socaltownie said:
SBGold said:
Can't blame Fox for the talent on the roster as much as you'd like to
i don't blame him. I do blame what looks like a bust of next year's class. He has to pick it up (as he knows) or rinse and repeat. I particularly blame farts that wax about Newell and don't understand the talent gap.
Newell understood the talent gap, and sometimes beat the hell out of it. On other occasions, like when Cal got blown out in the NCAA Final in 1960, by an Ohio State team with two Hall of Famers, Lucas and Havlicek, plus another who started and won championships with the Celtics, and Joe Roberts who helped kill Cal with 25 foot hook shots and played 3 years for Syracuse in the NBA, and Mel Nowell, who played in both the NBA and ABA.
Newell got overwhelmed and embarrassed by the talent of USF with Bill Russell, KC Jones, both NBA Hall of Famers, and Mike Farmer, who played 8 seasons in the NBA. Newell lost to Wilt Chamberlain and Kansas in 1957 and 1958 preseason, but went to the Regional final in both years, losing to more talented teams each time, USF in 1957 (twice), and Seattle with Elgin Baylor and Charley Brown, again more talented. In 1959, Newell lost to Kansas State with All-American Bob Boozer (who played 11 years in the NBA, averaging 15 pts and 8 rebs).
In 1959 and 1960, Cincinnati with Oscar Robertson was more talented and Newell beat them. He was to beat Cincinnati and Oscar in 1960. In 1959 Newell was able to beat a more talented West Virginia team with Jerry West.
Newell won 4 conference titles, beating the more talented (IMO) teams of UCLA and Washington. He won and NIT title in 1949 reportedly beating some teams with better talent. In 1950, Newell's USF team got blown out by 19 points by a powerful CCNY team in the first round. CCNY went on to beat Kentucky by 39 points, Duquesne by 9 and Bradley by 8. By the way, CCNY was so good, they also won the NCAA in 1950.
Is that enough waxing negative on Pete Newell for you? He was not John Wooden or Adolph Rupp or Red Auerbach who all had long winning careers. Newell was a guy who could teach skills and teach players to get better, and teach teams to get better, reach their potential and sometimes more. He was like a .300 hitter in baseball, successful about 3 times out of ten. Why I "wax" about him is because he is the only coach at Cal who ever won the Big One. He understood what Cal was and he understood the talent gap. And he understood that at Cal, there was always going to be a gap, because the Admin will not have us be known as a basketball school. If we win fine, but we will not allow the temptation of probation to sully our reputation because we bought some highly rated talent. So we are faced with landing one or two of these kids and having them for a year, and hoping we get enough very good 4-year players to support these stars, and then maybe win something. That is the way Newell recruited, and he was successful at winning. You just can't seem to come to grips with who we are. You are obsessed with winning championships, and obsessed with getting as many one-and-dones to do the job for you. What Cal is about is developing kids into men and developing their minds and their characters. My advice is enjoy watching the players develop and watching the the team develop. If this happens, we will win some games we should not win. If it doesn't happen, we need to get a new coach, but to try and change the culture into Kentucky and Calipari is a waste of time. Maybe you need to switch your allegiance to another school, before you get too depressed.
I've taken some shots at you, primarily because I don't like the way you ridicule or trash Cal players. These are young kids, and you have followed basketball long enough to know most players don't become productive until their 3rd or 4th year in college. There are only about 30 players in the nation who were good enough to be taken by the NBA after their first year. The odds of you getting 3 or 4 of them on a Cal team is zip, I'm sorry to tell you. Get five, and unless you've got a good coach, they likely won't win a championship for you anyway, IMO. You already have trashed the incoming players for next season, when the rest of us are trying to become their fans. Are you pleased with yourself? You have been trashing our new players all season (and some of the veterans) and now you want to trash players coming to Cal that none of us have even seen? You are a smart guy, but you are letting your emotions cloud your opinions. Enjoy the good points of the season, few as they may be. We are only here for a short time, and it is best to enjoy life, instead of grousing about it all the time, isn't it?
