59bear;842297346 said:

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You may be right but we may have little choice. Rooks still is in project mode (assuming his foot heals well), Moute not even at that level and Diallo is just a hope at this point. Can Behrens ever be more than just an emergency filler?

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What is sad is that I am not sure it is Christian's fault. Near as I can tell he just has no explosiveness when it comes to his hops. The play he got stuffed (he made the FT so all good) was a good example of not being able to get up. Can't blame Monty for a guy getting serious knee injuries.

But yes. We absolutely NEED to figure out a way to get better on Big recruiting.....OR figure out a way to run Monty's stuff with a stretch 4 (or even a stretch 5) and get Monty a Euro rail pass so he can spend about 2 months going over to former Soviet satellite states and making relationships with 6 foot 2 inch 8th graders in the hope that some pan out in the future.

Very proud of the effort last night given the short turnaround time and limited bench. Jabari Bird seems to have found his "wings" the last two games and will be ready to soar even higher next season. Bodes well for next season. (Sorry for the puns.)

Sure seemed like SMU had quite a few transfers on their team. The announcers mentioned guys from K-State, Illinois State and Villanova. And one of these guys didn't even know where SMU was before he transferred. lol. Larry Brown must really be a "magnet."

GO Bears!!!

tsubamoto2001;842297343 said:

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Yeah. But he's starting for the Zags. The other guys are being wasted at their current programs.

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Gotcha. Maybe Zena Edosomwan qualifies for that list. Don't know if we were 2nd for him tho.

socaltownie;842297360 said:

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What is sad is that I am not sure it is Christian's fault. Near as I can tell he just has no explosiveness when it comes to his hops. The play he got stuffed (he made the FT so all good) was a good example of not being able to get up. Can't blame Monty for a guy getting serious knee injuries.

But yes. We absolutely NEED to figure out a way to get better on Big recruiting.....OR figure out a way to run Monty's stuff with a stretch 4 (or even a stretch 5) and get Monty a Euro rail pass so he can spend about 2 months going over to former Soviet satellite states and making relationships with 6 foot 2 inch 8th graders in the hope that some pan out in the future.

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It absolutely is NOT Christian's fault. He was listed as a 2 star 190 lb. SF in high school. He had major knee surgery. At that point, he could have just taken a medical retirement and concentrated on academics and his Cal education. Instead he has put in a lot of work to not only rehabilitate but to build himself into a solid (if small) 225 PF that the team needs. It is not his fault that we do not have someone better.

concordtom;842297268 said:

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I'm very proud of our boys!!
Final play defense had
Cobbs
Wallace
Kreklow
Behrens
Kravish

Bird was on the bench in favor of Behrens for size and Kreklows intelligent experience. I don't know that anyone played that last set incorrectly. The kid just made a good shot off a well drawn up play. Logic held that they would have gone inside to the big boy, who was not stopped all night. That left the outside open.
Cobbs magic almost struck again, twice in one game, matter of fact. I have a man crush on him. He will be severely missed!

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G Cobbs said that last shot felt good, it just didn't drop.

oskihasahearton;842297372 said:

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G Cobbs said that last shot felt good, it just didn't drop.

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Sure looked good. And it got about halfway down before spinning itself out. Bummer.

Yes, I was pleased with how we fought hard last night without Solo and playing with a 4 with a broken nose. I wish we played with that grit against ASU, UCLA and Utah at home, and I wish Jabari had found himself earlier as well. However, there is much to look forward to, especially in thinking about the upside of Jabari. If he can get stronger, focus on his D, and can learn to take people off the dribble, he has more upside than Crabbe. Obviously he's not there yet. I think that's what we were hoping for this season -- not that he would replace Crabbe's production, but his athleticism and special talent would create some havoc for defenses and give others good looks too. It didn't happen for most of the season, but last night demonstrated what could have been, and will be. Go Bears!

calumnus;842297341 said:

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With Solomon instead of Kreklow/Behrens down low we would rebound much better, even in the 3-2.

I have thought all along that this group of players was really well suited to zone. Moreover, I thought we proved it last year in our end of the season run that came when we switched to zone. The idea that freshmen cannot learn zone is preposterous. They played well in it the few times we went to it this year with only a few days of preparation. Furtermore, I have seen 8 year olds play good zone. Freshman football players have to learn MUCH more complicated plays and schemes. Shoot, freshman basketball players have to learn much more complicated plays on offense than the responsibilities (which are pretty obvious and intuitive) in a zone entail.

I do think/hope that these past two games should/will be the model for how we play next year.

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So if 8 year olds can get it "intuitively" then explain why a coaches son, by all accounts a great kid who works hard, made the mistake? It is because at this level (as opposed to 8 year olds) ZOne is hard because you almost have to have an intuitive feel for where the guy is on the wing while you are helping out on the ball. Mathews made one wrong step and that was all it took for enough separation for a devastating three to be made. It is really easy to see on the TV. It is REALLY hard when you the guy sliding over is in your peripheral (if even that) vision. Cuse works on it for MONTHS to get it as good as it is....and even then can give up the outside shot.

I like the way the team fought last night, but I still view the season as a pretty big disappointment.

socaltownie;842297413 said:

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So if 8 year olds can get it "intuitively" then explain why a coaches son, by all accounts a great kid who works hard, made the mistake? It is because at this level (as opposed to 8 year olds) ZOne is hard because you almost have to have an intuitive feel for where the guy is on the wing while you are helping out on the ball. Mathews made one wrong step and that was all it took for enough separation for a devastating three to be made. It is really easy to see on the TV. It is REALLY hard when you the guy sliding over is in your peripheral (if even that) vision. Cuse works on it for MONTHS to get it as good as it is....and even then can give up the outside shot.

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Except that we were in man

Quote:

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On playing zone most of the game and switching to man on the last possession
"We felt like we could switch everything. We had a line-up that was capable of switching all the ball screens. In that situation, we did not want to give up a shot in the zone. They would have known where we were in the zone. They would have gotten a shot and it probably would have been a similar shot to the one they took because they would have moved the ball. I don't second-guess that decision. I thought it was the right decision. We were switching all the ball screenseverybody was prepared to do that. Tough shotgood result for them."

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concordtom;842297310 said:

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Morning thought, and I thought it as soon as it happened:
The ballgame was when they didn't call a foul on smu when they knocked Kravish down causing him to fumble wallace's brick out of bounds. We get the call at home.

Monty's recruiting of bigs bit us in the booty. Behrens did okay in the second half, but we needed much more of that sooner. Turns out, to reply to a thread of a couple months ago, he was not our answer for a 3rd big. He barely played vs Arky, if at all. Maybe he should have got minutes when we were up 20.

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Can you ever let up on Monty's recruiting of bigs? How exactly are injuries to our bigs somehow Monty's fault? Solomon is out with a concussion. Our first big usually off the bench, Rooks, is out with a broken foot. Our second big off the bench, Behrens, has been playing sparingly all season due to not being fully confident of playing on his twice repaired knee. I watched Behrens last night and he was not moving real well. If any one of those three injured players can give a good contribution, we win that game going away.

calumnus;842297434 said:

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Except that we were in man

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No before that. It is the three their micro guard hits ealier in the half and when Justin gives him a "WTF?" look. Mathews was at the top and didn't slide over.

socaltownie;842297478 said:

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No before that. It is the three their micro guard hits ealier in the half and when Justin gives him a "WTF?" look. Mathews was at the top and didn't slide over.

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That's when Mathews slid over to his left (to empty space) for no apparent reason, leaving a shooter (who said thank you and knocked down a trey) wide open for a pre-game warmup type of look. That was why Justin gave him the stare. But you could see also Mathews beating himself over it too.

KoreAmBear;842297482 said:

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That's when Mathews slid over to his left (to empty space) for no apparent reason, leaving a shooter (who said thank you and knocked down a trey) wide open for a pre-game warmup type of look. That was why Justin gave him the stare. But you could see also Mathews beating himself over it too.

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Yup. That is it. Your memory of the F'up is better than mine.

And not a knock on Mathews - just that I am guessing he anticipated the pass or a cut which didn't happen.