We are in Fall, about 6 weeks away from the first game. Does anyone have an update on players' progress over the summer, and any updates on the health of the players? Are they all ready to go, physically?

No injuries so far. The sunshine pumpers have a very positive attitude that we will be alot better. The main question is, What does Blueblood of Lod think?

Optimistic here, yes. But cautiously so. It will be a ride, and not at all smooth.

oskidunker said:

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No injuries so far. The sunshine pumpers have a very positive attitude that we will be alot better. The main question is, What does Blueblood of Lod think?

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I am sort of a sunshine pumper, though not a serious case. I have no doubt but that we will have a significantly better record than last year, both in conference and overall. The problem is, even if we were to TRIPLE our conference wins (and we might not even do quite that), a 6-12 Pac 12 record still pretty much sucks.

The staff has some decent guys coming in for 2019 (and it sounds like there will be a third). But can we (as in, Jones) win enough to get that far?

Biggest question, by far: the front line
Other major concern: shooting
And then there's: the coaching (we'll see, but there are questions that need to be answered)

oskidunker said:

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No injuries so far. The sunshine pumpers have a very positive attitude that we will be alot better. The main question is, What does Blueblood of Lod think?

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What about Gordon? Has he fully recovered from his injury"

Big C said:

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oskidunker said:

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No injuries so far. The sunshine pumpers have a very positive attitude that we will be alot better. The main question is, What does Blueblood of Lod think?

---

I am sort of a sunshine pumper, though not a serious case. I have no doubt but that we will have a significantly better record than last year, both in conference and overall. The problem is, even if we were to TRIPLE our conference wins (and we might not even do quite that), a 6-12 Pac 12 record still pretty much sucks.

The staff has some decent guys coming in for 2019 (and it sounds like there will be a third). But can we (as in, Jones) win enough to get that far?

Biggest question, by far: the front line
Other major concern: shooting
And then there's: the coaching (we'll see, but there are questions that need to be answered)

---

Pretty much agree across the board. But I wouldn't call Big C a sunshine pumper, just a dedicated fan! You pay a lot of time, money and emotional energy to root for the bears, you should be searching for optimism.

A sunshine pumper is someone who is overly optimistic, throws it in everyone's face and ignores the evidence of recent performance. We all (or most) want Wyking to be a good coach, but a sunshine pumper thinks he was a great coach last season.

As for SFCity's original request, word on the street is that the entire team has spent the summer working hard on conditioning and individual aspects of their respective games. Some highlights:

Seniors:

Ain't got none.

Juniors:

Austin - more of a true point guard than we've seen in a while. Will not be able to do everything by himself. May have messed up his mechanices in Idaho, trying to revert back.

Davis - not much about him on the street, but we are thin up front, so there is ample opportunity. We know he has heart and energy!

Sophomores:

Sueing - No problems, but no one wants to jinx him into a sophomore slump, so it's been quiet on the street.

McNeil - see jinx theory above. He should thrive at the 'two' with Austin at the point. Could be a real nice starting backcourt for two years.

Antecivich - may get the starting nod at center. Put in effort to get to P12 condition. Confidence seems to be rising.

Harris-Dyson - worked on his handles and shooting, showing lots of improvement. But don't expect him to be a three-point marksman. His game will be energy, defense and athleticism.

Freshmen:

Kelly - Could be first 5 off the bench. A bit short for a 5, but physical and confident offensively

Bradley - Sounds like people will need to remind themselves that he is a freshman. Strong, defends, shoots, what's not to look forward to?

Vanover - Best shooter on the team, but a ways to go to get to P12 level conditioning. Maybe spot minutes this year - probably not 15 minute runs in both halves.

Gordon - Recovered from off-season rehab, but still needs more conditioning to get into D1 shape.

BeachedBear said:

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Big C said:

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oskidunker said:

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No injuries so far. The sunshine pumpers have a very positive attitude that we will be alot better. The main question is, What does Blueblood of Lod think?

---

I am sort of a sunshine pumper, though not a serious case. I have no doubt but that we will have a significantly better record than last year, both in conference and overall. The problem is, even if we were to TRIPLE our conference wins (and we might not even do quite that), a 6-12 Pac 12 record still pretty much sucks.

The staff has some decent guys coming in for 2019 (and it sounds like there will be a third). But can we (as in, Jones) win enough to get that far?

Biggest question, by far: the front line
Other major concern: shooting
And then there's: the coaching (we'll see, but there are questions that need to be answered)

---

Pretty much agree across the board. But I wouldn't call Big C a sunshine pumper, just a dedicated fan! You pay a lot of time, money and emotional energy to root for the bears, you should be searching for optimism.

A sunshine pumper is someone who is overly optimistic, throws it in everyone's face and ignores the evidence of recent performance. We all (or most) want Wyking to be a good coach, but a sunshine pumper thinks he was a great coach last season.

As for SFCity's original request, word on the street is that the entire team has spent the summer working hard on conditioning and individual aspects of their respective games. Some highlights:

Seniors:

Ain't got none.

Juniors:

Austin - more of a true point guard than we've seen in a while. Will not be able to do everything by himself. May have messed up his mechanices in Idaho, trying to revert back.

Davis - not much about him on the street, but we are thin up front, so there is ample opportunity. We know he has heart and energy!

Sophomores:

Sueing - No problems, but no one wants to jinx him into a sophomore slump, so it's been quiet on the street.

McNeil - see jinx theory above. He should thrive at the 'two' with Austin at the point. Could be a real nice starting backcourt for two years.

Antecivich - may get the starting nod at center. Put in effort to get to P12 condition. Confidence seems to be rising.

Harris-Dyson - worked on his handles and shooting, showing lots of improvement. But don't expect him to be a three-point marksman. His game will be energy, defense and athleticism.

Freshmen:

Kelly - Could be first 5 off the bench. A bit short for a 5, but physical and confident offensively

Bradley - Sounds like people will need to remind themselves that he is a freshman. Strong, defends, shoots, what's not to look forward to?

Vanover - Best shooter on the team, but a ways to go to get to P12 level conditioning. Maybe spot minutes this year - probably not 15 minute runs in both halves.

Gordon - Recovered from off-season rehab, but still needs more conditioning to get into D1 shape.

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Thanks Beached Bear, for all the detail. Kind of what I was expecting to hear. One surprise for me is what you said about Anticevich. I saw a photo of him and he looked like he had really bulked up - maybe 20 or 25 pounds worth. He was all the way into Wyking's doghouse by end of last season, so if you think he might start, then he must have made a big leap in the coach's mind, and not just gotten bigger, but must be practicing better as well.

Another surprise is what you said about Vanover being the best shot on the team. He looked to have a good stroke in video I saw, but if he's the best we have, then I'm less hopeful that Gordon and Bradley can shoot well. Maybe Vanover will be the reincarnation of Mel Counts or Clyde Lee. I would settle for a carbon copy of Thomas Welsh however.

It is a very young team, and could be fun to watch. The weak spots in my mind are the front line, rebounding and defense, three point shooting, and of course the inexperience of the head coach. Hopefully he has learned a lot, and is not too set in his ways to change what did not work last season.

The strong points are the youth and energy, some real scorers, capable of playing more than one position, and at last a real point guard, for the first time since Moore and Randle.

BeachedBear said:

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A sunshine pumper is someone who is overly optimistic, throws it in everyone's face and ignores the evidence of recent performance. We all (or most) want Wyking to be a good coach, but a sunshine pumper thinks he was a great coach last season.

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You could look like this and that's still not enough sunshine to convince anybody of that.

SFCityBear said:

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BeachedBear said:

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Big C said:

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oskidunker said:

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No injuries so far. The sunshine pumpers have a very positive attitude that we will be alot better. The main question is, What does Blueblood of Lod think?

---

I am sort of a sunshine pumper, though not a serious case. I have no doubt but that we will have a significantly better record than last year, both in conference and overall. The problem is, even if we were to TRIPLE our conference wins (and we might not even do quite that), a 6-12 Pac 12 record still pretty much sucks.

The staff has some decent guys coming in for 2019 (and it sounds like there will be a third). But can we (as in, Jones) win enough to get that far?

Biggest question, by far: the front line
Other major concern: shooting
And then there's: the coaching (we'll see, but there are questions that need to be answered)

---

Pretty much agree across the board. But I wouldn't call Big C a sunshine pumper, just a dedicated fan! You pay a lot of time, money and emotional energy to root for the bears, you should be searching for optimism.

A sunshine pumper is someone who is overly optimistic, throws it in everyone's face and ignores the evidence of recent performance. We all (or most) want Wyking to be a good coach, but a sunshine pumper thinks he was a great coach last season.

As for SFCity's original request, word on the street is that the entire team has spent the summer working hard on conditioning and individual aspects of their respective games. Some highlights:

Seniors:

Ain't got none.

Juniors:

Austin - more of a true point guard than we've seen in a while. Will not be able to do everything by himself. May have messed up his mechanices in Idaho, trying to revert back.

Davis - not much about him on the street, but we are thin up front, so there is ample opportunity. We know he has heart and energy!

Sophomores:

Sueing - No problems, but no one wants to jinx him into a sophomore slump, so it's been quiet on the street.

McNeil - see jinx theory above. He should thrive at the 'two' with Austin at the point. Could be a real nice starting backcourt for two years.

Antecivich - may get the starting nod at center. Put in effort to get to P12 condition. Confidence seems to be rising.

Harris-Dyson - worked on his handles and shooting, showing lots of improvement. But don't expect him to be a three-point marksman. His game will be energy, defense and athleticism.

Freshmen:

Kelly - Could be first 5 off the bench. A bit short for a 5, but physical and confident offensively

Bradley - Sounds like people will need to remind themselves that he is a freshman. Strong, defends, shoots, what's not to look forward to?

Vanover - Best shooter on the team, but a ways to go to get to P12 level conditioning. Maybe spot minutes this year - probably not 15 minute runs in both halves.

Gordon - Recovered from off-season rehab, but still needs more conditioning to get into D1 shape.

---

Thanks Beached Bear, for all the detail. Kind of what I was expecting to hear. One surprise for me is what you said about Anticevich. I saw a photo of him and he looked like he had really bulked up - maybe 20 or 25 pounds worth. He was all the way into Wyking's doghouse by end of last season, so if you think he might start, then he must have made a big leap in the coach's mind, and not just gotten bigger, but must be practicing better as well.

Another surprise is what you said about Vanover being the best shot on the team. He looked to have a good stroke in video I saw, but if he's the best we have, then I'm less hopeful that Gordon and Bradley can shoot well. Maybe Vanover will be the reincarnation of Mel Counts or Clyde Lee. I would settle for a carbon copy of Thomas Welsh however.

It is a very young team, and could be fun to watch. The weak spots in my mind are the front line, rebounding and defense, three point shooting, and of course the inexperience of the head coach. Hopefully he has learned a lot, and is not too set in his ways to change what did not work last season.

The strong points are the youth and energy, some real scorers, capable of playing more than one position, and at last a real point guard, for the first time since Moore and Randle.

---

WRT Antecevich, starting nod may be simply due to process of elimination. Kelly and Vanover are the only ones with any real size, but are freshmen. Could be a situation that Ante gets half the minutes at the 5 to start the season, with Van and Kelly splitting the other half. Then as things shake out during the season, it may be Kelly is getting the most minutes, Van is getting more than he did at the beginning and Ante is spending more time in the doghouse. I have no inside knowledge, but my sense is Ante lost rotation during last season due to confidence/aggressiveness and conditioning. The improved stamina this year may help him with his aggressiveness and confidence.

WRT Vanover, having the best shot on THIS team, may still not mean much. You nailed it when you mentioned three-point shooting as a weakness for this team. But he did have a good shot in high school video and stepped out of the key and used it as part of his offensive repertoire, so he is comfortable with it. I think I saw somewhere that his HS/AAU FT% was around 75% which is not bad for HS big man.

BeachedBear said:

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SFCityBear said:

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BeachedBear said:

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Big C said:

---

oskidunker said:

---

No injuries so far. The sunshine pumpers have a very positive attitude that we will be alot better. The main question is, What does Blueblood of Lod think?

---

I am sort of a sunshine pumper, though not a serious case. I have no doubt but that we will have a significantly better record than last year, both in conference and overall. The problem is, even if we were to TRIPLE our conference wins (and we might not even do quite that), a 6-12 Pac 12 record still pretty much sucks.

The staff has some decent guys coming in for 2019 (and it sounds like there will be a third). But can we (as in, Jones) win enough to get that far?

Biggest question, by far: the front line
Other major concern: shooting
And then there's: the coaching (we'll see, but there are questions that need to be answered)

---

Pretty much agree across the board. But I wouldn't call Big C a sunshine pumper, just a dedicated fan! You pay a lot of time, money and emotional energy to root for the bears, you should be searching for optimism.

A sunshine pumper is someone who is overly optimistic, throws it in everyone's face and ignores the evidence of recent performance. We all (or most) want Wyking to be a good coach, but a sunshine pumper thinks he was a great coach last season.

As for SFCity's original request, word on the street is that the entire team has spent the summer working hard on conditioning and individual aspects of their respective games. Some highlights:

Seniors:

Ain't got none.

Juniors:

Austin - more of a true point guard than we've seen in a while. Will not be able to do everything by himself. May have messed up his mechanices in Idaho, trying to revert back.

Davis - not much about him on the street, but we are thin up front, so there is ample opportunity. We know he has heart and energy!

Sophomores:

Sueing - No problems, but no one wants to jinx him into a sophomore slump, so it's been quiet on the street.

McNeil - see jinx theory above. He should thrive at the 'two' with Austin at the point. Could be a real nice starting backcourt for two years.

Antecivich - may get the starting nod at center. Put in effort to get to P12 condition. Confidence seems to be rising.

Harris-Dyson - worked on his handles and shooting, showing lots of improvement. But don't expect him to be a three-point marksman. His game will be energy, defense and athleticism.

Freshmen:

Kelly - Could be first 5 off the bench. A bit short for a 5, but physical and confident offensively

Bradley - Sounds like people will need to remind themselves that he is a freshman. Strong, defends, shoots, what's not to look forward to?

Vanover - Best shooter on the team, but a ways to go to get to P12 level conditioning. Maybe spot minutes this year - probably not 15 minute runs in both halves.

Gordon - Recovered from off-season rehab, but still needs more conditioning to get into D1 shape.

---

Thanks Beached Bear, for all the detail. Kind of what I was expecting to hear. One surprise for me is what you said about Anticevich. I saw a photo of him and he looked like he had really bulked up - maybe 20 or 25 pounds worth. He was all the way into Wyking's doghouse by end of last season, so if you think he might start, then he must have made a big leap in the coach's mind, and not just gotten bigger, but must be practicing better as well.

Another surprise is what you said about Vanover being the best shot on the team. He looked to have a good stroke in video I saw, but if he's the best we have, then I'm less hopeful that Gordon and Bradley can shoot well. Maybe Vanover will be the reincarnation of Mel Counts or Clyde Lee. I would settle for a carbon copy of Thomas Welsh however.

It is a very young team, and could be fun to watch. The weak spots in my mind are the front line, rebounding and defense, three point shooting, and of course the inexperience of the head coach. Hopefully he has learned a lot, and is not too set in his ways to change what did not work last season.

The strong points are the youth and energy, some real scorers, capable of playing more than one position, and at last a real point guard, for the first time since Moore and Randle.

---

WRT Antecevich, starting nod may be simply due to process of elimination. Kelly and Vanover are the only ones with any real size, but are freshmen. Could be a situation that Ante gets half the minutes at the 5 to start the season, with Van and Kelly splitting the other half. Then as things shake out during the season, it may be Kelly is getting the most minutes, Van is getting more than he did at the beginning and Ante is spending more time in the doghouse. I have no inside knowledge, but my sense is Ante lost rotation during last season due to confidence/aggressiveness and conditioning. The improved stamina this year may help him with his aggressiveness and confidence.

WRT Vanover, having the best shot on THIS team, may still not mean much. You nailed it when you mentioned three-point shooting as a weakness for this team. But he did have a good shot in high school video and stepped out of the key and used it as part of his offensive repertoire, so he is comfortable with it. I think I saw somewhere that his HS/AAU FT% was around 75% which is not bad for HS big man.

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After Anticevich hit that huge three off the bench vs Stanford, I would have found a few minutes for him in every game after that, until he became a liability. Nice to have a guy on the bench who could come in for 2-3 minutes and score a basket to fire things up. It didn't happen.

75% FT's is good for most big men beyond high school. Wilt, Shaq, and Ben Wallace would have given anything to shoot them at 75%. Wilt said he once went to a psychiatrist to help him with his free throws, and at the end of several sessions, Wilt said the psychiatrist had become a better free throw shooter than he Wilt was.

After Anticevich hit that huge three off the bench vs Stanford, I would have found a few minutes for him in every game after that, until he became a liability. Nice to have a guy on the bench who could come in for 2-3 minutes and score a basket to fire things up. It did

Coaching.

oskidunker said:

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No injuries so far. The sunshine pumpers have a very positive attitude that we will be alot better. The main question is, What does Blueblood of Lod think?

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