We actually do have one scholarship spot open because Andre Kelly doesn’t count against the 13 scholarships because he’s a Covid 5th layover if he stays.
Saw that and thought of him...remember you mentioned this earlier in the season. Not sure he really helps us, tho...he seems real similar to Joel. He could be a real addition to a team with major Tourney aspirations, tho.
There's a few guys from SC in the portal, though Fox NEVER seems to be linked to ANY big name.
I'm not aware of a walk-on limit, and I think Cal has had as many as 4 or 5 since I've been following the program, though it ebbs and flows depending on the coach.
As the fantasy football experts will tell you, it's never too early to look ahead! Fox really leaned on Celestine down the stretch and I imagine his role could be even bigger next season.
He's pretty much all they have, considering Fox's O flows through 1 guy and was basically Bradley in '20 and Shepherd in '21...
Hopefully Jalen's up for it...with improvement from Sam and more consistency from Kuany, there is the potential for a decent enough nucleus...wondering if there's any chance for an impact JC transfer, like Ed Gray was when he joined from College of Southern Idaho? A player like that, though a pipe dream, would be ideal...fear it's wishful thinking, unfortunately.
When Bradly went down for several games in '20-'21, they played great team offense and had a winning record when he was out. So I don't think you can say Fox's offense is designed for one guy. But Bradley was a big talent, and had a propensity for taking matters into his own hands, but too often going 1 on 4. On the other hand, Shepard really matured over this season. I thought early on he was another Hyder, a mid-level talent way over his head, putting up ridiculous no-chance shots. But gradually, his decision making really improved (I assume this was due to coaching) and by the midpoint of the season, he was using his moves to get teammates open, and dishing it off, which he came to realize, opened up more good shot opportunities for himself. On a team without many scorers, it may look like it's a one-man offense, but it's not by design.
This is hardly a ringing endorsement for the team Fox has assembled, then, OoT, because it totally looks like a 1-man offense. The alternative is that no one else can score consistently, which is a problem and helps explain why Shepherd averaged just 1.8 apg the final 13 games.
Fox mentioned he expected the team to have more balanced scoring, but that never materialized, as Shepherd and Grant took a majority of the shots once AK22 went down. With improvement, there are guys on the roster that can hopefully pick up the slack...Jalen looks like someone that can potentially develop into a guy that can create his own shot, same with Sam.
Thanks Nick. Roche would be intriguing...Llewellyn pumped in 15 a game in the Ivy, so you'd expect some drop off with the bump to the P12, but he was a rather efficient shooter...Saunders is another Hyder...not sure that helps them any. Ideally, you get a guy that can create and also elevate the players around him...far too often, once Shepherd got the ball, it was going up. The O was at its best when he was sharing the ball and distributing, tho once Kelly went down, the O fell apart.
Holloway and St Peter’s illustrate the value of coaching and confidence, as that team had no business beating Kentucky & Purdue based on talent. Yet in no world could I envision Fox leading a run like that.
Does a player using their COVID year count against scholarship limitations? If so, you’re going to have more players than available scholarships across the NCAA, no?
Roche stands out just because anybody who can shoot 39% from 3 on nearly 10(!) attempts/game has value. On the down side, he's absolutely not a point guard and appears to be an EXTREME 3-and-D guy where we don't really know if the D will translate.
I'd take him....Brown is good enough to create some looks for his teammates - they just have to knock them down. A 39% bomber would help...St. Mary's High kid, yet Fox let him get away? Man, wish Fox gave the appearance of having any type of plan on the recruiting end.
Honestly, a post player is probably a bigger need...if AK22 grad transfers out, all we got is Lars, Thorpe off a bad injury, and a raw true FR? Yikes.
FWIW as much as Aidan Mahaney of Campo shouldve been given "the Bay Area hero brings Cal back" approach, he was teammates with SMC coach Randy Bennett's son for four years. Can't beat that experience.
I think a creative coach could do something really interesting with our collection of long wings. Play small, disrupt on defense, run a little maybe? I just don’t think that guy is Mark Fox
Completely agree, 100%. The team's strength was that while the roster was light on elite players, they legitimately went 10 deep and had plenty of athleticism, esp on the wings (Joel, KK, Jalen, Sam, Obinna, Jordan, Marsalis were all plenty athletic)...why not take advantage of that depth and ratchet up the D in a more pressing style, maybe create turnovers and some transition buckets?
Dialing up the pressure with the half-court trap worked wonders v. Wazzu, yet we hardly ever saw it.
Yep. Crucial. If we get a PG, then we would need Thorpe, with a year off to mature and hopefully work out & work on his moves, make huge strides this fall, which I think is possible. We'd need that, plus big moves from 2K, Celestine, Alajiki, and Roberson in the offseason. If Lars can continue his current rate of improvement, and Joel Brown can remove his mental block & become just an average outside scoring threat, (and all stay healthy), .500 PAC 12 is possible.
And a big. If AK22 leaves, as is expected, the Bears are way, way too light down low. The final 6 weeks showed that while Lars can be serviceable, W's are going to be tough to come by without help...still haven't seen enough from DJ to be fully confident he can give meaningful minutes, and Okafor, tho talented, is raw and doesn't figure to get more than 10 mpg if Fox's track record with FR has taught us anything.
Kelly returning would be as big for next year's squad as it is surprising...there's actually a path to respectability with AK22 back.
not sure I completely understand the play you're speaking of, but earlier I made a post about driving toward the basket, but if cut off by the defender or when met by a held defender, how guards/SFs can take a type of running hook shot off the backboard
it's a shot that I started practicing recently, and is quite effective and not as difficult as it looks. I mentioned that Brown started using this shot mid season, and enabled him to score/finish better as he was either getting blocked or just run off the court taking a wild shot too often
I doubt I could find detailed documentation to support this (at least not in the time I'm willing to spend searching as evidenced by the fact I am not supplying any...) but my recollection is coach Wooden used to teach to always use the backboard when possible and lay in straight to the basket when not, and the hardest to defend path to the basket was angled. Maybe it will be a trend again but at the time it was more a straight drive or spin move. Oh, and Wooden credited a lot of his improvement as a coach on having to face Newell. Now my memory gets really shaky... Newell used cuts across the key to scrape the guard and make the forward commit. If the forward sagged then kick back to the offensive forward to charge the hoop. If not... go for the lay in. I think that actually worked better against West than Robertson because Cincy had more mobile forwards and Robertson had longer arms. Though, of course, Newell's key to victory was always defense. The basics (like wher/how to cut) never go out of style, but the amazing athleticism and fluidity of today's players (see a recent https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nba/god-shammgods-legend-from-streetball-to-providence-remains-powerful/ar-AAVszam?ocid=uxbndlbing article how God Shammgod made that crossover in the key famous, also https://www.espn.com/nba/insider/insider/story/_/id/31546968/how-ja-morant-using-cross-jab-break-utah-jazz-defense about the same basic move in the NBA '21 playoffs) allow additions like the crossover and really sometimes make it seem unfair on the defense.
Didn't know that but it makes sense... cool bit of history. Over thinking this, trying out is a little different than playing, and one should make it as easy as possible on one's self when playing. I was a physics/math major at CAL in the 70's. A friend from math (philosophy major but I never held that against him) was a HUGE deadhead and would go watch Bill Walton every chance he got just because he'd heard Walton listened to the Dead to get his head right before games. Apparently they had met while Walton was at UCLA, but I don't remember the details. My friend would actually fly up to Portland to watch him occasionally. Once he said that he was going to hang with Walton after the game so I flew up with him (Blazers were good that year so last minute tickets were expensive but I mean getting to hang with Bill Walton... right?). We were 2 of 6? hangers on for late supper after that game (Walton didn't know most of us but just paid for everyone!). It was Walton talking about changes to his game moving from college to pros that talked about Wooden teaching using the backboard. One of his comments was that his little lob hook translated well but he had to learn how to pivot differently when laying it in because Wooden had wanted even him to evade defenders by going around to the glass.
I love Walton too, although we seem to be in the minority. there was an interesting article recently (I think from SI) that interviewed 3 people who worked with Walton. The key theme was they never knew what to expect from him in broadcasts and he did a lot of research before the game, especially talking to people around the program about the team (contrary to what people think)
I also read his biography which gave me a new appreciation for him as he has had major injuries thoughout his life, plus a speech disability when he was young
I have hardly seen Walton call a game (because he's on what's-that-called minor network. I do respect his knowledge of the topic (both basketball and the teams in question). His reputation reminds me of John Madden in football. The man eventually became a caricature of himself but he really knew his stuff. I wonder if Walton will ever teach at CAL...?
We actually do have one scholarship spot open because Andre Kelly doesn’t count against the 13 scholarships because he’s a Covid 5th layover if he stays.
I haven't talked to her, but Pam Anderson is a Cal alum, and her son Ethan went into the portal at USC.
Saw that and thought of him...remember you mentioned this earlier in the season. Not sure he really helps us, tho...he seems real similar to Joel. He could be a real addition to a team with major Tourney aspirations, tho.
There's a few guys from SC in the portal, though Fox NEVER seems to be linked to ANY big name.
Are the limits only for scholarship players? Or can Cal have transfers as walk-ons (not that they'd come under that scenario)?
I'm not aware of a walk-on limit, and I think Cal has had as many as 4 or 5 since I've been following the program, though it ebbs and flows depending on the coach.
As the fantasy football experts will tell you, it's never too early to look ahead! Fox really leaned on Celestine down the stretch and I imagine his role could be even bigger next season.
He's pretty much all they have, considering Fox's O flows through 1 guy and was basically Bradley in '20 and Shepherd in '21...
Hopefully Jalen's up for it...with improvement from Sam and more consistency from Kuany, there is the potential for a decent enough nucleus...wondering if there's any chance for an impact JC transfer, like Ed Gray was when he joined from College of Southern Idaho? A player like that, though a pipe dream, would be ideal...fear it's wishful thinking, unfortunately.
When Bradly went down for several games in '20-'21, they played great team offense and had a winning record when he was out. So I don't think you can say Fox's offense is designed for one guy. But Bradley was a big talent, and had a propensity for taking matters into his own hands, but too often going 1 on 4. On the other hand, Shepard really matured over this season. I thought early on he was another Hyder, a mid-level talent way over his head, putting up ridiculous no-chance shots. But gradually, his decision making really improved (I assume this was due to coaching) and by the midpoint of the season, he was using his moves to get teammates open, and dishing it off, which he came to realize, opened up more good shot opportunities for himself. On a team without many scorers, it may look like it's a one-man offense, but it's not by design.
This is hardly a ringing endorsement for the team Fox has assembled, then, OoT, because it totally looks like a 1-man offense. The alternative is that no one else can score consistently, which is a problem and helps explain why Shepherd averaged just 1.8 apg the final 13 games.
Fox mentioned he expected the team to have more balanced scoring, but that never materialized, as Shepherd and Grant took a majority of the shots once AK22 went down. With improvement, there are guys on the roster that can hopefully pick up the slack...Jalen looks like someone that can potentially develop into a guy that can create his own shot, same with Sam.
Thanks Nick. Roche would be intriguing...Llewellyn pumped in 15 a game in the Ivy, so you'd expect some drop off with the bump to the P12, but he was a rather efficient shooter...Saunders is another Hyder...not sure that helps them any. Ideally, you get a guy that can create and also elevate the players around him...far too often, once Shepherd got the ball, it was going up. The O was at its best when he was sharing the ball and distributing, tho once Kelly went down, the O fell apart.
Holloway and St Peter’s illustrate the value of coaching and confidence, as that team had no business beating Kentucky & Purdue based on talent. Yet in no world could I envision Fox leading a run like that.
Does a player using their COVID year count against scholarship limitations? If so, you’re going to have more players than available scholarships across the NCAA, no?
Roche stands out just because anybody who can shoot 39% from 3 on nearly 10(!) attempts/game has value. On the down side, he's absolutely not a point guard and appears to be an EXTREME 3-and-D guy where we don't really know if the D will translate.
I'd take him....Brown is good enough to create some looks for his teammates - they just have to knock them down. A 39% bomber would help...St. Mary's High kid, yet Fox let him get away? Man, wish Fox gave the appearance of having any type of plan on the recruiting end.
Honestly, a post player is probably a bigger need...if AK22 grad transfers out, all we got is Lars, Thorpe off a bad injury, and a raw true FR? Yikes.
FWIW as much as Aidan Mahaney of Campo shouldve been given "the Bay Area hero brings Cal back" approach, he was teammates with SMC coach Randy Bennett's son for four years. Can't beat that experience.
I think a creative coach could do something really interesting with our collection of long wings. Play small, disrupt on defense, run a little maybe? I just don’t think that guy is Mark Fox
Completely agree, 100%. The team's strength was that while the roster was light on elite players, they legitimately went 10 deep and had plenty of athleticism, esp on the wings (Joel, KK, Jalen, Sam, Obinna, Jordan, Marsalis were all plenty athletic)...why not take advantage of that depth and ratchet up the D in a more pressing style, maybe create turnovers and some transition buckets?
Dialing up the pressure with the half-court trap worked wonders v. Wazzu, yet we hardly ever saw it.
Definitely need a PG.
Yep. Crucial. If we get a PG, then we would need Thorpe, with a year off to mature and hopefully work out & work on his moves, make huge strides this fall, which I think is possible. We'd need that, plus big moves from 2K, Celestine, Alajiki, and Roberson in the offseason. If Lars can continue his current rate of improvement, and Joel Brown can remove his mental block & become just an average outside scoring threat, (and all stay healthy), .500 PAC 12 is possible.
And a big. If AK22 leaves, as is expected, the Bears are way, way too light down low. The final 6 weeks showed that while Lars can be serviceable, W's are going to be tough to come by without help...still haven't seen enough from DJ to be fully confident he can give meaningful minutes, and Okafor, tho talented, is raw and doesn't figure to get more than 10 mpg if Fox's track record with FR has taught us anything.
Kelly returning would be as big for next year's squad as it is surprising...there's actually a path to respectability with AK22 back.
JR Smith went back to college and played golf. Jack Nicklaus, The Golden Bear, for point guard!
Well, JR Smith didn't go to college, so he had eligibility. I think Jack Nicklaus used up his eligibility at Ohio State.
Weird... I figured if anyone actually commented, they would point out he played shooting guard, not point. But yousa point is well seen.
not sure I completely understand the play you're speaking of, but earlier I made a post about driving toward the basket, but if cut off by the defender or when met by a held defender, how guards/SFs can take a type of running hook shot off the backboard
it's a shot that I started practicing recently, and is quite effective and not as difficult as it looks. I mentioned that Brown started using this shot mid season, and enabled him to score/finish better as he was either getting blocked or just run off the court taking a wild shot too often
I doubt I could find detailed documentation to support this (at least not in the time I'm willing to spend searching as evidenced by the fact I am not supplying any...) but my recollection is coach Wooden used to teach to always use the backboard when possible and lay in straight to the basket when not, and the hardest to defend path to the basket was angled. Maybe it will be a trend again but at the time it was more a straight drive or spin move. Oh, and Wooden credited a lot of his improvement as a coach on having to face Newell. Now my memory gets really shaky... Newell used cuts across the key to scrape the guard and make the forward commit. If the forward sagged then kick back to the offensive forward to charge the hoop. If not... go for the lay in. I think that actually worked better against West than Robertson because Cincy had more mobile forwards and Robertson had longer arms. Though, of course, Newell's key to victory was always defense. The basics (like wher/how to cut) never go out of style, but the amazing athleticism and fluidity of today's players (see a recent https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nba/god-shammgods-legend-from-streetball-to-providence-remains-powerful/ar-AAVszam?ocid=uxbndlbing article how God Shammgod made that crossover in the key famous, also https://www.espn.com/nba/insider/insider/story/_/id/31546968/how-ja-morant-using-cross-jab-break-utah-jazz-defense about the same basic move in the NBA '21 playoffs) allow additions like the crossover and really sometimes make it seem unfair on the defense.
Didn't know that but it makes sense... cool bit of history. Over thinking this, trying out is a little different than playing, and one should make it as easy as possible on one's self when playing. I was a physics/math major at CAL in the 70's. A friend from math (philosophy major but I never held that against him) was a HUGE deadhead and would go watch Bill Walton every chance he got just because he'd heard Walton listened to the Dead to get his head right before games. Apparently they had met while Walton was at UCLA, but I don't remember the details. My friend would actually fly up to Portland to watch him occasionally. Once he said that he was going to hang with Walton after the game so I flew up with him (Blazers were good that year so last minute tickets were expensive but I mean getting to hang with Bill Walton... right?). We were 2 of 6? hangers on for late supper after that game (Walton didn't know most of us but just paid for everyone!). It was Walton talking about changes to his game moving from college to pros that talked about Wooden teaching using the backboard. One of his comments was that his little lob hook translated well but he had to learn how to pivot differently when laying it in because Wooden had wanted even him to evade defenders by going around to the glass.
I love Walton too, although we seem to be in the minority. there was an interesting article recently (I think from SI) that interviewed 3 people who worked with Walton. The key theme was they never knew what to expect from him in broadcasts and he did a lot of research before the game, especially talking to people around the program about the team (contrary to what people think)
I also read his biography which gave me a new appreciation for him as he has had major injuries thoughout his life, plus a speech disability when he was young
I have hardly seen Walton call a game (because he's on what's-that-called minor network. I do respect his knowledge of the topic (both basketball and the teams in question). His reputation reminds me of John Madden in football. The man eventually became a caricature of himself but he really knew his stuff. I wonder if Walton will ever teach at CAL...?