All these what ifs about Fox are useless. The man cannot coach basketball and should never be allowed to coach the sport at any level again. The sad thing is once he is finally fired, Knowlton will somehow find a worse coach to take over, not even sure that is possible but if there is even a chance Knowlton will find the guy.
It's a broken record - but this offense creates zero easy shots for the team. Working out of Lars elbow touches just doesn't make any sense to me - he's not a threat from the elbow, he gets the ball poked away from him easily, and we work SO HARD to get him the ball there, and it's not like his Jokic or Sabonis or even Ivan Rabb operating from there.
Lars is pretty decent at a couple of things (being big in the lane on defense and catching the ball one step away from the hoop, and turning over either shoulder for a jump hook) but centering our offense around him when we have some decent dribble drive athletes just makes zero zero sense.
Without any semblance of an offense I'm still not convinced we win another game. Hopefully can steal a couple for the players' sake but that will require an abnormally solid shooting percentage.
Our offensive production was somewhere around what you would see for a JV girls basketball team. 43 points! Holy smokes that is bad.
I get that it is Clayton's first game back...but we are now only "missing" Celestine. Why are we still playing turtle ball??? I thought we were going to open it up with these wings
Jim...it's time to euthanize this dog. It is suffering.
That's 12% of the available tickets that were distributed. And counts any unused season tickets (assuming Cal must have at least a few dozen of those). That's a significant portion of the difference between announced ticket distribution and actual attendance at Pac-12 games.
It’s a disservice to the kids. Fox and Knowlton made Clayton out to be a difference maker at the Pac 12/Power 5 level, something that 6 years of mid-major ball shows he is not.
Honestly I think the jury is still out on Clayton...but it is unreasonable to expect somebody of his skill level to be a difference maker after being on the bench due to injury for a 1.5 years. At the least, it is going to take him a few games to get back in game shape again.
This is what I saw - a live body, with a decent handle (not as a lead guard, but he could relieve some of the pressure on Askew and Brown), and really loves to get his shot up (10 shots up in 22 minutes) . . .and is a below average shooter.
And having checked his career - his career best shooting percentages were as a freshman when he shot 41/34 and every year since then, he's gotten WORSE.
He's fine as a rotation player, but there's no way he's a difference maker.
Not sure we can really say the jury is still out on a guy that’s played for 6 years…he’s a solid mid-major player, no doubt…but expecting a guy with career splits of <40% from the field, <30% from 3, to suddenly be an efficient scorer when facing a massive uptick in competition is silly.
Fair points. It is possible that the guy could improve his game through time, but injuries rarely make you better. I do think he can help and be a contributor but maybe "difference maker" is a stretch.
Ya, I don’t mean to bag on him…he’s a decent ball player, and sure, maybe he could’ve helped them beat a UC Davis, a UCSD, a Southern, an Eastern Washington…but that part of the schedule is past, and to hear the Fox/Knowlton company line that they’ve fed broadcasters, you’d think the impact he’d have is as if he’s a Mickey D’s AA and future 1st rounder…which he’s not.
Again, there’s way too much revisionist history surrounding Jalen Celestine…he’s a solid basketball player, but a career 5.6 ppg scorer that can not create his own shot is not the missing piece for a Mark Fox offense…
A better coach would do much more with him…he is not saving this team, especially coming back from a torn ACL, though, and his absence is nothing more than a Knowlton/Fox excuse.
If you repeat something enough, people will believe it...one player, who is probably average to above average, is going to change the trajectory of a 1-13 team? Forget it. Let's stop the spin that Celestine (even if he is good) is the solution. The solution is to end the madness now and let Mr. Fox go. The kids deserve better.
Bob does have one good point about transfers: Bradley + Kelly + Justice Sueing (who also left for Ohio State and people seem to forget about) and this would be a good team, they'd probably even have gotten some better players along the way. But there's a reason they all left...think about it.
Fox is such an inept offensive mind, I honestly question if he could’ve had much success with even those players.
There’s zero imagination…it’s a poor scheme that lacks spacing…it’s basically a ball dominant guard dribbling around. That’s why the return of Clayton and Celestine doesn’t move the needle a bit, and why Fox and Knowlton’s reliance on them is just laughable…the scheme is an inefficient mess, and his substitution patterns are the basketball equivalent of icing your kicker. The only thing that could save his offense is efficient, NBA talents making quality, individual plays.
The team played it’s best ball in 4 years under Mark Fox when they ran the O through a healthy Andre Kelly, so stands to reason they would have been better had he stayed…
Incidentally, Andre is an efficient scorer, constantly pumping in 17 on 6-9 shooting…he’s the type of player that has been few and far between in Fox’s career as a coach.
Seriously, with Clayton and Askew the only guys that can actually score, Fox should just give them huge minutes and let each shoot 16-18 times a game…any touch by Lars or Joel that is not a gimme lay-up is a waste.
All these what ifs about Fox are useless. The man cannot coach basketball and should never be allowed to coach the sport at any level again. The sad thing is once he is finally fired, Knowlton will somehow find a worse coach to take over, not even sure that is possible but if there is even a chance Knowlton will find the guy.
It's a broken record - but this offense creates zero easy shots for the team. Working out of Lars elbow touches just doesn't make any sense to me - he's not a threat from the elbow, he gets the ball poked away from him easily, and we work SO HARD to get him the ball there, and it's not like his Jokic or Sabonis or even Ivan Rabb operating from there.
Lars is pretty decent at a couple of things (being big in the lane on defense and catching the ball one step away from the hoop, and turning over either shoulder for a jump hook) but centering our offense around him when we have some decent dribble drive athletes just makes zero zero sense.
Without any semblance of an offense I'm still not convinced we win another game. Hopefully can steal a couple for the players' sake but that will require an abnormally solid shooting percentage.
Mozilla
Stadium was at 12% capacity (probably lower).
Our offensive production was somewhere around what you would see for a JV girls basketball team. 43 points! Holy smokes that is bad.
I get that it is Clayton's first game back...but we are now only "missing" Celestine. Why are we still playing turtle ball??? I thought we were going to open it up with these wings
Jim...it's time to euthanize this dog. It is suffering.
That's 12% of the available tickets that were distributed. And counts any unused season tickets (assuming Cal must have at least a few dozen of those). That's a significant portion of the difference between announced ticket distribution and actual attendance at Pac-12 games.
It’s a disservice to the kids. Fox and Knowlton made Clayton out to be a difference maker at the Pac 12/Power 5 level, something that 6 years of mid-major ball shows he is not.
Honestly I think the jury is still out on Clayton...but it is unreasonable to expect somebody of his skill level to be a difference maker after being on the bench due to injury for a 1.5 years. At the least, it is going to take him a few games to get back in game shape again.
This is what I saw - a live body, with a decent handle (not as a lead guard, but he could relieve some of the pressure on Askew and Brown), and really loves to get his shot up (10 shots up in 22 minutes) . . .and is a below average shooter.
And having checked his career - his career best shooting percentages were as a freshman when he shot 41/34 and every year since then, he's gotten WORSE.
He's fine as a rotation player, but there's no way he's a difference maker.
Not sure we can really say the jury is still out on a guy that’s played for 6 years…he’s a solid mid-major player, no doubt…but expecting a guy with career splits of <40% from the field, <30% from 3, to suddenly be an efficient scorer when facing a massive uptick in competition is silly.
Fair points. It is possible that the guy could improve his game through time, but injuries rarely make you better. I do think he can help and be a contributor but maybe "difference maker" is a stretch.
Ya, I don’t mean to bag on him…he’s a decent ball player, and sure, maybe he could’ve helped them beat a UC Davis, a UCSD, a Southern, an Eastern Washington…but that part of the schedule is past, and to hear the Fox/Knowlton company line that they’ve fed broadcasters, you’d think the impact he’d have is as if he’s a Mickey D’s AA and future 1st rounder…which he’s not.
He's definitely not our best player, and I resent you saying that we agree with you.
Again, there’s way too much revisionist history surrounding Jalen Celestine…he’s a solid basketball player, but a career 5.6 ppg scorer that can not create his own shot is not the missing piece for a Mark Fox offense…
A better coach would do much more with him…he is not saving this team, especially coming back from a torn ACL, though, and his absence is nothing more than a Knowlton/Fox excuse.
If you repeat something enough, people will believe it...one player, who is probably average to above average, is going to change the trajectory of a 1-13 team? Forget it. Let's stop the spin that Celestine (even if he is good) is the solution. The solution is to end the madness now and let Mr. Fox go. The kids deserve better.
Bob does have one good point about transfers: Bradley + Kelly + Justice Sueing (who also left for Ohio State and people seem to forget about) and this would be a good team, they'd probably even have gotten some better players along the way. But there's a reason they all left...think about it.
Fox is such an inept offensive mind, I honestly question if he could’ve had much success with even those players.
There’s zero imagination…it’s a poor scheme that lacks spacing…it’s basically a ball dominant guard dribbling around. That’s why the return of Clayton and Celestine doesn’t move the needle a bit, and why Fox and Knowlton’s reliance on them is just laughable…the scheme is an inefficient mess, and his substitution patterns are the basketball equivalent of icing your kicker. The only thing that could save his offense is efficient, NBA talents making quality, individual plays.
The team played it’s best ball in 4 years under Mark Fox when they ran the O through a healthy Andre Kelly, so stands to reason they would have been better had he stayed…
Incidentally, Andre is an efficient scorer, constantly pumping in 17 on 6-9 shooting…he’s the type of player that has been few and far between in Fox’s career as a coach.
Rough. After the diversionary W, back to your regularly scheduled programming.
Thanks Rick.
Clayton finishes 2-10…that’s what he’s done in his 7 year career. Expecting him to be a game changer has always been a farce.
Yeah a low percentage, volume shooter in a low volume offense is going to lead to a bad result.
Seriously, with Clayton and Askew the only guys that can actually score, Fox should just give them huge minutes and let each shoot 16-18 times a game…any touch by Lars or Joel that is not a gimme lay-up is a waste.