow Fox to play with two bigs. Foreman and Shepherd have both been dealing with nagging injuries all season. All five of these players are Fox recruits (two from the portal). And now Kelly gets hurt right before a three-game stretch of winnable games. Give Fox a break. He inherited a dumpster fire from Jones and Williams, team development was hampered in Fall 20 by Covid, and now he's dealing with an inordinate number of injuries. And even with last night's loss, the team's improvement is notable.
Game should have been ours, but we couldn't catch the gosh darn ball or make a key shot. Very frustrating.
I'm sure you saw this as well Nick, but Stanford's 2 offensive rebound putbacks were literally just Cal players fumbling defensive rebounds and completely losing awareness. The inability to use the snake high pick and roll over and over with JS31 and LT21 was painful. The fact that LT21 was our best player also says something. Fox not putting in Foreman earlier was heinous, especially with Kuany and Brown playing stand around and do nothing simulator.
Also thank God I didn't impulsively decide to go to this game you have no idea how close I was to hopping on caltrain from Santa Clara and going to this mess.
The two Stanford put backs after multiple cal players fumbling around were Stanford’s ‘clutch’ plays at the critical time of the game accounting for 5 points
Stanford looked as bad as cal, and those 5 points could have been the difference in the game.
I would disagree on foreman. He has a foot injury and obviously couldn’t go. He also could have made the difference in the game if healthy
We have both Kelly and foreman and we blow Stanford off the court
We have only Kelly and we win this game comfortably
Respectfully, hoopd, not sure this Cal team blows anybody out...but definitely like their chances better with Kelly.
Yet another game with limited minutes for Alajiki (11) compared to Kuany (27)...I’m sure Fox would point to “defense” as the reason, but even as a FR, Sam is one of your better players, and a shooter. Plus, he can guard 4 positions AND has a nose for the ball, something the other players do not.
Never seen a team flub so many loose balls/rebounds. These kids try hard, but they’re not instinctual basketball players.
I do think we would have blown Stanford out if we had both players. Kelly would have eaten their center alive, and with Kelly collapsing the defense shooters would get open looks, and Foreman had a break out game (and was 1-1 in his one minute)
I would not say the same thing about our games vs WSU or UW or any other team. It just that Stanford's center was terrible (even though he scored, there is no way he does that against Kelly, and there was no way he could have defended Kelly)
I still can't imagine how stanford beat USC twice. What I saw was a terrible team
Kelly's ability to dominate though is dependent not only on Cal's ability to get him the ball, but to do so down low in the block...I love AK22, but I'm not really confident in the supporting casts ability to consistently get him the rock, especially when he's fighting so hard for it in the post. With Shepherd, Joel & Grant, there is just too much dribbling, and we don't shoot it consistently enough...with Kelly, it's a tighter game, one we may win though.
Kelly definitely probably corrals 1 or more of the 4+ HUGE rebounds/loose balls in the key that Cal bobbled, flubbed or just plain missed.