Not a surprise, looking at the roster is next season. No role for him. Too many guards, not enough PT.

Good luck to him.

EricBear said:

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Probably best for all involved.

Wish him the best.

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Succinctly and well said.

socaliganbear said:

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Who's next?

---

McCullough and Winston?

I wish the Don the best and liked his gracious message. Probably a win/win for all parties and I hope lands in a good spot

As much guff as he got this year, we needed his alpha balling this year. With pretty timid bigs and a bunch of young, hesitant freshmen, there were definitely times we needed what DC brought. Next year will be/better be different and DC's style likely would have been a hindrance to the development of the rest of the team.

Good luck, DC. Glad you got your 94 feet with Bilas, a status only reserved for special players! On to next year.

TheSouseFamily said:

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I wish the Don the best and liked his gracious message. Probably a win/win for all parties and I hope lands in a good spot

As much guff as he got this year, we needed his alpha balling this year. With pretty timid bigs and a bunch of young, hesitant freshmen, there were definitely times we needed what DC brought. Next year will be/better be different and DC's style likely would have been a hindrance to the development of the rest of the team.

Good luck, DC. Glad you got your 94 feet with Bilas, a status only reserved for special players! On to next year.

---

That is a gracious message from someone who played hard all year long. I hope it turns out well for him.

NYCGOBEARS said:

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socaliganbear said:

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Who's next?

---

McCullough and Winston?

---

And let's not forget Anticevich.

Think about it. When you have this many players who either started or played more minutes in the early season and then got sent to the bench or were given far less or even no minutes of playing time, what does that say about a coach's ability to judge who his best players are?

Coach Jones needs to take the off season and concentrate on getting his learning curve on to a fast track, or he is toast. When you elevate a player to the position of "our go-to guy" on offense, and early on he is producing 30 point games, and in conference, the player gets benched for the rest of the season, playing less minutes, that is a blow to the player's ego. It was to his great credit that Coleman did not sulk and played hard, unlike many players might have done. Deschon Winston started the season at point guard with McNeill hurt, but when McNeill took over Winston not only went to the bench, he almost disappeared. Anticevich and McCullogh played minutes early, and Anticevich looked pretty good in spots. Both seldom played after that, with the exception of Anticievich hitting a key three to help beat Stanford. If McCullogh, Winston, and Anticevich were older players, I'm sure their egos would be bruised, but as freshman, they probably did not expect to play much. Still no player likes to move from good minutes to nearly no minutes. Jones needs to learn to evaluate his players better, and handle them better if he wants to keep them.

tsubamoto2001 said:

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Not a surprise, looking at the roster is next season. No role for him. Too many guards, not enough PT.

Good luck to him.

---

I expected this as well. Coleman fell into the coach's doghouse when he had some poor games, and was suspended at one point. Finally, he was benched. He is clearly a player who loved Cal and loved playing the game. He could have done a D.J. Seeley, sulked and played with no enthusiasm, but he still played hard. He did all that he was asked to do. Play shooting guard, play point guard, play all kinds of defenses, drive to the basket, shoot threes. He is a very athletic and aggressive player. I will miss his aggressiveness. His decision making on the floor was not so good too often, and he played too fast. He needs to let the game come to him, is the old cliche.

I was hoping very much to see him come back and improve at Cal and make the Cal team better. Hopefully he can find a school which has a coach who can coach guard play, which Coleman and all our guards need, frankly. We haven't had good guard play at Cal since Montgomery, especially point guard play. I think Coleman realized that trying to move from the bench back to a starter was not likely with this coach, and he was willing to sit out a year somewhere else to get a chance to start.

I fully expect Coleman to play at the next level someday. His mistakes are more mental than anything, and that might be correctable with the right coaching and hard work. I wish him the best, and he is one ex-Cal player I will be rooting for to succeed on his next team and beyond, if that happens.

Good luck to you Don! I loved his feisty attitude. I will say his hero ball style was entertaining in the least. You never knew if his drive to the basket would be a season ending injury. He had no fear, I will give him that. Good luck in finding a good fit and much future success in life.

barabbas said:

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SFCityBear said:

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tsubamoto2001 said:

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Not a surprise, looking at the roster is next season. No role for him. Too many guards, not enough PT.

Good luck to him.

---

I fully expect Coleman to play at the next level someday. His mistakes are more mental than anything, and that might be correctable with the right coaching and hard work. I wish him the best, and he is one ex-Cal player I will be rooting for to succeed on his next team and beyond, if that happens.

---

What "level" would that be? Played hard but very selfish and I don't know if he could even play overseas. This is definitely addition by subtraction for Cal!

---

"Selfish?" Ridiculous. His coach announced to him, his teammates, the Cal fans, and the world that he was going to be "the go-to guy" of the Cal team. He was told to shoot, the offense was designed for Coleman to shoot the ball. He did what he was told. What would you expect him to do?

Coleman was second on the team in assists, and he did not have the ball as much as Darius McNeill the point guard, who had the most assists. Coleman played point only about 10-20% of the time. Coleman was a good passer. Did you happen to see how many passes for layups his teammates dropped? Players did not cut much to get open on the Cal team, so Coleman and McNeill were fortunate to get as many assists as they did. Would you say Sueing played selfishly? I think the Cal team played selfishly, almost every man for himself. And it shows in the stats. Very few baskets were assisted.

I expect Coleman has the potential to play overseas somewhere. I go to SF ProAM games where I have seen maybe 2nd and 3rd line players who play professionally all over the world, and Coleman could probably play with some of them. To be successful, he needs some coaching from a coach who can coach guard play, so he plays more under control.

Let's not kick him as he goes out the door. He is not D.J. Seeley. He gave everything he had on the court for Cal.

I'm sorry to see Don go because he could have gone thru life with a Cal degree, and now he's merely gonna end up like me.
The game ends SOON.
The degree lives on forever!

By the way, did anyone ever see Don dunk a ball?

tsubamoto2001 said:

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Not a surprise, looking at the roster is next season. No role for him. Too many guards, not enough PT.

Good luck to him.

---

Yep. No doubt there's more coming.

SFCityBear said:

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tsubamoto2001 said:

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Not a surprise, looking at the roster is next season. No role for him. Too many guards, not enough PT.

Good luck to him.

---

I expected this as well. Coleman fell into the coach's doghouse when he had some poor games, and was suspended at one point. Finally, he was benched. He is clearly a player who loved Cal and loved playing the game. He could have done a D.J. Seeley, sulked and played with no enthusiasm, but he still played hard. He did all that he was asked to do. Play shooting guard, play point guard, play all kinds of defenses, drive to the basket, shoot threes. He is a very athletic and aggressive player. I will miss his aggressiveness. His decision making on the floor was not so good too often, and he played too fast. He needs to let the game come to him, is the old cliche.

I was hoping very much to see him come back and improve at Cal and make the Cal team better. Hopefully he can find a school which has a coach who can coach guard play, which Coleman and all our guards need, frankly. We haven't had good guard play at Cal since Montgomery, especially point guard play. I think Coleman realized that trying to move from the bench back to a starter was not likely with this coach, and he was willing to sit out a year somewhere else to get a chance to start.

I fully expect Coleman to play at the next level someday. His mistakes are more mental than anything, and that might be correctable with the right coaching and hard work. I wish him the best, and he is one ex-Cal player I will be rooting for to succeed on his next team and beyond, if that happens.

---

A couple of thoughts, SFCity. I assume the suspension wasn't because he "was in the doghouse," but because he broke some team rule, and if so, it is to Wyking's credit that he did so. As for your other comments (different post) that WJ doesn't know how to evaluate his players, this may indeed be correct, although players getting PT in the non-conference schedule and having a shorter bench later in the year is pretty common everywhere. You want to see how new players handle actual competition (as opposed to practice) to know what your rotation is going to look like.

When you say DC can play at the next level, I assume you don't mean the NBA. There precisely zero chance of that ever happening. The NBA doesn't have a lot of space for 6-2 guards who can't shoot. As for overseas, I agree that there are bound to be places he can play. I just hope for his sake he doesn't wind up in the Turkmenistan League.

DC made me miss Gary Franklin. Good luck or good riddance, or somewhere in between.

Playing basketball for rye bread in Lithuania is not unheard of.

TheSouseFamily said:

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I wish the Don the best and liked his gracious message. Probably a win/win for all parties and I hope lands in a good spot

As much guff as he got this year, we needed his alpha balling this year. With pretty timid bigs and a bunch of young, hesitant freshmen, there were definitely times we needed what DC brought. Next year will be/better be different and DC's style likely would have been a hindrance to the development of the rest of the team.

Good luck, DC. Glad you got your 94 feet with Bilas, a status only reserved for special players! On to next year.

---

Agree. I thought Coleman was a cool guy who played the game with some fire. He was nice to my young son and me once, after a game. My hope for him was that he'd improve a bit for next year -- iron out some of the rough spots -- fill a role for the team and help us win some more games... and get a Cal degree.

This might be for the best, though, especially if that's what he wants.

Best wishes, Don!

barabbas said:

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SFCityBear said:

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tsubamoto2001 said:

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Not a surprise, looking at the roster is next season. No role for him. Too many guards, not enough PT.

Good luck to him.

---

I fully expect Coleman to play at the next level someday. His mistakes are more mental than anything, and that might be correctable with the right coaching and hard work. I wish him the best, and he is one ex-Cal player I will be rooting for to succeed on his next team and beyond, if that happens.

---

What "level" would that be? Played hard but very selfish and I don't know if he could even play overseas. This is definitely addition by subtraction for Cal!

---

I don't know that he was selfish as much as just not consistently a good decision maker, sort of a junior grade Ty Wallace. His energy and enthusiasm were positives; his kamikaze drives into solid defense were head-scratchers. Good luck to him at his next stop.

sheki said:

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DC made me miss Gary Franklin. Good luck or good riddance, or somewhere in between.

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Really? I was often disappointed in DC's play, and the open scholarship may turn out to be a benefit, but good riddance?? Is your life so twisted that you wish ill on a former Cal student because he didn't entertain you enough on the basketball court?

sheki said:

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DC made me miss Gary Franklin. Good luck or good riddance, or somewhere in between.

---

I don't think any Cal basketball fan would say that. DC is Shareef Abdur Rahim compared to Gary Franklin and his attitude.

It seems G Franklin was never really here. I saw him play one game (SDStu). It was not good,
I wished him happy travels to Waco and the best at Bu.

59bear said:

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barabbas said:

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SFCityBear said:

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tsubamoto2001 said:

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I Not a surprise, looking at the roster is next season. No role for him. Too many guards, not enough PT.

Good luck to him.

---

I fully expect Coleman to play at the next level someday. His mistakes are more mental than anything, and that might be correctable with the right coaching and hard work. I wish him the best, and he is one ex-Cal player I will be rooting for to succeed on his next team and beyond, if that happens.

---

What "level" would that be? Played hard but very selfish and I don't know if he could even play overseas. This is definitely addition by subtraction for Cal!

---

I don't know that he was selfish as much as just not consistently a good decision maker, sort of a junior grade Ty Wallace. His energy and enthusiasm were positives; his kamikaze drives into solid defense were head-scratchers. Good luck to him at his next stop.

---

Well stated, and pretty funny, too.

SFCityBear said:

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barabbas said:

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SFCityBear said:

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tsubamoto2001 said:

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Not a surprise, looking at the roster is next season. No role for him. Too many guards, not enough PT.

Good luck to him.

---

I fully expect Coleman to play at the next level someday. His mistakes are more mental than anything, and that might be correctable with the right coaching and hard work. I wish him the best, and he is one ex-Cal player I will be rooting for to succeed on his next team and beyond, if that happens.

---

What "level" would that be? Played hard but very selfish and I don't know if he could even play overseas. This is definitely addition by subtraction for Cal!

---

"Selfish?" Ridiculous. His coach announced to him, his teammates, the Cal fans, and the world that he was going to be "the go-to guy" of the Cal team. He was told to shoot, the offense was designed for Coleman to shoot the ball. He did what he was told. What would you expect him to do?

Coleman was second on the team in assists, and he did not have the ball as much as Darius McNeill the point guard, who had the most assists. Coleman played point only about 10-20% of the time. Coleman was a good passer. Did you happen to see how many passes for layups his teammates dropped? Players did not cut much to get open on the Cal team, so Coleman and McNeill were fortunate to get as many assists as they did. Would you say Sueing played selfishly? I think the Cal team played selfishly, almost every man for himself. And it shows in the stats. Very few baskets were assisted.

I expect Coleman has the potential to play overseas somewhere. I go to SF ProAM games where I have seen maybe 2nd and 3rd line players who play professionally all over the world, and Coleman could probably play with some of them. To be successful, he needs some coaching from a coach who can coach guard play, so he plays more under control.

Let's not kick him as he goes out the door. He is not D.J. Seeley. He gave everything he had on the court for Cal.

---

SFCity:

What you said about the team having "played selfishly, almost every man for himself" struck a chord.

Granting that expecting well-oiled team play from an essentially all-Freshman team, and a first-season-ever head coach is, shall we say, unfair, Isn't it nevertheless fair to call that a coaching failure?

Based on what I've seen on the board, I, along with some of us here, believe that Wyking and Staff's spirit can result in real, good coaching next year and hopefully thereafter.

I think the current tourney is showing us that, with the guys on this team and those coming in, plus, hopefully, meaningful "bigs", if the hopes about the coaches' spirit and development are met, we should compete with anyone in the country.

That is, what the current tourney is showing us is that a bunch of guys nobody ever heard of, from a bunch of schools nobody ever heard of, coached by coaches who are, at least, largely out of the media, can beat anyone, regardless of their track record, reputation, class rankings, etc., over the years, and that this trend is doing nothing but increasing over the years; and I'll go further:

It occurs to me that the central defining feature of the success of these coaches is that they have been allowed to hang around and work in obscurity for a long enough time to develop an actual program, reflecting the values that we all appreciate in sports: hard work, overcoming adversity, developing skill and intelligence, etc.

I certainly see the potential for that in Wyking's personality. I hope there will be enough room here for him to develop this.

barabbas said:

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SFCityBear said:

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tsubamoto2001 said:

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Not a surprise, looking at the roster is next season. No role for him. Too many guards, not enough PT.

Good luck to him.

---

I fully expect Coleman to play at the next level someday. His mistakes are more mental than anything, and that might be correctable with the right coaching and hard work. I wish him the best, and he is one ex-Cal player I will be rooting for to succeed on his next team and beyond, if that happens.

---

What "level" would that be? Played hard but very selfish and I don't know if he could even play overseas. This is definitely addition by subtraction for Cal!

---

He shot 34% FG and 23% 3pt. Thanks for freeing up a scholarship, I guess.

NYCGOBEARS said:

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socaliganbear said:

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Who's next?

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McCullough and Winston?

---

I would wager almost certainly McCullough, but no for Winston. He seems like a kid that would value a Cal degree and wouldn't mind too much waiting to make the rotation as an upperclassman. Teams need players like him.

Thank God he is gone. Not a good player

iwantwinners said:

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barabbas said:

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SFCityBear said:

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tsubamoto2001 said:

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Not a surprise, looking at the roster is next season. No role for him. Too many guards, not enough PT.

Good luck to him.

---

I fully expect Coleman to play at the next level someday. His mistakes are more mental than anything, and that might be correctable with the right coaching and hard work. I wish him the best, and he is one ex-Cal player I will be rooting for to succeed on his next team and beyond, if that happens.

---

What "level" would that be? Played hard but very selfish and I don't know if he could even play overseas. This is definitely addition by subtraction for Cal!

---

He shot 34% FG and 23% 3pt. Thanks for freeing up a scholarship, I guess.

---

He led the team in scoring, he led the team in free throw shooting (75%), led the team in assist to turnover ratio (the only Cal player with a positive ratio), was second in assists with 57, and second in steals with 42. I wonder how he would do on a team with better players and a more experienced coach?

Thats because he took a ton of shots. 34% field goals for two' s is not good. 23% from three is terrible. Also he had alot of techicals for tripping players etc . He was suspended for one of these i dont feel he was a good representative of Cal. I dont think the coach felt so either.

But wish him well? Sure. Why not.

"Really? I was often disappointed in DC's play, and the open scholarship may turn out to be a benefit, but good riddance?? Is your life so twisted that you wish ill on a former Cal student because he didn't entertain you enough on the basketball court?"



I don't think i ever wished any ill feelings towards DC. I wish him well, but also glad that he's no longer on the team. Does that warrant a personal attack from you?

mikecohen said:

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SFCityBear said:

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barabbas said:

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SFCityBear said:

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tsubamoto2001 said:

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Not a surprise, looking at the roster is next season. No role for him. Too many guards, not enough PT.

Good luck to him.

---

I fully expect Coleman to play at the next level someday. His mistakes are more mental than anything, and that might be correctable with the right coaching and hard work. I wish him the best, and he is one ex-Cal player I will be rooting for to succeed on his next team and beyond, if that happens.

---

What "level" would that be? Played hard but very selfish and I don't know if he could even play overseas. This is definitely addition by subtraction for Cal!

---

"Selfish?" Ridiculous. His coach announced to him, his teammates, the Cal fans, and the world that he was going to be "the go-to guy" of the Cal team. He was told to shoot, the offense was designed for Coleman to shoot the ball. He did what he was told. What would you expect him to do?

Coleman was second on the team in assists, and he did not have the ball as much as Darius McNeill the point guard, who had the most assists. Coleman played point only about 10-20% of the time. Coleman was a good passer. Did you happen to see how many passes for layups his teammates dropped? Players did not cut much to get open on the Cal team, so Coleman and McNeill were fortunate to get as many assists as they did. Would you say Sueing played selfishly? I think the Cal team played selfishly, almost every man for himself. And it shows in the stats. Very few baskets were assisted.

I expect Coleman has the potential to play overseas somewhere. I go to SF ProAM games where I have seen maybe 2nd and 3rd line players who play professionally all over the world, and Coleman could probably play with some of them. To be successful, he needs some coaching from a coach who can coach guard play, so he plays more under control.

Let's not kick him as he goes out the door. He is not D.J. Seeley. He gave everything he had on the court for Cal.

---

SFCity:

What you said about the team having "played selfishly, almost every man for himself" struck a chord.

Granting that expecting well-oiled team play from an essentially all-Freshman team, and a first-season-ever head coach is, shall we say, unfair, Isn't it nevertheless fair to call that a coaching failure?

Based on what I've seen on the board, I, along with some of us here, believe that Wyking and Staff's spirit can result in real, good coaching next year and hopefully thereafter.

I think the current tourney is showing us that, with the guys on this team and those coming in, plus, hopefully, meaningful "bigs", if the hopes about the coaches' spirit and development are met, we should compete with anyone in the country.

That is, what the current tourney is showing us is that a bunch of guys nobody ever heard of, from a bunch of schools nobody ever heard of, coached by coaches who are, at least, largely out of the media, can beat anyone, regardless of their track record, reputation, class rankings, etc., over the years, and that this trend is doing nothing but increasing over the years; and I'll go further:

It occurs to me that the central defining feature of the success of these coaches is that they have been allowed to hang around and work in obscurity for a long enough time to develop an actual program, reflecting the values that we all appreciate in sports: hard work, overcoming adversity, developing skill and intelligence, etc.

I certainly see the potential for that in Wyking's personality. I hope there will be enough room here for him to develop this.

---

You are preaching to the choir. I've been saying much of this, not as well as you say it, for quite some time. Cal, like many teams, can win with good players who play together and don't make many mistakes. It is not totally necessary any longer to get NBA-ready players on your team. Often they are just a distraction.

I hesitate to use words like "selfish" when describing players. Often their coach has left them little choice (read Cuonzo Martin), or just let them play with no direction (read Tod Bozeman). An experienced coach would have already tried his system and others and found out which ones work for which personnel. A coach like that would have found ways to use Don Coleman, who amassed personal stats on a team that does not play together, and he would likely have done better under such a coach. I too hope for Wyking Jones to improve and figure this out, the sooner the better. If he does not win more games next season, or if the team does not look better playing, recruiting will be somewhat more difficult.

Early in the season there was a fast break where DC had the ball and another player was running ahead of him on the opposite side of the floor. A 2 on 1. DC took the ball in himself instead of passing the ball.

Later in the season, the roles were reversed. McNeill had the ball on a 2 on 1 and DC was the other player. McNeill kept the ball and took it himself.

In both cases, it made more sense to pass it to the player up ahead for an easy layup.

Both plays were selfish. I believe that those kinds of plays define the team. Are they going to share the ball? Or play hero ball?

I wish DC the best but he played hero ball and wasn't good enough to pull it off. Yes, he made some nice assists and passes every once in a while. But he was supposed to be one of the leaders of the team and that attitude reflected in how the team played. And it showed in our assist numbers.