Agree, against a zone, it's a good idea to find the soft spots in the zone, and we have a team full of very good mid-range shooters on this team. Best group of mid range shooters ar Cal that I remember805bear said:
Good to see some effective mid range shooting, for a change, to supplement our steady diet of going to the rack and kicking out for 3's. Let's run some sets to curl off picks for quick mid range attempts. I know going to the hole gets us to the charity stripe but when was the last time you saw us shoot a floater?
Every game we have a bad stretch where the game gets away. For SC it was when we allowed like 6 straight possessions where SC got easy layups. If we can limit those mini-runs, we may have a chance at some of these games.egbear82 said:
The stretch with about 5 min to go in the first half was our only really bad play.. had we avoided that the result might have been different. UCLA definitely had the talent but I liked our fight!
Kelly has great form/touch on his free throws and jumper. We need to get him some 12-15 footers. Plus, he gets a disappointed look on his face when we rarely look for him (for good reason, though he needs to learn not to show it).805bear said:
Exactly. Hitting soft spots in zones. We attacked once from the baseline, behind the zone, passing to Grant in the short corner and he banged it down.
I also agree that we have a slew of players that have consistent mid range strokes. Let's mix it up.
Good point. Wethers and Shipp improved every year it seemed.KoreAmBear said:
I feel like most of our players about what Wethers and Shipp were like their first two years. Esp. Wethers. He really struggled and didn't seem to really figure out the level of play. Then by junior and senior year he knew what he was doing -- it was second nature. He drove all the time to the basket and even had a 15 footer that was consistent. I see that being the case for a lot of our guys.
IIRC, they both took their "quantum leaps" their senior year. Wethers finally began to hit his outside shots with some consistency and Shipp, who had been remaking his body, had become quick/strong enough to drive to the basket with authority. But yes, it was a four-year progression. I love it when that happens.SFCityBear said:Good point. Wethers and Shipp improved every year it seemed.KoreAmBear said:
I feel like most of our players about what Wethers and Shipp were like their first two years. Esp. Wethers. He really struggled and didn't seem to really figure out the level of play. Then by junior and senior year he knew what he was doing -- it was second nature. He drove all the time to the basket and even had a 15 footer that was consistent. I see that being the case for a lot of our guys.
Richard Solomon was another one.Big C said:IIRC, they both took their "quantum leaps" their senior year. Wethers finally began to hit his outside shots with some consistency and Shipp, who had been remaking his body, had become quick/strong enough to drive to the basket with authority. But yes, it was a four-year progression. I love it when that happens.SFCityBear said:Good point. Wethers and Shipp improved every year it seemed.KoreAmBear said:
I feel like most of our players about what Wethers and Shipp were like their first two years. Esp. Wethers. He really struggled and didn't seem to really figure out the level of play. Then by junior and senior year he knew what he was doing -- it was second nature. He drove all the time to the basket and even had a 15 footer that was consistent. I see that being the case for a lot of our guys.
Interestingly, IMO, that team (with Whethers and Shipp) was the last time we had players with really solid mid-range games (I loved Brian's 10' banker--money).Big C said:IIRC, they both took their "quantum leaps" their senior year. Wethers finally began to hit his outside shots with some consistency and Shipp, who had been remaking his body, had become quick/strong enough to drive to the basket with authority. But yes, it was a four-year progression. I love it when that happens.SFCityBear said:Good point. Wethers and Shipp improved every year it seemed.KoreAmBear said:
I feel like most of our players about what Wethers and Shipp were like their first two years. Esp. Wethers. He really struggled and didn't seem to really figure out the level of play. Then by junior and senior year he knew what he was doing -- it was second nature. He drove all the time to the basket and even had a 15 footer that was consistent. I see that being the case for a lot of our guys.
So the key is -- whether (no pun intended) Wyking is retained or not -- keeping these guys for 4 years. There will be a successful outcome at the end, but we can't have a mass exodus.Big C said:IIRC, they both took their "quantum leaps" their senior year. Wethers finally began to hit his outside shots with some consistency and Shipp, who had been remaking his body, had become quick/strong enough to drive to the basket with authority. But yes, it was a four-year progression. I love it when that happens.SFCityBear said:Good point. Wethers and Shipp improved every year it seemed.KoreAmBear said:
I feel like most of our players about what Wethers and Shipp were like their first two years. Esp. Wethers. He really struggled and didn't seem to really figure out the level of play. Then by junior and senior year he knew what he was doing -- it was second nature. He drove all the time to the basket and even had a 15 footer that was consistent. I see that being the case for a lot of our guys.
Sueing and McNeill are both progressing, but I'd like to see them both continue to round out their overall game.805bear said:
I think Darius has made a "leap" over last year. He's worked hard in toning his lean frame and it show's in his quickness to the rack and in his increase in steals. His outside shooting is becoming even more consistent and bb IQ is improving in his choice of shots. Justice S. is just a "cool hand" and wise beyond his years. No sophmore jinx for these guys. So I see "leaps", although maybe not quantum, in some of our returning players already. Go Bears.
I would agree that McMeill's shooting is better so far. His increase in steals is slight, 1.2 to 1.6 per game. What concerns me is his rebounds are down from 2.9 to 1.4 per game, and his assists are way down, from 2.2 to 1.0 per game. I do realize that he is handling the ball less and so his assists would be down. It could be that his coach has instructed him to only look for his shot, and not so much look for his teammates. But a good two guard should be able to notch 2-3 assists per game. I haven't seen enough games to understand why his rebounding is off. With our lack of rebounding in the front line, we need our perimeter players to rebound more. Darius with his athleticism has been disappointing in that area so far.805bear said:
I think Darius has made a "leap" over last year. He's worked hard in toning his lean frame and it show's in his quickness to the rack and in his increase in steals. His outside shooting is becoming even more consistent and bb IQ is improving in his choice of shots. Justice S. is just a "cool hand" and wise beyond his years. No sophmore jinx for these guys. So I see "leaps", although maybe not quantum, in some of our returning players already. Go Bears.
McNeill has made the most threes because he has taken the most shots, but Bradley has a much higher percentage shooting threes. Right now, when we need a three, I'd rather see Bradley take the shot, until he cools off. I'm glad we have both of these players. It has been a while since we have had more than one player on our team who could shoot a basketball.Big C said:Sueing and McNeill are both progressing, but I'd like to see them both continue to round out their overall game.805bear said:
I think Darius has made a "leap" over last year. He's worked hard in toning his lean frame and it show's in his quickness to the rack and in his increase in steals. His outside shooting is becoming even more consistent and bb IQ is improving in his choice of shots. Justice S. is just a "cool hand" and wise beyond his years. No sophmore jinx for these guys. So I see "leaps", although maybe not quantum, in some of our returning players already. Go Bears.
I was glad to see Sueing rebounding last weekend. He needs to be more of a "glue guy". My sense is that he has the hoops IQ, but how committed is he to doing the little things -- even if it's "dirty work" --that help a team win?
Good for Darius on the steals and he's also taking the ball to the hoop better and shooting a bit more consistently from beyond the arc (heck, he's our best 3 pt shooter). I'd like to see him improve his asst-TO ratio and ratchet up the rebounding and physical D.
When you look at our porous defense, here are two guys who need to get after it more. Neither of them are freshmen now and they both have decent athleticism and length for their respective positions. I'm not sure to what extent they're implicated in our defensive woes, but even if they're not, they need to lead the way and get the other players into the right spots. (That's my opinion on our defensive problems: We need more intensity and we're often 1/2 step out of position. This is besides our lack of a rim protector, which we can't really help right now.)
Fire Wyking, and you are more likely to see a mass exodus than if you keep him.KoreAmBear said:So the key is -- whether (no pun intended) Wyking is retained or not -- keeping these guys for 4 years. There will be a successful outcome at the end, but we can't have a mass exodus.Big C said:IIRC, they both took their "quantum leaps" their senior year. Wethers finally began to hit his outside shots with some consistency and Shipp, who had been remaking his body, had become quick/strong enough to drive to the basket with authority. But yes, it was a four-year progression. I love it when that happens.SFCityBear said:Good point. Wethers and Shipp improved every year it seemed.KoreAmBear said:
I feel like most of our players about what Wethers and Shipp were like their first two years. Esp. Wethers. He really struggled and didn't seem to really figure out the level of play. Then by junior and senior year he knew what he was doing -- it was second nature. He drove all the time to the basket and even had a 15 footer that was consistent. I see that being the case for a lot of our guys.
You won't get any argument from me. I wasn't advocating for or against Wyking.oskidunker said:
You have to do what's right for the long term health of the program.
SFCityBear said:
His increase in steals is slight, 1.2 to 1.6 per game.
Good point. I can't argue with that.Civil Bear said:SFCityBear said:
His increase in steals is slight, 1.2 to 1.6 per game.
A 33% increase is slight?
Monty used to preach that in man defense, your goal wasn't steals, but forcing your opponent to take shots he's not comfortable with. If he likes the corner 3, make him shoot from the top of the key. If he shoots well going left (as most righties do), make him go right. This requires court sense, good scouting, and focus. As for beating the press, you're right about picking up the dribble, but more importantly, you beat the press with passes more than dribbling. (my high school coach had a standing offer: $100 to anyone on the team who could run from the top of the key to the baseline faster than he could pass the ball; obviously no one ever collected)805bear said:
You hit it right on the head...Sueing and Darius have to drastically pick up the intensity on D and LEAD the others. We're talking winning 50/50 balls, taking charges, and hitting the floor to salvage possessions.
It's their time to step up. We have stretches in games where we fall asleep on D and get behind by a dime and fail to ever make it up. What's sad is that we get 1 to 2 steps behind when we're in a ZONE set up..Inexcusable. Minimal skill involved in playing D.. just heart and effort. However, were gaining on it and IMO must keep the staff and players together for this season to avoid a similar Cuonzo fiasco.
One Pac12 win would be a serious catalyst. Finally on playing man D we do not move offensive players in the direction that we want...toward another defender, away from the baseline, into the corner, or up against the sideline. And last but not least we cannot pick up our dribble when we're getting pressed. Let's hang tough against the Az schools.
Go Bears
So be it.. Not going to have the program held hostage by incompetence.SFCityBear said:
Fire Wyking, and you are more likely to see a mass exodus than if you keep him.
