LMK5 said:
bearister said:
California vs. Stanford - Game Summary - January 2, 2020 - ESPN
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/game?gameId=401170645
I really like the images and videos you put in your posts Bearister. And about basketball, TBH I'm not a big fan but I have been watching Cal's games. After watching many games and making a careful analysis of the data, I've come to the conclusion that we can't shoot the f****** ball. Also, I thought air balls disappeared from your game once you became a Division 1 basketball player, but in watching Cal I see that isn't necessarily true. And one more thing I've noticed: we have trouble dunking the ball and our big men seem afraid to try. Tentative.
If it's any consolation UCLA is just as bad. They just got beat by CSF. Some are saying it's the biggest win in that program's history. At Pauley BTW.
I'd agree that the Bears aren't shooting well, and there are airballs, but that has been true for Cal and many teams for years, hasn't it? They keep stats for everything, so why not airball stats (and missed dunk stats)? Maybe it would be too embarassing. My impression is there are more airballs today, especially since the advent of the three point shot. Everyone is trying to become a three point shooter, and quite frankly many of them would be better off perfecting other shots. I think great three point shooters are born, and not made, for the most part. (Read JHD, Sam Singer, and Ty Wallace here) They MUST have a good eye, and you can't teach that. Helltopay1 said it best that you pretty much know by the 5th grade who the best shooters are.
To be fair, the three point shot is not easy. The average three point shooter makes only a third of them. It is the lowest percentage shot on the floor. If you have all players taking threes, not just the current 3-point shooters, the average shooting percentage for D1 would be even lower.
I remember even the great Jason Kidd airballling a 3-point shot, and countless others. Kidd got a little better at it in the NBA, and so did Jaylen Brown, but Wallace did not, and neither did poor Singer while at Cal. A bazillion reps wont help you much, if you don't have that eye to begin with. I don't watch other teams much, except when they play Cal, but I would think the airballs are more common in D1 than before everyone started trying them. The worst ever was Richard Solomon as a freshman. He airballed shots from 3 or 5 feet, shooting from the side, right over the basket. I don't remember seeing another player do that. By his junior year, Solomon was no longer shooting airballs, as I remember.
As for CS Fullerton beating UCLA in Pauley, I thought the PAC12 was being touted as much stronger this year. What happened? It clearly was not a good day for the team with all the highly rated recruits and a successful veteran coach. UCLA had 7 top 100 - ranked recruits with 3 of those ranked in the top 50. CS Fullerton has no recruits ranked in the top 100. In fact Cronin isn't too happy with his hot shot recruits, and gave them a royal public chewing out. He started three of his high-ranked recruits, Cody Riley, and Jalen Hill, and freshman Jaime Vasquez (#96, 2019), along with unranked Chris Smith and unranked freshman Tyger Campbell. Campbell and Vasquez looked like UCLA's best players during the time I watched.
