KenBurnski said:
fat_slice said:
stu said:
I appreciate it when long quotes are trimmed to just the relevant portion or replaced with text like "In response to Oski's opinion". Some posts containing a series of long quotes are difficult for me to follow and in extreme cases make scrolling the page a pain. Thank you.
Will do
Question for SFCB: what was it like watching the Pete Newell coached Cal teams? Was the game different from today?
Very different. The arena was filled every game. The noise was from the rooting fans, including many more Cal students than today, I'd wager, and the Straw Hat Band, not music on a PA system and a light show. Stanford had a sizable rooting section when they came to play, and there were even card stunts, but that probably pre-dated Newell. The floor was simpler, with no artwork painted in, no large and small semi-circle lines on the floor. And a bold black stripe for a half-court line.
The schedules were pretty rigid. All games, at least conference games, were played at 8PM on Friday and Saturday nights, back to back. Students could go to a game at 8, and be back home in their dorm room by 9:30 at the latest to begin studying.
The game was different. The rules. No carrying the ball, no traveling, no charging. All baskets worth 2 points, no three-pointer, no players looking down at their shoes to see if they were outside the three point line. There were no timeouts for TV commercials. In fact Cal games were not all on TV, and many games were only on radio. There were far fewer timeouts allowed. Newell seldom called a timeout. In many games he called no timeout at all. Many players were asked to play 40 minutes and more. There were two referees, not three, and NO TV replay. Fans were lucky to have TV games at all.
Recruiting was provincial, mostly. California players went to the California schools, and so forth. California high school teams and players of that era were known for defense, and so were the college teams. Midwest and East Coast teams featured offense more, and more fast break. The Midwestern and Eastern teams never knew what hit them come tournament time, when they faced the great defenses of USF and Cal. There were no conference tournaments, and most of the teams invited to the NCAA had to have won their conference. The NIT invited the best teams, no matter who. I think winning rival games and winning your conference were much more important than today.
As to watching Newell's teams play a game, it was like going to church, in that you usually went home feeling positive and happy. I'm an engineer, so watching Cal play offense was like watching a Swiss clock movement, with all the parts working together, each doing their job, usually resulting in a Cal basket. He often used a dribble-screen-handoff weave, where the ball handler dribbles toward a teammate, and sets a screen just as he is handing the ball to him. He can't be called for setting a moving pick, because he is the dribbler. The only suspense for us watching the Cal weave was which Cal player would be left wide open under the basket at the end of it. It was mostly layups or short jumpers. Denny Fitzpatrick shot mostly from 10-15 feet, often from behind a screen, Al Buch from a little farther out. Buch was great on the drive, when it presented itself. When Tandy Gillis arrived, he shot what would be called a three today. Larry Friend on Newell's first 3 teams shot threes and lots of mid-range jumpers. Imhoff had a soft 10 foot jumper, and a great hook shot. McClintock had a variety of drives, post moves, and a jumper out to 10-12 feet, many of his shots off the glass.
Defensively, if you can imagine 5 guys (actually more like 8) moving their man around the floor, not letting him go where he wanted to go, like a Jorge Gutierrez, that was Cal. In 1959 Newell used a two-man full court press, with Fitzpatrick and Buch (or Simpson) who often stole the ball in the backcourt and scored easily. In the halfcourt, they often would let their man slip by and kind of pinch him, forcing him right into Imhoff, to get a steal or a shot block. In 1960, Cal's defense might have been even better, and they seldom pressed at all. They had some other great individual defenders like Tandy Gillis, Bob Dalton, and Don McIntosh and Duane Asplund before them. Dick Doughty was nearly as good as Imhoff.
As Denny Fitzpatrick said they had a chance to win maybe three NCAA Championshps, won one, and probably should have won all three..
Today's players are taller on average by a couple inches. They are stronger on average, more athletic. But I don't think they would fare very well if they suddenly had to compete using the old rules They have spent all their lives learning to do things according to the modern rules. Conversely, the players of Newell's era would have the same trouble trying to play by the modern rules, having spent their lives playing within the old rules. The star players of either era would likely be able to adapt and compete in the other era. Just IMO.
Thanks for the question. I probably left a lot out, but the post is too long already.
SFCityBear