During telecast of the last game, Ernie Kent made the observation that "Cal is playing without a true point guard on the floor. Someone who will work hard to try and make the other players better."

I looked at the screen, to see who was in the lineup, and Joel Brown was on the floor. So I guess Kent does not consider Brown as a true point guard. While Joel does a lot of very good things on the floor, I'd have to agree with Ernie Kent. Many teams will have a point guard on their roster who is more of a defensive specialist, but they usually don't play the majority of minutes at point guard. They can be essential to a team's success coming off the bench, but most teams will opt for a true point guard who will try and make his teammates better, or a point guard who is a scorer, and who can carry the offensive load that way.

Mark Fox has put together some good offensive schemes, and the high ball screen used against Oregon proved to be great strategy. It worked because we have a player like Shepherd, who can break off the screen and get into the paint where he creates all sorts of problems for a defense, and it works because we have players who can score enough to keep defenses honest. Shepherd makes Lars better.

I especially liked the way Shepherd works with Lars in the pick and roll. Shepherd delivers his passes to Lars softly, where they are easy to catch, like the high pass near the basket, or down low with a soft bounce pass that hits Lars' hands just below the waist, avoiding the defenders.

One thing that would greatly help Lars next season, and help Cal as well, would be for Fox and his staff to strike it rich with an experienced point guard. Paris Austin had his deficiencies, but a player like him would help this team a lot. The next best thing might be to find a good high school point guard who might be mature enough to give Fox and Cal some good minutes behind Brown.