We lose the two grads next season, and Sissoko will be a big loss but if we can retain these players and sign a good PG, Center and some athletic perimeter players we can be greatly improved with the continuity and more experience
The score differential really just came down to Stoj and Wilkinson having terrible nights. They usually add up to around 30 points a game, and ended up with...10? I forget.
UNC showed everyone the playbook of "just don't let Stoj score and no one else can step up". I love Petraitis, but he is almost a negative offensively when he's on the floor. He does everything else so well, but holy crap is he bad at shooting the ball I might not even defend him if I were on the opposing team. Let him shoot and get his points, however few they are.
I honestly think our expectations have just gone way beyond what is realistic to be honest. We were one of the worst teams in the country two years ago. Last year, we got a bunch of one year mercenaries to turn us around, and I think in our heads we're further along the rebuild than we actually are thanks to the smoke and mirrors of the transfer portal.
We're still incapable of the high school recruiting that's required to truly compete in the ACC, but we're close. We now have a young core between next year's recruits, and this year's transfers (assuming we can hold on to them). We will probably be a mediocre to mediocre-bad team this year, but that's still massive improvements over getting blown out by UCSD.
Biggest flaw I currently see is defense at the guard positions, but that makes sense since we're trying to make mid-major guards play competitively against ACC level teams lol. Our guards have absolutely disappeared during conference play and half of our daily scoring comes from Stojakovic and Wilkinson. Next year, we have two blue chip guards coming that can complete our core if they pan out.
If you cantt shot , then you better be able to guard. Cal can do neither. Needless to say they are over matched in the ACC. The Madsen era is off to the same start as the Fox era, very disappointing.
Echoing much of what Blondies said, it not a fair comparison. Fox was stubborn, and never adjusted or veered from his vanilla gameplan, regardless of opponent or roster composition. Madsen is trying new things within games and making tweaks between games. He is much more a tactician than Fox ever was.
Of course I’m not observing practices or listening in on in-game instructions, but I disagree. I think the only striking difference between the two coaches’ approaches is that one (Madsen) is better at/more successful with offensive strategy, the other one (Fox) is better at defensive strategy. Sometimes it felt as though Fox was in a sense too much of a tactician, and didn’t just let the guys play freely. There wasn’t a good flow. Recruiting suffered, especially finding consistent scoring. Public enthusiasm didn’t come naturally to him in the way it seems it does to Madsen and, unlike the team under Madsen, players didn’t appear in tune with the idea that basketball is fun. I didn’t follow his time at Georgia closely, but I know he was thought of as being largely about defense there and against SEC competition the team just couldn’t get over the hump to become a perennial tournament team. Though his tenure was frustrating to Bulldog fans (my family in Athens confirm this), Fox did have multiple twenty win seasons there. Until Madsen can do that against P4 competition, I’m not sure who is the stronger head coach overall, let alone a better tactician. In these first two years of the Madsen era, I haven’t yet seen the necessary in-game tactical adjustments made to slow teams down/stem the tide when they mount twenty-point swings against us, for example. No lead appears safe. This year looks a lot like last year in that regard. Stubborn? Perhaps Fox came across that way, especially in interviews, and the on-court results took on a maddening sameness. Conversely, I could argue the recent defensive lapses and offensive streaky-ness are partly a product of the NBA style of play Madsen is touting/implementing. FWIW, I will say the performances under his regime are so far entertaining.
Not even close comparison. Yes, the team is decidedly average. But you have to look at where we were and where we are today. It took Dan Campells Lions team three full years to become good. We are halfway through Madsens second year. Given Madsens track record of success, I’m confident that we will get to above average very soon.
I appreciate Madsen’s moxy but we’re such a long way from competing in this conference, which I should add is maybe only 3rd or 4th best conference in bball nowadays. I don’t quite understand how we’re this poor on defense.
It really is a puzzle. Last year’s team did not defend all that well, either, but had clear limitations with depth, and Cone was at a disadvantage at point with his size.
This year’s roster is much deeper, and while missing Omot hurts on that side of the ball, we should still be defending better than we do just from a basic, fundamental standpoint.
While the depth of this team is a positive, the roster is still light on P4 talent…heyalumnigo and I saw that at the open house. You can absolutely still win that way (see Loyola-Chi), even in the ACC - however it requires a much more efficient level of play, both offensively and defensively, and you need to be able to shoot, at least passably. Unfortunately, this roster really struggles at all 3 aspects right now.
The program sunk to such depths under Wyking and Fox, it was always going to be a little while to dig out. I do think Madsen has the program on the right track, however the results are not going to change until the team defends better. That’s where it has to start…and not sure what the answer is. But my CALegends $$$ will continue to go to MBB…it’s just a process.
Light on P4 talent...boom! That's becoming apparent. In order to build that talent, Madsen needs to build a base. The base for next year is Stojakovic and Wilkinson. He absolutely needs them back, keep some role players, but build around those two guys. Increase the overall talent level and then we'll see better execution. Doesn't mean they need to give up this year, there's a lot of room for improvement, but the key is not losing those guys. If they move on, it's gonna be more of the same next year with big roster turnover. Even low minute guys like Larsen and Curtis won't stay and a 10 to 12 person turnover is a recipe for disaster that no coach wants to face.
He needs to keep Stoj and Wilkinson, and we have two high level freshman guards coming in. He does a great job with bigs, so I don't really worry about them as much. Our problem under him has largely been guard play, but we also are literally being revived from death and elite guards are hard to come by as a team with no national respect.
I think we're close to the actual rebuild part that requires us to be a somewhat serious player. You can't expect one of the worst FBS schools in the nation to recruit competitively, and yet that's what we've been needing to do.
The transfer portal is making us average, but we need consistency as you've been saying. We finally have youth. Stoj and Wilkinson are both young, we have two young 4* guards coming in next year. If they can be our core to build around, then we finally have a future to look forward to.
I think the base for next year is Wilkinson, JOJ, Omot, Dort and hopefully Andrej comes back. I'm still a believer that JOJ has the talent to become exceptional. He and Wilkinson are the most athletic players on the team.
Ouch. Hard to put things together with so much turnover in personnel. Let's see if things improve as these guys have spent more time together as the season carries on.
Agreed - the more reps they get, the play should hopefully be more well-rounded.
Sure seems like the personnel turnover is going to be a constant, at least until some rules are implemented with the NIL and portal…puts a lot of pressure on the system Madsen has in place…get the right guys in to learn it. I trust it offensively - he just needs to recruit a few better shooters. Defensively is the concern, IMO…neither of Madsen’s teams in Berkeley have defended nearly well enough. He had a legit pro big at UVSU with Aziz Bandaogo…neither of his Cal teams have had a player of that caliber defensively, and they’ve both struggled in the paint.
True, hoop…in Woodbury and Harmon, he had a couple of good G’s that could score AND distribute. And there are certainly some similarities with Andrej and Wilkinson…but this Cal team doesn’t come close to those assist totals for UVSU…whether it’s shooting or finishing by the rest of the roster as a whole, hopefully it is something they get sorted out.
Our best players are:
Andrej (sophomore)
Sissoko (grad)
Wilkinson (freshman)
Omot (Junior)
Joshua ( junior)
Campbell (junior)
Rytis (junior)
Blacksher (grad)
Dort (junior)
We lose the two grads next season, and Sissoko will be a big loss but if we can retain these players and sign a good PG, Center and some athletic perimeter players we can be greatly improved with the continuity and more experience
The score differential really just came down to Stoj and Wilkinson having terrible nights. They usually add up to around 30 points a game, and ended up with...10? I forget.
UNC showed everyone the playbook of "just don't let Stoj score and no one else can step up". I love Petraitis, but he is almost a negative offensively when he's on the floor. He does everything else so well, but holy crap is he bad at shooting the ball I might not even defend him if I were on the opposing team. Let him shoot and get his points, however few they are.
Madsen just isn't a good X's & O's coach... like at all.
I honestly think our expectations have just gone way beyond what is realistic to be honest. We were one of the worst teams in the country two years ago. Last year, we got a bunch of one year mercenaries to turn us around, and I think in our heads we're further along the rebuild than we actually are thanks to the smoke and mirrors of the transfer portal.
We're still incapable of the high school recruiting that's required to truly compete in the ACC, but we're close. We now have a young core between next year's recruits, and this year's transfers (assuming we can hold on to them). We will probably be a mediocre to mediocre-bad team this year, but that's still massive improvements over getting blown out by UCSD.
Biggest flaw I currently see is defense at the guard positions, but that makes sense since we're trying to make mid-major guards play competitively against ACC level teams lol. Our guards have absolutely disappeared during conference play and half of our daily scoring comes from Stojakovic and Wilkinson. Next year, we have two blue chip guards coming that can complete our core if they pan out.
Juries out for sure, but I have thought some of their out of bounds plays have been creative and well executed.
What is the prognosis on Omot? Can't find anything online. We need a spark.
He looks close and active on the sidelines, but the info from December was a sternum injury with no definite timetable. Still in holding mode.
Thank you!
If you cantt shot , then you better be able to guard. Cal can do neither. Needless to say they are over matched in the ACC. The Madsen era is off to the same start as the Fox era, very disappointing.
Echoing much of what Blondies said, it not a fair comparison. Fox was stubborn, and never adjusted or veered from his vanilla gameplan, regardless of opponent or roster composition. Madsen is trying new things within games and making tweaks between games. He is much more a tactician than Fox ever was.
Of course I’m not observing practices or listening in on in-game instructions, but I disagree. I think the only striking difference between the two coaches’ approaches is that one (Madsen) is better at/more successful with offensive strategy, the other one (Fox) is better at defensive strategy. Sometimes it felt as though Fox was in a sense too much of a tactician, and didn’t just let the guys play freely. There wasn’t a good flow. Recruiting suffered, especially finding consistent scoring. Public enthusiasm didn’t come naturally to him in the way it seems it does to Madsen and, unlike the team under Madsen, players didn’t appear in tune with the idea that basketball is fun. I didn’t follow his time at Georgia closely, but I know he was thought of as being largely about defense there and against SEC competition the team just couldn’t get over the hump to become a perennial tournament team. Though his tenure was frustrating to Bulldog fans (my family in Athens confirm this), Fox did have multiple twenty win seasons there. Until Madsen can do that against P4 competition, I’m not sure who is the stronger head coach overall, let alone a better tactician. In these first two years of the Madsen era, I haven’t yet seen the necessary in-game tactical adjustments made to slow teams down/stem the tide when they mount twenty-point swings against us, for example. No lead appears safe. This year looks a lot like last year in that regard. Stubborn? Perhaps Fox came across that way, especially in interviews, and the on-court results took on a maddening sameness. Conversely, I could argue the recent defensive lapses and offensive streaky-ness are partly a product of the NBA style of play Madsen is touting/implementing. FWIW, I will say the performances under his regime are so far entertaining.
Not even close comparison. Yes, the team is decidedly average. But you have to look at where we were and where we are today. It took Dan Campells Lions team three full years to become good. We are halfway through Madsens second year. Given Madsens track record of success, I’m confident that we will get to above average very soon.
I appreciate Madsen’s moxy but we’re such a long way from competing in this conference, which I should add is maybe only 3rd or 4th best conference in bball nowadays. I don’t quite understand how we’re this poor on defense.
It really is a puzzle. Last year’s team did not defend all that well, either, but had clear limitations with depth, and Cone was at a disadvantage at point with his size.
This year’s roster is much deeper, and while missing Omot hurts on that side of the ball, we should still be defending better than we do just from a basic, fundamental standpoint.
While the depth of this team is a positive, the roster is still light on P4 talent…heyalumnigo and I saw that at the open house. You can absolutely still win that way (see Loyola-Chi), even in the ACC - however it requires a much more efficient level of play, both offensively and defensively, and you need to be able to shoot, at least passably. Unfortunately, this roster really struggles at all 3 aspects right now.
The program sunk to such depths under Wyking and Fox, it was always going to be a little while to dig out. I do think Madsen has the program on the right track, however the results are not going to change until the team defends better. That’s where it has to start…and not sure what the answer is. But my CALegends $$$ will continue to go to MBB…it’s just a process.
Light on P4 talent...boom! That's becoming apparent. In order to build that talent, Madsen needs to build a base. The base for next year is Stojakovic and Wilkinson. He absolutely needs them back, keep some role players, but build around those two guys. Increase the overall talent level and then we'll see better execution. Doesn't mean they need to give up this year, there's a lot of room for improvement, but the key is not losing those guys. If they move on, it's gonna be more of the same next year with big roster turnover. Even low minute guys like Larsen and Curtis won't stay and a 10 to 12 person turnover is a recipe for disaster that no coach wants to face.
He needs to keep Stoj and Wilkinson, and we have two high level freshman guards coming in. He does a great job with bigs, so I don't really worry about them as much. Our problem under him has largely been guard play, but we also are literally being revived from death and elite guards are hard to come by as a team with no national respect.
Agreed. Madsen needs guys to develop in his system.
Unfortunately you can not really do that in this NIL/Portal world.
Expecting anything other than mass turnover again next year is nothing more than wishful thinking…
I think we're close to the actual rebuild part that requires us to be a somewhat serious player. You can't expect one of the worst FBS schools in the nation to recruit competitively, and yet that's what we've been needing to do.
The transfer portal is making us average, but we need consistency as you've been saying. We finally have youth. Stoj and Wilkinson are both young, we have two young 4* guards coming in next year. If they can be our core to build around, then we finally have a future to look forward to.
Good point.
I think the base for next year is Wilkinson, JOJ, Omot, Dort and hopefully Andrej comes back. I'm still a believer that JOJ has the talent to become exceptional. He and Wilkinson are the most athletic players on the team.
If JOJ had a more consistent jump shot….sigh. NBA 1st rounder. Hope it develops.
Ouch. Hard to put things together with so much turnover in personnel. Let's see if things improve as these guys have spent more time together as the season carries on.
Agreed - the more reps they get, the play should hopefully be more well-rounded.
Sure seems like the personnel turnover is going to be a constant, at least until some rules are implemented with the NIL and portal…puts a lot of pressure on the system Madsen has in place…get the right guys in to learn it. I trust it offensively - he just needs to recruit a few better shooters. Defensively is the concern, IMO…neither of Madsen’s teams in Berkeley have defended nearly well enough. He had a legit pro big at UVSU with Aziz Bandaogo…neither of his Cal teams have had a player of that caliber defensively, and they’ve both struggled in the paint.
Madsen also had a good PG at Utah Valley
True, hoop…in Woodbury and Harmon, he had a couple of good G’s that could score AND distribute. And there are certainly some similarities with Andrej and Wilkinson…but this Cal team doesn’t come close to those assist totals for UVSU…whether it’s shooting or finishing by the rest of the roster as a whole, hopefully it is something they get sorted out.