Better yet, I'm hiring a graphic artist to change my degree to "East Nowhere Jr. College Typing School" so I don't have to reveal that I actually graduated from the same school as this loser program.
Are you kidding? Lose to UC Davis? Unfreaking believeable. Fold the program now, hire an exterminator, fumigate the place, fire everyone who even mentioned this team, let alone coached them. What a disgrace.
While I admire and like Lars, he's a constant problem on offense. He turned the ball over at least 5 times, sometimes leading to breakaway scores, and he fails to dominate against smaller opponents. He should have scored 30 points, not 17, and the requiste fouls. His failure to command the post, removes the ability to have outside shots, because the rotation cannot include a post to wing pass.
The saddest thing about this loss was that it was so unsurprising. Everyone knew Fox was a dud hire when he came in . . . better than Wyking, but that's a very low bar.
I watched until halftime, and this morning saw the final score. I texted a good friend and longtime Cal hoops fan and he said ‘c**p’, and moreover that he forgot that the season had even started last night. I think like so many longtime fans of Cal sports we’ve gone through our disappointment, anger, and now ambivalence phases. Revenue sports have been run into the ground under this administration. Top athletes in these sports seeking next-level attention are keenly aware that ‘Pac-12 After Dark’ might as well be played without lights from a tv/scout perspective at Cal. Seriously talented players see bright warm lights through the portal. We still can get excellent athletes (and coaches) in non-tv sports like rugby, crew, golf, swimming, tennis, etc., but the ‘commitment to excellence’ bs for revenue sports is all talk. If there was a serious long-term effort led by someone other than our current AD staff I might continue my 35+ year donations and attendance but until then… I’m flying to Tennessee this weekend to see what a team/program that has demonstrated how to turn a program around can do. Go Vols!
C'mon - wasn't all this painfully clear when Cal hired Fox? Was there anything from that moment that screamed "there sure is a lot to be excited about with Cal hoops now!". Remember one of the first videos released of him talking to the team. Don't remember the context, but recall it was him doing his first Pastor Joe giving a dry sermon on Sunday to a bunch of visibly bored, disinterested players.
I remember that early promo video where he was talking to the team. What I remember is that he had this moment where he said "winning" in one of the most bizarre, cringe-inducing ways I could have imagined. A while ago I tried looking for that video again but couldn't find it. Maybe the athletic department realized how embarrassing it was and scrubbed it from the internet.
Hah wow, UC Davis! We lost to UCSB last year. Maybe we lose to UCSD next year? What a sad state of affairs. Question - is there any D1 team in the Bay we are better than? My guess is Stanford, USF, St Mary’s are all better programs right now. Maybe we could beat San Jose State or Santa Clara?
sjsu is your best chance in that case followed by stanford. the wcc teams are good, for example santa clara was ahead of stanford by as much as 30 last season and won by 16
yeah they'll be dancing in the basement like usual. Jerod Haase holds them back significantly, it feels like they lose to Cal every year at some point whether its home, away, or in the P12 tournament
As much as I hate to admit it, I think they do…I’m no fan of post-March-1993-Jerod Haase’s, but Jones was a big pick up and Ingram is a baller…they got a Euro-garbage 7-footer, along with that Grade-A douchebag Keefe Jr, and a typical, absolutely punchable Stanford face in PG Lil’ Mikey O’Connell…bubble games v Bucky, SDSU, Ole Miss, Texas, and Loyola Chicago will tell the story tho.
Guess we will just have to wait and see. That's the beauty of what we do, I disagree about Stanford's talent level but they have 4-5 months to prove one of us wrong!
I admit I know little about the technical aspects of b'ball, but to my eye test, it was not as bad as it looked. Cal was missing 5 players, so everyone played more minutes adn got less rest than they would have liked.
In the 2nd half, when Cal went cold, outside shots were consistently short. And to me, that means tired legs. Ditto lack of rebounding. Or, perhaps I'm just showing my ignorance?
One starter who we've known to be out for months. One rotation guy. Then the other 3 are end of the bench guys or walkons. Fox went 9 deep and it was the first game of the season. Nobody should be tired.
. . .and they already got their sea legs from a summer international tour. Hypothetically, the should be more prepared and in game shape than other programs at this stage of the year.
I think it was worse than it looked... not just short shots in the 2nd half, but also long shots clanging off the rim/backboard. They were throwing up panicked shots near the end. There may be slightly improved talent and size on the roster, but I don't see a lot of high basketball IQs out there - no clever drives to the basket with a dish off, pick & rolls, give & goes - things that get you open shots. Pete Newell couldn't win with this bunch.
OoT I’d respectfully push back a little that Pete Newell couldn’t win with this bunch…I honestly believe plenty of coaches could do much more with this collection of players than Fox can - he has no feel for flow or offensive rhythm
Shaka Smart would drill these kids in practice over and over again and ratchet up tempo…if you’re gonna play 10 guys, play quicker then, on both sides of the ball! Kuany, Alajiki are athletic bigs that can shoot…that should be a f-ing matchup nightmare, but Fox does nothing to scheme them open. There are NO plays…just motion sets with NO F-ING spacing…1 defender can guard multiple players, so Cal might as well be playing against 8 guys.
A more innovative offensive mind could get this team to .500…Fox is the problem. He’s a dinosaur, and constantly lifting players directly contributes to the lack of cohesion he laments.
He constantly laments his team’s lack of rhythm on offense, when the factors responsible are: 1. his idiotic substitution patterns that prevent kids from getting in a game flow; and, 2. his unimaginative motion offense that stresses movement simply for movements sake and contributes to a complete lack of spacing on the floor. It makes his teams incredibly easy to defend…not surprisingly, it’s tougher to score.
He’d actually have just as good a shot at scoring a bucket going 4-corners and letting Askew start his move from the half court circle with 7-seconds on the shot clock.
Whoda thunk that a career military guy with limited experience running RPI and then a service academy would be a poor fit to head a Power 5 athletic department.
What an embarrassment. I'm no mega donor, but I won't be giving anymore to the athletic dept. It doesn't matter if I give $0 or $5000 (or even $5M), we still won't have a winning season under Fox / Knowlton.
Search firms are interested in ONLY what they can sucker idiots like Knowleton to paying for. When their recommendations fail, they say, "Hey, it's not our fault Cal is too hard to admit good players." And on to the next coach valency.
The Women’s Basketball team deserves some attention and Atleast one game in person. They’re fun to watch and play a very modern style of perimeter spacing based basketball.
In complete agreement. 35+ year supporter and I’ve lost interest in watching. Record the football games to watch on fast forward and occasionally checked in on the basketball game last night. I feel guilty because there’s a lot of good student athletes that I want to support but it’s become too difficult to watch.
Yes, we shouldn't disparage the players, it's not their fault that they were recruited to Cal even though they couldn't beat a good high school team. (Just starting the facts). Allow them to transfer anywhere they want, or keep their scholarships to graduate. It's more merciful for them to face the reality that they aren't good enough to play basketball in D1.
It's been a true masterclass for how to run an athletic department into the ground. Bravo, Knowlton. It's a very special kind of hard to be this inept.
Laughable that Wilcox would be on any sort of 'hot seat' when Fox is even worse at his job & the AD just strolls along tolerating all kinds* of scandal.
I do feel for the players though, they deserve so much better.
[* mckeever debacle should be enough to end several careers, but whatevs.]
Right. I feel like Wilcox is probably the lesser of our priorities. Knowlton needs to go first cause he can't be trusted to do anything with competence, least of all hire the right replacements for these guys. Then Fox needs to go. Wilcox's tenure seems the most salvageable (that's relative to these guys ONLY) and his buyout is the most pricey of the bunch. Knowlton's extension was unconscionable, but ADs don't get paid like head coaches, so getting out from under that is not at all unrealistic. But Christ won't move on from him unless there's some sort of upheaval. Problem is, at this point no one really cares enough anymore to beat down her door.
Or she does, because it gives a chance to sit on her wrap-around porch, sipping a hard lemonade and laughing with the faculty department chairs at why our fan base wants winning programs to go along with Nobel prizes...
Better yet, I'm hiring a graphic artist to change my degree to "East Nowhere Jr. College Typing School" so I don't have to reveal that I actually graduated from the same school as this loser program.
Are you kidding? Lose to UC Davis? Unfreaking believeable. Fold the program now, hire an exterminator, fumigate the place, fire everyone who even mentioned this team, let alone coached them. What a disgrace.
Because Cal...
For an "UnderArmour" school, there's several Cal players in the header photo above wearing Nikes.
Are the kids even getting outfitted with gear any longer?
While I admire and like Lars, he's a constant problem on offense. He turned the ball over at least 5 times, sometimes leading to breakaway scores, and he fails to dominate against smaller opponents. He should have scored 30 points, not 17, and the requiste fouls. His failure to command the post, removes the ability to have outside shots, because the rotation cannot include a post to wing pass.
The saddest thing about this loss was that it was so unsurprising. Everyone knew Fox was a dud hire when he came in . . . better than Wyking, but that's a very low bar.
No reason to watch this season either.
I watched until halftime, and this morning saw the final score. I texted a good friend and longtime Cal hoops fan and he said ‘c**p’, and moreover that he forgot that the season had even started last night. I think like so many longtime fans of Cal sports we’ve gone through our disappointment, anger, and now ambivalence phases. Revenue sports have been run into the ground under this administration. Top athletes in these sports seeking next-level attention are keenly aware that ‘Pac-12 After Dark’ might as well be played without lights from a tv/scout perspective at Cal. Seriously talented players see bright warm lights through the portal. We still can get excellent athletes (and coaches) in non-tv sports like rugby, crew, golf, swimming, tennis, etc., but the ‘commitment to excellence’ bs for revenue sports is all talk. If there was a serious long-term effort led by someone other than our current AD staff I might continue my 35+ year donations and attendance but until then… I’m flying to Tennessee this weekend to see what a team/program that has demonstrated how to turn a program around can do. Go Vols!
C'mon - wasn't all this painfully clear when Cal hired Fox? Was there anything from that moment that screamed "there sure is a lot to be excited about with Cal hoops now!". Remember one of the first videos released of him talking to the team. Don't remember the context, but recall it was him doing his first Pastor Joe giving a dry sermon on Sunday to a bunch of visibly bored, disinterested players.
And that's how the team is playing. Bored, disinterested.
I remember that early promo video where he was talking to the team. What I remember is that he had this moment where he said "winning" in one of the most bizarre, cringe-inducing ways I could have imagined. A while ago I tried looking for that video again but couldn't find it. Maybe the athletic department realized how embarrassing it was and scrubbed it from the internet.
Hah wow, UC Davis! We lost to UCSB last year. Maybe we lose to UCSD next year? What a sad state of affairs. Question - is there any D1 team in the Bay we are better than? My guess is Stanford, USF, St Mary’s are all better programs right now. Maybe we could beat San Jose State or Santa Clara?
We lost to UCSD at home last year and are going to RIMAC this year.
sjsu is your best chance in that case followed by stanford. the wcc teams are good, for example santa clara was ahead of stanford by as much as 30 last season and won by 16
Stanfurd dances this year
yeah they'll be dancing in the basement like usual. Jerod Haase holds them back significantly, it feels like they lose to Cal every year at some point whether its home, away, or in the P12 tournament
As much as I hate to admit it, I think they do…I’m no fan of post-March-1993-Jerod Haase’s, but Jones was a big pick up and Ingram is a baller…they got a Euro-garbage 7-footer, along with that Grade-A douchebag Keefe Jr, and a typical, absolutely punchable Stanford face in PG Lil’ Mikey O’Connell…bubble games v Bucky, SDSU, Ole Miss, Texas, and Loyola Chicago will tell the story tho.
Guess we will just have to wait and see. That's the beauty of what we do, I disagree about Stanford's talent level but they have 4-5 months to prove one of us wrong!
No we lost to UCSD last year in the opener.
College basketball season is my favorite time of year- as long as I ignore our Bears. This isn't a hibernation, it's a 5+ year coma.
I admit I know little about the technical aspects of b'ball, but to my eye test, it was not as bad as it looked. Cal was missing 5 players, so everyone played more minutes adn got less rest than they would have liked.
In the 2nd half, when Cal went cold, outside shots were consistently short. And to me, that means tired legs. Ditto lack of rebounding. Or, perhaps I'm just showing my ignorance?
One starter who we've known to be out for months. One rotation guy. Then the other 3 are end of the bench guys or walkons. Fox went 9 deep and it was the first game of the season. Nobody should be tired.
. . .and they already got their sea legs from a summer international tour. Hypothetically, the should be more prepared and in game shape than other programs at this stage of the year.
I think it was worse than it looked... not just short shots in the 2nd half, but also long shots clanging off the rim/backboard. They were throwing up panicked shots near the end. There may be slightly improved talent and size on the roster, but I don't see a lot of high basketball IQs out there - no clever drives to the basket with a dish off, pick & rolls, give & goes - things that get you open shots. Pete Newell couldn't win with this bunch.
Oh it was dreadful.
OoT I’d respectfully push back a little that Pete Newell couldn’t win with this bunch…I honestly believe plenty of coaches could do much more with this collection of players than Fox can - he has no feel for flow or offensive rhythm
Shaka Smart would drill these kids in practice over and over again and ratchet up tempo…if you’re gonna play 10 guys, play quicker then, on both sides of the ball! Kuany, Alajiki are athletic bigs that can shoot…that should be a f-ing matchup nightmare, but Fox does nothing to scheme them open. There are NO plays…just motion sets with NO F-ING spacing…1 defender can guard multiple players, so Cal might as well be playing against 8 guys.
A more innovative offensive mind could get this team to .500…Fox is the problem. He’s a dinosaur, and constantly lifting players directly contributes to the lack of cohesion he laments.
Fox is a poor coach.
He constantly laments his team’s lack of rhythm on offense, when the factors responsible are: 1. his idiotic substitution patterns that prevent kids from getting in a game flow; and, 2. his unimaginative motion offense that stresses movement simply for movements sake and contributes to a complete lack of spacing on the floor. It makes his teams incredibly easy to defend…not surprisingly, it’s tougher to score.
He’d actually have just as good a shot at scoring a bucket going 4-corners and letting Askew start his move from the half court circle with 7-seconds on the shot clock.
Our head coach doesn't know the technical aspects of basketball either.
He's in a good spot then, as his boss, our AD, does not know the technical aspects nor have the experience to run a P5 athletic program.
Whoda thunk that a career military guy with limited experience running RPI and then a service academy would be a poor fit to head a Power 5 athletic department.
The women's team won, defeating SCU Northridge 85-55 at Haas.
Wonderful. That and $5.00 gets you a latte at Starbucks. Any idea how the Chess Team did?
What an embarrassment. I'm no mega donor, but I won't be giving anymore to the athletic dept. It doesn't matter if I give $0 or $5000 (or even $5M), we still won't have a winning season under Fox / Knowlton.
I quit. This isn't fun anymore.
Damn, that streak went back to the days when "Tungsten Arm" O'Doyle ruled baseball.
Now can we fire Fox????
Especially since Wilcox is a lock for the next few years thanks to that masterful contract extension.
Fox got an extension, too. (Cal extended all coaches for covid. Good work if you can get it.)
Just a year…that’s not as big a hurdle as the fact that Knowlton’s search firm hand picked Fox…
And certainly not as big an issue as Wilcox’s albatross of an extension that could sink the entire program.
Search firms are interested in ONLY what they can sucker idiots like Knowleton to paying for. When their recommendations fail, they say, "Hey, it's not our fault Cal is too hard to admit good players." And on to the next coach valency.
Cal football and basketball are a joke. I'm not wasting my time even following basketball.
The Women’s Basketball team deserves some attention and Atleast one game in person. They’re fun to watch and play a very modern style of perimeter spacing based basketball.
In complete agreement. 35+ year supporter and I’ve lost interest in watching. Record the football games to watch on fast forward and occasionally checked in on the basketball game last night. I feel guilty because there’s a lot of good student athletes that I want to support but it’s become too difficult to watch.
Yes, we shouldn't disparage the players, it's not their fault that they were recruited to Cal even though they couldn't beat a good high school team. (Just starting the facts). Allow them to transfer anywhere they want, or keep their scholarships to graduate. It's more merciful for them to face the reality that they aren't good enough to play basketball in D1.
It's been a true masterclass for how to run an athletic department into the ground. Bravo, Knowlton. It's a very special kind of hard to be this inept.
Hey, at least Knowlton is good at something.
Laughable that Wilcox would be on any sort of 'hot seat' when Fox is even worse at his job & the AD just strolls along tolerating all kinds* of scandal.
I do feel for the players though, they deserve so much better.
[* mckeever debacle should be enough to end several careers, but whatevs.]
Right. I feel like Wilcox is probably the lesser of our priorities. Knowlton needs to go first cause he can't be trusted to do anything with competence, least of all hire the right replacements for these guys. Then Fox needs to go. Wilcox's tenure seems the most salvageable (that's relative to these guys ONLY) and his buyout is the most pricey of the bunch. Knowlton's extension was unconscionable, but ADs don't get paid like head coaches, so getting out from under that is not at all unrealistic. But Christ won't move on from him unless there's some sort of upheaval. Problem is, at this point no one really cares enough anymore to beat down her door.
...and in order to beat down Christ's door, you have to travel around her wrap-around porch.
Christ doesn't have even the slightest clue how much Cal has become a MBB & Football laughing stock. Which is why she needs to go too.
Or she does, because it gives a chance to sit on her wrap-around porch, sipping a hard lemonade and laughing with the faculty department chairs at why our fan base wants winning programs to go along with Nobel prizes...
Nice!
Yeah, geez. I didn't guess it was that much.
Exactly.
“You see….a mid major program.”
You mean a D3 program.
Oh no, not again....
Cue ending, homage to Alien scene from Spaceballs….;-)