KoreAmBear said:
SFCityBear said:
The Aztecs were ranked #17 in the AP preseason poll, but have dropped off the poll and have dropped a game. They did beat St Marys by 20 points, and they do showcase the player who is leading the country in scoring, so the game should be a real test for Cal. And it might test their stamina as well, it being our 3rd game in 6 days, I believe.
This game might tell us if our Bears are really not so good, or whether they have so far just been playing down to the opposition.
I doubt this game tells us anything besides whether the players keep buying into Mad Dog's plan. Playing above our weight would be good. We certainly could/should have won games v Pacific, Montana State, UTEP and Tulane without the three guys who are out, but SDSU and the next 3 after that, may be a different story. It will be an immense challenge without them.
KoreAmBear,
I think I feel a little vindicated. Our Bears hung with San Diego State, and in fact they held SDS to no buckets over the last 12 minutes, enabling us to force them into playing an overtime period. For a team which has been so weak on defense so far this season, that alone was quite an accomplishment, don't you agree? I think Cal just simply ran out of gas in the overtime.
I was not able to find a way to watch the game on TV, but I did listen to it on the radio, and from that and the box score, we can see that both teams played poorly on offense, with mostly well below average shooting percentages. Cal crushed SDS on the boards, but again was plagued with too many turnovers and not enough assists to win many basketball games.
Of course, it may be that SDS was over-ranked to begin the season, or their ranking was justified, in which case they may have played down to the opponent's level of competition. Still, I can't help being impressed with this showing, because Cal did this with 3 of our best players sitting out the game with injuries.
I'm hopeful we can put out the same effort game after game, but we still need big improvement on offense and defense. Offensively, we have no adequate point guard on the floor. Someone with that mentality to look for the open teammate first, and have the court vision and passing skill to get him the ball. This is too similar to last year, when guys with the mindset and skill to find the open man were injured: Clayton, Celestine and even Askew. Clayton is gone, and Celestine has the vision and skills, but not the mobility to play point. I am hoping Kennedy will get back soon, and have the qualities I'm looking for to play point. If we have no point guard, Madsen will need to coach more of a team game, with more players involved all the time, giving us more assists. Good teams have 20 assists a game or close to it, and assist to turnover ratios always positive, 2 or 3 assists to turnover. And good teams usually score half their points with assists, indicating a good level of teamwork.
Right now Fardaws is hurting us more with turnovers than Lars did, because he has the ball more often than Lars did. Lars couldn't catch the basketball. Fardaws can catch it, but too often, he can't hold on to it. Lars got a little better at catching the ball, and I expect Fardaws will get better at holding onto it, when he gets more comfortable with his teammates and our offensive scheme.
SFCityBear
