Golden One said:

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We're going to lose this game at the free throw line.

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No way Eore.

Congrats to Mark Madsen on his first conference win! May we get some more of these in the coming months, there will be some opportunities.

75bear said:

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JimSox said:

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Wire to wire. Thought sure they would blow it.
First win there in what? More than a decade?

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Well, it was our final chance to ever win there.

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And by God we did!

No doubt - must be hard because of their history and the unrealistic expectations many UCLA basketball fans have because of their history. Did my grad work there many years ago, many adult fans seem to think they should win every game by 20.

The REAL Sons of California are in Berkeley.

How did the plagiarizers fall from 31-6 to losing to Cal State Northridge?

What a statement win by Madsen in the last time for a while that Cal visits Westwood.

We defended the freaking three for once.

Not only were they not making them but they didn't even take many. 2-10 on the night. Granted, UCLA is a poor three point shooting team but everyone seems to get healthy against us.

Not tonight!

Not bad: We beat (F)UCLA in our last game together in the Rose Bowl, then we beat them in our last game together in Pauley. Wow, (F)UCLA really sucks this year! (Gawd, they really suck on the hardwood. What's up with that?!?)

Have fun in the B1G, Bruins: You suck!

Win at the Rose Bowl this year too. Nice send off.

oskidunker said:

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They have Talent. They are afraid to shoot . Cronin screwed up.

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Cronin has an aptitude problem.

GoCal80 said:

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I wonder what Cronin will say about his players after losing to Cal!

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"We really screwed Cal when U$C made us their ***** and we snuck off to the Big Ten in the cover of darkness. I believe in karma, so I'm thinking right now that we should've said we're not going anywhere without Cal, our sister school. We got greedy, imagining ourselves as the flagship. Well, now we're just flag sh*t."

"Oh, you asked me about my players? I got distracted and was thinking big picture. My players suck and they're stupid."

I was hoping we could have leaped a ton this year to looking at games in March but even if this takes 1-2 more seasons this shows how remarkably better we are compared to last year, the bear runts are terrible but after we got ahead they never got close.

Congrats Madsen. Big win!

- nice win. Much better focus and energy on the defensive end

- looks like Rodney brown just needed some confidence. He's one of the few guys on the team who can create his own shot (and create offense for others). Sorely needed

- we must be the worst inbounding team in the country. Maybe stick with one inbounder and not let everyone have a chance at inbounding.

- I'm going to start calling aimaq ryan jamison until he can start hanging onto the ball. Jesus Christ. This was his best rebounding game of the season though. I don't really care about total rebounds, but contested rebounds. And he got a bunch today.

- if I'm scouting cal, I'm full court pressing and trapping, overplaying everything and double teaming aimaq anyitind he touches the ball (no matter where he is on the court). We saw a few more back cuts today, but will need to see us take advantage of over aggressive defenses more often or else that's all we're going to see the rest of the season

- Don Maclean is usually pretty good at being neutral, but you could tell that losing to a team like cal was really pissing him off. I'm also pretty sure I heard a couple of "we" out of him when talking about ucla. Can't complain though. It's not like Braun or Monty are entirely objective either. Roxy however is the consummate pro

I attended the game in Pailey Pavilion tonight. My initial thoughts are: (1) UCLA lost because they couldn't make a basket; (2) I hate the Cal weave; (3) Fardaws Aimaq needs to aggressively run to his spot in the post and then sit down with his hands up; (4) Cal still needs to work on press breaks; (5) Jalen Tyson and Jalen Cone bailed out the team with some timely buckets; and (6) the players need to run through the paint with a hand up demanding the ball.

Cal's defense gave up a ton of open looks to the Bruins. It just so happened that the Bruins couldn't make a bucket, even with wide open shots.

The weave just burns clock without getting the ball to a shooter in a good position to catch and shoot (or to drive and shoot). The weave is not a substitute for a real offense. Cal did best (and got easy buckets) when it ran plays using backdoor cuts. Madsen needs to draw up more plays with this kind of intentional off-ball movement, not just mindless weaving across the top of the arc. Use screens and double screens to free up backdoor cutters, if needs be.

Aimaq needs to attend the Pete Newell Big Man Camp. He runs hesitantly and mincingly to his spot in the post. Once there, he stands fully upright. He needs to drop his butt on his defender and demand the ball with one hand while the other feels and fends off his defender. He also needs to work on his hook shot. His timing on his hook shot is off as is his range/depth.

Cal's press breaks are horrible. The ball handlers need to look up as they dribble and be ready to move the ball immediately. Instead, they try to dribble through defenders and get trapped. Cal got lucky that UCLA's full court press defense was so bad, otherwise we could've see a repeat of last week's ASU game.

The Jalens can score. Jalen Cone is undersized but can set up his defender with a quick first step or get separation with a quick back/sidestep. Jalen Tyson is pretty good at driving to the rim, but his perimeter shooting keeps defenders honest. His offense is impressive but I would like to see him hustle more on defense. Still, he did step into a number of passes that led to Cal fastbreaks.

One thing I hated was seeing Cal players run routes through the paint with their eyes looking forward instead of at the ballhandler. Worse, they were running their routes knowing full well they weren't going to receive a pass so they had their hands down. What the he double hockey sticks is that?!?! The cutter should always have his hand up and open (as a target) for the ball handler when cutting through the lane. He should also always have his eyes on the ball handler, or else he might find himself with a line drive to the face.*

While I'm glad Cal won (especially since this is likely the last time Cal will play in Pauley Pavilion for a while), I am concerned that the team has lots more room for improvement. Still, I am glad to see this team making progress and improvement. Winning, like losing, is a habit. Cal needs to get back in the habit of winning.


*In my younger days, some of my teammates suffered just such a fate. I patterned my game on that of Magic Johnson; I threw lots of no look passes. My teammates who didn't have their hands up ready to receive a pass often got a face full of leather. I wasn't intentionally trying to hit them with the ball; I just passed to the open man (even if my teammate didn't realize he was open).

01Bear said:

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I attended the game in Pailey Pavilion tonight. My initial thoughts are: (1) UCLA lost because they couldn't make a basket; (2) I hate the Cal weave; (3) Fardaws Aimaq needs to aggressively run to his spot in the post and then sit down with his hands up; (4) Cal still needs to work on press breaks; (5) Jalen Tyson and Jalen Cone bailed out the team with some timely buckets; and (6) the players need to run through the paint with a hand up demanding the ball.

Cal's defense gave up a ton of open looks to the Bruins. It just so happened that the Bruins couldn't make a bucket, even with wide open shots.

The weave just burns clock without getting the ball to a shooter in a good position to catch and shoot (or to drive and shoot). The weave is not a substitute for a real offense. Cal did best (and got easy buckets) when it ran plays using backdoor cuts. Madsen needs to draw up more plays with this kind of intentional off-ball movement, not just mindless weaving across the top of the arc. Use screens and double screens to free up backdoor cutters, if needs be.

Aimaq needs to attend the Pete Newell Big Man Camp. He runs hesitantly and mincingly to his spot in the post. Once there, he stands fully upright. He needs to drop his butt on his defender and demand the ball with one hand while the other feels and fends off his defender. He also needs to work on his hook shot. His timing on his hook shot is off as is his range/depth.

Cal's press breaks are horrible. The ball handlers need to look up as they dribble and be ready to move the ball immediately. Instead, they try to dribble through defenders and get trapped. Cal got lucky that UCLA's full court press defense was so bad, otherwise we could've see a repeat of last week's ASU game.

The Jalens can score. Jalen Cone is undersized but can set up his defender with a quick first step or get separation with a quick back/sidestep. Jalen Tyson is pretty good at driving to the rim, but his perimeter shooting keeps defenders honest. His offense is impressive but I would like to see him hustle more on defense. Still, he did step into a number of passes that led to Cal fastbreaks.

One thing I hated was seeing Cal players run routes through the paint with their eyes looking forward instead of at the ballhandler. Worse, they were running their routes knowing full well they weren't going to receive a pass so they had their hands down. What the he double hockey sticks is that?!?! The cutter should always have his hand up and open (as a target) for the ball handler when cutting through the lane. He should also always have his eyes on the ball handler, or else he might find himself with a line drive to the face.*

While I'm glad Cal won (especially since this is likely the last time Cal will play in Pauley Pavilion for a while), I am concerned that the team has lots more room for improvement. Still, I am glad to see this team making progress and improvement. Winning, like losing, is a habit. Cal needs to get back in the habit of winning.


*In my younger days, some of my teammates suffered just such a fate. I patterned my game on that of Magic Johnson; I threw lots of no look passes. My teammates who didn't have their hands up ready to receive a pass often got a face full of leather. I wasn't intentionally trying to hit them with the ball; I just passed to the open man (even if my teammate didn't realize he was open).

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Agree with everything you said. Especially the part about ucla's press D. Cronin must be an absolute idiot. They should have been pressing hard the last 4-5 mins (when they were down 8-10 points). I don't know what he was thinking there.

Cal needs to get way better at breaking the press and also inbounding the ball. Because not all teams are going to be as inept as ucla. And if we have a lead late, you better believe better teams are going to press and pressure like hell. And not do whatever ucla was doing late game.

Still glad that as a PAC-12 parting adieu Cal will have beaten UCLA at their place in both football and basketball haha.

edwinbear said:

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Still glad that as a PAC-12 parting adieu Cal will have beaten UCLA at their place in both football and basketball haha.

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Very sweet indeed.

My takeaway from this game is that Jalen Tyson is a very good basketball player. He really set the tone and is our go-to guy. He is a junior, correct? Hope he stays with us next year.

It is hard to meld these one year players into a team in one season and with the portal it is going to be necessary for us (and everyone else) to do that. That is a special coaching skill, I guess. I hope that Madsen gets good at it.