Some Potential Grad Transfers

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bluesaxe
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calumnus said:

HearstMining said:

Intuit said:

"Much better to use the scholarship on a grad transfer than a freshman (or 3 year player) who is a stretch and will use a scholarship from the bench for multiple years. Even worse than that is a coach running off players from the team that he shouldn't have offered in the first place."

What a passive aggressive negative statement. You are intimating that your worried that Cal's coach is liable to screw up and recruit an unqualified guy if he signs a freshman or juco. Why don't you sit back and give Mark Fox's player evaluation abilities credit?

Four out of the Five he brought in last year as freshman proved worthy and materially contributed to Cal's PAC-12 improvement. He diserves your confidence. He is a veteran coach with an very experienced and skilled staff. They will evaluate and process all the candidates or prospective recruits. They will sign which ever freshman, juco or transfer are available to California that have the talent to accelerate the recovery of the basketball program


No, the statement isn't accusing or implying anything about Fox. It was just a reference to the Cuanzo/Wyking regimes, where this did in fact happen. Fox certainly hasn't run anybody off and, as you say, had fairly good results with the 2019 class given the situation.


Exactly, it was in no way a "backhanded insult" of Fox (Wyking, yes). I was just my stating general principles ("It is not the guys you miss....") and my opinion. Braun, Monty, Cuonzo and Wyking all offered guys that were stretches ended up on the bench 4 years or were forced out to avoid that. I really hated seeing the latter, which is a main reason why I did not have sympathy for Wyking (besides his making $millions). If Monty can make that mistake, any coach can, right? We have grad transfers now and my opinion is grad transfers are preferable to stretch high school players, but it is definitely Fox and his staff that will assess the player's ability and how much of a stretch they really are. I thought Fox's strategy of going with grad and international players in trying to field a team this past year was a good one. I thought South in particular was a savvy pick-up, even if it didn't work out as hoped.

Again, my opinion is since the JC PG is in the same class as Brown, I would only take him if I thought there was a good chance he might be better than Brown, otherwise I'd go for a grad PG and recruit the best PG I can get next year. However, I have no idea if the first is true, that would be Fox's call, even assuming he would agree with my opinion if he knew it. He is the one paid $millions to make these calls and he will make them.
Seems less likely that there's a grad transfer pg of any quality who wants to come here and can get admitted than a JUCO or freshman though.
calumnus
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bluesaxe said:

calumnus said:

HearstMining said:

Intuit said:

"Much better to use the scholarship on a grad transfer than a freshman (or 3 year player) who is a stretch and will use a scholarship from the bench for multiple years. Even worse than that is a coach running off players from the team that he shouldn't have offered in the first place."

What a passive aggressive negative statement. You are intimating that your worried that Cal's coach is liable to screw up and recruit an unqualified guy if he signs a freshman or juco. Why don't you sit back and give Mark Fox's player evaluation abilities credit?

Four out of the Five he brought in last year as freshman proved worthy and materially contributed to Cal's PAC-12 improvement. He diserves your confidence. He is a veteran coach with an very experienced and skilled staff. They will evaluate and process all the candidates or prospective recruits. They will sign which ever freshman, juco or transfer are available to California that have the talent to accelerate the recovery of the basketball program


No, the statement isn't accusing or implying anything about Fox. It was just a reference to the Cuanzo/Wyking regimes, where this did in fact happen. Fox certainly hasn't run anybody off and, as you say, had fairly good results with the 2019 class given the situation.


Exactly, it was in no way a "backhanded insult" of Fox (Wyking, yes). I was just my stating general principles ("It is not the guys you miss....") and my opinion. Braun, Monty, Cuonzo and Wyking all offered guys that were stretches ended up on the bench 4 years or were forced out to avoid that. I really hated seeing the latter, which is a main reason why I did not have sympathy for Wyking (besides his making $millions). If Monty can make that mistake, any coach can, right? We have grad transfers now and my opinion is grad transfers are preferable to stretch high school players, but it is definitely Fox and his staff that will assess the player's ability and how much of a stretch they really are. I thought Fox's strategy of going with grad and international players in trying to field a team this past year was a good one. I thought South in particular was a savvy pick-up, even if it didn't work out as hoped.

Again, my opinion is since the JC PG is in the same class as Brown, I would only take him if I thought there was a good chance he might be better than Brown, otherwise I'd go for a grad PG and recruit the best PG I can get next year. However, I have no idea if the first is true, that would be Fox's call, even assuming he would agree with my opinion if he knew it. He is the one paid $millions to make these calls and he will make them.
Seems less likely that there's a grad transfer pg of any quality who wants to come here and can get admitted than a JUCO or freshman though.


Have no idea. We have done a good job attracting and admitting grad transfers in the past and there are more in the portal this year than ever. Obviously Mike Smith from Columbia or Bryce Aiken from Harvard would be ideal, but a lot of big programs are after them too.

Obviously we offer a better opportunity for playing time and a grad degree.
SFCityBear
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calumnus said:

bluesaxe said:

calumnus said:

HearstMining said:

Intuit said:

"Much better to use the scholarship on a grad transfer than a freshman (or 3 year player) who is a stretch and will use a scholarship from the bench for multiple years. Even worse than that is a coach running off players from the team that he shouldn't have offered in the first place."

What a passive aggressive negative statement. You are intimating that your worried that Cal's coach is liable to screw up and recruit an unqualified guy if he signs a freshman or juco. Why don't you sit back and give Mark Fox's player evaluation abilities credit?

Four out of the Five he brought in last year as freshman proved worthy and materially contributed to Cal's PAC-12 improvement. He diserves your confidence. He is a veteran coach with an very experienced and skilled staff. They will evaluate and process all the candidates or prospective recruits. They will sign which ever freshman, juco or transfer are available to California that have the talent to accelerate the recovery of the basketball program


No, the statement isn't accusing or implying anything about Fox. It was just a reference to the Cuanzo/Wyking regimes, where this did in fact happen. Fox certainly hasn't run anybody off and, as you say, had fairly good results with the 2019 class given the situation.


Exactly, it was in no way a "backhanded insult" of Fox (Wyking, yes). I was just my stating general principles ("It is not the guys you miss....") and my opinion. Braun, Monty, Cuonzo and Wyking all offered guys that were stretches ended up on the bench 4 years or were forced out to avoid that. I really hated seeing the latter, which is a main reason why I did not have sympathy for Wyking (besides his making $millions). If Monty can make that mistake, any coach can, right? We have grad transfers now and my opinion is grad transfers are preferable to stretch high school players, but it is definitely Fox and his staff that will assess the player's ability and how much of a stretch they really are. I thought Fox's strategy of going with grad and international players in trying to field a team this past year was a good one. I thought South in particular was a savvy pick-up, even if it didn't work out as hoped.

Again, my opinion is since the JC PG is in the same class as Brown, I would only take him if I thought there was a good chance he might be better than Brown, otherwise I'd go for a grad PG and recruit the best PG I can get next year. However, I have no idea if the first is true, that would be Fox's call, even assuming he would agree with my opinion if he knew it. He is the one paid $millions to make these calls and he will make them.
Seems less likely that there's a grad transfer pg of any quality who wants to come here and can get admitted than a JUCO or freshman though.


Have no idea. We have done a good job attracting and admitting grad transfers in the past and there are more in the portal this year than ever. Obviously Mike Smith from Columbia or Bryce Aiken from Harvard would be ideal, but a lot of big programs are after them too.

Obviously we offer a better opportunity for playing time and a grad degree.
Who have we done a good job attracting and admitting? Maybe I'm being negative, but I only can think of 3, Tarwater, South, and Mullins. Tawarter won one game with a three, but did little else, and was not PAC12 caliber. South did fine in the pre-conference season, but slumped in the PAC12, or was not PAC12 caliber. Mullins was the only one who contributed a great deal. Maybe I'm wrong. Have there have been others?

Even with undergrad transfers, it has been a mixed bag. Cobbs was very good. Paris Austin was good at the end of this year, but before that, not as good. Domingo was never very good, Kreklow was seemingly hurt more often than not, and gave us very little. Lee was capable, but I certainly expected more from a player so highly-ranked as a recruit, who had started for a time at Kentucky. Coleman was talented in some ways, but had no sense of how to play, and often hurt the team more than he helped. Thurman and Powers both became good back up players able to contribute some. MSF was a solid contributor and starter, and Jamal Boykin was very good for us. Maybe a little better than 50% hit rate. Maybe that is pretty good. I don't know.
HoopDreams
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SFCityBear said:

calumnus said:

bluesaxe said:

calumnus said:

HearstMining said:

Intuit said:

"Much better to use the scholarship on a grad transfer than a freshman (or 3 year player) who is a stretch and will use a scholarship from the bench for multiple years. Even worse than that is a coach running off players from the team that he shouldn't have offered in the first place."

What a passive aggressive negative statement. You are intimating that your worried that Cal's coach is liable to screw up and recruit an unqualified guy if he signs a freshman or juco. Why don't you sit back and give Mark Fox's player evaluation abilities credit?

Four out of the Five he brought in last year as freshman proved worthy and materially contributed to Cal's PAC-12 improvement. He diserves your confidence. He is a veteran coach with an very experienced and skilled staff. They will evaluate and process all the candidates or prospective recruits. They will sign which ever freshman, juco or transfer are available to California that have the talent to accelerate the recovery of the basketball program


No, the statement isn't accusing or implying anything about Fox. It was just a reference to the Cuanzo/Wyking regimes, where this did in fact happen. Fox certainly hasn't run anybody off and, as you say, had fairly good results with the 2019 class given the situation.


Exactly, it was in no way a "backhanded insult" of Fox (Wyking, yes). I was just my stating general principles ("It is not the guys you miss....") and my opinion. Braun, Monty, Cuonzo and Wyking all offered guys that were stretches ended up on the bench 4 years or were forced out to avoid that. I really hated seeing the latter, which is a main reason why I did not have sympathy for Wyking (besides his making $millions). If Monty can make that mistake, any coach can, right? We have grad transfers now and my opinion is grad transfers are preferable to stretch high school players, but it is definitely Fox and his staff that will assess the player's ability and how much of a stretch they really are. I thought Fox's strategy of going with grad and international players in trying to field a team this past year was a good one. I thought South in particular was a savvy pick-up, even if it didn't work out as hoped.

Again, my opinion is since the JC PG is in the same class as Brown, I would only take him if I thought there was a good chance he might be better than Brown, otherwise I'd go for a grad PG and recruit the best PG I can get next year. However, I have no idea if the first is true, that would be Fox's call, even assuming he would agree with my opinion if he knew it. He is the one paid $millions to make these calls and he will make them.
Seems less likely that there's a grad transfer pg of any quality who wants to come here and can get admitted than a JUCO or freshman though.


Have no idea. We have done a good job attracting and admitting grad transfers in the past and there are more in the portal this year than ever. Obviously Mike Smith from Columbia or Bryce Aiken from Harvard would be ideal, but a lot of big programs are after them too.

Obviously we offer a better opportunity for playing time and a grad degree.
Who have we done a good job attracting and admitting? Maybe I'm being negative, but I only can think of 3, Tarwater, South, and Mullins. Tawarter won one game with a three, but did little else, and was not PAC12 caliber. South did fine in the pre-conference season, but slumped in the PAC12, or was not PAC12 caliber. Mullins was the only one who contributed a great deal. Maybe I'm wrong. Have there have been others?

Even with undergrad transfers, it has been a mixed bag. Cobbs was very good. Paris Austin was good at the end of this year, but before that, not as good. Domingo was never very good, Kreklow was seemingly hurt more often than not, and gave us very little. Lee was capable, but I certainly expected more from a player so highly-ranked as a recruit, who had started for a time at Kentucky. Coleman was talented in some ways, but had no sense of how to play, and often hurt the team more than he helped. Thurman and Powers both became good back up players able to contribute some. MSF was a solid contributor and starter, and Jamal Boykin was very good for us. Maybe a little better than 50% hit rate. Maybe that is pretty good. I don't know.
good list, but I think you undersold a few of those players.

I'm not a big fan of Tarwater, but we were really thin in the front court that year, so although he was not a big scorer/defender/rebounder, we were a better team with him.

Same point for Paris. Yeah he really played well in the second half of the year, but he has always been a key contributor, and we would have really been hurting if we didn't have him.

I'm hoping the PG we are still recruiting for next year will be even close to Paris as a senior
oskidunker
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If we rely on freshman I do not think we will have a better record than last year. The loss of Austin is huge. South can be replaced. There are a lot of shooters.

More important is getting a big man good enough to avoid Bradley getting double teamed. .
NathanAllen
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Staff


Iowa forward on the market. Averaged 2.8 points and 3.2 rebounds last season. Averaged 8.9 points and 5.0 rebounds as a freshman. Obviously has the connection with Coach Francis.
Intuit
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https://www.hawkcentral.com/story/sports/college/iowa/basketball-men/2019/09/20/iowa-hawkeyes-basketball-player-cordell-pemsl-cited-owi-operating-while-intoxicated/2384240001/

Iowa Hawkeyes basketball player Cordell Pemsl cited for operating while intoxicated
oskidunker
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Please
SFCityBear
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NathanAllen said:



Iowa forward on the market. Averaged 2.8 points and 3.2 rebounds last season. Averaged 8.9 points and 5.0 rebounds as a freshman. Obviously has the connection with Coach Francis.
From his stats on sports-reference, it looks like he may have been hurt in his junior year, playing only 2 games. Since his minutes and shot attempts per minute both went way down in his senior year, was the injury still affecting his play? How healthy is he now?
NathanAllen
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SFCityBear said:

NathanAllen said:



Iowa forward on the market. Averaged 2.8 points and 3.2 rebounds last season. Averaged 8.9 points and 5.0 rebounds as a freshman. Obviously has the connection with Coach Francis.
From his stats on sports-reference, it looks like he may have been hurt in his junior year, playing only 2 games. Since his minutes and shot attempts per minute both went way down in his senior year, was the injury still affecting his play? How healthy is he now?
Yes, reportedly had surgery to repair a previous knee surgery. I assume he's healthy enough now since he played in 28 games this past season and is seeking another season as a grad transfer. I'd assume his minutes went down because other players on the roster passed him up and that's why he's seeking a transfer, but that's just speculation. Garza was the focal point of the Hawkeyes' offense this year and everyone else was basically in a supporting role.

I'm not saying he's an ideal choice or the staff is even interested. Just that there's an obvious connection with Francis. Fox seems to be focused more on PGs at this point, which is where the roster really needs some help.
SFCityBear
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NathanAllen said:

SFCityBear said:

NathanAllen said:



Iowa forward on the market. Averaged 2.8 points and 3.2 rebounds last season. Averaged 8.9 points and 5.0 rebounds as a freshman. Obviously has the connection with Coach Francis.
From his stats on sports-reference, it looks like he may have been hurt in his junior year, playing only 2 games. Since his minutes and shot attempts per minute both went way down in his senior year, was the injury still affecting his play? How healthy is he now?
Yes, reportedly had surgery to repair a previous knee surgery. I assume he's healthy enough now since he played in 28 games this past season and is seeking another season as a grad transfer. I'd assume his minutes went down because other players on the roster passed him up and that's why he's seeking a transfer, but that's just speculation. Garza was the focal point of the Hawkeyes' offense this year and everyone else was basically in a supporting role.

I'm not saying he's an ideal choice or the staff is even interested. Just that there's an obvious connection with Francis. Fox seems to be focused more on PGs at this point, which is where the roster really needs some help.
This roster needs a lot of help. I agree we need help at point guard, but we need a wing who can play right away. With South leaving, theoretically Bradley could return to his regular position of SG, and we would need a small forward who can score inside and outside. We need Kuany to develop into this role, or bring in someone who can start at SF. Note how Bradley's 3-point percentage dropped considerably when he moved from SG to SF last season.

The roster also needs a tall player who can play center, score inside, defend the opposing centers, rebound, and protect the rim. Kelly is effective in certain matchups, but he does not have the height or athleticism to be a #1 center. He fouls too frequently to be able to play 35 minutes, night after night. Lars and Thorpe are projects, each with a little promise. We can't play them together, because then there is no offense up front other than Anticevich. We are still short one good big, two wings and a point guard. If Bowser and Celestine are good enough to start, then the focus should be on a point guard and a center, IMO. We have a lot of offers out there on the table, and I hope that a couple of good players sign with Cal.
Civil Bear
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SFCityBear said:

NathanAllen said:

SFCityBear said:

NathanAllen said:



Iowa forward on the market. Averaged 2.8 points and 3.2 rebounds last season. Averaged 8.9 points and 5.0 rebounds as a freshman. Obviously has the connection with Coach Francis.
From his stats on sports-reference, it looks like he may have been hurt in his junior year, playing only 2 games. Since his minutes and shot attempts per minute both went way down in his senior year, was the injury still affecting his play? How healthy is he now?
Yes, reportedly had surgery to repair a previous knee surgery. I assume he's healthy enough now since he played in 28 games this past season and is seeking another season as a grad transfer. I'd assume his minutes went down because other players on the roster passed him up and that's why he's seeking a transfer, but that's just speculation. Garza was the focal point of the Hawkeyes' offense this year and everyone else was basically in a supporting role.

I'm not saying he's an ideal choice or the staff is even interested. Just that there's an obvious connection with Francis. Fox seems to be focused more on PGs at this point, which is where the roster really needs some help.
This roster needs a lot of help. I agree we need help at point guard, but we need a wing who can play right away. With South leaving, theoretically Bradley could return to his regular position of SG, and we would need a small forward who can score inside and outside. We need Kuany to develop into this role, or bring in someone who can start at SF. Note how Bradley's 3-point percentage dropped considerably when he moved from SG to SF last season.

The roster also needs a tall player who can play center, score inside, defend the opposing centers, rebound, and protect the rim. Kelly is effective in certain matchups, but he does not have the height or athleticism to be a #1 center. He fouls too frequently to be able to play 35 minutes, night after night. Lars and Thorpe are projects, each with a little promise. We can't play them together, because then there is no offense up front other than Anticevich. We are still short one good big, two wings and a point guard. If Bowser and Celestine are good enough to start, then the focus should be on a point guard and a center, IMO. We have a lot of offers out there on the table, and I hope that a couple of good players sign with Cal.
I would surmise the drop off was mostly due to being the primary scorer - having to take more contested shots while being the defenses' primary target.
NathanAllen
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SFCityBear said:

NathanAllen said:

SFCityBear said:

NathanAllen said:



Iowa forward on the market. Averaged 2.8 points and 3.2 rebounds last season. Averaged 8.9 points and 5.0 rebounds as a freshman. Obviously has the connection with Coach Francis.
From his stats on sports-reference, it looks like he may have been hurt in his junior year, playing only 2 games. Since his minutes and shot attempts per minute both went way down in his senior year, was the injury still affecting his play? How healthy is he now?
Yes, reportedly had surgery to repair a previous knee surgery. I assume he's healthy enough now since he played in 28 games this past season and is seeking another season as a grad transfer. I'd assume his minutes went down because other players on the roster passed him up and that's why he's seeking a transfer, but that's just speculation. Garza was the focal point of the Hawkeyes' offense this year and everyone else was basically in a supporting role.

I'm not saying he's an ideal choice or the staff is even interested. Just that there's an obvious connection with Francis. Fox seems to be focused more on PGs at this point, which is where the roster really needs some help.
This roster needs a lot of help. I agree we need help at point guard, but we need a wing who can play right away. With South leaving, theoretically Bradley could return to his regular position of SG, and we would need a small forward who can score inside and outside. We need Kuany to develop into this role, or bring in someone who can start at SF. Note how Bradley's 3-point percentage dropped considerably when he moved from SG to SF last season.

The roster also needs a tall player who can play center, score inside, defend the opposing centers, rebound, and protect the rim. Kelly is effective in certain matchups, but he does not have the height or athleticism to be a #1 center. He fouls too frequently to be able to play 35 minutes, night after night. Lars and Thorpe are projects, each with a little promise. We can't play them together, because then there is no offense up front other than Anticevich. We are still short one good big, two wings and a point guard. If Bowser and Celestine are good enough to start, then the focus should be on a point guard and a center, IMO. We have a lot of offers out there on the table, and I hope that a couple of good players sign with Cal.
Absolutely no argument there. No offense to any of the current players, but it needs constant upgrades across all positions besides Bradley, who should be at the 2 as you say. Although, I'd point out Bradley's drop in percentage had to do more with him being the focus of opponents' defenses this season and that 47.2% from three was unsustainable. Also, not sure how much the new three-point distance affected him but overall three-point percentage was down this year.

I think the reason why I emphasize the need for a PG so much compared to other positions is as of now, there's literally no primary ball-handler besides Brown. And I think the PG is one of the most important positions (if not the most) on the floor. I think we saw that this season with Paris. When Paris was playing well, Cal looked a lot better.

I also think you're right about needing another CG to slide in at the 2 to relieve Bradley. I'm not as concerned about the 3 (wing) position, but that's just me. You can already move Bradley to the 2 by sliding JHD, Kuany, or Celestine or Bowser into the three. You've already got Anticevich, Kelly, Thorpe, and Thiemann that can play the 4 and 5. But there is an obvious hole left by Austin and South that the coaching staff has yet to fill on the recruiting trail.
SFCityBear
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NathanAllen said:

SFCityBear said:

NathanAllen said:

SFCityBear said:

NathanAllen said:



Iowa forward on the market. Averaged 2.8 points and 3.2 rebounds last season. Averaged 8.9 points and 5.0 rebounds as a freshman. Obviously has the connection with Coach Francis.
From his stats on sports-reference, it looks like he may have been hurt in his junior year, playing only 2 games. Since his minutes and shot attempts per minute both went way down in his senior year, was the injury still affecting his play? How healthy is he now?
Yes, reportedly had surgery to repair a previous knee surgery. I assume he's healthy enough now since he played in 28 games this past season and is seeking another season as a grad transfer. I'd assume his minutes went down because other players on the roster passed him up and that's why he's seeking a transfer, but that's just speculation. Garza was the focal point of the Hawkeyes' offense this year and everyone else was basically in a supporting role.

I'm not saying he's an ideal choice or the staff is even interested. Just that there's an obvious connection with Francis. Fox seems to be focused more on PGs at this point, which is where the roster really needs some help.
This roster needs a lot of help. I agree we need help at point guard, but we need a wing who can play right away. With South leaving, theoretically Bradley could return to his regular position of SG, and we would need a small forward who can score inside and outside. We need Kuany to develop into this role, or bring in someone who can start at SF. Note how Bradley's 3-point percentage dropped considerably when he moved from SG to SF last season.

The roster also needs a tall player who can play center, score inside, defend the opposing centers, rebound, and protect the rim. Kelly is effective in certain matchups, but he does not have the height or athleticism to be a #1 center. He fouls too frequently to be able to play 35 minutes, night after night. Lars and Thorpe are projects, each with a little promise. We can't play them together, because then there is no offense up front other than Anticevich. We are still short one good big, two wings and a point guard. If Bowser and Celestine are good enough to start, then the focus should be on a point guard and a center, IMO. We have a lot of offers out there on the table, and I hope that a couple of good players sign with Cal.
Absolutely no argument there. No offense to any of the current players, but it needs constant upgrades across all positions besides Bradley, who should be at the 2 as you say. Although, I'd point out Bradley's drop in percentage had to do more with him being the focus of opponents' defenses this season and that 47.2% from three was unsustainable. Also, not sure how much the new three-point distance affected him but overall three-point percentage was down this year.

I think the reason why I emphasize the need for a PG so much compared to other positions is as of now, there's literally no primary ball-handler besides Brown. And I think the PG is one of the most important positions (if not the most) on the floor. I think we saw that this season with Paris. When Paris was playing well, Cal looked a lot better.

I also think you're right about needing another CG to slide in at the 2 to relieve Bradley. I'm not as concerned about the 3 (wing) position, but that's just me. You can already move Bradley to the 2 by sliding JHD, Kuany, or Celestine or Bowser into the three. You've already got Anticevich, Kelly, Thorpe, and Thiemann that can play the 4 and 5. But there is an obvious hole left by Austin and South that the coaching staff has yet to fill on the recruiting trail.
I don't disagree. To be as good as last year, we theoretically need to replace both Austin and South with equal talent, and I'd like to think that of Kuany, Celestine, or Bowser, someone could emerge an be able to play the SF as well as South played the SG. South may have slumped in conference, but he still was a glue guy and brought other things to the table. He took care of the ball, played decently on defense, and made few mistakes. That leaves PG as the most important, and finding one who was at least as good as Austin may be challenging.

I was thinking in terms of moving up in the win column from last year, and to do that, finding a point guard who can shoot, pass, take care of the ball, be a leader and defend the point would be a priority, not one just as good as Austin, but better. Second would be getting a player who could play the center position, and play it better than anyone did for us last season. That would leave Kelly free to split time with both Anticevich and the center. Any improvement from Thiemann or Thorpe would be a plus, and who knows maybe one of them will show enough improvement over the summer to prove me wrong, and we won'd need a better center to move way up in the conference standings. Third would be to get a small forward who could complement Bradley's scoring with 10-15 points of his own. Hopefully that comes from the Kuany, Celestine, or Bowser. BTW, is JHD still on the roster?
89Bear
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Completely agree with those who state the PG position is THE most important in college basketball. I would argue the team needs to land someone better than Brown to improve next season. No knock on Brown. I think he may need another year before he can make more of an impact.
calumnus
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SFCityBear said:

calumnus said:

bluesaxe said:

calumnus said:

HearstMining said:

Intuit said:

"Much better to use the scholarship on a grad transfer than a freshman (or 3 year player) who is a stretch and will use a scholarship from the bench for multiple years. Even worse than that is a coach running off players from the team that he shouldn't have offered in the first place."

What a passive aggressive negative statement. You are intimating that your worried that Cal's coach is liable to screw up and recruit an unqualified guy if he signs a freshman or juco. Why don't you sit back and give Mark Fox's player evaluation abilities credit?

Four out of the Five he brought in last year as freshman proved worthy and materially contributed to Cal's PAC-12 improvement. He diserves your confidence. He is a veteran coach with an very experienced and skilled staff. They will evaluate and process all the candidates or prospective recruits. They will sign which ever freshman, juco or transfer are available to California that have the talent to accelerate the recovery of the basketball program


No, the statement isn't accusing or implying anything about Fox. It was just a reference to the Cuanzo/Wyking regimes, where this did in fact happen. Fox certainly hasn't run anybody off and, as you say, had fairly good results with the 2019 class given the situation.


Exactly, it was in no way a "backhanded insult" of Fox (Wyking, yes). I was just my stating general principles ("It is not the guys you miss....") and my opinion. Braun, Monty, Cuonzo and Wyking all offered guys that were stretches ended up on the bench 4 years or were forced out to avoid that. I really hated seeing the latter, which is a main reason why I did not have sympathy for Wyking (besides his making $millions). If Monty can make that mistake, any coach can, right? We have grad transfers now and my opinion is grad transfers are preferable to stretch high school players, but it is definitely Fox and his staff that will assess the player's ability and how much of a stretch they really are. I thought Fox's strategy of going with grad and international players in trying to field a team this past year was a good one. I thought South in particular was a savvy pick-up, even if it didn't work out as hoped.

Again, my opinion is since the JC PG is in the same class as Brown, I would only take him if I thought there was a good chance he might be better than Brown, otherwise I'd go for a grad PG and recruit the best PG I can get next year. However, I have no idea if the first is true, that would be Fox's call, even assuming he would agree with my opinion if he knew it. He is the one paid $millions to make these calls and he will make them.
Seems less likely that there's a grad transfer pg of any quality who wants to come here and can get admitted than a JUCO or freshman though.


Have no idea. We have done a good job attracting and admitting grad transfers in the past and there are more in the portal this year than ever. Obviously Mike Smith from Columbia or Bryce Aiken from Harvard would be ideal, but a lot of big programs are after them too.

Obviously we offer a better opportunity for playing time and a grad degree.
Who have we done a good job attracting and admitting? Maybe I'm being negative, but I only can think of 3, Tarwater, South, and Mullins. Tawarter won one game with a three, but did little else, and was not PAC12 caliber. South did fine in the pre-conference season, but slumped in the PAC12, or was not PAC12 caliber. Mullins was the only one who contributed a great deal. Maybe I'm wrong. Have there have been others?

Even with undergrad transfers, it has been a mixed bag. Cobbs was very good. Paris Austin was good at the end of this year, but before that, not as good. Domingo was never very good, Kreklow was seemingly hurt more often than not, and gave us very little. Lee was capable, but I certainly expected more from a player so highly-ranked as a recruit, who had started for a time at Kentucky. Coleman was talented in some ways, but had no sense of how to play, and often hurt the team more than he helped. Thurman and Powers both became good back up players able to contribute some. MSF was a solid contributor and starter, and Jamal Boykin was very good for us. Maybe a little better than 50% hit rate. Maybe that is pretty good. I don't know.


I clearly said grad transfers, and in addition to the grad transfers (especially Ivy League) in basketball we have had a number in football, especially from Michigan.

And again, my point is not getting world beaters as grad transfers, it is to get a reliable senior reserve for one season so the scholarship can be used in the next recruiting class for a more promising recruit rather than taking a flyer on a still uncommitted freshman recruit in this class who might likely ride the bench for 4 years.
HoopDreams
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yes, PG is our top need.

for all the complaining about Paris (before he emerged in second half of pac12 season), he was always a tough competitor who did not shy away from big moments, and he was always a strong ball handler, and could break a press. And one thing that every team needs is a PG who is money from the FT line.

Cal has been mostly fortunate to have that, although Wallace/Singer was always a little dicey

socaltownie
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Hold on...if we are in the way back machine mark McNamara was a transfer and so too Boykin. Those guys contributed a lot during their respective years.
Take care of your Chicken
bearmanpg
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This player isn't a grad transfer but he is a possible solution to our pg problem....Holland Woods, 6'1", 17.7 pts, 5 a, 2 s, not a great shooter 41% 30% 84%, is transferring for his senior year so may have to sit one to play one...I've seen him play and he is a good point....was FOY in '17-'18 in the Big Sky Conference, 2nd team all conference as a soph and 1st team all BSC as a junior.....touted as a possible POY next year in BSC if he doesn't transfer.....
bearmanpg
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Another potential pg who is a grad transfer is Charles Minlend from USF....14.4 pts and 4.7 rbs last year....
TheSouseFamily
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Surprised that we're not all over Minlend. But when he mentions the schools in touch, Cal doesn't come up. Surely, Fox remembers Minlend putting up 17 on us last year.

socaltownie
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TheSouseFamily said:

Surprised that we're not all over Minlend. But when he mentions the schools in touch, Cal doesn't come up. Surely, Fox remembers Minlend putting up 17 on us last year.


Again - and if you have influence you need to be hammering on it. This isn't (only) up to Fox. Unless Minlend is interested in Public Health or Public Policy what grad program is he landing at? It is Cal fighting a war with one arm and a leg missing.
Take care of your Chicken
TheSouseFamily
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socaltownie said:

TheSouseFamily said:

Surprised that we're not all over Minlend. But when he mentions the schools in touch, Cal doesn't come up. Surely, Fox remembers Minlend putting up 17 on us last year.


Again - and if you have influence you need to be hammering on it. This isn't (only) up to Fox. Unless Minlend is interested in Public Health or Public Policy what grad program is he landing at? It is Cal fighting a war with one arm and a leg missing.


You're right. And there could be any one of a litany Of factors, including the specific graduate program. Could be that, could be grades, could be anything. Hard to judge from the outside. Plus, a lot of schools treat grad transfer years as basically a free year devoid of any real coursework. Cal's not gonna do that. That's probably a turn off to a lot of potential targets.
bearmanpg
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Thats where Woods may come into play....he is NOT a grad transfer but only has 1 year of eligibility left....It hasn't looked like it was too hard to get a waiver lately.....
BeachedBear
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socaltownie said:

TheSouseFamily said:

Surprised that we're not all over Minlend. But when he mentions the schools in touch, Cal doesn't come up. Surely, Fox remembers Minlend putting up 17 on us last year.


Again - and if you have influence you need to be hammering on it. This isn't (only) up to Fox. Unless Minlend is interested in Public Health or Public Policy what grad program is he landing at? It is Cal fighting a war with one arm and a leg missing.
That's just a flesh wound
calumnus
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socaltownie said:

TheSouseFamily said:

Surprised that we're not all over Minlend. But when he mentions the schools in touch, Cal doesn't come up. Surely, Fox remembers Minlend putting up 17 on us last year.


Again - and if you have influence you need to be hammering on it. This isn't (only) up to Fox. Unless Minlend is interested in Public Health or Public Policy what grad program is he landing at? It is Cal fighting a war with one arm and a leg missing.


Public Health is a great grad degree to get right now.
calumnus
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BeachedBear said:

socaltownie said:

TheSouseFamily said:

Surprised that we're not all over Minlend. But when he mentions the schools in touch, Cal doesn't come up. Surely, Fox remembers Minlend putting up 17 on us last year.


Again - and if you have influence you need to be hammering on it. This isn't (only) up to Fox. Unless Minlend is interested in Public Health or Public Policy what grad program is he landing at? It is Cal fighting a war with one arm and a leg missing.
That's just a flesh wound


I've 'ad worse!
BC Calfan
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Another one to monitor. Georgia connection.
bearmanpg
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Looks like if we were interested in Holland Woods, he wasn't interested in us....too bad....he is a player....

https://247sports.com/Article/Arizona-State-Gonzaga-New-Mexico-Oregon-State-Portland-State-basketball-recruiting-Holland-Woods-transfer-145741601/
HoopDreams
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7-3 Purdue center in the grad transfer portal
StillABear1
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Quan Jackson is an interesting mention despite his somewhat poor shooting percentage, both FG and 3FG. Interestingly with their coaching change at GA Southern (their coach took the James Madison job), the other top G there, sophomore Calvin Wishart, a Minnesota prep hoop and football super star and the GA Southern PG, hit the portal last week. Yesterday he committed out west to UC Santa Barbara after considering Minnesota, Southern Illinois, UNI and a few others. He will have to sit a year unless the NCAA relaxes the transfer rule in their upcoming meetings in June.
bluesaxe
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StillABear1 said:

Quan Jackson is an interesting mention despite his somewhat poor shooting percentage, both FG and 3FG. Interestingly with their coaching change at GA Southern (their coach took the James Madison job), the other top G there, sophomore Calvin Wishart, a Minnesota prep hoop and football super star and the GA Southern PG, hit the portal last week. Yesterday he committed out west to UC Santa Barbara after considering Minnesota, Southern Illinois, UNI and a few others. He will have to sit a year unless the NCAA relaxes the transfer rule in their upcoming meetings in June.
All reports I've seen say that if they change the transfer rule, it won't be effective until after the coming season.
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