I'm sorry to agree. It's now been so long since we had Monty and a team that played smart and were skilled. It's been so long since I saw Kevin Johnson, Jason Kidd, Lamond Murray, Ivan Rabb, Leon Powe...Other than Bradley, we just don't have any horses. We don't have a strong inside game. We can't make 3 pointers consistently. We don't pass with any special skill. We are just...Blah. I like that Fox seems to be a good guy who gets his players to work hard, but I'm not sure his schemes or his recruiting will ever have us in the top 3 of the Pac. How can we be anything other than...meh.
We have no low post game...none. AK is a role player, but not much of a threat on the block with his back to the basket... poor Lars is struggling to do really much of anything. He looks like he’s still trying to figure things out. D’s can defend the outside relatively easily bc our schemes are not very complex. We don’t seem to run any type of off-ball screens to get Betley or Foreman open looks, and we don’t have a PG. Hyders f-ing inexplicable waiver denial was HUGE.
Other than Bradley, we have no one who can dribble/drive... mrjpark below is def onto something w/ MB as well...1 apg for Matt is unacceptable given the attention and his usage rate, esp. when he’s averaging over 2 offensive fouls/game. At the end of the day, there’s just not a lot of talent on this roster.
I'm actually not against the benching of Bradley. There's something off about him this season. Last season, he put the team on his shoulders because he needed to. This season, I feel like he's a bit of a black hole especially because he's not shooting like he was last year.
Good point...he’s not really making the guys around him any better. Betley & Foreman should be getting better looks than they are given the attention Bradley is getting.
Thanks Nick. It is tough to feel invested in this Cal team...we could really use a starting caliber PG. Only disagreement is with Pepperdine not sniffing the Dance....The Kolby Ross/Kessler Davis tandem is pretty dynamic, and they're competitive with any WCC team not named Gonzaga, so a top 3 finish is likely and that gets them in the discussion. Holding on to either the UCLA or SDSU loss would've been large for the Waves.
While I agree with the general sentiment that it's tragically difficult to feel invested in Cal basketball, I do think you're also selling Pepperdine a bit short. They took UCLA to 3OT and were up by 16 at one point on a now-ranked SDSU. I fully expect Pepperdine to compete for 2nd or 3rd place in the WCC, and I'd probably put them in about the middle of the Pac-12 this year. They're maybe the toughest non-conference team this year and I don't feel bad losing to them.
If Cal loses to Boston College in going to feel significantly worse.
I'm sorry to agree. It's now been so long since we had Monty and a team that played smart and were skilled. It's been so long since I saw Kevin Johnson, Jason Kidd, Lamond Murray, Ivan Rabb, Leon Powe...Other than Bradley, we just don't have any horses. We don't have a strong inside game. We can't make 3 pointers consistently. We don't pass with any special skill. We are just...Blah. I like that Fox seems to be a good guy who gets his players to work hard, but I'm not sure his schemes or his recruiting will ever have us in the top 3 of the Pac. How can we be anything other than...meh.
We have no low post game...none. AK is a role player, but not much of a threat on the block with his back to the basket... poor Lars is struggling to do really much of anything. He looks like he’s still trying to figure things out. D’s can defend the outside relatively easily bc our schemes are not very complex. We don’t seem to run any type of off-ball screens to get Betley or Foreman open looks, and we don’t have a PG. Hyders f-ing inexplicable waiver denial was HUGE.
Other than Bradley, we have no one who can dribble/drive... mrjpark below is def onto something w/ MB as well...1 apg for Matt is unacceptable given the attention and his usage rate, esp. when he’s averaging over 2 offensive fouls/game. At the end of the day, there’s just not a lot of talent on this roster.
I'm actually not against the benching of Bradley. There's something off about him this season. Last season, he put the team on his shoulders because he needed to. This season, I feel like he's a bit of a black hole especially because he's not shooting like he was last year.
Good point...he’s not really making the guys around him any better. Betley & Foreman should be getting better looks than they are given the attention Bradley is getting.
Thanks Nick. It is tough to feel invested in this Cal team...we could really use a starting caliber PG. Only disagreement is with Pepperdine not sniffing the Dance....The Kolby Ross/Kessler Davis tandem is pretty dynamic, and they're competitive with any WCC team not named Gonzaga, so a top 3 finish is likely and that gets them in the discussion. Holding on to either the UCLA or SDSU loss would've been large for the Waves.
Wouldn't Grant Anticevich and Matt Bradley be 2 examples, not just one?
While I agree with the general sentiment that it's tragically difficult to feel invested in Cal basketball, I do think you're also selling Pepperdine a bit short. They took UCLA to 3OT and were up by 16 at one point on a now-ranked SDSU. I fully expect Pepperdine to compete for 2nd or 3rd place in the WCC, and I'd probably put them in about the middle of the Pac-12 this year. They're maybe the toughest non-conference team this year and I don't feel bad losing to them.
If Cal loses to Boston College in going to feel significantly worse.
Pepperdine is a solid team. If they figure out how to play a little D under Lo Ro, they could Dance, and possibly knock off a 4 seed.
at least it isnt Cal State Bakersfield