Jones comments in today's chronicle: "You can't confuse the results that you got from the game with how you feel about your players,' " Jones said, recounting the words of his wife, Estrella. " '... You still love those guys, regardless if they play well or not, right? Well, you need to let them know that.' "

One can criticize our players, but it is my position that the players should be more frustrated by Jones than vice versa. I believe that if a good coach had these players we would be at least in the mid PAC12, not in the basement. (Especially in light of the mediocrity of the PAC12 this year).

"It's not me, it's you, but don't worry I"ll try not to hold it against you"

I suppose that qualifies him as the polar opposite of Hue "This loss is entirely on me" Jackson.

I can't wait for us to hire our next coach. I hope we don't mess that up, because we are building good talent (thank you Wyking for that -- he did a decent job except for the big men). It's imbalanced right now because we struck out on so many big men we wanted, but with that the team could be good when Justice and Darius are seniors. Getting killed on the boards is symptomatic of the recruiting imbalance.

Bearprof said:

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Jones comments in today's chronicle: "You can't confuse the results that you got from the game with how you feel about your players,' " Jones said, recounting the words of his wife, Estrella. " '... You still love those guys, regardless if they play well or not, right? Well, you need to let them know that.' "

One can criticize our players, but it is my position that the players should be more frustrated by Jones than vice versa. I believe that if a good coach had these players we would be at least in the mid PAC12, not in the basement. (Especially in light of the mediocrity of the PAC12 this year).

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Respectfully disagree in regards to "at least in the mid PAC 12". While certainly a better coach would have us playing somewhat better defense, we're just too young and too lacking up front to be a whole heckuva lot better at this point.

Big C said:

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Bearprof said:

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Jones comments in today's chronicle: "You can't confuse the results that you got from the game with how you feel about your players,' " Jones said, recounting the words of his wife, Estrella. " '... You still love those guys, regardless if they play well or not, right? Well, you need to let them know that.' "

One can criticize our players, but it is my position that the players should be more frustrated by Jones than vice versa. I believe that if a good coach had these players we would be at least in the mid PAC12, not in the basement. (Especially in light of the mediocrity of the PAC12 this year).

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Respectfully disagree in regards to "at least in the mid PAC 12". While certainly a better coach would have us playing somewhat better defense, we're just too young and too lacking up front to be a whole heckuva lot better at this point.

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Yeah, really good chance the Bears would still be 0-4 right now with a better coach. The games might have been more watchable with a better coach, and maybe we could have snuck in one win. With a better coach, maybe I'd be thinking 3-6 conference wins instead of thinking 0-3, but I wouldn't call even 6-12 the mid Pac-12.

In most years, this team would be hard to coach up into the top third of the P12, but middle third would be possible with this talent, IMHO. However, this is an historically weak conference season. I think every conference game is winnable this year, with the talent we have. Would a top coach win them all? Nope, but the talent and size disparity is not as bad as it could be. Winning less than 4 games this year is a sign of poor preparation (coaching).

I feel like our "talent", for the most part, is some combination of... a) too young... b) too short (with one notable exception)... or... c) too lacking in hoops IQ. I know, I know, the coach is supposed to grow the players' hoops IQ, but when they don't arrive with much, it's hard. I don't mean to be apologizing for the coaching, which clearly hasn't been very good, but....

Big C said:

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I feel like our "talent", for the most part, is some combination of... a) too young... b) too short (with one notable exception)... or... c) too lacking in hoops IQ. I know, I know, the coach is supposed to grow the players' hoops IQ, but when they don't arrive with much, it's hard. I don't mean to be apologizing for the coaching, which clearly hasn't been very good, but....

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I don't disagree, but geez, these are 3-star and 4-star recruits, not a bunch of walk-ons. They should have some semblance of hoops IQ. If not, that is a sad commentary not on Wyking Jones' recruiting, but on high school coaching in general.

BeachedBear said:

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In most years, this team would be hard to coach up into the top third of the P12, but middle third would be possible with this talent, IMHO. However, this is an historically weak conference season. I think every conference game is winnable this year, with the talent we have. Would a top coach win them all? Nope, but the talent and size disparity is not as bad as it could be. Winning less than 4 games this year is a sign of poor preparation (coaching).

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I think it is not so much a size disparity as having experienced players in the front court. We've got Kelly, Anticevich and Vanover. I like some things about all of them, but all have a lot to learn. I expect them all to become decent players in the coming seasons. Starting 6-7 Kelly and 6-8 Anticevich, for example, if they were experienced upperclassmen this year, they would be likely enough to protect the rim and not lose all the rebound battles. Vanover 2-3 years from now could really be a big factor in games, if he develops. The problem for Jones is that he is just beginning to learn his profession of head coaching, and he is on a short leash. He needs results in a hurry, or he will be shown the door. I think we have the size to compete in a down year in the conference, we just don't have the experience, on the floor and probably not on the bench.