Cal's 13-19 record disappointed everyone including coach Madsen.
Remarkably, 9 games were single possession or OT losses (won 4 one possession or OT games). That's almost half our games decided on last shot.
New coach, new system, lots of new players - it took Madsen time to figure out schemes, lineups and roles. This is common for teams with lots of transfers such as Oregon, but even Altman had players who've been in the system for awhile. With transfer portal, Cal isn't alone (Georgetown w/ new coach finished 9-23, 10th in a weak Big East).
Also, we played most of our OOC games without 1 or 2 starters. Kennedy missed 8-11 OOC games, Celestine missed OOC 5-11 games, Tyson missed first game.
Bowser and Larson replaced the starters:
- Bowser (32 min vs MTSU in 3 pt loss, 17 min. vs SDSU in DoubleOT loss). His combined line for those games were 0-4 for zero points, 9 rebounds (101 total OOC minutes - 3 points).
- Larson did better (90 total OOC minutes, 21 points, 18 rebounds).
I'm not down on Bowser and Larson as they contributed on defense and were helpful depth, but with Kennedy or Celestine getting those minutes, I think we win those games.
One season goals was to change the narrative on Cal basketball.
Our overall record didn't show that but I think the best measure of progress is our conference play. We beat every Pac12 team except AZ and Utah (only played Utah once at Utah), finishing tied for 6th for a top-half finish.
Remarkably, 9 games were single possession or OT losses (won 4 one possession or OT games). That's almost half our games decided on last shot.
New coach, new system, lots of new players - it took Madsen time to figure out schemes, lineups and roles. This is common for teams with lots of transfers such as Oregon, but even Altman had players who've been in the system for awhile. With transfer portal, Cal isn't alone (Georgetown w/ new coach finished 9-23, 10th in a weak Big East).
Also, we played most of our OOC games without 1 or 2 starters. Kennedy missed 8-11 OOC games, Celestine missed OOC 5-11 games, Tyson missed first game.
Bowser and Larson replaced the starters:
- Bowser (32 min vs MTSU in 3 pt loss, 17 min. vs SDSU in DoubleOT loss). His combined line for those games were 0-4 for zero points, 9 rebounds (101 total OOC minutes - 3 points).
- Larson did better (90 total OOC minutes, 21 points, 18 rebounds).
I'm not down on Bowser and Larson as they contributed on defense and were helpful depth, but with Kennedy or Celestine getting those minutes, I think we win those games.
One season goals was to change the narrative on Cal basketball.
Our overall record didn't show that but I think the best measure of progress is our conference play. We beat every Pac12 team except AZ and Utah (only played Utah once at Utah), finishing tied for 6th for a top-half finish.