14 Comments

Thanks Nick. Celestine is definitely a player to watch for next season. Given Bowser's disappointing usage, I would not be the least bit surprised if he ends up in the transfer portal along with Kuany, so it's nice to get something of value from these first 2 recruiting classes.

Expand full comment
author

I’m just happy our conference win record won’t reach the lows of the Wyking Jones era. Even if we end with 3 wins. That’s never a place we should get to ever again.

Expand full comment
author

I need to go back to look at last season as well but too many losses this season and last are close. And we needed to play near perfect while colorado played close to their worst for this to be a competitive close game. Don’t get me wrong I’ll take the win. I just don’t know whether I can see it as glass half empty or half full. Is it fox who is coaching this team to stay that close in games? Is it the players/individual brilliance? Is it a mix of both, but if it’s both there should be improvement. Ultimately it’s a job of wins and losses and if he can’t start getting over the hump of these “close wins” he won’t be in Berkeley long. Cz he won some of those close games last year. He’s lost a bunch of them this year or gotten blown out. It’s really hard to gauge. But I think everyone knows where I feel from an emotional standpoint on this.

Expand full comment
author

I'd say last year our 'true talent' was a 5-13/6-12 level Pac-12 team that got a little lucky in close games, and this year we're again a 5-13/6-12 level Pac-12 team that's gotten a little *unlucky* in close games.

Expand full comment

The announcers showed how close most of our last four or five games were, and it was about time we pulled off a close one instead of lost it. A great, entertaining game.

Expand full comment

I said this in the postgame but my favorite thing about the game was seeing the rapport between players and coaches. They intently listen to Fox, and later in the game, Bradley runs off the court and gives Fox a big slap on the chest like "We got this coach" or "Thanks Coach". That bodes really well for the type of leader Fox is. Obviously there is no quit in this team. They fight hard most every game. Teams that have strong player/coach bonds do not necessarily succeed, but without that, it is almost impossible. The 1980 US Hockey team example is an exception that proves the rule. I was so happy for the team.

Expand full comment
author

Without doing any research, my intuition is that while the overall record/results are not markedly improved over last year, or much over the two Wyking years, Mark Fox's teams have been generally more competitive than Wyking's teams were, and more specifically, able to occasionally beat a heavily-favored opponent, something that I'm not sure happened under the previous coaching staff.

It points to _the potential_ for a breakthrough, where the Bears don't have to improve a ton in Year 3 under Fox for the results in the standings to get a lot better. Doesn't mean it will happen, but you can at least imagine such a scenario, which is more than we've been able to say in a while.

Expand full comment
author

Yeah, Fox pretty much immediately improved Cal from 'worst power team in the nation' into 'garden variety below average power team with enough competence to occasionally upset a good team.'

Expand full comment

Great game. For some reason I had the sensation before the game that the Bears would come out hungry and take it to the Buffs, which is exactly what happened. When we needed a bucket or a big defensive play we executed. Excited about the potential flashed by Celestine.

Expand full comment

We usually match up well with good Colorado teams at home...Buffs are such a different team at sea level. In COVID's empty stadiums, Colorado enjoys the best home court advantage in the Conference.

Expand full comment
author

Yeah, it almost doesn't seem to matter how good or bad Colorado is each year, they almost always go like 8-1 in their home games and 4-5/5-4 in their road games.

Expand full comment

Great win! I have been down on Fox, but he must be doing something right to keep this team motivated after so many close and frustrating losses.

Expand full comment
Comment removed
Expand full comment
author

That’s not true. Mahaney hasn’t updated his recruiting at all. It’s a relatively quiet process with him.

Expand full comment
Comment removed
Expand full comment
author

That’s reported offers. Not where he’s attending.

Expand full comment