Way to go St. Mary's!!

60-47. Why come to Cal?

The Australian National Team plays great team ball..which can get you two wins in The Dance before you get blasted. I would be very happy if Cal could do that.

Agreed. I would be ecstatic. Am not a big St. Mary's fan, I grew up in Moraga and graduated from Campolindo, who just won a State Title last Saturday night. So, guess I like to see Moraga in the limelight, occasionally.

Williams could have hired the Saint Mary's Coach. But, he choose Jones. What was he thinking?

Go Bears!

Well, St. Mary's just stole a spot from someone on the bubble.

calbear80 said:

---

Williams could have hired the Saint Mary's Coach. But, he choose Jones. What was he thinking?

Go Bears!

---

Wrong, Bennet backed out and didn't want the job.

Before this game, I was just wondering how the zags again got to the top of the basketball world. They were ranked #1 before today. Then I saw they have the #1 ranked 2019 class.

I went to Spokane for the ncaa Tournament (still trying to block that out of my mind) and it's not paradise. How they built a powerhouse program and maintained it for all these years ...

I used to think they were a one hit wonder, and that one of their advantages was they played in a weak conference so would get a great record being the big fish in a little pond. Then they would get bounced by a 12 seed in the tournament

Then they got to the NC ...


p.s. Martin passed on Jordan Ford, instead going after the home run. In today's game, he was the leading scorer in the game with 17 points (although he took lots of shots), and averages 21 points on 50% shooting, including 43% from 3. He's a junior that is not going to the NBA

sycasey said:

---

Well, St. Mary's just stole a spot from someone on the bubble.

---

Multiple times Saint Mary's has deserved to get in, but the committee chose some team with a much lower RPI from a power conference that went 3-8 against top 50 teams, thus earning 3 "quality wins."

The NCAA's new NET system placed the Gaels at #37 before beating Gonzaga (now #34).

I have no great love for any private universities, but winning this ensures they won't get screwed again.

Alkiadt said:

---

calbear80 said:

---

Williams could have hired the Saint Mary's Coach. But, he choose Jones. What was he thinking?

Go Bears!

---

Wrong, Bennet backed out and didn't want the job.

---

That is not the information I have, but, for a moment let us assume you are right. If you were a good basketball coach, would you want to work under Williams?

As a cynic, it is always this time of year that strange things happen in conferences, namely the conference tourney, where an additional team can get into the NCAA tourney by winning same. Suspicious as hell to me when there is disparity in quality that is apparent.

HoopDreams said:

---

p.s. Martin passed on Jordan Ford, instead going after the home run. In today's game, he was the leading scorer in the game with 17 points (although he took lots of shots), and averages 21 points on 50% shooting, including 43% from 3. He's a junior that is not going to the NBA

---

Shocky seemed to promote Ford here a fair bit!
Even the self proclaimed director of recruiting couldn't get it done.

R90 said:

---

sycasey said:

---

Well, St. Mary's just stole a spot from someone on the bubble.

---

Multiple times Saint Mary's has deserved to get in, but the committee chose some team with a much lower RPI from a power conference that went 3-8 against top 50 teams, thus earning 3 "quality wins."

The NCAA's new NET system placed the Gaels at #37 before beating Gonzaga (now #34).

I have no great love for any private universities, but winning this ensures they won't get screwed again.

---

I actually blame St. Mary's themselves for this, as Randy Bennett kept turning down opportunities to play tough non-conference games, even though he knows his own conference schedule wouldn't be good enough. That's what mid-majors need to do to make sure they don't get screwed, and he wouldn't do it.

I'm not rooting against them or anything, but they did kind of make their own bed most of the time. Good on them for not leaving it to chance this year.

Believe it or not but the word ftom a few major donors is that Bennett was offered less than he was making at St Marys.

I know, ridiculous , not true but thsts what I was told. I dont know if I believe it. Just passing it on. Doesnt really matter.

oskidunker said:

---

Believe it or not but the word ftom a few major donors is that Bennett was offered less than he was making at St Marys.

I know, ridiculous , not true but thsts what I was told. I dont know if I believe it. Just passing it on. Doesnt really matter.

---

Considering he makes way less than what Cuonzo was making at Cal, I doubt that's true.

I'm assuming if Bennett was really offered, it was more than he was making at St. Mary's but not market price.

It looks like Bennett was making just under $600k around early 2017. We probably offered to double that instead of provide market rate which would be at least triple.

For reference, in his last season, Cuonzo made 2.9 million.

sycasey said:

---

I actually blame St. Mary's themselves for this, as Randy Bennett kept turning down opportunities to play tough non-conference games, even though he knows his own conference schedule wouldn't be good enough. That's what mid-majors need to do to make sure they don't get screwed, and he wouldn't do it.

---

The power conference schools typically don't want to schedule mid-majors, because there's much to lose and little to gain. For many years that was Cal's perspective, but I suppose the economics of selling tickets to St.Mary's and USF fans got the best of Cal this year.

The best teams from the worst conferences were ideal opponents when the RPI was used because they were sure to have good W/L records and they were just in it for the paycheck.

Under the NET you want the best opponent you can expect to beat by about 10. If you blow out a super weak opponent by 50 you only get credit for a 10 point win and your strength of schedule drops.

R90 said:

---

sycasey said:

---

I actually blame St. Mary's themselves for this, as Randy Bennett kept turning down opportunities to play tough non-conference games, even though he knows his own conference schedule wouldn't be good enough. That's what mid-majors need to do to make sure they don't get screwed, and he wouldn't do it.

---

The power conference schools typically don't want to schedule mid-majors, because there's much to lose and little to gain.

---

This is true for schools that haven't proved anything, but for a team like St. Mary's that has been seen as a strong mid-major for about a decade now, it's kinda bulls***. There is evidence that as recently as last year, they turned down games with Nevada, Rhode Island, and Creighton (three teams that made the tournament with room to spare) that could have boosted their schedule. I'll direct you to last year's thread:

https://bearinsider.com/forums/3/topics/78971/replies/1461471

Other good teams know St. Mary's is likely to have good computer numbers and would be willing to play them, same as they are willing to play Gonzaga.

I will say that this year St. Mary's actually did have some tough non-conference games. They played three major-conference teams: Mississippi State, LSU, and Cal (though unfortunately we didn't help their strength of schedule at all, those other two did). They also had games against decent, non-pushover mid-majors: Utah State, UC Irvine, Bucknell, New Mexico, Harvard, Western Kentucky. Many of these games were at neutral sites, not demanding that these teams come to play in Moraga. So it seems like Bennett has finally gotten the message and has scheduled up.

Problem is, St. Mary's didn't actually win most of those games. They were competitive in them, but not many wins against the big boys. And they also lost to Gonzaga twice in the regular season. So they needed to win the WCC Tournament or else they probably would have been left out again. If they had notched some wins against, say, USU and LSU (they were close), then they probably would have been safe for an at-large. You at least need to give yourselves the opportunity, though. Playing cupcakes doesn't help a WCC team.

I'm sure this is a naive question, but why don't we recruit more international born players? You'd think the city of Berkeley and the Cal brand would have tremendous appeal.

And some of the other sports teams, like tennis, are largely made up foreign born players.

I know a pipeline like Saint Mary's has to Australia is effective, but we're the #1 public university in the world. Shouldn't Wyking and company be spending more time in Germany, Spain, etc.

Exactly. Especially given the gpa requirements

concordtom said:

---

HoopDreams said:

---

p.s. Martin passed on Jordan Ford, instead going after the home run. In today's game, he was the leading scorer in the game with 17 points (although he took lots of shots), and averages 21 points on 50% shooting, including 43% from 3. He's a junior that is not going to the NBA

---

Shocky seemed to promote Ford here a fair bit!
Even the self proclaimed director of recruiting couldn't get it done.

---

I pushed for Ford too...was told that Cuonzo thought he was too thin to defend Pac-12 guards....of course Cuonzo was all defense anyway.....Ford's BB IQ offsets any size differential problems.....if you watched the game last night, it was obvious that Ford runs a team like a coach on the floor.....maybe Cuonzo was afraid he might show him up in basketball knowledge..... Ford would have jumped on a Cal scholly.....

concordtom said:

---

HoopDreams said:

---

p.s. Martin passed on Jordan Ford, instead going after the home run. In today's game, he was the leading scorer in the game with 17 points (although he took lots of shots), and averages 21 points on 50% shooting, including 43% from 3. He's a junior that is not going to the NBA

---

Shocky seemed to promote Ford here a fair bit!
Even the self proclaimed director of recruiting couldn't get it done.

---

I'm surprised he didn't end up at ASU like everybody he cares about.

ThesePretzels said:

---

I'm sure this is a naive question, but why don't we recruit more international born players? You'd think the city of Berkeley and the Cal brand would have tremendous appeal.

And some of the other sports teams, like tennis, are largely made up foreign born players.

I know a pipeline like Saint Mary's has to Australia is effective, but we're the #1 public university in the world. Shouldn't Wyking and company be spending more time in Germany, Spain, etc.

---

Some coaches have made efforts. What hurts us is that our programs don't win enough. But Braun liked to play in international waters (some would say he liked having excuses to go to Europe) and Monty had recruited Poetl who ended up in Utah.

Yogi Bear said:

---

concordtom said:

---

HoopDreams said:

---

p.s. Martin passed on Jordan Ford, instead going after the home run. In today's game, he was the leading scorer in the game with 17 points (although he took lots of shots), and averages 21 points on 50% shooting, including 43% from 3. He's a junior that is not going to the NBA

---

Shocky seemed to promote Ford here a fair bit!
Even the self proclaimed director of recruiting couldn't get it done.

---

I'm surprised he didn't end up at ASU like everybody he cares about.

---

Oooowwwwwwww.
Burn!!!

ThesePretzels said:

---

I'm sure this is a naive question, but why don't we recruit more international born players? You'd think the city of Berkeley and the Cal brand would have tremendous appeal.

And some of the other sports teams, like tennis, are largely made up foreign born players.

I know a pipeline like Saint Mary's has to Australia is effective, but we're the #1 public university in the world. Shouldn't Wyking and company be spending more time in Germany, Spain, etc.

---

Well, notice how the whole team went to China last year?