I still think playing Brown more would have been better than our backup PGs, although I like Sheperd at PG too, but this from Fox:
“It was a gamble. He hasn’t been with our team for seven days. He wasn’t in any meetings. He didn’t do any walkthroughs. He hasn’t shot a ball. He’s been locked in his apartment. And we just took a roll of the dice. It was ‘Can he just step in here and keep rolling?’ And you could tell he wasn’t ready and understandably so.”
meetings?? meetings?? WTF, they couldn't set up Zoom?
It was so stupid of Fox and by extension Cal to have Brown travel for 1:28 of PT and the high probability of exposure at airports, cabs etc. Fox is annoying and needs to go sooner rather than later.
Agreed. Unfortunately, barring a scandal, I’m guessing we’re stuck with him for another 4 seasons...
There is no world where Sam Alajiki should get the same amount of minutes as Lars Thiemann (8). With his combination of physicality, defensive awareness & intensity, and shooting range, he’s already one Cal’s best all around players...kid has a nose for the ball & can play and guard multiple positions on the basketball court.
Fox’s substitution patterns are atrocious and the main reason why this team struggles to establish a flow on the offensive end.
Agreed. This really seems to be shaping up like most people thought it would when Fox was hired....he'll right the ship eventually, and maybe get them to what, about 8-10, maybe .500 in conference, at best?
The troubling thing is how quickly Knowlton hired Fox (within 5 days after Wyking dismissal IIRC), which means he'll likely give him a long leash, provided progress is made...well, the program was in such dire straits, that any semblance of competent basketball is progress....
And while this team is clearly better than it was last season, the strength of the P12 may mean it doesn't translate to wins, unfortunately. They're likely 2-9 when the Washington schools come to Berkeley 1st week of Feb...5 wins is realistically probably their ceiling this year.
"The strength of the Pac12". Thats a funny sentence. Besides the top three teams in the conference everybody is below average for being in a power conference. What's holding Cal back is offense and the coaching around how to run one. If they could coach their guys to run a better offense this would be a year to finish middle of the pack or even higher. But instead they look clueless on offense and will likely finish at the bottom of one of the worst power conferences this year
I am 100% in agreement on the Cal offensive and coaching deficiencies, but completely disagree with you on the strength of the Conference.
The P12 has 4 legitimately strong teams now that Oregon has started to gel after it's typical rough early stretches...along with UCLA, SC and U of A, you've got 4 legit Final 4 teams. Colorado and Stanford will be on the bubble at the very least as well, and Wazzu is good...that's 7...
The P12 has been historically bad the past few years, but this year it's maybe not the worst P5 conference.
I usually reserve my projections till we finish the first half of pac-12 schedule
Surprised ducks swept the LAs. Impressive Altman always recruits a bunch of athletic pieces and makes them into a team by mid-year
Stanford and UW trending up
Others like WSU and Colorado steady as a high-middle team
At the bottom: ASU a mess. OSU’s outlook depends on the health of their center. If he can’t go more than 15 minutes a game I don’t see them rising
Cal’s success will depend on beating some middle/bottom teams at home, and stealing at least one road game
I still think playing Brown more would have been better than our backup PGs, although I like Sheperd at PG too, but this from Fox:
“It was a gamble. He hasn’t been with our team for seven days. He wasn’t in any meetings. He didn’t do any walkthroughs. He hasn’t shot a ball. He’s been locked in his apartment. And we just took a roll of the dice. It was ‘Can he just step in here and keep rolling?’ And you could tell he wasn’t ready and understandably so.”
meetings?? meetings?? WTF, they couldn't set up Zoom?
It was so stupid of Fox and by extension Cal to have Brown travel for 1:28 of PT and the high probability of exposure at airports, cabs etc. Fox is annoying and needs to go sooner rather than later.
Agreed. Unfortunately, barring a scandal, I’m guessing we’re stuck with him for another 4 seasons...
There is no world where Sam Alajiki should get the same amount of minutes as Lars Thiemann (8). With his combination of physicality, defensive awareness & intensity, and shooting range, he’s already one Cal’s best all around players...kid has a nose for the ball & can play and guard multiple positions on the basketball court.
Fox’s substitution patterns are atrocious and the main reason why this team struggles to establish a flow on the offensive end.
Frustrating.
Agreed. This really seems to be shaping up like most people thought it would when Fox was hired....he'll right the ship eventually, and maybe get them to what, about 8-10, maybe .500 in conference, at best?
The troubling thing is how quickly Knowlton hired Fox (within 5 days after Wyking dismissal IIRC), which means he'll likely give him a long leash, provided progress is made...well, the program was in such dire straits, that any semblance of competent basketball is progress....
And while this team is clearly better than it was last season, the strength of the P12 may mean it doesn't translate to wins, unfortunately. They're likely 2-9 when the Washington schools come to Berkeley 1st week of Feb...5 wins is realistically probably their ceiling this year.
"The strength of the Pac12". Thats a funny sentence. Besides the top three teams in the conference everybody is below average for being in a power conference. What's holding Cal back is offense and the coaching around how to run one. If they could coach their guys to run a better offense this would be a year to finish middle of the pack or even higher. But instead they look clueless on offense and will likely finish at the bottom of one of the worst power conferences this year
I am 100% in agreement on the Cal offensive and coaching deficiencies, but completely disagree with you on the strength of the Conference.
The P12 has 4 legitimately strong teams now that Oregon has started to gel after it's typical rough early stretches...along with UCLA, SC and U of A, you've got 4 legit Final 4 teams. Colorado and Stanford will be on the bubble at the very least as well, and Wazzu is good...that's 7...
The P12 has been historically bad the past few years, but this year it's maybe not the worst P5 conference.
They stood around on both offense and defense. Five dopes.