Johnfox said:
Here's my takeaways from the game and what Maddog needs to do to improve.
- Jovan Blacksher is better off as a bench player or 6th man - coming off the bench and giving them a spark. Maybe him coming off the bench will help him make some 3's and be productive.
- Rytis also is better of coming off the bench and providing a spark - we saw that early on this year
- Madsen needs to create set plays to get andrej going in the first half - he's been too cold in the 1st half
- We need to be able to let our big men go to work down low instead of dribbling at the 3 point line for a long time
- Wilkinson needs to start and so does JOJ, we saw what they could do in the 2nd half (way more productive team on the court)
Here's my starting 5
Wilkinson, Stojakovic, JOJ, Campbell, Sissoko
Rytis and Blacksher are the first off the bench with Mahoney and Dort seeing reserve minutes
Great post with which I can find no fault!
Blacksher needs to be benched until he get healthy. Not only is he offensively challenged, he is a liability on defense being undersized and having diminished quickness.
There definitely was a lot of angst courtside last night (Gen4 and I were absolutely stunned and miserable witnessing the sh*t show) as the disaster unfolded on the court. Cal was the better team but got hosed so badly in the first half that it could never recover. Yes, the last minute rally was a positive, but it ended with a 9-0 collapse. Why is Madsen not playing in the first half Jeremiah and JOJ more as starters, while keeping Blacksher and Rytis in reserve roles? IMO, we have a coaching problem, in that nothing is being learned by Markand his staff from their past mistakes (we historically have started slowly and poorly, so change things to make a difference, right?). Mark has to change his losing ways with more creative and effective player rotations, with an offensive scheme that features more motion and screens and less hero ball which features Blacksher dribbling around aimlessly to nowhere good, and also needs defensive schemes that cut off drives to the hoop by our opponents for easy buckets,
We will be lucky to reach last year's 13 wins. If we do not do so, then we have a MBB program on the decline under Mark. That scenario will adversely effect our recruiting new talent and to retaining current talent (hopefully inclusive of Andrej, Jeremiah, OJ and BJ).