So this is the first time I've really watched st Mary's this year with a critical eye, and I have to admit, I'm impressed. Their offense is very very pretty.

I still have the same concerns i had before though. I don't think we're going to be bringing in 4-5 star kids consistently. And I don't even know that Bennett would necessarily want those types of kids.

His offense relies on 5 players who can all shoot, pass and dribble. theres not too many super athletic guys who can do all three of those things. And those that do exist are going to Kansas or duke etc. So we will probably be looking at a lot of 2-3 star guys who aren't super athletic, but are fundamentally sound.

My other concern is that this current team is almost all juniors and seniors. And st Mary's hasn't been to the tourney since 2013. So will Bennett be able to contend for the tourney every year, or do we have to wait until all of our good players are all juniors and seniors? Can this offense be run with freshman and Sophs?

Bennett can clearly coach. And I think he'd be a nice safe pick. I think you know what you're going to get. I just don't know how much upside there is with him. The assumption is once he gets to cal he will have access to better talent and can thus run the same offense but with upgraded athleticism. Again, I'm not sure that will be the case, even if he can upgrade the athleticism

If we are good with a consistent product every year with an occasional sweet 16 mixed in every 5 years or so, I think Bennett could be that guy. But if you have dream of more, you're going to have to go with a more high risk high reward type guy.

Seems to me that Bennett could recruit even better players here at Cal than at St. Mary's. He's a proven winner, already lives in the Bay Area, no baggage to deal with.

The real question may be: Can we convince him to come to Cal?

I watched a good portion of the game before the Warriors' game started.

Bennett is an impressive coach.

Bennett is pretty connected to the aau circuit. He has his own team.

AAU as in Australian Athletic Union? Almost half his roster is from Down Under! In the past, every time his name has been floated for the Cal job I've been against it; now, not so much. I'm beginning to wonder why he'd be interested in us as much as why we'd be interested in him.

Thanks for posting this bearebackerin LA. Very impressive story about Bennett and his Aussie connection pipeline. St. Mary's is going to be the next Gonzaga and they beat them this last year . He has done a tremendous job there with the school and he seems to get his kids ready to play very well and expand their skill set. Not sure if his Aussie pipeline will follow him to Cal since it is so strong with the St. Mary's name. But this guy can coach and I think he is a sure winner. Hope he gets good consideration for the opening at Cal. All I know PastorNick is that he can recruit not necessarily coach. Give me the coaching skills first then he can hire a good staff of recruiters if he needs to.

Basketball Bear;842822618 said:

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Thanks for posting this bearebackerin LA. Very impressive story about Bennett and his Aussie connection pipeline. St. Mary's is going to be the next Gonzaga and they beat them this last year . He has done a tremendous job there with the school and he seems to get his kids ready to play very well and expand their skill set. Not sure if his Aussie pipeline will follow him to Cal since it is so strong with the St. Mary's name. But this guy can coach and I think he is a sure winner. Hope he gets good consideration for the opening at Cal. All I know PastorNick is that he can recruit not necessarily coach. Give me the coaching skills first then he can hire a good staff of recruiters if he needs to.

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I didn't get that at all. None of them talk about being in Moraga and enjoying the woods. All their quotes are about Bennett (and alums). Assuming he brings some (all?) of his staff with it would seem the pipeline translates.

Now - lets be fair - I think Bennett would do EVEN BETTER at that pipeline in SoCal since in many ways Southern California is closer to (populated) Australia. You can't pass a ruby ball down here without kicking 2 Aussies and a New Zealander.

Actually, it's over half.

Basketball Bear;842822618 said:

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Thanks for posting this bearebackerin LA. Very impressive story about Bennett and his Aussie connection pipeline. St. Mary's is going to be the next Gonzaga and they beat them this last year . He has done a tremendous job there with the school and he seems to get his kids ready to play very well and expand their skill set. Not sure if his Aussie pipeline will follow him to Cal since it is so strong with the St. Mary's name. But this guy can coach and I think he is a sure winner. Hope he gets good consideration for the opening at Cal. All I know PastorNick is that he can recruit not necessarily coach. Give me the coaching skills first then he can hire a good staff of recruiters if he needs to.

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I also would prefer Bennett to Pasternak (sp), especially if he can bring his Aussie pipeline and supplement with good California recruiting from assistants. But when you say St. Mary's beat Gonzaga "this last" year do you mean the current season? St. Mary's was 0-3 against Gonzaga in 2016-2017 with by far the closest contest still being a double-digit loss in Moraga.

As far as I'm concerned, Saturday's game beautifully illustrated the conundrum with Bennett. Tactically, he coached a great game. Down the stretch, he obviously told his players they needed to get and make 3s to stay in the game, and the grit with which they ran their offense to get their last made three was a thing of beauty. They did almost as well for the last three, except that the defender managed to close out and get a hand in the shooter's face, so the shot missed short, which basically ended the game. And that's the problem. As beautiful as SMC is tactically, Arizona basically wore them down. Miller was equally as determined to deny 3s down the stretch and Bennett was determined to get them. Because Miller has better athletes, he prevailed. So the question is, if the gap in athleticism between St. Mary's and Arizona is X, can Bennett come to Cal, reduce it to 0.5X, and then beat them at least some of the time based on his tactical abilities. I'm not sure he can make the reduction, because I'm just not sure of his abilities as a recruiter. He lost three times to Gonzaga this year, and once to Arizona. He had one bad loss at home, to UT Arlington, and one decent non-conference road win, at Dayton. Just not sure what he does mid-major can translate to Power 5. He's a leap of blind faith, just like all the other candidates.

Jeff82;842822688 said:

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As far as I'm concerned, Saturday's game beautifully illustrated the conundrum with Bennett. Tactically, he coached a great game. Down the stretch, he obviously told his players they needed to get and make 3s to stay in the game, and the grit with which they ran their offense to get their last made three was a thing of beauty. They did almost as well for the last three, except that the defender managed to close out and get a hand in the shooter's face, so the shot missed short, which basically ended the game. And that's the problem. As beautiful as SMC is tactically, Arizona basically wore them down. Miller was equally as determined to deny 3s down the stretch and Bennett was determined to get them. Because Miller has better athletes, he prevailed. So the question is, if the gap in athleticism between St. Mary's and Arizona is X, can Bennett come to Cal, reduce it to 0.5X, and then beat them at least some of the time based on his tactical abilities. I'm not sure he can make the reduction, because I'm just not sure of his abilities as a recruiter. He lost three times to Gonzaga this year, and once to Arizona. He had one bad loss at home, to UT Arlington, and one decent non-conference road win, at Dayton. Just not sure what he does mid-major can translate to Power 5. He's a leap of blind faith, just like all the other candidates.

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"He's a leap of blind faith?"

Out of all the candidates, he's the surest bet. People have this perception that he wouldn't be able to recruit, but recruiting to SMC and recruiting to Cal are two different things. Sean Miller recruited differently at Xavier than he does at Arizona and same with Dana Altman recruiting differently at Creighton than he does at Oregon. To have great success at the mid-major level, you need to have a keen eye for evaluating talent. Bennett has repeatedly proven that he can do that. He's run different styles throughout his tenure based on the personnel of his teams. Bennett has the most data points we can point to as evidence that he could succeed. Does that mean he's a sure thing? Of course not. But a "leap of blind faith"? No way.

Jeff82;842822688 said:

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As far as I'm concerned, Saturday's game beautifully illustrated the conundrum with Bennett. Tactically, he coached a great game. Down the stretch, he obviously told his players they needed to get and make 3s to stay in the game, and the grit with which they ran their offense to get their last made three was a thing of beauty. They did almost as well for the last three, except that the defender managed to close out and get a hand in the shooter's face, so the shot missed short, which basically ended the game. And that's the problem. As beautiful as SMC is tactically, Arizona basically wore them down. Miller was equally as determined to deny 3s down the stretch and Bennett was determined to get them. Because Miller has better athletes, he prevailed. So the question is, if the gap in athleticism between St. Mary's and Arizona is X, can Bennett come to Cal, reduce it to 0.5X, and then beat them at least some of the time based on his tactical abilities. I'm not sure he can make the reduction, because I'm just not sure of his abilities as a recruiter. He lost three times to Gonzaga this year, and once to Arizona. He had one bad loss at home, to UT Arlington, and one decent non-conference road win, at Dayton. Just not sure what he does mid-major can translate to Power 5. He's a leap of blind faith, just like all the other candidates.

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Nicely put.

Believing in Cuonzo, based on what he showed at Cal, was also "a leap of blind faith." Including his recruiting.

Not easy being a Bears fan...

Yes, Bennett is the candidate most analogous to Miller and Altman. But the situations are not analogous. I don't know exactly, but I would surmise that moving from Xavier to Arizona and from Creighton to Oregon is probably not moving to a situation that is more difficult from a recruiting standpoint. Arizona has the Lute legacy, including a championship, and undoubtedly has equal or better facilities than Xavier, as does Oregon versus Creighton. Arguably, moving from St. Mary's to Cal is moving to a more difficult recruiting environment, because of the academic requirements. I'm assuming the difference in facilities may not be great, although I don't know if SMC has a practice gym. On the other hand, it's a move from a basketball-only school to one where basketball is only equal, and maybe second banana, to football. We can agree to disagree, but the idea that he might not be able to recruit well enough at Cal to win, even with his coaching abilities, is a legitimate concern, IMHO. I agree he's certainly the safest choice, in terms of perception in the fan base and the media.

my opinion gates or wyking jones better choice then bennett. iwill take recruiting before x's and o's. we have zona, oregon, and ucla in the pac 12.

Is his pipeline as good if he goes to Cal? Do those guys get admitted? St. Mary's is an easy admit.

socaltownie;842822626 said:

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I didn't get that at all. None of them talk about being in Moraga and enjoying the woods. All their quotes are about Bennett (and alums). Assuming he brings some (all?) of his staff with it would seem the pipeline translates.

Now - lets be fair - I think Bennett would do EVEN BETTER at that pipeline in SoCal since in many ways Southern California is closer to (populated) Australia. You can't pass a ruby ball down here without kicking 2 Aussies and a New Zealander.

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The way I see it is Cal is not a one and done type school for obvious reasons, so if you want to win big, you will have to do it with 3 and 4 year players buying into a system....4 and 5 star recruits (especially 5 star) who can pass admissions and want to come to Cal are not going to come along very often....I can see Bennett attracting enough 3 and 4 star, academically suitable, players to make his system even better at Cal than at St. Marys....it takes a more cerebral player to play the way Bennett likes to play and that may fit better at Cal....We are not going to hit the lottery type player often enough to compete with Arizona or UCLA with 5 star athletes, we have to find the marginally less talented kids who will buy into a system and execute it with precision as they do in Moraga....My vote goes to Bennett....

bearmanpg;842823169 said:

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The way I see it is Cal is not a one and done type school for obvious reasons, so if you want to win big, you will have to do it with 3 and 4 year players buying into a system....4 and 5 star recruits (especially 5 star) who can pass admissions and want to come to Cal are not going to come along very often....I can see Bennett attracting enough 3 and 4 star, academically suitable, players to make his system even better at Cal than at St. Marys....it takes a more cerebral player to play the way Bennett likes to play and that may fit better at Cal....We are not going to hit the lottery type player often enough to compete with Arizona or UCLA with 5 star athletes, we have to find the marginally less talented kids who will buy into a system and execute it with precision as they do in Moraga....My vote goes to Bennett....

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Well put.

Not sure how to rate Bennett versus, say, the UCI guy, or the (possibly unknown) coach that may emerge when the new coach is announced.

Seems to me that Bennet, at the very least, can make Cal into a Butler or Wisconsin level program: that is, without multiple one and dones. Seems also unrealistic to think Cal is going to be interested in multiple one and dones year in and year out, just because of academics. I would opt for good play with talent over super recruiter with poor play (Cuonzo last year).

bearchamp;842823224 said:

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Seems to me that Bennet, at the very least, can make Cal into a Butler or Wisconsin level program: that is, without multiple one and dones. Seems also unrealistic to think Cal is going to be interested in multiple one and dones year in and year out, just because of academics. I would opt for good play with talent over super recruiter with poor play (Cuonzo last year).

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I'd say that's accurate, especially the Wisconsin (or Michigan) comparison.

He's by far the surest bet. Bennett has proven he can sustain success over a long period of time. Very few coaches with his track record have failed at the high major level. And his track record is very impressive. Coaches that have coached 10+ seasons at one mid-major school and stepped up to the high-major level are rare. But the ones that have usually found success. Some names are Jim Calhoun, Dana Altman, and Jim Larranaga. A handful of guys like Mark Few, Gregg Marshall, Stew Morrill, and Jerry Tarkanian won big (better than 0.650 winning pct.) at that level but never moved up to the Power conferences. Fran Dunphy excelled at Penn for long time and moved on to Temple, which sort of borderline High Major.

Offensively, I would say he's the best coach on the list. His system is very efficient and precise, ball-screen heavy, with lots of ball movement, and player movement, as well. It's very pretty to watch--and very difficult to defend. His last 3 teams have been in the top 25 nationally in Assist Rate. Since 2008, he has produced elite level offenses on a regular basis. Six of his last 8 teams have been in the Top 20 in Adjusted Offensive Efficiency, with the other 2 teams ranking 50th and 61st.

Defensively, his philosophy is rock solid. Three of his teams have rated 1st in lowest opponent Assist Rate. That's nationally, BTW. Another 3 of his teams were 2nd in that category. In total, 11 of his 16 teams have rated in the Top 12 nationally. Bennett's teams have also consistently taken away the 3-point shot away from their opponents. 11 of his 16 teams have ranked in the Top 10 in lowest opponent 3-point attempt Rate.

Obviously, what Bennett doesn't have going for him is aesthetic. His age--54 isn't "too old"--but he'd be a no-brainer if he was 44 and looked like Tony Bennett or Steve Lavin. He's also doesn't present as a smooth-talker type with charm and charismatic appeal. For some, these things are important. For me, he's as close to an elite basketball coach as Cal can realistically get, which puts the aesthetic stuff on the back burner for me. The NCAA violations are a concern, but compared to many other programs, don't seem that bad to me. Other programs--looking at you, North Carolina--have gotten away with far worse.

A friend told me Bennett was offered and declined. I can not confirm this

bearchamp;842823224 said:

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Seems to me that Bennet, at the very least, can make Cal into a Butler or Wisconsin level program: that is, without multiple one and dones. Seems also unrealistic to think Cal is going to be interested in multiple one and dones year in and year out, just because of academics. I would opt for good play with talent over super recruiter with poor play (Cuonzo last year).

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The names floated so far-Pasterack, Turner, etc-seem like a one way ticket to the middle/bottom of the conference. You might as well hire a higher level coaching talent like Bennett who has actually been to the tournament six times which is five more than any other HC being considered and actually made it past the first round unlike the others; or if the field is this week, take a flyer on one of the younger guys-Decuire, Gates-if you think they could be a higher level talent. You're not missing out on much.

oskidunker;842823244 said:

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A friend told me Bennett was offered and declined. I can not confirm this

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Wouldn't be surprised. Another Cal site is suggesting that happened, as well.

oskidunker;842823244 said:

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A friend told me Bennett was offered and declined. I can not confirm this

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The way things are seemingly moving laterally, I would say you are probably correct...this trajectory looks to be waiting for Arizona to finish it's NCAA run....if Bennett were the choice, I would think the deal would be done before the end of this week...

BearBackerinLA;842826646 said:

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so Bennett was willing to stay at St Mary's even though he won't know who the new AD is?

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He knows who our AD is, and that was enough.