1. Lars is not a defensive presence on the interior. He is fine in man-to-man, but he does not control the paint as much as a 7 footer could. We lose the rebounding wars, and he is slow to react when he should provide secondary help on driving/cutting action.
2. Fox wants to slow the game down. He does not pressure the ball handler or apply a press, even as a change of pace. Teams are never made uncomfortable, so they can run their offense almost in practice fashion.
3. We are slow as a team to react to switches and high screening action. Arizona made us look silly a couple times, but its been a trend all year.
Have to think the talent exodus is a factor. Our players are athletic but not skilled. With Bradley and Kelly the last two years we could at least practice against someone with skill and get a little bit of an understanding of a modern Pac-12 offense.
Right now we're basically practicing against Pac-12 quality bench players, meaning they're not getting requisite preparation to deal with Pac-12 starter talent.
And yeah I don't think Fox is doing anything beyond basics in a clear dead man walking year.
We have decent one-on-one defensive players - but we are terrible in communication - and honestly that's the key for team basketball. Individual talent doesn't matter as much, when teams play good defense, they fill in the gaps, help, and keep rotating.
An individual stopping his man is always going to lose in basketball - offensive players are too good - if you have less than athletic players who communicate and anticipate that actually would result in a better defensive result.
The key is getting the athletes and THEN coaching them to communicate and move as one - that's when you get an elite defense.
Cal Fans: Question. WFC has devoted a lot of time and attention to how historically bad basketball has been this season. While I appreciate the time and effort put into this endeavor, when will we start to see the same analysis and effort put into future coaching candidates? With all due respect, I don't need a million different ways to analyze "we suck". That is obvious. What I would really like to start reading about is what coaches should or might be willing to take on the rebuilding project known as Cal Basketball? What do we have to do to get back to respectability?
The 3-21 record is justified. This team doesn’t do anything well, They don’t have any shooters, no defensive intensity, it plays soft. The offense doesn’t attack, it’s a combination of bad coaching and no players. I was once a Mark Fox fan in the past,many years ago. However, for whatever reason he and his team looks lost and he doesn’t no what to do when you have a team that can’t throw it in the ocean. There is no way that you can allow Fox to keep his job, his entire career has been a disaster at Cal. When you can’t keep good player and they continue to transfer year after year this is what you get. The football team is facing the same challenges and I’m sure will suffer the same fate.
I did think we'd hang with Arizona for awhile but the 2nd half pull away by the Cats doomed Cal. Plus we had too many unforced turnovers once we cut the deficit to nine. Invariably when that happened Az would hit a three.
A couple thoughts on our defense;
1. Lars is not a defensive presence on the interior. He is fine in man-to-man, but he does not control the paint as much as a 7 footer could. We lose the rebounding wars, and he is slow to react when he should provide secondary help on driving/cutting action.
2. Fox wants to slow the game down. He does not pressure the ball handler or apply a press, even as a change of pace. Teams are never made uncomfortable, so they can run their offense almost in practice fashion.
3. We are slow as a team to react to switches and high screening action. Arizona made us look silly a couple times, but its been a trend all year.
Have to think the talent exodus is a factor. Our players are athletic but not skilled. With Bradley and Kelly the last two years we could at least practice against someone with skill and get a little bit of an understanding of a modern Pac-12 offense.
Right now we're basically practicing against Pac-12 quality bench players, meaning they're not getting requisite preparation to deal with Pac-12 starter talent.
And yeah I don't think Fox is doing anything beyond basics in a clear dead man walking year.
We have decent one-on-one defensive players - but we are terrible in communication - and honestly that's the key for team basketball. Individual talent doesn't matter as much, when teams play good defense, they fill in the gaps, help, and keep rotating.
An individual stopping his man is always going to lose in basketball - offensive players are too good - if you have less than athletic players who communicate and anticipate that actually would result in a better defensive result.
The key is getting the athletes and THEN coaching them to communicate and move as one - that's when you get an elite defense.
Cal Fans: Question. WFC has devoted a lot of time and attention to how historically bad basketball has been this season. While I appreciate the time and effort put into this endeavor, when will we start to see the same analysis and effort put into future coaching candidates? With all due respect, I don't need a million different ways to analyze "we suck". That is obvious. What I would really like to start reading about is what coaches should or might be willing to take on the rebuilding project known as Cal Basketball? What do we have to do to get back to respectability?
Then again, it can always be worse.
Imagine being New Mexico State fans right now…
Thanks, Nick! Another quality piece…it sure is a puzzle to figure out all the things that are going wrong.
The 3-21 record is justified. This team doesn’t do anything well, They don’t have any shooters, no defensive intensity, it plays soft. The offense doesn’t attack, it’s a combination of bad coaching and no players. I was once a Mark Fox fan in the past,many years ago. However, for whatever reason he and his team looks lost and he doesn’t no what to do when you have a team that can’t throw it in the ocean. There is no way that you can allow Fox to keep his job, his entire career has been a disaster at Cal. When you can’t keep good player and they continue to transfer year after year this is what you get. The football team is facing the same challenges and I’m sure will suffer the same fate.
I did think we'd hang with Arizona for awhile but the 2nd half pull away by the Cats doomed Cal. Plus we had too many unforced turnovers once we cut the deficit to nine. Invariably when that happened Az would hit a three.