Before the NY trip, we might've been falsely led to believe that, despite losing three good players from last year's team, we'd still be able to show marked improvement this season. Maybe even rise as high as 7th-to-9th in the conference.

I watched the game last night on TV. USF didn't look all that talented, plus their crafty PG who killed us last year is gone. Plus, they had just played the night before. Plus, their new coach looks about as old as I was, the first time I tried to buy beer. But we were entirely unable to take advantage, struggling to generate any sort of coherent offense (6 assists for the night). Defensively, we were "lulled" to sleep in the paint by a mastodon in a man-bun. Worse, our three-point defense looked positively Wykingesque, giving up many open shots at the top of the key to Dons players who looked like storks.

Since we go 2+ deep at all positions, I'm wondering why we didn't give them some pressure, going deeper into our bench, to maybe try and take advantage of USF's possible fatigue?

Some of the new players and some of the "improved" players don't seem to be quite living up to their advanced billing. No point in naming names.

Perhaps most potentially disturbing are multiple indications of some dissension... ah, probably too strong a word, as it might be nothing, but...

- what Bradley said in his interview in NY about guys learning how to be better players and people, on and off the court (or something like that, but that is not a mischaracterization of what he said)

- Bradley himself being benched at the start of the game last night for some minor violation of team rules

- fan report (from USF game) of team looking like they lacked enthusiasm

- an apparent report (from USF game) of some Cal players arguing with each other during the game

- Kuany and Thorpe not getting meaningful minutes, despite the players ahead of them not playing all that well

Again, I have no idea if any of that adds up to a hill o' beans, but when there are several possible things that you hear about, it's hard not to wonder if those are tea leaves that can be read into.

So, how is this all going to turn out? Hmmm... I can't wait to find out (unlike some, I am sticking with Cal Basketball, come hell or high water). What do you got, Coach Fox? You're our guy now and I'm pulling for you to do well!

PS... Go Bears!

A blind monkey can coach a talented team that's winning.

The wheels can fall off pretty quickly when losing. It takes skill to keep the team together when that happens. Among the more important things are staying true to your values, finding other things to focus on besides W/L (player development, O or D execution, implementing a style of play, etc). We shall see how well Fox handles this.

tequila4kapp said:

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A blind monkey can coach a talented team that's winning.

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Only if he's wearing a pair of Oakleys.

Mark Fox has his of choice of two mantras post game:

Todd Bozeman: "It's a simple game, two baskets and a ball." Repeated after every game in the post game interview.

Hue Jackson: "This loss is entirely on me." Repeated after every Raider loss during his reign.

"Ben Braun light?" Oh dear..If true ( we will not know for 2-3 years) then thge AD has explaining to do. Am I right????

helltopay1 said:

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"Ben Braun light?" Oh dear..If true ( we will not know for 2-3 years) then thge AD has explaining to do. Am I right????

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Turns out our AD is John Kassar lite

It's a small crisis indeed. Winning cures everything. A W in Santa Clara will do wonders.

I do have confidence in Fox that he will make adjustments to put the team in a better position. But there's only so much he can do. We simply don't have the talent. We have 1 player that can consistently create his own shot.

It's a minor miracle that we're 5-3.

I also think Fox needs to adjust the offense to give Grant more open looks from the 3 point line, Earlier in the season the "pick and pop" was being used, but it seems we've gotten away from that. If the D overplays let Grant reverse direction to receive the feed. He is so much more offensively efficient than Lars but it seems we use Lars more often than Grant.

A problem that probably has Fox super frustrated is the reversion to "hero" ball when things get tough. Still not clear that a "real" offense has been installed. Paris and Bradley going one on five is not an offense. Fox you review the tapes of Purdue v Virginia: Purdue has less talent, but ran them off the court.

BC Calfan said:

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It's a small crisis indeed. Winning cures everything. A W in Santa Clara will do wonders.

I do have confidence in Fox that he will make adjustments to put the team in a better position. But there's only so much he can do. We simply don't have the talent. We have 1 player that can consistently create his own shot.

It's a minor miracle that we're 5-3.

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To say that it's a minor miracle that we're 5-3, I think you're assessing the team's current performance by the standards of the last two disastrous seasons. A team like Cal SHOULD BE 5-3 (or 6-2), given the schedule we've had. Our five wins have come at the expense of piss ant teams and this years USF team is one that we should beat far more often than not. And I'm not referring to the Cal team that I dream of once again having, but rather to Cal as a "generic bottom-third-of-the-Pac-12 team", like they are.

True, they sucked last year, and then lost three good players off of that roster, so I get it and am appreciative of the wins that we do have. Still...

Big C said:

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BC Calfan said:

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It's a small crisis indeed. Winning cures everything. A W in Santa Clara will do wonders.

I do have confidence in Fox that he will make adjustments to put the team in a better position. But there's only so much he can do. We simply don't have the talent. We have 1 player that can consistently create his own shot.

It's a minor miracle that we're 5-3.

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To say that it's a minor miracle that we're 5-3, I think you're assessing the team's current performance by the standards of the last two disastrous seasons. A team like Cal SHOULD BE 5-3 (or 6-2), given the schedule we've had. Our five wins have come at the expense of piss ant teams and this years USF team is one that we should beat far more often than not. And I'm not referring to the Cal team that I dream of once again having, but rather to Cal as a "generic bottom-third-of-the-Pac-12 team", like they are.

True, they sucked last year, and then lost three good players off of that roster, so I get it and am appreciative of the wins that we do have. Still...

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Exactly. I don't think our results have proven anything positive or negative at this point. I'd give Fox the leeway that he has inherited a very tough situation. But a below average Cal team in my lifetime is 6-2. We played 6 weak opponents and 2 strong. We lost one of the 6. A couple of the wins were far closer than they should be.

I'm not dissatisfied nor have I seen anything that indicates that my disappointment at hiring a coach with a mediocre record in P-5 is misplaced.

Anybody still doubt this is an early crisis-point for the Fox Program? Where do we go from here?

Big C said:

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Anybody still doubt this is an early crisis-point for the Fox Program? Where do we go from here?

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It is bleak. I can't see any answers. Once teams figured out that Matt is the only scorer and no one else is there to help it became VERY easy to scheme the Bears - plus we can't defend down low so it is ridiculously easy to go in to out.

bearchamp said:

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A problem that probably has Fox super frustrated is the reversion to "hero" ball when things get tough. Still not clear that a "real" offense has been installed. Paris and Bradley going one on five is not an offense. Fox you review the tapes of Purdue v Virginia: Purdue has less talent, but ran them off the court.

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I'd take a Ty Wallace or Geno Carlisle at this point

Big C said:

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Anybody still doubt this is an early crisis-point for the Fox Program? Where do we go from here?

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The recruiting trail.
Look, 3 starters left the program. This team might win 8 games this year too. "They are who we thought they were".
He needs to get some players, as this group can't hang with JC teams.

MiltyBear said:

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bearchamp said:

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A problem that probably has Fox super frustrated is the reversion to "hero" ball when things get tough. Still not clear that a "real" offense has been installed. Paris and Bradley going one on five is not an offense. Fox you review the tapes of Purdue v Virginia: Purdue has less talent, but ran them off the court.

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I'd take a Ty Wallace or Geno Carlisle at this point

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Hmmm.....I agree but I also see a bunch of teams adjusting. One of the reasons Bradley is likely getting frustrated is just how much teams are doubling him and hedging on all the screens. He isn't getting many open looks and his release is slow and thus he needs to be open.

I can't bring myself to listen to the post-game. For those who were at the game or were able to see a good broadcast, how did the effort and attitude look?

Should Knowlton be pulling aside guys like Bradley, Austin and Anticevich next week and talk to them about what's going on? (Certainly Fox should... that's not even debatable.)

Alkiadt said:

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Big C said:

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Anybody still doubt this is an early crisis-point for the Fox Program? Where do we go from here?

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The recruiting trail.
Look, 3 starters left the program. This team might win 8 games this year too. "They are who we thought they were".
He needs to get some players, as this group can't hang with JC teams.

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What is deeply concerning to me is that we looked halfway decent winning our first four games. The opponents weren't all THAT great, but they were at least average mid-majors. And now this...

Big C said:

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Alkiadt said:

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Big C said:

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Anybody still doubt this is an early crisis-point for the Fox Program? Where do we go from here?

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The recruiting trail.
Look, 3 starters left the program. This team might win 8 games this year too. "They are who we thought they were".
He needs to get some players, as this group can't hang with JC teams.

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What is deeply concerning to me is that we looked halfway decent winning our first four games. The opponents weren't all THAT great, but they were at least average mid-majors. And now this...

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To me is it isn't much more than scouting. Teams were not getting that Grant could pick and pop and were playing vanilla help down at the post. They are making adjustments and thus taking away stuff that we ran well in games 1-4

OaktownBear said:

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Big C said:

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BC Calfan said:

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It's a small crisis indeed. Winning cures everything. A W in Santa Clara will do wonders.

I do have confidence in Fox that he will make adjustments to put the team in a better position. But there's only so much he can do. We simply don't have the talent. We have 1 player that can consistently create his own shot.

It's a minor miracle that we're 5-3.

---

To say that it's a minor miracle that we're 5-3, I think you're assessing the team's current performance by the standards of the last two disastrous seasons. A team like Cal SHOULD BE 5-3 (or 6-2), given the schedule we've had. Our five wins have come at the expense of piss ant teams and this years USF team is one that we should beat far more often than not. And I'm not referring to the Cal team that I dream of once again having, but rather to Cal as a "generic bottom-third-of-the-Pac-12 team", like they are.

True, they sucked last year, and then lost three good players off of that roster, so I get it and am appreciative of the wins that we do have. Still...

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Exactly. I don't think our results have proven anything positive or negative at this point. I'd give Fox the leeway that he has inherited a very tough situation. But a below average Cal team in my lifetime is 6-2. We played 6 weak opponents and 2 strong. We lost one of the 6. A couple of the wins were far closer than they should be.

I'm not dissatisfied nor have I seen anything that indicates that my disappointment at hiring a coach with a mediocre record in P-5 is misplaced.

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Fair post

bearchamp said:

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A problem that probably has Fox super frustrated is the reversion to "hero" ball when things get tough. Still not clear that a "real" offense has been installed. Paris and Bradley going one on five is not an offense. Fox you review the tapes of Purdue v Virginia: Purdue has less talent, but ran them off the court.

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There's a real offense. They run it and when things are going well they keep running it. They ran it even when things weren't going as well against UNLV, to use one example, and ended up coming back and winning.

But they are playing better defenses now who have some video on them and their tendencies, and reverting to hero ball is a tendency in young players in particular. To not do that you need both faith in the offense and faith in your teammates. And it helps if you have run the offense for more than 8 games and are really familiar with it.

But this team has no one who can really carry a team very far playing solo. And they miss a lot of open shots created by running the offense. That's bound to lead to frustration and lack of faith in either the offense or teammates.

I think Bradley is the one guy who should force the issue somewhat, but mostly because I think he passes up too many outside shots early in the offense only to have to do something under more pressure later in the possession.

As an aside, I'm not sure Virginia has more talent. Virginia has been really offensively challenged this year and Purdue was 13-25 from three range. Cal does not have that kind of shooting ability.

bluesaxe said:

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bearchamp said:

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A problem that probably has Fox super frustrated is the reversion to "hero" ball when things get tough. Still not clear that a "real" offense has been installed. Paris and Bradley going one on five is not an offense. Fox you review the tapes of Purdue v Virginia: Purdue has less talent, but ran them off the court.

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There's a real offense. They run it and when things are going well they keep running it. They ran it even when things weren't going as well against UNLV, to use one example, and ended up coming back and winning.

But they are playing better defenses now who have some video on them and their tendencies, and reverting to hero ball is a tendency in young players in particular. To not do that you need both faith in the offense and faith in your teammates. And it helps if you have run the offense for more than 8 games and are really familiar with it.

But this team has no one who can really carry a team very far playing solo. And they miss a lot of open shots created by running the offense. That's bound to lead to frustration and lack of faith in either the offense or teammates.

I think Bradley is the one guy who should force the issue somewhat, but mostly because I think he passes up too many outside shots early in the offense only to have to do something under more pressure later in the possession.

As an aside, I'm not sure Virginia has more talent. Virginia has been really offensively challenged this year and Purdue was 13-25 from three range. Cal does not have that kind of shooting ability.

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Agree that Fox needs to give Bradley the green light to take any open shot even if early in the shot clock.

Since other teams scout the Bears, they know that Bradley is the man they need to shut down.

In the last several games, opponents have really been paying attention to him, and he does not have particularly developed moves to get open and (as others have pointed out) has a rather slow release.

It might help if he got screens that set him up better to get off his shot.

His forays to the basket often are stopped by multiple defenders paying attention to him. Passing to whomever this leaves open is something Bradley should add to his game.

south bender said:

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Since other teams scout the Bears, they know that Bradley is the man they need to shut down.

In the last several games, opponents have really been paying attention to him, and he does not have particularly developed moves to get open and (as others have pointed out) has a rather slow release.

It might help if he got screens that set him up better to get off his shot.

His forays to the basket often are stopped by multiple defenders paying attention to him. Passing to whomever this leaves open is something Bradley should add to his game.

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I agree with all of this. Bradley's forays to the basket are often doomed by him thinking he can score over anyone, or at least that is what some of his drives look like. I would prefer that he pass off when he is doubled, instead of trying to score over two players, both often taller than he is. I would like it even more if one or some of his teammates would get on the move when he drives, to get open for an assist from Bradley, instead of standing still beyond the arc waiting for a kickout pass. There is far too much standing around in basketball today, usually on the weaker teams. And as you said he should add dishing to his game. It is a coached axiom that has been around forever: "If you are being double-teamed, one of your teammates is open. Find him." The team needs to think "movement", and the player with the ball needs to always be thinking of how can I make my teammates look better. I went to the Pepperdine game, and we seemed to be doing some of that. But not lately.

it would also be nice that after a guard drives and kicks out, that the player on the wing, passes it to the top (who filled the spot that Bradley left by rotating over)

wide open shot at the top of the key.

boom.

HoopDreams said:

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it would also be nice that after a guard drives and kicks out, that the player on the wing, passes it to the top (who filled the spot that Bradley left by rotating over)

wide open shot at the top of the key.

boom.

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Which is what USF did all night.