I don't see us winning a game this season. The team very much reminds me of Waking teams where it's a bunch of individuals on the court that don't play as a team. There were a number of times in trying to break the press where someone (Kuany, Newell) was wide open right in front of Fox or the same location on the other side of the court, but the guard was completely focused on handling this themselves. Plus, there were times when someone (Brown) was completely wide open under the basket, but yet again, the guard was focused on making a solo play to score.
I just don't see any inklings that the team is improving from game to game.
On one bright note, have you seen the guy trying to teach the spirit groups, especially the yell leaders, how to actually encourage the crowd? It's sad that someone actually has to teach students how to do this, but I'll give them some slack due to some tradition being lost from students graduating (and not being at games in person) during the pandemic. Too bad that there won't be any crowd left to encourage by the end of this season...
If you want to see a better coached basketball team, attend the women's games. They're 3-1 with a closer-than-the-score-shows loss to a ranked Notre Dame team.
For those that are pointing out that Cal was unprepared to handle Texas State's (or Southern's for that matter) press, and as a youth coach myself who spent many hours coaching 5th graders to press & beat the press, the suggestion that it somehow caught Fox unprepared, or that he failed to coach the break, is extremely unlikely. If it were the case, it'd be gross malpractice and he should be fired, absolutely. The more likely reason for the problems breaking the press is that, although being coached up, we are observably a slow (thinking and moving) team with one ball handler (Brown) and below average basketball IQ. Maybe Fox has lost the team, which is a possible explanation for the lackluster effort, and not much can be done to solve that other than an ice cream party. But the players should have enough pride in their own game to give maximum effort (in their 5-30 minutes on the floor) regardless of their thoughts of the coach or scheme. If lack of buy-in is the real problem, it displays a lack of character on the player's part.
I would like to submit my application for head coach of Cal Basketball. I have one year of experience coaching my sisters middle school basketball team and won the championship. Clearly I have about the same qualifications as Fox
How soon we forget. I cannot let this comment pass. Wyking had better talent (courtesy of Cuanzo), almost no coaching ability, certainly no scheme. Fox, the opposite. I will grant, however, that talent on the roster is approximately 99.531% of the reason for having a winning team. The way I see it, Cuanzo granted Wyking every one of his wins.
Monty was an A list who came to Cal in a miracle of a move. I'd be curious to see what he could do with this roster. B and below list coaches I don't think could change the trajectory.
I think you could say Wyking had perhaps slightly better players when compared to Mark Fox, but the rosters were definitely similar…
‘17-‘18: McNeill, Harris-Dyson, Anticevich and Sueing were talented pieces, but were really inconsistent as true FR; Okoroh was limited offensively as a big, and Marcus Lee never really brought much to the table despite being a Mickey D’S AA; Don Coleman was a poor shooting, inefficient volume scorer; only Paris Austin gave you skills the current Cal team lacks.
‘18 -‘19: You lost Okoroh, Lee and Coleman, but added FR Matt Bradley, Connor Vanover, Andre Kelly. Again, a similar roster to what Fox has…not postseason Tournament worthy, but definitely better than what they accomplished, same with Fox’s recent teams.
At the end of the day, it’s a coach’s job to teach and mold the players at his disposal…Wyking Jones and Mark Fox both failed in this endeavor.
The players have quit on Fox. At this point the administration is just alienating whatever little good will the fan base and student athletes have left by allowing this to go on any further. This has been an unmitigated disaster hastened by incompetence, a lack of vision or even ambition for the program, and now, inaction. Basically Cal basketball is a zombie program. We show up for games and move around, but there's nothing in there.
Thanks for the recap TD…another tough one. Vegas seems to finally be getting a handle on the Bears, and setting a spread commensurate with their unfortunate futility.
The baseball pass play was inexplicable…I really can’t imagine that’s what Fox actually drew up. If it is, then what are we even doing here, Jim Knowlton, ya know?
Without Roberson, they were down another athletic, though inefficient player…but they got Anyanwu back, although his absence in the 0-4 start remains unexplained…injured (?) - Fox is quick to point those out…it’s a mystery. He’ll likely be in the portal come March, if not sooner.
Celestine and Hyder’s injuries are not new, and based on the 6 years of data at the mid-major level, it’s really tough to see Dejuan Clayton’s career 39% FG/29% 3PFG being the missing piece that Fox claims. To hear the broadcasters tell it, you’d think he’s an NBA prospect rather than a 25-year old college senior. Celestine’s absence definitely hurts though.
They still went 9-deep with a roster that Fox built and has been practicing with since the summer because of the international trip. You can’t tell - they’re unprepared. It’s like they have never seen a press before, which makes sense because if Fox knew how to apply on-ball pressure, we probably would have seen it by now because THAT’S WHAT YOU DO WHEN YOU HAVE A ROSTER THAT GOES 9, 10 DEEP!! But he doesn’t press, he doesn’t trap, he doesn’t force turnovers that lead to easy buckets…like Justin Wilcox’s offense, up tempo is a foreign concept…and unfortunately, college athletics are geared that way.
There’s really not much more to say, is there? They’re in the conversation for worst P5 team in the nation…in year 4, they’ve regressed further from the Wyking Jones disaster, if that’s even possible. Fox is likely not going anywhere until after the season, though a competent AD would admit his mistake and take action.
He would let Fox go, elevate Francis, Harriman or Wilson to interim coach for the remainder of the year, and start preparing NOW for possible candidates…like what the Florida AD did in grabbing the USF coach Todd Golden IMMEDIATELY upon the Dons’ loss. And hopefully he would learn from his failed Fox hire and eschew that silly search firm that led him to a tired retread that was recently fired. Now is the time for a good, hungry, young, dynamic, up and coming coach that can recruit….someone like Terrence Johnson, though his Louisiana routes make him a contender for SEC jobs.
I’m not seeing where the 7 are coming from. Even if this team improves with Clayton, which is unlikely because, well, Mark Fox, the schedule gets harder too. I was counting on Southern and Texas State being wins, not historically awful home losses in gimme, buy games.
Maybe Eastern Washington after the losses to TCU, Arizona and USC…maybe UT-Arlington? Maybe Oregon State once or twice? Maybe Stanford at home in a rock fight?
I don't see us winning a game this season. The team very much reminds me of Waking teams where it's a bunch of individuals on the court that don't play as a team. There were a number of times in trying to break the press where someone (Kuany, Newell) was wide open right in front of Fox or the same location on the other side of the court, but the guard was completely focused on handling this themselves. Plus, there were times when someone (Brown) was completely wide open under the basket, but yet again, the guard was focused on making a solo play to score.
I just don't see any inklings that the team is improving from game to game.
On one bright note, have you seen the guy trying to teach the spirit groups, especially the yell leaders, how to actually encourage the crowd? It's sad that someone actually has to teach students how to do this, but I'll give them some slack due to some tradition being lost from students graduating (and not being at games in person) during the pandemic. Too bad that there won't be any crowd left to encourage by the end of this season...
If you want to see a better coached basketball team, attend the women's games. They're 3-1 with a closer-than-the-score-shows loss to a ranked Notre Dame team.
For those that are pointing out that Cal was unprepared to handle Texas State's (or Southern's for that matter) press, and as a youth coach myself who spent many hours coaching 5th graders to press & beat the press, the suggestion that it somehow caught Fox unprepared, or that he failed to coach the break, is extremely unlikely. If it were the case, it'd be gross malpractice and he should be fired, absolutely. The more likely reason for the problems breaking the press is that, although being coached up, we are observably a slow (thinking and moving) team with one ball handler (Brown) and below average basketball IQ. Maybe Fox has lost the team, which is a possible explanation for the lackluster effort, and not much can be done to solve that other than an ice cream party. But the players should have enough pride in their own game to give maximum effort (in their 5-30 minutes on the floor) regardless of their thoughts of the coach or scheme. If lack of buy-in is the real problem, it displays a lack of character on the player's part.
Hmmm. If a basketball team loses and no one is there to see it, did the team really lose? Sadly, yes.
dous to Mark Fox: Are you still here?
Get some guys from RSF and a new coach...reboot
I would like to submit my application for head coach of Cal Basketball. I have one year of experience coaching my sisters middle school basketball team and won the championship. Clearly I have about the same qualifications as Fox
sorry, over qualified
In the names of Kidd, Brown, Powe, Gray, Gutierrez and many others, I banish thee Mark Fox to the Nether Realm of failed Coaches.
Now be gone! (Did it work?)
Mark Fox makes Wyking Jones look like John Wooden.
How soon we forget. I cannot let this comment pass. Wyking had better talent (courtesy of Cuanzo), almost no coaching ability, certainly no scheme. Fox, the opposite. I will grant, however, that talent on the roster is approximately 99.531% of the reason for having a winning team. The way I see it, Cuanzo granted Wyking every one of his wins.
Fox owns this roster. And he's doing worse with this roster than any other Cal coach in history.
...and doing the best as he's the only one who's ever coached this roster.
History.
This probably isn’t a Tourney/NIT roster, but a competent head coach is at least 4-1.
Ben Braun, Monty, Cuonzo…
Monty was an A list who came to Cal in a miracle of a move. I'd be curious to see what he could do with this roster. B and below list coaches I don't think could change the trajectory.
I think you could say Wyking had perhaps slightly better players when compared to Mark Fox, but the rosters were definitely similar…
‘17-‘18: McNeill, Harris-Dyson, Anticevich and Sueing were talented pieces, but were really inconsistent as true FR; Okoroh was limited offensively as a big, and Marcus Lee never really brought much to the table despite being a Mickey D’S AA; Don Coleman was a poor shooting, inefficient volume scorer; only Paris Austin gave you skills the current Cal team lacks.
‘18 -‘19: You lost Okoroh, Lee and Coleman, but added FR Matt Bradley, Connor Vanover, Andre Kelly. Again, a similar roster to what Fox has…not postseason Tournament worthy, but definitely better than what they accomplished, same with Fox’s recent teams.
At the end of the day, it’s a coach’s job to teach and mold the players at his disposal…Wyking Jones and Mark Fox both failed in this endeavor.
0-30 is a distinct possibility. Holy cow, are we bad.
I pretty much called it.
Fire this fool already
The players have quit on Fox. At this point the administration is just alienating whatever little good will the fan base and student athletes have left by allowing this to go on any further. This has been an unmitigated disaster hastened by incompetence, a lack of vision or even ambition for the program, and now, inaction. Basically Cal basketball is a zombie program. We show up for games and move around, but there's nothing in there.
Thanks for the recap TD…another tough one. Vegas seems to finally be getting a handle on the Bears, and setting a spread commensurate with their unfortunate futility.
The baseball pass play was inexplicable…I really can’t imagine that’s what Fox actually drew up. If it is, then what are we even doing here, Jim Knowlton, ya know?
Without Roberson, they were down another athletic, though inefficient player…but they got Anyanwu back, although his absence in the 0-4 start remains unexplained…injured (?) - Fox is quick to point those out…it’s a mystery. He’ll likely be in the portal come March, if not sooner.
Celestine and Hyder’s injuries are not new, and based on the 6 years of data at the mid-major level, it’s really tough to see Dejuan Clayton’s career 39% FG/29% 3PFG being the missing piece that Fox claims. To hear the broadcasters tell it, you’d think he’s an NBA prospect rather than a 25-year old college senior. Celestine’s absence definitely hurts though.
They still went 9-deep with a roster that Fox built and has been practicing with since the summer because of the international trip. You can’t tell - they’re unprepared. It’s like they have never seen a press before, which makes sense because if Fox knew how to apply on-ball pressure, we probably would have seen it by now because THAT’S WHAT YOU DO WHEN YOU HAVE A ROSTER THAT GOES 9, 10 DEEP!! But he doesn’t press, he doesn’t trap, he doesn’t force turnovers that lead to easy buckets…like Justin Wilcox’s offense, up tempo is a foreign concept…and unfortunately, college athletics are geared that way.
There’s really not much more to say, is there? They’re in the conversation for worst P5 team in the nation…in year 4, they’ve regressed further from the Wyking Jones disaster, if that’s even possible. Fox is likely not going anywhere until after the season, though a competent AD would admit his mistake and take action.
He would let Fox go, elevate Francis, Harriman or Wilson to interim coach for the remainder of the year, and start preparing NOW for possible candidates…like what the Florida AD did in grabbing the USF coach Todd Golden IMMEDIATELY upon the Dons’ loss. And hopefully he would learn from his failed Fox hire and eschew that silly search firm that led him to a tired retread that was recently fired. Now is the time for a good, hungry, young, dynamic, up and coming coach that can recruit….someone like Terrence Johnson, though his Louisiana routes make him a contender for SEC jobs.
But, but, but, covid...
(we really need a sarcasm font)
Didn't Fox try to press and trap with the first team, but it failed, badly. I wonder if that made him gun shy to press and trap?
That was Wyking, I believe...
oh maybe. The last 7 years have been a blur.
A horrific nightmare.
Will we win a single game this year? With injuries we're getting worse as our schedule (and presumably our opponents) is getting tougher.
I miss Andre Kelly.
Averaging 10 and 10 for the 3-1 Gauchos, whose only loss came at altitude v NAU as 9 point favorites in Flagstaff, which is a great town, BTW…
its time to get down to the Thunderdome to see some Gauchos basketball
Hit me up if you do!
will do!
Fox has to go. Over/under has to be at 5 games. I can’t see us winning more than 2 conference games.
I’m not seeing where the 7 are coming from. Even if this team improves with Clayton, which is unlikely because, well, Mark Fox, the schedule gets harder too. I was counting on Southern and Texas State being wins, not historically awful home losses in gimme, buy games.
Maybe Eastern Washington after the losses to TCU, Arizona and USC…maybe UT-Arlington? Maybe Oregon State once or twice? Maybe Stanford at home in a rock fight?
I think the ceiling for the team is 5 wins and the floor is 1.
The floor is zero. It could happen. We're approaching U-Dub Football awfulness a few years ago.