with a team like Cal MBB, you have to look at the positives .. every win, especially the good ones like Oregon and Stanford, individual player improvement (Kelly, Lars), individual plays (Roberson slam, Lars to Foreman 3), finishing 10th, instead of the projected cellar, the good things about college basketball in general, including the band, spirit groups, etc, and the satisfaction of supporting your team win or lose because it's your team and your school
But an important ingredient of the above type of fandom for me is that the players can hold their heads up at the end of the day, or college career thinking, believing they are a Cal Golden Bear for life, and the overall experience, including outside of basketball, was a very good experience
But we also have to have a hope for a better season next year, just like every other fan of every other program
But plenty of HC’s out there can do ALL those things you mentioned, have players give max effort, graduate their kids, AND put a competitive basketball team on the court. Not necessarily even a team that hits the bubble, but one that pushes the envelope of an 8-9 win squad. Can we realistically look at now 3 years of Cal under Fox and say they are any closer to that? I can’t…and while I will always support & root for the team, I’ve grown tired of being grateful for the very smallest of victories. Statistically, we’re only marginally better than the Wyking years.
It seems a lot like Wilcox’s O - this was a senior laden team (who will ALL depart) & we finished, what, 10 games under .500 in P12 with a dreadful offense? And 10th place in name only, considering the 11th place team swept us. A tourney bid ain’t even a rumor right now…can’t we want more than this, without being labeled as negative for doing so? Fox’s trend the last 4 years in Athens and now 3 years here is all too indicative of what we can expect.
I’m following Pawloski’s lead and sending Knowlton an email this week about my Cal MBB experience…will share if you’re interested.
BTW, Jimmy Chitwood would’ve averaged 30 a night his senior year at Hickory High if they’d had the 3-point line…just saying.
Jimmy, my comment was in response to Alex's (always excellent) commentary.
As for your points, I really try not to get into the coaching question. There are plenty of people for those discussions. I'd be happy to talk to you about it privately, as I certainly have thoughts.
And I have the utmost respect for them, Alex and the rest of the W4C staff that works so hard. In no way did I intend to call you out, my friend. Just a general vent, and an agreement with what you said.
This got me looking at the portal to see some ‘realistic’ options if we could add a player or two...and who might help...forgive me for the ESPN links (hope that doesn’t violate W4C policy - will take down if so).
Great Borzello article outlining the possible reasons why the portal is gonna be nuts this year...
Here’s some names that would help & could be a fit at Cal...
Ike Nweke (PF) Columbia; Zeb Jackson (CG) Michigan ; Jalen Gabbidon (CG) Yale; and my personal, pipe dream favorite...Jordan Ivy-Curry (PG) UTSA.
But as it stands now, figuring Andre takes his Cal degree elsewhere (where I’ll be rooting for him), we’ve got 13 scholarships and they are, in no order:
1. Kuany Kuany
2. Lars Thiemann
3. Jalen Celestine
4. Sam Alajiki
5. Obinna Anyanwu
6. Marsalis Roberson
7. Joel Brown
8. Jarred Hyder
9. DJ Thorpe
10. Monty Bowser
11. Dmitrios Klonaris
12. ND Okafor (FR-PF)
13. Grant Newell (FR-SF)
Stands to reason, someone above (or more) will be heading out for some reason...question is who.
And while I really like, and pull for, every player mentioned above, I see a lotta holes on that roster when they match up against ascending programs like Wazzu, UW & Colorado, in addition to Zona, UCLA, SC, and Oregon, etc.
Mar 7, 2022·edited Mar 7, 2022Liked by Alex Khalifa
Thanks Alex.
Not much to learn from this one, as it went pretty much as expected. One point....Fox’s stubborn reluctance/refusal?? to give the FR troika of Alajiki, Obinna & Roberson any more than 13 minutes, while he continues to roll with Jordan & Grant for 30+ minutes in blowouts, seems such a waste of an opportunity…Boyle is getting a similarly talented FR KJ Simpson 20 a night on a better team…that said, more minutes for these kids probably is not going to change his basic offensive approach, which is a big reason for my concern for the program under his stewardship. That, and of course his heretofore inability to attract the level of talent needed to get in the conversation for a top-half of the conference finish.
with a team like Cal MBB, you have to look at the positives .. every win, especially the good ones like Oregon and Stanford, individual player improvement (Kelly, Lars), individual plays (Roberson slam, Lars to Foreman 3), finishing 10th, instead of the projected cellar, the good things about college basketball in general, including the band, spirit groups, etc, and the satisfaction of supporting your team win or lose because it's your team and your school
But an important ingredient of the above type of fandom for me is that the players can hold their heads up at the end of the day, or college career thinking, believing they are a Cal Golden Bear for life, and the overall experience, including outside of basketball, was a very good experience
But we also have to have a hope for a better season next year, just like every other fan of every other program
All true, hoopd, and well said.
But plenty of HC’s out there can do ALL those things you mentioned, have players give max effort, graduate their kids, AND put a competitive basketball team on the court. Not necessarily even a team that hits the bubble, but one that pushes the envelope of an 8-9 win squad. Can we realistically look at now 3 years of Cal under Fox and say they are any closer to that? I can’t…and while I will always support & root for the team, I’ve grown tired of being grateful for the very smallest of victories. Statistically, we’re only marginally better than the Wyking years.
It seems a lot like Wilcox’s O - this was a senior laden team (who will ALL depart) & we finished, what, 10 games under .500 in P12 with a dreadful offense? And 10th place in name only, considering the 11th place team swept us. A tourney bid ain’t even a rumor right now…can’t we want more than this, without being labeled as negative for doing so? Fox’s trend the last 4 years in Athens and now 3 years here is all too indicative of what we can expect.
I’m following Pawloski’s lead and sending Knowlton an email this week about my Cal MBB experience…will share if you’re interested.
BTW, Jimmy Chitwood would’ve averaged 30 a night his senior year at Hickory High if they’d had the 3-point line…just saying.
Jimmy, my comment was in response to Alex's (always excellent) commentary.
As for your points, I really try not to get into the coaching question. There are plenty of people for those discussions. I'd be happy to talk to you about it privately, as I certainly have thoughts.
But my last two points are relevant on that topic
And I have the utmost respect for them, Alex and the rest of the W4C staff that works so hard. In no way did I intend to call you out, my friend. Just a general vent, and an agreement with what you said.
I didn't take it that way at all
This got me looking at the portal to see some ‘realistic’ options if we could add a player or two...and who might help...forgive me for the ESPN links (hope that doesn’t violate W4C policy - will take down if so).
Great Borzello article outlining the possible reasons why the portal is gonna be nuts this year...
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/insider/story/_/id/32884345/college-basketball-transfer-rankings-2022-23-season
Here’s some names that would help & could be a fit at Cal...
Ike Nweke (PF) Columbia; Zeb Jackson (CG) Michigan ; Jalen Gabbidon (CG) Yale; and my personal, pipe dream favorite...Jordan Ivy-Curry (PG) UTSA.
But as it stands now, figuring Andre takes his Cal degree elsewhere (where I’ll be rooting for him), we’ve got 13 scholarships and they are, in no order:
1. Kuany Kuany
2. Lars Thiemann
3. Jalen Celestine
4. Sam Alajiki
5. Obinna Anyanwu
6. Marsalis Roberson
7. Joel Brown
8. Jarred Hyder
9. DJ Thorpe
10. Monty Bowser
11. Dmitrios Klonaris
12. ND Okafor (FR-PF)
13. Grant Newell (FR-SF)
Stands to reason, someone above (or more) will be heading out for some reason...question is who.
And while I really like, and pull for, every player mentioned above, I see a lotta holes on that roster when they match up against ascending programs like Wazzu, UW & Colorado, in addition to Zona, UCLA, SC, and Oregon, etc.
It’ll be interesting.
Thanks Alex.
Not much to learn from this one, as it went pretty much as expected. One point....Fox’s stubborn reluctance/refusal?? to give the FR troika of Alajiki, Obinna & Roberson any more than 13 minutes, while he continues to roll with Jordan & Grant for 30+ minutes in blowouts, seems such a waste of an opportunity…Boyle is getting a similarly talented FR KJ Simpson 20 a night on a better team…that said, more minutes for these kids probably is not going to change his basic offensive approach, which is a big reason for my concern for the program under his stewardship. That, and of course his heretofore inability to attract the level of talent needed to get in the conversation for a top-half of the conference finish.