Paul Harvey says.... "page (pause) two"

oskidunker said:

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Big C said:

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HoopDreams said:

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Roberson is a great player

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Roberson played?!? I want a full report!

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For Fresneck.

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Okay, they have a "Robinson" and we have a "Roberson".

Not trying to nitpick. More like trying to get this thread to page two (but ncbears beat me to it).

Still think it's too bad we didn't pull out the win vs seton hall

Had we won we would enter Pac12 play with some confidence (maybe beating Fresno State gives them a little)

We seem to have our rotation… 10 players

First game I watched this year. Defense looked pretty good ,as did rebounding. Not exactly Monty ball out there. Offense still seems passive and not smooth. Could be a talent issue, though Shepard and Kelly move well. Looked better than last year's product, against a decent team.

I liked seeing the ball moving and the shots distributed. I also liked seeing plenty of players getting time.

IMHO the only FSU player with offensive skills to worry about was Robinson. The guy scored 25 and drew 9 fouls! I would like to have seen more double teams on him and/or if Celestine or Alajiki could have handled him better.

Nice game by Shepherd. Led the team with 7 boards.

Big improvement over last year. We go to most all the home games. The Wyking teams were difficult to watch.

The help defense was good last night - cutting off drives and making the Fresno players life difficult. Kelly and Anticevich have put in a lot of work and have developed well.

The Bears are a long way from competing for a championship. The Bears also appear able to beat (or lose to) anyone on the schedule.

Shepard had a good game but is not an efficient scorer

He's our best player to create his own shot, but that doesn't bode well for the season, especially since we take the clock down so much

I would like us to get into our offense faster and get a shot within the flow rather than take a rush shot or give it to a player to go one on one so often

stu said:

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I liked seeing the ball moving and the shots distributed. I also liked seeing plenty of players getting time.

IMHO the only FSU player with offensive skills to worry about was Robinson. The guy scored 25 and drew 9 fouls! I would like to have seen more double teams on him and/or if Celestine or Alajiki could have handled him better.

Nice game by Shepherd. Led the team with 7 boards.

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Robinson (Fresno center) is a very good player. Has range out to the 3 and good moves inside. Kelly did a good job defending him last night.

Fox mentioned in the post-game interview that Robinson was a good passer and so he was worried about their other players hitting outside shots. I would have to disagree with that approach given how good their outside shooters are (they didn't look to me to be very good) but it worked out for us.

Robinson could get to the rim anytime he wanted against Lars. Much quicker. He had a tougher time against Kelly. When Kelly got 3 fouls, I was hoping Fox would try Kuany against Robinson. He gives up some weight and height, but I think he has long enough arms and is quick enough to have bothered him more than Lars. Evey time Robinson drove on Lars it was 2 free throws or a basket.

We played good defense overall. A few breakdowns but those happen. Hyder played a lot (12 minutes) and not sure why. I'm still not seeing it. Foreman did not provide any value last night. Looks a bit hobbled. I wish Fox had recruited 1-2 more guards for next year. Maybe the transfer portal or a grad transfer.

Fox mentioned that Shepherd's hand is limiting his shooting and ball handling ability. I really hope that is it because we can't give the most shots to a guy who is shooting 35%. That makes no sense.

Fox basically called Kuany a role player in the post-game interview. I think that is right. But if he plays with the energy he played with last night, he should be 20 minutes/game. He knows his role and does it pretty well. The next step for him is to develop his ball handling skills so he can take guys off the dribble. He has a lot of athleticism. He's just not a baller yet.

Really makes me nervous when Grant goes into trying to cross over his guy mode. That isn't his game. I would put him in the corner with Kelly on the block on the same side and play two man game. Grant's guy would not be able to help down on Kelly or risk giving up a clean look to Grant from the corner.

I'd also run a screen the screener play with Grant setting an initial screen for Brown and then flairing out for a 3 with Kelly setting a screen on Grant and then rolling to the hoop.

Stiil too many possessions where we have to jack up a last second shot against the shot clock. Those are basically turnovers.

Celestine needs to shoot more. After Celestine's turnover (forcing a pass into Lars), Lars turned to him and told him to shoot the ball.

We got a bit lucky with Brown hitting two 3s and Shepherd hitting a desperation 3 at the shot clock buzzer. I don't think we can depend on those things happening every game. We've got to figure out how to get more open shots with more off ball movement. WAY too much standing around for my liking.

Solid win overall. Team is playing better than earlier in the year.

Yes, Braun did say that.

bearister said:

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" I would have to disagree with that approach given how good their outside shooters are (they didn't look to me to be very good) but it worked out for us."

Didn't Ben Braun say the Bulldogs were short two of their good shooters in that game?

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Watched live so didn't know that. Given that, I think we should have adjusted our defensive strategy.

Bear8995 said:

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bearister said:

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" I would have to disagree with that approach given how good their outside shooters are (they didn't look to me to be very good) but it worked out for us."

Didn't Ben Braun say the Bulldogs were short two of their good shooters in that game?

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Watched live so didn't know that. Given that, I think we should have adjusted our defensive strategy.

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Finally we get a break.

Shepard got some scores last night, but did he get any assists?

My first game attending since pandemic. Felt nice to be there even with the small crowd.

Couple impressions:

X&Os
The Good: on one play in the 2nd half I had the perfect angle for a little 3 man curl motion with Shephard, Kelly & Kuany(?) which resulted in a nice dish and finish by Kelly. A thing of beauty and hopefully a sign of things to come.
The Bad: The absolute horrible play that Fox drew up to end the 1st half---even called a timeout beforehand. Basically Hyder held the ball and initiated with :05 left and didn't get a ballscreen and ended up passing back to Grant who didn't get a shot off. Embarrassing.

Kuany's block was probably the highlight of his Cal career! Also, he showed nice urgency on a midcourt steal where he tried to go coast to coast but didn't convert. Which is fine, I liked seeing that. There were a couple plays where he passed up open-rhythm shots, I hope he takes those in the future.

Fox is a screamer. A couple times, his yelling was very apparent due to the small crowd. One time, after a mistake he screamed at the team to "GET OVER HERE" It's funny, a couple players ran to him and a couple didn't. It reminded me of how I yell at my dog. I guess the players are ok with it or at least they understand.

Must give the defense their due. We had improved 3 point D---very few wide open looks and a couple of their makes were late in the game. And while Robinson scored 25, I'm ok with that---especially in the post. But no one else on Fresno made a significant impact so the teams should feel good about that.

BC Calfan said:

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My first game attending since pandemic. Felt nice to be there even with the small crowd.

Couple impressions:

X&Os
The Good: on one play in the 2nd half I had the perfect angle for a little 3 man curl motion with Shephard, Kelly & Kuany(?) which resulted in a nice dish and finish by Kelly. A thing of beauty and hopefully a sign of things to come.
The Bad: The absolute horrible play that Fox drew up to end the 1st half---even called a timeout beforehand. Basically Hyder held the ball and initiated with :05 left and didn't get a ballscreen and ended up passing back to Grant who didn't get a shot off. Embarrassing.

Kuany's block was probably the highlight of his Cal career! Also, he showed nice urgency on a midcourt steal where he tried to go coast to coast but didn't convert. Which is fine, I liked seeing that. There were a couple plays where he passed up open-rhythm shots, I hope he takes those in the future.

Fox is a screamer. A couple times, his yelling was very apparent due to the small crowd. One time, after a mistake he screamed at the team to "GET OVER HERE" It's funny, a couple players ran to him and a couple didn't. It reminded me of how I yell at my dog. I guess the players are ok with it or at least they understand.

Must give the defense their due. We had improved 3 point D---very few wide open looks and a couple of their makes were late in the game. And while Robinson scored 25, I'm ok with that---especially in the post. But no one else on Fresno made a significant impact so the teams should feel good about that.

---

I am not yet back on Team Fox but I am happier and we MIGHT break 10 wins. Still a reach but we MIGHT.

Of course that will give hope and he will get an extension.

We got some beatable non conference games coming up. Uop,Idaho State,Santa Clara, and Dartmouth. Stanford should be two competitive games.Washington wont be unbeatable nor will Wsu.We don't have to play AT Colorado.

Idaho State Record so far.

11/09
Eastern Oregon
W 82-61
Home
1-0
0-0
11/12
Pepperdine
L 60-65
Away
1-1
0-0
11/14
Seattle
L 51-77
Away
1-2
0-0
11/19
Nebraska
L 60-78
Away
1-3
0-0
11/22
UMKC
L 58-74
Home
1-4
0-0
11/27
Air Force
L 48-59
Away
1-5
0-0

One prepares you for the other.

BC Calfan said:

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My first game attending since pandemic. Felt nice to be there even with the small crowd.

Couple impressions:

X&Os
The Good: on one play in the 2nd half I had the perfect angle for a little 3 man curl motion with Shephard, Kelly & Kuany(?) which resulted in a nice dish and finish by Kelly. A thing of beauty and hopefully a sign of things to come.
The Bad: The absolute horrible play that Fox drew up to end the 1st half---even called a timeout beforehand. Basically Hyder held the ball and initiated with :05 left and didn't get a ballscreen and ended up passing back to Grant who didn't get a shot off. Embarrassing.

Kuany's block was probably the highlight of his Cal career! Also, he showed nice urgency on a midcourt steal where he tried to go coast to coast but didn't convert. Which is fine, I liked seeing that. There were a couple plays where he passed up open-rhythm shots, I hope he takes those in the future.

Fox is a screamer. A couple times, his yelling was very apparent due to the small crowd. One time, after a mistake he screamed at the team to "GET OVER HERE" It's funny, a couple players ran to him and a couple didn't. It reminded me of how I yell at my dog. I guess the players are ok with it or at least they understand.

Must give the defense their due. We had improved 3 point D---very few wide open looks and a couple of their makes were late in the game. And while Robinson scored 25, I'm ok with that---especially in the post. But no one else on Fresno made a significant impact so the teams should feel good about that.

---

Yeah, that play out of a time out at the end was bad, but clearly the main intent was to run out the clock, scoring was secondary. We won, so hard to argue with success.

Fox has always been a screamer, it was one of the reasons I was so upset that we hired him. I just don't think that works in coaching anymore unless maybe you are an older, highly successful coach (winning cures everything), but even Coach K had to change. Players have the Portal now. Moreover, It especially doesn't work in a place like Cal. Your dogs might be OK with it, but most young people these days, especially Cal students, will not put up with it. Even watching from the student section.

socaltownie said:

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BC Calfan said:

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My first game attending since pandemic. Felt nice to be there even with the small crowd.

Couple impressions:

X&Os
The Good: on one play in the 2nd half I had the perfect angle for a little 3 man curl motion with Shephard, Kelly & Kuany(?) which resulted in a nice dish and finish by Kelly. A thing of beauty and hopefully a sign of things to come.
The Bad: The absolute horrible play that Fox drew up to end the 1st half---even called a timeout beforehand. Basically Hyder held the ball and initiated with :05 left and didn't get a ballscreen and ended up passing back to Grant who didn't get a shot off. Embarrassing.

Kuany's block was probably the highlight of his Cal career! Also, he showed nice urgency on a midcourt steal where he tried to go coast to coast but didn't convert. Which is fine, I liked seeing that. There were a couple plays where he passed up open-rhythm shots, I hope he takes those in the future.

Fox is a screamer. A couple times, his yelling was very apparent due to the small crowd. One time, after a mistake he screamed at the team to "GET OVER HERE" It's funny, a couple players ran to him and a couple didn't. It reminded me of how I yell at my dog. I guess the players are ok with it or at least they understand.

Must give the defense their due. We had improved 3 point D---very few wide open looks and a couple of their makes were late in the game. And while Robinson scored 25, I'm ok with that---especially in the post. But no one else on Fresno made a significant impact so the teams should feel good about that.

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I am not yet back on Team Fox but I am happier and we MIGHT break 10 wins. Still a reach but we MIGHT.

Of course that will give hope and he will get an extension.

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My guess is 11 wins. 3 more non conf and 5 in pac 12 play.

calumnus said:

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BC Calfan said:

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My first game attending since pandemic. Felt nice to be there even with the small crowd.

Couple impressions:

X&Os
The Good: on one play in the 2nd half I had the perfect angle for a little 3 man curl motion with Shephard, Kelly & Kuany(?) which resulted in a nice dish and finish by Kelly. A thing of beauty and hopefully a sign of things to come.
The Bad: The absolute horrible play that Fox drew up to end the 1st half---even called a timeout beforehand. Basically Hyder held the ball and initiated with :05 left and didn't get a ballscreen and ended up passing back to Grant who didn't get a shot off. Embarrassing.

Kuany's block was probably the highlight of his Cal career! Also, he showed nice urgency on a midcourt steal where he tried to go coast to coast but didn't convert. Which is fine, I liked seeing that. There were a couple plays where he passed up open-rhythm shots, I hope he takes those in the future.

Fox is a screamer. A couple times, his yelling was very apparent due to the small crowd. One time, after a mistake he screamed at the team to "GET OVER HERE" It's funny, a couple players ran to him and a couple didn't. It reminded me of how I yell at my dog. I guess the players are ok with it or at least they understand.

Must give the defense their due. We had improved 3 point D---very few wide open looks and a couple of their makes were late in the game. And while Robinson scored 25, I'm ok with that---especially in the post. But no one else on Fresno made a significant impact so the teams should feel good about that.

---

Yeah, that play out of a time out at the end was bad, but clearly the main intent was to run out the clock, scoring was secondary. We won, so hard to argue with success.

Fox has always been a screamer, it was one of the reasons I was so upset that we hired him. I just don't think that works in coaching anymore unless maybe you are an older, highly successful coach (winning cures everything), but even Coach K had to change. Players have the Portal now. Moreover, It especially doesn't work in a place like Cal. Your dogs might be OK with it, but most young people these days, especially Cal students, will not put up with it. Even watching from the student section.

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Really a bad look for Fox. He needs to tone it down for his own good, and for the team's good

it never worked before, but was somewhat accepted

At this level, a coach sometimes needs to get the attention of his players, but that should be a rare event, and followed up with 5x positives

calumnus said:

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BC Calfan said:

---

My first game attending since pandemic. Felt nice to be there even with the small crowd.

Couple impressions:

X&Os
The Good: on one play in the 2nd half I had the perfect angle for a little 3 man curl motion with Shephard, Kelly & Kuany(?) which resulted in a nice dish and finish by Kelly. A thing of beauty and hopefully a sign of things to come.
The Bad: The absolute horrible play that Fox drew up to end the 1st half---even called a timeout beforehand. Basically Hyder held the ball and initiated with :05 left and didn't get a ballscreen and ended up passing back to Grant who didn't get a shot off. Embarrassing.

Kuany's block was probably the highlight of his Cal career! Also, he showed nice urgency on a midcourt steal where he tried to go coast to coast but didn't convert. Which is fine, I liked seeing that. There were a couple plays where he passed up open-rhythm shots, I hope he takes those in the future.

Fox is a screamer. A couple times, his yelling was very apparent due to the small crowd. One time, after a mistake he screamed at the team to "GET OVER HERE" It's funny, a couple players ran to him and a couple didn't. It reminded me of how I yell at my dog. I guess the players are ok with it or at least they understand.

Must give the defense their due. We had improved 3 point D---very few wide open looks and a couple of their makes were late in the game. And while Robinson scored 25, I'm ok with that---especially in the post. But no one else on Fresno made a significant impact so the teams should feel good about that.

---

Yeah, that play out of a time out at the end was bad, but clearly the main intent was to run out the clock, scoring was secondary. We won, so hard to argue with success.

Fox has always been a screamer, it was one of the reasons I was so upset that we hired him. I just don't think that works in coaching anymore unless maybe you are an older, highly successful coach (winning cures everything), but even Coach K had to change. Players have the Portal now. Moreover, It especially doesn't work in a place like Cal. Your dogs might be OK with it, but most young people these days, especially Cal students, will not put up with it. Even watching from the student section.

---

Fox is a screamer and it occasionally wears on the players (I have asked several of the guys that) but they understand his focus and they also respect his knowledge and how well He has prepared them - regardless of the outcome. Their frustration is more centered around a very structured offense that frowns on improvising even when the opening is there early in the shot clock. Given the intensity of the sport, the physicality and alertness/reactions required, its natural and common for basketball coaches to be yellers- in fact its hard to give many examples of successful coaches (men or women) that are cerebral/ mostly quiet HC's(Few/Drew). Cronin, Smith, AZ new coach, Hurley, Pope(though highly supportive as well), Pearl, Howard, Self, Mussleman, Hamilton are just a few examples of high vocal levels Coach K and Calipari would be included, but time and age have brought their throttle back some. Bottom line, players respond to the intensity if they believe their coach has their back and is not playing favorites.

Yes, if a "screamer" backs it up with plenty of positive strokes, he can come across as just "emotional"... "wears his heart on his sleeve". I got the impression Sean Miller was like this.

If they're just a "hard azz", well that was more like 20 century stuff. I got the impression Campanelli was like that.

Big C said:

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Yes, if a "screamer" backs it up with plenty of positive strokes, he can come across as just "emotional"... "wears his heart on his sleeve". I got the impression Sean Miller was like this.

If they're just a "hard azz", well that was more like 20 century stuff. I got the impression Campanelli was like that.

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Yeah, that is a great point. The key is establishing and maintaining rapport with your players so they want to learn and want to do what you are asking them to do. A little heat of the moment is fine if afterward the rapport is reestablished, the player is instructed and encouraged and the player isn't benched for the rest of the game or some other punishment.

If the coach cannot control his or her emotions during the game, how can they ask/demand that their players do? The coach needs to model the emotional intensity and maturity that they expect from their players.

I don't remember John Wooden screaming. Or Tara VanDerveer.

stu said:

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I don't remember John Wooden screaming. Or Tara VanDerveer.

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When I was a kid my dad was a Pac-8 ref, but was a friend of Wooden since Wooden recruited him as CIF POY in the 50's. Wooden would hire my dad to ref UCLA scrimmages and I would sit next to Wooden on the bench. I also sat behind the UCLA bench for many PAC-8 games and yes, he never, ever screamed. I don't think Kareem (Alcindor) or Walton would have played for a screamer, even back then.

My dad was an advisor to Tara back when she was at Idaho and helped her with her recruiting and later helped bring her to Stanford from Ohio State in the 80's (and she thanked him for all he did for her in her book). She is another great coach and yes, does not scream or yell.

Wooden and Tara both wrote forwards in some of my dad's books.

Not sure if the "scream-no scream" factor is that important but my guess is the season is still fairly young, more verbal instruction needed now, and as the season progresses there might be less and less of it as the team philosophy kicks into the players' mindset. Then again maybe not, we shall see.

bearister said:

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" I would have to disagree with that approach given how good their outside shooters are (they didn't look to me to be very good) but it worked out for us."

Didn't Ben Braun say the Bulldogs were short two of their good shooters in that game?

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I checked out this issue as it has some bearing on the quality of our win. The only starter the Bulldogs were missing was ex-Cal commit Jamarl Baker who transferred to Fresno after stints at Kentucky and Arizona. Baker started the first two games and was averaging 4.5 points per game on 3 for 16 shooting including 1 for 11 on 3 point attempts. Against Cal, Fresno started the same 5 who started in their wins against Pepperdine, Santa Clara and Idaho.

calumnus said:

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stu said:

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I don't remember John Wooden screaming. Or Tara VanDerveer.

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When I was a kid my dad was a Pac-8 ref, but was a friend of Wooden since Wooden recruited him as CIF POY in the 50's. Wooden would hire my dad to ref UCLA scrimmages and I would sit next to Wooden on the bench. I also sat behind the UCLA bench for many PAC-8 games and yes, he never, ever screamed. I don't think Kareem (Alcindor) or Walton would have played for a screamer, even back then.

My dad was an advisor to Tara back when she was at Idaho and helped her with her recruiting and later helped bring her to Stanford from Ohio State in the 80's (and she thanked him for all he did for her in her book). She is another great coach and yes, does not scream or yell.

Wooden and Tara both wrote forwards in some of my dad's books.

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Great stories and thanks for sharing - I am sure I would remember your Dad having watched many a Pac8 game at Encina, Maples and Harmon. Richie Ballesteros gave me my only T" in a HS game. Only slight variance of thought is that I have seen Tara get extremely upset with her players before. Definitely far toned down over past decade and certainly a HOF/one of top coaches ever - amazing her endurance, passion and effectiveness has not wavered to this day. There was a situation (want to say 15+- years ago?) when her team was upset in post season play and she was so upset she wrote a letter to editor in the SJ Mercury basically taking her team to task and apologizing for the team's performance. I remember it clearly as many people reacted strongly to her letter and she followed up with an apology. Coaches are of course human and emotions are extremely hard to control, but if the players know you are supporting them, have their level of passion/will to win, can learn from them etc it is understood and accepted.

Fox is a screamer...I thought it was funny during one sequence, after a time out I believe. I think Hyder or Shepard had the ball at the top of the key and Kelly came up to set a screen on his man...and the guard was dribbling several feet out from the screener trying to go by his defender - so Fox screamed "USE THE DAMN SCREEN"...
That was hilarious...

4thGenCal said:

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calumnus said:

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stu said:

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I don't remember John Wooden screaming. Or Tara VanDerveer.

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When I was a kid my dad was a Pac-8 ref, but was a friend of Wooden since Wooden recruited him as CIF POY in the 50's. Wooden would hire my dad to ref UCLA scrimmages and I would sit next to Wooden on the bench. I also sat behind the UCLA bench for many PAC-8 games and yes, he never, ever screamed. I don't think Kareem (Alcindor) or Walton would have played for a screamer, even back then.

My dad was an advisor to Tara back when she was at Idaho and helped her with her recruiting and later helped bring her to Stanford from Ohio State in the 80's (and she thanked him for all he did for her in her book). She is another great coach and yes, does not scream or yell.

Wooden and Tara both wrote forwards in some of my dad's books.

---

Great stories and thanks for sharing - I am sure I would remember your Dad having watched many a Pac8 game at Encina, Maples and Harmon. Richie Ballesteros gave me my only T" in a HS game. Only slight variance of thought is that I have seen Tara get extremely upset with her players before. Definitely far toned down over past decade and certainly a HOF/one of top coaches ever - amazing her endurance, passion and effectiveness has not wavered to this day. There was a situation (want to say 15+- years ago?) when her team was upset in post season play and she was so upset she wrote a letter to editor in the SJ Mercury basically taking her team to task and apologizing for the team's performance. I remember it clearly as many people reacted strongly to her letter and she followed up with an apology. Coaches are of course human and emotions are extremely hard to control, but if the players know you are supporting them, have their level of passion/will to win, can learn from them etc it is understood and accepted.

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Yes, you are right. And I've only really seen a small fraction of their games, I can't attest to every game. Tara can be "stern." Moreover, in both cases it is easy to be calm and positive when you have the more talented team and are blowing out your opponent.

4thGenCal said:

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calumnus said:

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BC Calfan said:

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My first game attending since pandemic. Felt nice to be there even with the small crowd.

Couple impressions:

X&Os
The Good: on one play in the 2nd half I had the perfect angle for a little 3 man curl motion with Shephard, Kelly & Kuany(?) which resulted in a nice dish and finish by Kelly. A thing of beauty and hopefully a sign of things to come.
The Bad: The absolute horrible play that Fox drew up to end the 1st half---even called a timeout beforehand. Basically Hyder held the ball and initiated with :05 left and didn't get a ballscreen and ended up passing back to Grant who didn't get a shot off. Embarrassing.

Kuany's block was probably the highlight of his Cal career! Also, he showed nice urgency on a midcourt steal where he tried to go coast to coast but didn't convert. Which is fine, I liked seeing that. There were a couple plays where he passed up open-rhythm shots, I hope he takes those in the future.

Fox is a screamer. A couple times, his yelling was very apparent due to the small crowd. One time, after a mistake he screamed at the team to "GET OVER HERE" It's funny, a couple players ran to him and a couple didn't. It reminded me of how I yell at my dog. I guess the players are ok with it or at least they understand.

Must give the defense their due. We had improved 3 point D---very few wide open looks and a couple of their makes were late in the game. And while Robinson scored 25, I'm ok with that---especially in the post. But no one else on Fresno made a significant impact so the teams should feel good about that.

---

Yeah, that play out of a time out at the end was bad, but clearly the main intent was to run out the clock, scoring was secondary. We won, so hard to argue with success.

Fox has always been a screamer, it was one of the reasons I was so upset that we hired him. I just don't think that works in coaching anymore unless maybe you are an older, highly successful coach (winning cures everything), but even Coach K had to change. Players have the Portal now. Moreover, It especially doesn't work in a place like Cal. Your dogs might be OK with it, but most young people these days, especially Cal students, will not put up with it. Even watching from the student section.

---

Fox is a screamer and it occasionally wears on the players (I have asked several of the guys that) but they understand his focus and they also respect his knowledge and how well He has prepared them - regardless of the outcome. Their frustration is more centered around a very structured offense that frowns on improvising even when the opening is there early in the shot clock. Given the intensity of the sport, the physicality and alertness/reactions required, its natural and common for basketball coaches to be yellers- in fact its hard to give many examples of successful coaches (men or women) that are cerebral/ mostly quiet HC's(Few/Drew). Cronin, Smith, AZ new coach, Hurley, Pope(though highly supportive as well), Pearl, Howard, Self, Mussleman, Hamilton are just a few examples of high vocal levels Coach K and Calipari would be included, but time and age have brought their throttle back some. Bottom line, players respond to the intensity if they believe their coach has their back and is not playing favorites.

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I know this is not necessarily the point of your comment, but for those who wonder about whether our slow pace is coming from Fox, here is your answer. I didn't watch the whole game vs FSU, but I did see one possession where Kuany got the ball just outside the 3-point line, early in the clock, with either the option to take a wide-open 3 or an open lane to drive to the hoop, and did neither. I thought it was disappointing that Kuany did not feel comfortable taking the wide-open 3. Definitely one of the things that disappoints me about Fox.

HearstMining said:

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4thGenCal said:

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calumnus said:

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BC Calfan said:

---

My first game attending since pandemic. Felt nice to be there even with the small crowd.

Couple impressions:

X&Os
The Good: on one play in the 2nd half I had the perfect angle for a little 3 man curl motion with Shephard, Kelly & Kuany(?) which resulted in a nice dish and finish by Kelly. A thing of beauty and hopefully a sign of things to come.
The Bad: The absolute horrible play that Fox drew up to end the 1st half---even called a timeout beforehand. Basically Hyder held the ball and initiated with :05 left and didn't get a ballscreen and ended up passing back to Grant who didn't get a shot off. Embarrassing.

Kuany's block was probably the highlight of his Cal career! Also, he showed nice urgency on a midcourt steal where he tried to go coast to coast but didn't convert. Which is fine, I liked seeing that. There were a couple plays where he passed up open-rhythm shots, I hope he takes those in the future.

Fox is a screamer. A couple times, his yelling was very apparent due to the small crowd. One time, after a mistake he screamed at the team to "GET OVER HERE" It's funny, a couple players ran to him and a couple didn't. It reminded me of how I yell at my dog. I guess the players are ok with it or at least they understand.

Must give the defense their due. We had improved 3 point D---very few wide open looks and a couple of their makes were late in the game. And while Robinson scored 25, I'm ok with that---especially in the post. But no one else on Fresno made a significant impact so the teams should feel good about that.

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Yeah, that play out of a time out at the end was bad, but clearly the main intent was to run out the clock, scoring was secondary. We won, so hard to argue with success.

Fox has always been a screamer, it was one of the reasons I was so upset that we hired him. I just don't think that works in coaching anymore unless maybe you are an older, highly successful coach (winning cures everything), but even Coach K had to change. Players have the Portal now. Moreover, It especially doesn't work in a place like Cal. Your dogs might be OK with it, but most young people these days, especially Cal students, will not put up with it. Even watching from the student section.

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Fox is a screamer and it occasionally wears on the players (I have asked several of the guys that) but they understand his focus and they also respect his knowledge and how well He has prepared them - regardless of the outcome. Their frustration is more centered around a very structured offense that frowns on improvising even when the opening is there early in the shot clock. Given the intensity of the sport, the physicality and alertness/reactions required, its natural and common for basketball coaches to be yellers- in fact its hard to give many examples of successful coaches (men or women) that are cerebral/ mostly quiet HC's(Few/Drew). Cronin, Smith, AZ new coach, Hurley, Pope(though highly supportive as well), Pearl, Howard, Self, Mussleman, Hamilton are just a few examples of high vocal levels Coach K and Calipari would be included, but time and age have brought their throttle back some. Bottom line, players respond to the intensity if they believe their coach has their back and is not playing favorites.

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Well, this answers my perpetual question of why Cal players never go backdoor against an overplaying defender, and why in every game 1-2 passes to the wings are always intercepted and become easy layups for the opposition. It's because the "very structured offense" has no options. Now if I could just figure out why they bring Lars and Andre to the top of the key for a pass but not give them anything to do with the ball. There are no cutters and poor angles to pass to a 3pt corner shooter. They invariably end up handing it back to the guard and now they're out of rebounding position.

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For any fan of "the beautiful game" it can be painful to watch, but unless you are new to the game, must be more frustrating to play in. As long as the team wins with it the grumbling is minimized, but when the losing starts and players want to suggest changes is when things get rough with a command and control coach.