Paris I've been saying Paris needs a floater. Well he tried two and missed both. However, I'd say both were good shots and inline with the hoop, hitting front rim which is a good sign as it means he's got good form on the shot. It's a tough shot to master, but with a little more air it might be a dependable for him. He still needs to drive and kick more.
Teams scout and know Bradley drives hard, and he only goes one speed. That results in lots of charges and when he goes 1 on 3 among the trees the shot difficulty is high. He would benefit from more hesi moves and pull up jumpers (which he is good at) He was also getting fouled a lot, but not getting the calls. Not sure why, especially when refs were calling everything However his biggest problem was his shot was off. Cal is not going to win games when he has that poor of a shooting game.
Grant has greatly improved this year, and has rebounded surprisingly well. His record 3 point shooting game made me hopeful (it still does), but I was always skeptical that he could be a breakout star for this team when we play the better teams. One is scouting, and two is his limited size/athleticism. Teams won't let him shoot and he can't burn that strategy by doing other things against Pac12 defenses.
Kelly passed up two open shots, one 3 from the top, and another just beyond the FT. For both, he chose to drive (unsuccessfully). For Kelly to be successful against the longer, more athletic teams he needs to shoot those. Especially now that teams are packing the paint on defense. I thought he was underutilized on offense against SC, although he was in foul trouble most of the game.
I like Lars potential. Right now he is a good post defender vs back to basket players who don't have a lot of finesse moves. He gives us some height which is needed. My concerns are his poor hands rebounding and catching passes. That should improve slowly as he will get stronger and not be as impacted by the battling that goes on in the paint. He also lacks lateral quickness, but that too will improve as he gains lower body strength. These improvements likely won't happen this year, but by his junior year he will be solid.
South has good and a nice grad transfer, but didn't show too much this game.
Dyson again showed good defense with two steals. He could further improve if he maintained a lower stance when trying to track a ball handler. Not sure if he was hurt in second half as he didn't play (had warmup jersey on while on the bench). Perhaps coach felt we needed shooters on the floor, and their defense was setup to stop drives.
Brown is good at drive and kick. He is not a good shooter, but I thought he got to the basket several times but could not finish. I don't think he needs to be a shooter this year, but he needs to convert those shots around the hoop. I like him as a defender and he will only get better at it.
Gordon defenders aren't leaving him on defense as they know he can shoot. I think what keeps him off the floor is his defense where his injuries have hurt him. He's probably still a year away athletically. His first shot in rhythm was picture perfect. His second shot was a long fade away over a defender.
I would like to see DJ and Kuany with more minutes (especially Kuany with his length). My guess is coach felt their defense wasn't ready yet.
Klonaras was in less than a minute, but failed to block out on a missed shot, and then made a bad foul. Very bad sequence, and got him an invite back to the bench. But Klonaras has size, so hopefully he can be added to the rotation later in the season in spots.
For this team to be successful, it will have to come from coaching. Our offense needs to produce open shots. We do have shooters, but the only one who can get their own shot is Bradley. The others need to be setup. We need to run more offense for Kelly. Either in the paint, or outside for his shot. Defensively, I was surprised we never ran zone against a poor shooting team that was determined to score in the paint either from passes to the post or drives.
Teams scout and know Bradley drives hard, and he only goes one speed. That results in lots of charges and when he goes 1 on 3 among the trees the shot difficulty is high. He would benefit from more hesi moves and pull up jumpers (which he is good at) He was also getting fouled a lot, but not getting the calls. Not sure why, especially when refs were calling everything However his biggest problem was his shot was off. Cal is not going to win games when he has that poor of a shooting game.
Grant has greatly improved this year, and has rebounded surprisingly well. His record 3 point shooting game made me hopeful (it still does), but I was always skeptical that he could be a breakout star for this team when we play the better teams. One is scouting, and two is his limited size/athleticism. Teams won't let him shoot and he can't burn that strategy by doing other things against Pac12 defenses.
Kelly passed up two open shots, one 3 from the top, and another just beyond the FT. For both, he chose to drive (unsuccessfully). For Kelly to be successful against the longer, more athletic teams he needs to shoot those. Especially now that teams are packing the paint on defense. I thought he was underutilized on offense against SC, although he was in foul trouble most of the game.
I like Lars potential. Right now he is a good post defender vs back to basket players who don't have a lot of finesse moves. He gives us some height which is needed. My concerns are his poor hands rebounding and catching passes. That should improve slowly as he will get stronger and not be as impacted by the battling that goes on in the paint. He also lacks lateral quickness, but that too will improve as he gains lower body strength. These improvements likely won't happen this year, but by his junior year he will be solid.
South has good and a nice grad transfer, but didn't show too much this game.
Dyson again showed good defense with two steals. He could further improve if he maintained a lower stance when trying to track a ball handler. Not sure if he was hurt in second half as he didn't play (had warmup jersey on while on the bench). Perhaps coach felt we needed shooters on the floor, and their defense was setup to stop drives.
Brown is good at drive and kick. He is not a good shooter, but I thought he got to the basket several times but could not finish. I don't think he needs to be a shooter this year, but he needs to convert those shots around the hoop. I like him as a defender and he will only get better at it.
Gordon defenders aren't leaving him on defense as they know he can shoot. I think what keeps him off the floor is his defense where his injuries have hurt him. He's probably still a year away athletically. His first shot in rhythm was picture perfect. His second shot was a long fade away over a defender.
I would like to see DJ and Kuany with more minutes (especially Kuany with his length). My guess is coach felt their defense wasn't ready yet.
Klonaras was in less than a minute, but failed to block out on a missed shot, and then made a bad foul. Very bad sequence, and got him an invite back to the bench. But Klonaras has size, so hopefully he can be added to the rotation later in the season in spots.
For this team to be successful, it will have to come from coaching. Our offense needs to produce open shots. We do have shooters, but the only one who can get their own shot is Bradley. The others need to be setup. We need to run more offense for Kelly. Either in the paint, or outside for his shot. Defensively, I was surprised we never ran zone against a poor shooting team that was determined to score in the paint either from passes to the post or drives.
