When they scored 92 (92!) against furd, how much of that was furd and how much of that was Cal doing something different? If it was Cal doing something different why didn’t they stick with it?
A few things on that. First, Stanford's gameplan was to make Cal pass around and make the outside perimeter shot after overhelping at the point of attack. Cal subsequently made them pay the price in dropping 92. We all knew that was a shooting aberration for the Bears. Stanford was also really bad then, with several guys out of position, being late on rotations, and not communicating. Cal hasn't had good looks like that since that game.
This team has no athletic scorers on the team, no alpha dog’s.. zero on this roster. I don’t care if they were healthy, result wouldn’t be much different. That’s why you see them getting blown out at the start of every game. Nobody want to shoot the ball, the reason is nobody Fox has recruited us an athletic scorer, nobody! Fox recruiting is awful !
Adaptability doesn't need to look like Bellarmine's Oops! All Passes offense. But it needs to at least involve pushing your strengths when you can. Can't just originate a scheme with "assume an NBA roster."
Thanks TD…great article that hits the nail on the head. The roster has deficiencies for sure, but it also has some strengths that are simply not being utilized.
Fox has led a college basketball team for, what, 17 seasons now? As one of the more outspoken critics of him, I acknowledge that it’s unlikely he has simply forgotten the craft…rather, the problem is what he’s done kinda/sort of successfully at UNR and UGA is no longer working, and he simply has zero answers because his offensive knowledge is so limited.
Worse over, as you point out, he doesn’t even try to speed things up…that small lineup he was forced to play because of foul trouble at the end of the ASU game showed some life. The ball movement was solid and in rhythm…yet it was nowhere to be found come the USC and UCLA blowouts. Further, his stubborn reliance on Lars Thiemann as the focal point of the offense is simply maddening and shows a leader that is one dimensional when it comes to coaching and running an offense. He reminds me a lot of Bill Musgrave, and we all saw what happened to the Cal offense after he was dismissed. There is hope!
The Fox O relies on a primary ball handler and a big.
The big, at best a back-end of the rotation guy at the P5 level, is limited offensively and turnover prone. The primary ball handler was either an inefficient, ball dominant CG that didn’t elevate the players around him (Askew), or a defense-first PG with an incredibly limited offensive game that is no threat to shoot.
This offense never stood a chance of competing this year, and from what we know of Fox, 3-24 should not be a surprise.
That's part of the problem. The scheme didn't fit the personnel. Why Fox kept doing the same thing over and over with no hope of success one could say is a definition of insanity. Our only successful moments were the result of serendipity, not strategy.
We'll definitely have some Head Coaching big boards after the season (assuming the inevitable announcement is made). Probably by the end of March or after March Madness concluces.
You don’t need to have Jason Kidds and Jaylen Browns tho to win more than 3 basketball games. You don’t need top 5 NBA draft picks to contend for an NCAA Tournament bid.
When they scored 92 (92!) against furd, how much of that was furd and how much of that was Cal doing something different? If it was Cal doing something different why didn’t they stick with it?
A few things on that. First, Stanford's gameplan was to make Cal pass around and make the outside perimeter shot after overhelping at the point of attack. Cal subsequently made them pay the price in dropping 92. We all knew that was a shooting aberration for the Bears. Stanford was also really bad then, with several guys out of position, being late on rotations, and not communicating. Cal hasn't had good looks like that since that game.
This team has no athletic scorers on the team, no alpha dog’s.. zero on this roster. I don’t care if they were healthy, result wouldn’t be much different. That’s why you see them getting blown out at the start of every game. Nobody want to shoot the ball, the reason is nobody Fox has recruited us an athletic scorer, nobody! Fox recruiting is awful !
Adaptability doesn't need to look like Bellarmine's Oops! All Passes offense. But it needs to at least involve pushing your strengths when you can. Can't just originate a scheme with "assume an NBA roster."
Thanks TD…great article that hits the nail on the head. The roster has deficiencies for sure, but it also has some strengths that are simply not being utilized.
Fox has led a college basketball team for, what, 17 seasons now? As one of the more outspoken critics of him, I acknowledge that it’s unlikely he has simply forgotten the craft…rather, the problem is what he’s done kinda/sort of successfully at UNR and UGA is no longer working, and he simply has zero answers because his offensive knowledge is so limited.
Worse over, as you point out, he doesn’t even try to speed things up…that small lineup he was forced to play because of foul trouble at the end of the ASU game showed some life. The ball movement was solid and in rhythm…yet it was nowhere to be found come the USC and UCLA blowouts. Further, his stubborn reliance on Lars Thiemann as the focal point of the offense is simply maddening and shows a leader that is one dimensional when it comes to coaching and running an offense. He reminds me a lot of Bill Musgrave, and we all saw what happened to the Cal offense after he was dismissed. There is hope!
Glad I wasn't the only one to see a lot of Musgrave in him.
Agreed. The sum parts of the roster > the results this season.
The Fox O relies on a primary ball handler and a big.
The big, at best a back-end of the rotation guy at the P5 level, is limited offensively and turnover prone. The primary ball handler was either an inefficient, ball dominant CG that didn’t elevate the players around him (Askew), or a defense-first PG with an incredibly limited offensive game that is no threat to shoot.
This offense never stood a chance of competing this year, and from what we know of Fox, 3-24 should not be a surprise.
That's part of the problem. The scheme didn't fit the personnel. Why Fox kept doing the same thing over and over with no hope of success one could say is a definition of insanity. Our only successful moments were the result of serendipity, not strategy.
We'll definitely have some Head Coaching big boards after the season (assuming the inevitable announcement is made). Probably by the end of March or after March Madness concluces.
You don’t need to have Jason Kidds and Jaylen Browns tho to win more than 3 basketball games. You don’t need top 5 NBA draft picks to contend for an NCAA Tournament bid.