Agreed…we should probably be down because this roster has been largely non-competitive v the 2 best P4 teams they’ve played. The W v fUCLA is certainly nice, but that team struggles offensively and was missing their best player in Bilodeau.
While it’s great to have built a 12-1 non-con, the schedule is unfortunately laughably bad and there remains a severe shortage of ACC caliber players on this incredibly shallow roster. They’re simply not going to be able to win in this league when the shots aren’t falling for half the lineup…you can squeak past D2 schools like Dominican or N’Western St by simply having a talent edge, but Cal’s going to be at a talent disadvantage from every game here on out.
Yes, it’s just one game, but this looked like a 4-14 ACC team tonight that will struggle to make the conference tournament. Not sure what to expect v Notre Dame, who held ‘Furd to 40 points at Maples. But talk about a huge game - basically a must win or an 0-6 start is likely and that’s a big hole to dig out of.
Hey, was hoping for a win...but at least it's not a "bad loss". I think this loss could be good for the team. A little reality check.
I am more concerned about the defensive breakdowns than the missed shots. Yes, Louisville played great D, but we also just had a terrible shooting night. It happens.
And you all need to stop being such negabears; it's pathetic. This is potentially a top 10 Louisville team that had a really good night. No shame in losing to them.
Again with the policing of people’s posts on a forum dedicated to discussing Cal sports. That’s funny.
All due respect, maybe stop throwing around the negabears nonsense. Let people root how they want to root….dunno if you noticed but 99.9999% of the fans that used to follow MBB no longer even bother watching the games let alone discussing them here. This program remains a wasteland from what it once was.
You wanna analyze a game where we were not competitive from the opening tip v a LOU team down their best player and see silver linings, great. Other people have eyes and can draw their own conclusions. Let them.
Yes, this team got off to a much needed great start v a historically weak schedule - at the same time there have been plenty of signs for concern.
Mentioning data points that are clear as day or analyzing the current program through the lens of both where they HAVE been the past decade, as well as their resume as a potential NCAA Tournament at-large participant, makes someone just as passionate of a fan as you.
I just don't see the sky falling here. We have even a normalish shooting night and that game would have been much closer.
The larger tragedy was our inability to seize the moment of momentum, which has been a persistent trend in revenue sports.
And yes, you are right on about the vaporization of the MBB following....but I like to think that we are on the other side of the K-T boundary now. Better times are emerging. We are 12-2 (though likely to lose some more games in the near future). I think we would have all been thrilled with that prospect at the beginning of the season. Hence, no reason for doom, yet.
Yeah, Louisville is probably 2 talent levels above us. I didn't get the impression that we could steal this one under ideal circumstances (like UCLA). We did still do some good stuff, though.
We are a good team that can be very good, though not great. Still represents overall improvement and, hopefully, Madsen can continue to build.
Wow, this looks like the football team. You play a non conference schedule that is a complete joke and run up the wins and then play real teams and get blown out of the building. That was as ugly as it gets. However, I think this team does have some players. Camden needs to play better. He was non existent, just like when they played UCLA. Pippen,needs to stay under control and not force shots. Defensively that won’t get it done against anyone and it’s becoming a theme of the Madden era. When you play the good teams defensive lapses will kill you. Kinda like a guy going right down the middle of a zone and nobody even puts a hand on you. Anyway, that was a wake up call before Duke and Nc roll into town…. Yikes!
Friday v ND is a must win, otherwise an 0-7 start to ACC play enters the conversation. That would be tough to overcome.
It was always gonna be a struggle v LOU, UNC and Duke…we just don’t have the horses to hang with those programs yet. From a roster composition standpoint, this remains more of a mid-major club.
How we play v ND, CLEM, Ga Tech, Pitt, SMU, etc. is going to define the ceiling ~ getting waxed last night makes it tough to predict how we’ll fair but we’re certainly not in the same league as Louisville, UNC or Duke.
Much of what we thought we were, we are. Much of what we hoped we were, we were not.
I really appreciated this article’s fusion of fandom and analysis. Let’s hope for some better ACC results going forward.
Thanks BP.
Agreed…we should probably be down because this roster has been largely non-competitive v the 2 best P4 teams they’ve played. The W v fUCLA is certainly nice, but that team struggles offensively and was missing their best player in Bilodeau.
While it’s great to have built a 12-1 non-con, the schedule is unfortunately laughably bad and there remains a severe shortage of ACC caliber players on this incredibly shallow roster. They’re simply not going to be able to win in this league when the shots aren’t falling for half the lineup…you can squeak past D2 schools like Dominican or N’Western St by simply having a talent edge, but Cal’s going to be at a talent disadvantage from every game here on out.
Yes, it’s just one game, but this looked like a 4-14 ACC team tonight that will struggle to make the conference tournament. Not sure what to expect v Notre Dame, who held ‘Furd to 40 points at Maples. But talk about a huge game - basically a must win or an 0-6 start is likely and that’s a big hole to dig out of.
Hey, was hoping for a win...but at least it's not a "bad loss". I think this loss could be good for the team. A little reality check.
I am more concerned about the defensive breakdowns than the missed shots. Yes, Louisville played great D, but we also just had a terrible shooting night. It happens.
We'll learn from this and improve.
It’s not a bad loss for the resume or computer profiles.
From an eye test perspective, though, it was a horrible loss.
And you all need to stop being such negabears; it's pathetic. This is potentially a top 10 Louisville team that had a really good night. No shame in losing to them.
No shame in losing to them, agreed. Fear that the way we lost will be the trend and not the outlier.
Again with the policing of people’s posts on a forum dedicated to discussing Cal sports. That’s funny.
All due respect, maybe stop throwing around the negabears nonsense. Let people root how they want to root….dunno if you noticed but 99.9999% of the fans that used to follow MBB no longer even bother watching the games let alone discussing them here. This program remains a wasteland from what it once was.
You wanna analyze a game where we were not competitive from the opening tip v a LOU team down their best player and see silver linings, great. Other people have eyes and can draw their own conclusions. Let them.
Yes, this team got off to a much needed great start v a historically weak schedule - at the same time there have been plenty of signs for concern.
Mentioning data points that are clear as day or analyzing the current program through the lens of both where they HAVE been the past decade, as well as their resume as a potential NCAA Tournament at-large participant, makes someone just as passionate of a fan as you.
I just don't see the sky falling here. We have even a normalish shooting night and that game would have been much closer.
The larger tragedy was our inability to seize the moment of momentum, which has been a persistent trend in revenue sports.
And yes, you are right on about the vaporization of the MBB following....but I like to think that we are on the other side of the K-T boundary now. Better times are emerging. We are 12-2 (though likely to lose some more games in the near future). I think we would have all been thrilled with that prospect at the beginning of the season. Hence, no reason for doom, yet.
I’m actually incredibly positive as to the trajectory of the program. Clear progress in year 3, regardless of schedule.
My only doom involves their NCAA Tournament prospects. The fact that on 12/30/25 they were the 2nd team out of Lunardi’s Bracketology was fantastic.
Getting absolutely run off the court before the first tv timeout in the biggest home game in a decade is a blow nonetheless.
Yeah, Louisville is probably 2 talent levels above us. I didn't get the impression that we could steal this one under ideal circumstances (like UCLA). We did still do some good stuff, though.
We are a good team that can be very good, though not great. Still represents overall improvement and, hopefully, Madsen can continue to build.
Wow, this looks like the football team. You play a non conference schedule that is a complete joke and run up the wins and then play real teams and get blown out of the building. That was as ugly as it gets. However, I think this team does have some players. Camden needs to play better. He was non existent, just like when they played UCLA. Pippen,needs to stay under control and not force shots. Defensively that won’t get it done against anyone and it’s becoming a theme of the Madden era. When you play the good teams defensive lapses will kill you. Kinda like a guy going right down the middle of a zone and nobody even puts a hand on you. Anyway, that was a wake up call before Duke and Nc roll into town…. Yikes!
Friday v ND is a must win, otherwise an 0-7 start to ACC play enters the conversation. That would be tough to overcome.
It was always gonna be a struggle v LOU, UNC and Duke…we just don’t have the horses to hang with those programs yet. From a roster composition standpoint, this remains more of a mid-major club.
How we play v ND, CLEM, Ga Tech, Pitt, SMU, etc. is going to define the ceiling ~ getting waxed last night makes it tough to predict how we’ll fair but we’re certainly not in the same league as Louisville, UNC or Duke.