I went to my first game in person in about 2 years. Now I can better appreciate the comments from everyone about Mark Fox and the program. There is nothing like seeing a game in person. I sat down low, behind the North basket. The Cal bench and Mark Fox were right in front of me on the right. TV is OK, and streaming less so, with all the freezing in mid-action. Here is my take:
Southern: First of all, Southern is a very veteran team, much more so than Cal. Southern started 3 grad transfers, a senior, and a redshirt senior. They basically went with a 6-man rotation, with another senior, Allen, off the bench. So they had a big edge in maturity in this game. Southern is a very short team, with the main rotation averaging only 6'-3". Cal's main 7-man rotation averaged 6'-7", giving Cal a huge edge in size.
Southern's tallest player in the rotation was 6-7. They have two 6-9 players, but neither played in the game. Cal outrebounded Southern, which is the first game that we have won the rebound battle.
Southern came into this game without a win this year, like Cal, but they should not be taken lightly. They lost to UNLV, but UNLV also has beaten #21 Dayton. Southern also lost to #17 Arizona. With all those veterans, all that quickness, and a good coach, I expect them to perform well in their conference.
You could tell at the outset that Southern's entire roster was faster and quicker than Cal. In the last few years I don't think I've seen an opponent that had a player faster and quicker than Joel Brown, but Southern's players all seem to be as quick as Brown. With their quickness, Southern was able to neutralize Cal's height advantage, and I think that was the difference in the game, along with Southern's veteran lineup and better coaching. Their two guards just torched us, Whitley with 18 points and 3 steals, 4/8 on 3s, and Byrd with 13 pts, 9 assists , 4 rebs, 8/8 FTs. Cal probably focused on Southern's leading scorer, Etienne, averaging 15 points, and held him to 10. Southern changed defenses often from man to zone, and disguised it well.
Offensively, Cal looked like a high school team. Too much one on one play, especially from Askew. Askew took forever trying to make a play. He may have some speed but not enough, as he wastes so much time dribbling the ball. He reminded me of the freshman and sophomore Ayinde Ubaka, who used to dribble forever without going anywhere. Askew tries to put his hand under the ball when he is trying to change direction or hands, and that makes him even slower. And he shoots too much. He nearly shot Cal out of the game in the first half, by missing most of his shots. Several were not even close, just barely grazing the rim. In the 2nd half he drained most of his shots. They looked pure. He is not a dependable shooter. I'm not impressed with his passing. Clayton is still injured, and did not play. His career stats as a point guard are better than either Askew or Brown, but in a lesser conference. If he is any good, I'd like to see him at point guard. Askew has too many habits to change, for my taste. He's a two guard.
Fox tried Lars in the high post in the first half, with the usual results. I can't see any purpose in that. He is 6" taller than their tallest player, and we station him 15 feet from the basket? Fox changed the offense in the second half, placing Lars in a low post. We sat about 15 feet from the basket, and watched Lars drop numerous passes and rebounds. Up close, he appears to softly grasp the ball. Sometimes he looked like he was already thinking about what to do with the ball and then dropped it before he caught it. His reflexes are very slow. Still the improvement in his shooting skills is terrific. He has 2 or 3 shots he can use with either hand, and he can make them facing the basket or with his back to the basket. His FT stroke has really improved. He made one really surprising shot. He had gone up for a rebound, and when he finally got hold of the ball, he was about 6 or 7 feet from the basket on the left side. His defender had position, so Lars could not shoot with his right hand. He turned his body to protect the ball from the defender, and then went up and made a sweet jump shot off the glass with his LEFT hand. He never had that shot before.
I think Lars needs more strength in his arms and hands. I used to have a coach, Harry Pitkoff, who played for the old Philadelphia Sphas of the Eastern Pro League, which eventually became the NBA. Pitkoff told us how the players' salaries were so low, that they had to work other jobs to make a living. He said the Sphas paid him for every rebound he got, so he believed a rebound was his bread and butter. He told us to think like that, to grab that ball and protect it like it meant more to you than anything. Lars needs to aggressively snatch that ball and hold on to it with his life.
I was impressed with Roberson. He sticks to his man like glue, he's fairly fast, and has a little bit of offense. Alajiki made some threes, so maybe he has his stroke back. He brings great energy, so maybe he is best off the bench. He has to learn better control in the paint. Newell did not have a good game, and made freshman mistakes, but he still looks like he might develop into something. Okafor only played 8 minutes, so I could not say anything about him. I did not see anything remarkable about Kuany, Brown, Bowser, Newell, etc.
As to Fox, I went to the game with a high school teammate of mine, who is a psychiatrist. He and I differ a little on coaching styles, and he felt Fox is just too demonstrative during the game, with his facial expressions indicating displeasure or disgust with how the team was playing. Fox held his temper in check, but we could sense the frustration. The team just does not play together, seldom making cuts and screens, and losing the ball too much. From the beginning of the game almost, Fox was making substitutions rapid-fire, like he was trying to hard to find a combination that could do something right. I believe you have to let players play at the beginning of a game, to get the butterflies out, and Fox seemed a little frantic. Braun often used to pull a player with less than a minute into the game and it drove me nuts.
The players on the bench do not appear to be having much fun, and the losses are piling up on them. There was moment when Monty Bowser was taken out of the game after playing only a minute or two. He came back to the bench, went down the line, shaking hands with each teammate. Before he sat down, one of the team managers handed Monty a bottle of water. Monty took a swipe at the bottle and slapped it out of the manager's hand. It rolled along the floor behind the bench, and the manager had to go over and pick it up. Monty said nothing. I've never seen a player do anything like this in a game. Very immature behavior, and probably insulting to the manager. Whether this is attributable to the frustration of being quickly pulled from a game, or whether it is due to the climate Mark Fox creates, or the losing games, or all of it, I couldn't guess. I sure wish I could see a Mark Fox team practice. I like tough coaches, but I think if you have to dress down a player, you need to do it at practice and not in a game. Fox did not do any of that in this game, but the sour looks and gestures might be enough to get a player angry himself. Fox needs to get control of this team soon, or he will lose them. If he does not, or gets too demonstrative, he may be gone before season's end.
Southern: First of all, Southern is a very veteran team, much more so than Cal. Southern started 3 grad transfers, a senior, and a redshirt senior. They basically went with a 6-man rotation, with another senior, Allen, off the bench. So they had a big edge in maturity in this game. Southern is a very short team, with the main rotation averaging only 6'-3". Cal's main 7-man rotation averaged 6'-7", giving Cal a huge edge in size.
Southern's tallest player in the rotation was 6-7. They have two 6-9 players, but neither played in the game. Cal outrebounded Southern, which is the first game that we have won the rebound battle.
Southern came into this game without a win this year, like Cal, but they should not be taken lightly. They lost to UNLV, but UNLV also has beaten #21 Dayton. Southern also lost to #17 Arizona. With all those veterans, all that quickness, and a good coach, I expect them to perform well in their conference.
You could tell at the outset that Southern's entire roster was faster and quicker than Cal. In the last few years I don't think I've seen an opponent that had a player faster and quicker than Joel Brown, but Southern's players all seem to be as quick as Brown. With their quickness, Southern was able to neutralize Cal's height advantage, and I think that was the difference in the game, along with Southern's veteran lineup and better coaching. Their two guards just torched us, Whitley with 18 points and 3 steals, 4/8 on 3s, and Byrd with 13 pts, 9 assists , 4 rebs, 8/8 FTs. Cal probably focused on Southern's leading scorer, Etienne, averaging 15 points, and held him to 10. Southern changed defenses often from man to zone, and disguised it well.
Offensively, Cal looked like a high school team. Too much one on one play, especially from Askew. Askew took forever trying to make a play. He may have some speed but not enough, as he wastes so much time dribbling the ball. He reminded me of the freshman and sophomore Ayinde Ubaka, who used to dribble forever without going anywhere. Askew tries to put his hand under the ball when he is trying to change direction or hands, and that makes him even slower. And he shoots too much. He nearly shot Cal out of the game in the first half, by missing most of his shots. Several were not even close, just barely grazing the rim. In the 2nd half he drained most of his shots. They looked pure. He is not a dependable shooter. I'm not impressed with his passing. Clayton is still injured, and did not play. His career stats as a point guard are better than either Askew or Brown, but in a lesser conference. If he is any good, I'd like to see him at point guard. Askew has too many habits to change, for my taste. He's a two guard.
Fox tried Lars in the high post in the first half, with the usual results. I can't see any purpose in that. He is 6" taller than their tallest player, and we station him 15 feet from the basket? Fox changed the offense in the second half, placing Lars in a low post. We sat about 15 feet from the basket, and watched Lars drop numerous passes and rebounds. Up close, he appears to softly grasp the ball. Sometimes he looked like he was already thinking about what to do with the ball and then dropped it before he caught it. His reflexes are very slow. Still the improvement in his shooting skills is terrific. He has 2 or 3 shots he can use with either hand, and he can make them facing the basket or with his back to the basket. His FT stroke has really improved. He made one really surprising shot. He had gone up for a rebound, and when he finally got hold of the ball, he was about 6 or 7 feet from the basket on the left side. His defender had position, so Lars could not shoot with his right hand. He turned his body to protect the ball from the defender, and then went up and made a sweet jump shot off the glass with his LEFT hand. He never had that shot before.
I think Lars needs more strength in his arms and hands. I used to have a coach, Harry Pitkoff, who played for the old Philadelphia Sphas of the Eastern Pro League, which eventually became the NBA. Pitkoff told us how the players' salaries were so low, that they had to work other jobs to make a living. He said the Sphas paid him for every rebound he got, so he believed a rebound was his bread and butter. He told us to think like that, to grab that ball and protect it like it meant more to you than anything. Lars needs to aggressively snatch that ball and hold on to it with his life.
I was impressed with Roberson. He sticks to his man like glue, he's fairly fast, and has a little bit of offense. Alajiki made some threes, so maybe he has his stroke back. He brings great energy, so maybe he is best off the bench. He has to learn better control in the paint. Newell did not have a good game, and made freshman mistakes, but he still looks like he might develop into something. Okafor only played 8 minutes, so I could not say anything about him. I did not see anything remarkable about Kuany, Brown, Bowser, Newell, etc.
As to Fox, I went to the game with a high school teammate of mine, who is a psychiatrist. He and I differ a little on coaching styles, and he felt Fox is just too demonstrative during the game, with his facial expressions indicating displeasure or disgust with how the team was playing. Fox held his temper in check, but we could sense the frustration. The team just does not play together, seldom making cuts and screens, and losing the ball too much. From the beginning of the game almost, Fox was making substitutions rapid-fire, like he was trying to hard to find a combination that could do something right. I believe you have to let players play at the beginning of a game, to get the butterflies out, and Fox seemed a little frantic. Braun often used to pull a player with less than a minute into the game and it drove me nuts.
The players on the bench do not appear to be having much fun, and the losses are piling up on them. There was moment when Monty Bowser was taken out of the game after playing only a minute or two. He came back to the bench, went down the line, shaking hands with each teammate. Before he sat down, one of the team managers handed Monty a bottle of water. Monty took a swipe at the bottle and slapped it out of the manager's hand. It rolled along the floor behind the bench, and the manager had to go over and pick it up. Monty said nothing. I've never seen a player do anything like this in a game. Very immature behavior, and probably insulting to the manager. Whether this is attributable to the frustration of being quickly pulled from a game, or whether it is due to the climate Mark Fox creates, or the losing games, or all of it, I couldn't guess. I sure wish I could see a Mark Fox team practice. I like tough coaches, but I think if you have to dress down a player, you need to do it at practice and not in a game. Fox did not do any of that in this game, but the sour looks and gestures might be enough to get a player angry himself. Fox needs to get control of this team soon, or he will lose them. If he does not, or gets too demonstrative, he may be gone before season's end.
SFCityBear
