4thGenCal said:
drizzlybear said:
4thGenCal said:
ducky23 said:
RedlessWardrobe said:
Had a great time at the game yesterday. Great vibe.
I'm gonna keep this simple. The first 15 games, one of the biggest complaints by all of us was our defense. Well yesterday Oregon was 20/57 (4/18 on 3's), for 35%. In addition to that, we had our usual slow start (which is still an issue), they made their first four shots. Take that away, and they're 16/53 - 30%.
Some of this is attributed to Kennedy, some to Cone's improvement, and you gotta give credit to MM on this one. In addition, Daws gave Donte a good amount of resistance, even if he didn't completely shut him down.
Hope this continues, and hopefully we can see it from start to finish.
I've posted this in another thread, but one of the biggest reasons for our early defensive struggles was figuring out what to do with Daws on the defensive end. We ended up making two huge adjustments as the season went on
1. Defending the PnR: early in the season we either switched or hedged a lot of PnR when Daws' man was the screener. It became clear that Daws didn't have the lateral quickness for this, which explains the vast number of open threes to start the year. We've now switched to either drop or ICE coverage. Which basically allows Daws to just drop and keeps him away from the perimeter. It's not my preferred PnR coverage (nor madsen's) but it's what you have to do when your big isn't super mobile
2. Low post defense: early in the season, we were basically leaving Daws on an island when the ball was entered into the post, which led to some opposing centers having career games against us (example the Montana st big had a season high 26 against us).
We've since brought a lot more help in the post, which has made it much more difficult for opposing bigs. It's also helped that our rotations our very on point right now (as compared to earlier in the year) so helping doesn't hurt us as much as it did earlier.
The above, with the addition of Kennedy mid season and the improvement of cone from a liability to a plus defender has gotten our defense from one of the worst in P4 to average/slightly above average.
Huge credit to MM.
Really good observations. Also Madsen met with Daws outside of practice(mid pre season) and challenged him to give much better/consistent effort on the defensive end. Certainly not gifted with even average lateral movement, but is giving much better effort overall defensively. Team also would give spurts of defensive effort, but only after a team/coaches mtg after the ASU home loss, did the team bring consistent defensive effort over the entire game. The lack of depth is a factor as 5 guys are forced to play 32-36 minutes/game. Really just 2 subs available for minimum of 8-12 minutes/game. Losing Askew and ND though not starter level guys - still hurt as one has the savvy and the other could bring physicality in spurts. Staff and players have really improved the results and execution on the court from the early to mid stages of the season.
I think this team finally came together once Askew was shut down for the season. It was at that point that the team found its core identity, especially on offense. It's not a knock on Askew, personally, but while he was available there was uncertainty and confusion about roles, especially among the guards. And that confusion was made worse by the uncertainty of when/whether Askew would be available for any given game.
Since that time (after the first ucla game), the offensive approach has coalesced around, and the team seems to have fully bought into, Tyson being the primary focus, lots of P&R with Aimaq, and perhaps most importantly, Cone isn't trying to prove himself and earn/preserve minutes by trying to do too much (which caused a lot of poor shot selection earlier in the season).
Askew did not provide enough individual positives (even simply in the form of a needed body for depth) to overcome these more broad effects on the team.
It's neat to see the team really discover and utilize their roles so effectively now. It's too bad (but understandable for a team so heavy on new transfers) it took 2 months for that to happen.
I do think it would be very helpful for NDO to return, if possible. Aimaq will need lots more rest and help when we try to win on four consecutive days.
Definitely w/o Askew the roles were clearly laid out simply because there became very few alternative line ups (especially at point/ball handling versus the various presses). However to be accurate - Askew was shut down in early December(2nd planter fasciitis injury) and the team didn't come together fully until early January after a open team mtg that motivated everyone to take ownership to be better. Cone is a "win first" guy and realized his forced shots were hurting the team (and teams know that to shut down his open looks, greatly hinders Cal's offense). But the coaches are adamant that having Askew available would be a net positive - there simply is a big drop off at handling the ball when Cone(Brown just not ready for major minutes) is out versus the press and or creating penetration in the paint/creating a shot etc. For now - Tyson is doing fantastic at handling the ball and or creating when He is needed to take over, But that is a very tough pattern to depend on consistently.
Cone and most of the first 5 are in excellent shape and can handle easily 32-34 minutes/game - however on a short rest (games less than 48 hours apart or in a conf tournament of 3 potential games back to back - it will pay its toll and make it likely too tough to overcome. The staff is on Tyson to make sure that He is continually hydrating himself through out the day, but the commitment to do so, for whatever reason has not been consistent - though much better lately. NDO is taking his redshirt year and will not be back this season. That hurts (when Daws needs a blow) since Larson is very smart and is nearly always in the correct position - rotations etc, but is physically dominated due to needing another 15+lbs, Curtis is long but extremely inexperienced and not ready for major minutes and Newell while skilled and experienced, is not big/long enough to guard the better bigs down low. Tyson is so good that He can literally carry a team when a key bucket is needed. Hopefully He can continue his high level of play.
4thGen, I love your insights, but you're incorrect about when Askew went down. He played several games in late December including the Arizona games at the end of December. Moraga posted an article on Jan 9 saying Madsen made the announcement at the presser following those early-January LA games that Askew was being officially shut down at that time. And that was when, as you note, the team really came together.
I don't doubt you that the real reason they came together at that time was a team meeting, and that the coaches contend Askew is a value-added asset to the team. You have that insider access. But as a regular fan, I wasn't aware of the meeting. I just noticed that they were suddenly/finally playing better together, with much more evident purpose, organization, and execution on offense. As an outsider I saw that Askew (whose play, i have to say, I've never been particularly impressed with, including under Madsen) was not only no longer playing but, more importantly, after a month of sporadic and uncertain availability into early January, was announced that he was out for good. It was at that very moment, as you note, the team started playing organized basketball. The defense was still yet to come, but the offense started to take off at that time.
So that's why I made that connection to the timing of Askew being shut down for good. I was unaware of the behind-the-scenes things that were happening at the same time.
As always, I appreciate your insights very much.
