This season should tell you how important it is.
Cal has out-rebounded their opponent in only two games all season, San Diego State and Washington and won both of those games.
Cal has tied only one opponent in rebounding in a game, ASU, where both teams got 31 rebounds, and Cal lost the game.
Cal has been out-rebounded in 27 games so far, and has won only 5 of those games:
Hampton, Santa Clara, Cal Poly, San Jose State, and WSU. (Note that Santa Clara and WSU had significant players out with injuries in those games.) Cal has not beaten a single decent team when they have been out-rebounded.
Of course there are many factors contributing to losing a game, and many games one could argue were lost with bad defense or bad shooting, or little passing, or poor coaching, etc. Sometimes Cal shoots well, or shares the ball well, or plays acceptable defense, but one statistic sticks out like a sore thumb that is bad almost every single game: that Cal has been out-rebounded in all but two games, and in the ones where they have been out rebounded, they have won only 5 of 22 games, and only one out of 14 conference games.
Rebounding is the biggest thing, even before defense, that Wyking Jones or the next coach needs to address and begin to fix, in my opinion. As I've said before, you don't fix rebounding without big, experienced, big men. Wyking has a start on this with Vanover, Kelly, Anticevich, and Thorpe, and only one is a soph, still green. This coach or the next guy has to continue to develop what we have, and recruit more to keep the flow of coachable bigs to Cal. Rebounding is not rocket science. The basics can be taught, and the instincts come only with experience and thinking. Bill Russell and Darrall Imhoff did nothing at all in high school. In college, Darrall became Cal's best, and Bill Russell became the best on the planet. Russell knew every opponent so well, he knew where the shot might miss, and where to stand to have the best chance at the rebound. That is basketball genius. Imhoff had no great athleticism, but he anchored Cal's best NCAA teams, and had a long NBA career, just by playing smart, as he had been taught to do. Cal needs to rebound a lot better, to become any better overall, and win more of those games we now lose so often.
Cal has out-rebounded their opponent in only two games all season, San Diego State and Washington and won both of those games.
Cal has tied only one opponent in rebounding in a game, ASU, where both teams got 31 rebounds, and Cal lost the game.
Cal has been out-rebounded in 27 games so far, and has won only 5 of those games:
Hampton, Santa Clara, Cal Poly, San Jose State, and WSU. (Note that Santa Clara and WSU had significant players out with injuries in those games.) Cal has not beaten a single decent team when they have been out-rebounded.
Of course there are many factors contributing to losing a game, and many games one could argue were lost with bad defense or bad shooting, or little passing, or poor coaching, etc. Sometimes Cal shoots well, or shares the ball well, or plays acceptable defense, but one statistic sticks out like a sore thumb that is bad almost every single game: that Cal has been out-rebounded in all but two games, and in the ones where they have been out rebounded, they have won only 5 of 22 games, and only one out of 14 conference games.
Rebounding is the biggest thing, even before defense, that Wyking Jones or the next coach needs to address and begin to fix, in my opinion. As I've said before, you don't fix rebounding without big, experienced, big men. Wyking has a start on this with Vanover, Kelly, Anticevich, and Thorpe, and only one is a soph, still green. This coach or the next guy has to continue to develop what we have, and recruit more to keep the flow of coachable bigs to Cal. Rebounding is not rocket science. The basics can be taught, and the instincts come only with experience and thinking. Bill Russell and Darrall Imhoff did nothing at all in high school. In college, Darrall became Cal's best, and Bill Russell became the best on the planet. Russell knew every opponent so well, he knew where the shot might miss, and where to stand to have the best chance at the rebound. That is basketball genius. Imhoff had no great athleticism, but he anchored Cal's best NCAA teams, and had a long NBA career, just by playing smart, as he had been taught to do. Cal needs to rebound a lot better, to become any better overall, and win more of those games we now lose so often.
SFCityBear
