tied at half

low scoring game at 22 each

Defensive battle with both teams struggling ... Cal shooting 32%, UCLA shooting 25% and 0-8 from three

But UCLA outrebounding with fewer turnovers, and UCLA getting better shots (just missing)

For Cal, Curry is only player with more than one basket (1 two and 1-3 from three)

I can't imagine UCLA continues to shoot this poorly considering they are getting open looks, so Cal obviously needs to step up the scoring

Cal four post players are playing abysmally like they did vs USC. They have 7 personal fouls, 10 turnovers of the team's 13 TOs, & have allowed UCLA to grab 14 offensive rebouns at intermission. I don't know how the Bears are tied with the Bruins because virtually every stat is pathetic. Cal has five players that are competing with UCLA: Curry, Leilani, Jazzy, DD & Schipholt. Thank goodness that Charisma Obsborne has not gone off so far.

Both teams are playing poorly and don't deserve to win based upon the 1st half. Cal fell behind right out of the box.

Midway through the 3rd quarter, nobody can score. It's UCLA 26, Cal 25. The Bears have one three-point play by Cailyn Crocker. Who is playing worse?

Thank goodness for Jazlen Green hitting two clutch threes and the end of the 3rd period to put Cal up.

yeah our post players are still a development in progress

both teams now shooting 23%

Both teams still struggling to shoot. Crocker is defending with vigor and enthusiasm, and Green remains poised.

EEEEEK!!! Green with her 4th 3! Cal by 7. Now by 5.

BearBint said:

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EEEEEK!!! Green with her 4th 3! Cal by 7. Now by 5.

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this is why I've said Jazzy is one of the keys for the Bears for Cal

Her shooting, size, and defense are important against P6 competition

UCLA post always throws a low elbow everytime she makes her move

curry not playing under control this game

Curry, Green, McIntosh and Crocker a combined 13 of 44. Yikes. Will need better shooting from our guards in the future, particularly with the lack of scoring from Oniya, Samb, Daniels and ELS. In perspective we're a far better team than last season and are going to win some more games. Wasn't our day.

-Yes-Curry missed on 7 layup opportunities that could have been the difference in the game. She missed that big reverse layup after a Cal timeout in the final minute or so that turned out to be huge. The Bears hit two treys that cut the Bruin lead to two points. It could have possibly been tied. The star frosh also missed right-handed and left-handed layups as well as traveling on a late fast break layup that she did not shoot. I think that Curry was gun-shy at that point in the game. Jayda had three earlier layups blocked.

The key to all of these misses is that Curry did not draw a single foul on any of 'em. Curry usually scores a bunch of her points from the foul line every game. She only went 2 for 2 this afternoon. I guess that one has to credit UCLA's defense there.

UCLA took over the game in the fourth quarter and outscored Cal by 10 points. The Bears did not deserve to win today, shooting 28.3% from the floor. According to live stats, the Bears only made 7 out of 21 layups. I'm not certain that UCLA did either. They played a great fourth quarter after three miserable ones, only hitting 30% from the field.

I noticed that Charmin Smith went with four guards much of the second half. Both teams seemed to try to give the game away, but the other team refused to take it. Cal committed 19 turnovers as compared to UCLA's 18 TOs.

It's time to reschedule all of the postponed (7) conference games. GO BEARS!

Our bigs missed too many short shots, a bit frustrating.

One thing to keep in mind. This is the first time in Pac-12 play that we've played 2 games in one weekend.
That's unfamiliar territory for Curry. I'm sure the $c game was emotionally draining. Also, UCLA had an extra day to prepare for us (they played on Thursday).

I hope Jadyn Bush comes back soon. She was on the bench but not dressed for the game.

One other note: UCLA is a far more experienced team. Horvath and Owens are 5th year seniors. Thomas (#24) and Chou are grad students. Osborne is a junior.


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At this point, it is about trajectory. Need to look improved in the next three games after this one. Both as a team and as individuals.

We are last in the league in defensive rebounds. When we make them miss it is not pretty.

Who teaches the footwork for our bigs? Dismal. Time to coach basketball instead of tryin g to right societies wrongs.

Cal is also last in the league in points allowed & last in the league in three-point defense.

Schroeder71 said:

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Cal is also last in the league in points allowed & last in the league in three-point defense.

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yeah, Cal defense is poor

something I hope improves with experience

As for our offense, somethings have improve ... e.g.

- shooting form of several players improved, resulting in improved FT shooting (e.g. Daniels) and improved mid-range shooting (e.g. Evelien)

- post scoring improvement (e.g. Samb's improved post footwork, Evelien's post scoring improvement)

- overall offensive strategy (e.g. reduced obsession with difficult post entry passes, reduced 3 point shooting from low percentage shooters)

- adding some good set plays for Curry and others

Fundamentally, this offense doesn't resemble our past offensive schemes and is a vast improvement, but we still have a ways to go to get to an effective offense that can compete at the top half of the conference. To do that, we need more balanced scoring like in the OOC schedule. In Pac12 play we rely on our guards to provide most of the scoring which just isn't going to be successful.

And it may not get there this year. I do have optimism for next year when we will have a veteran team, but some players have to make a major jump to fulfill that potential

We have not defended the 3 point shot very well although we did a decent job against USC and UCLA.

I don't think points per game is a very good indicator of hw we play defense . It is a measure of more what pace we play. Defensive FG % is a better value. And DER is even better but Pac 10 doesn't show this rating.

Good defensive teams either try to make you miss or create turnovers. Stanford makes you miss. Arizona tries to create turnovers.

This game made my eyes hurt.

HoopDreams said:

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Schroeder71 said:

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Cal is also last in the league in points allowed & last in the league in three-point defense.

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yeah, Cal defense is poor

something I hope improves with experience

As for our offense, somethings have improve ... e.g.

- shooting form of several players improved, resulting in improved FT shooting (e.g. Daniels) and improved mid-range shooting (e.g. Evelien)

- post scoring improvement (e.g. Samb's improved post footwork, Evelien's post scoring improvement)

- overall offensive strategy (e.g. reduced obsession with difficult post entry passes, reduced 3 point shooting from low percentage shooters)

- adding some good set plays for Curry and others

Fundamentally, this offense doesn't resemble our past offensive schemes and is a vast improvement, but we still have a ways to go to get to an effective offense that can compete at the top half of the conference. To do that, we need more balanced scoring like in the OOC schedule. In Pac12 play we rely on our guards to provide most of the scoring which just isn't going to be successful.

And it may not get there this year. I do have optimism for next year when we will have a veteran team, but some players have to make a major jump to fulfill that potential

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Excellent points.

I would also add that this is a completely new coaching staff: Kelly Cole, Paul Reed and Eliza Pierre.
It will take time for them to blend even further and for them to teach new techniques, etc. Plus, the postponements and the uncertainty of player availability for practices have slowed some learning and repetitions.

Take a breath, people. We are on the right track. Give it time. There will still be highs and lows.

Quote:

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Time to coach basketball instead of tryin g to right societies wrongs.

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What a ridiculous comment. Do you honestly believe that coaches are eschewing working on fundamentals to preach about societal issues? What an insult to a hard-working staff. BTW I'm proud that Coach Smith, her staff and players express their views. They're a credit to the university.

Ultimate arbiter on how we are playing and on how well our individual players are developing will be potential 2023 recruits. Right now, after two previous last place finishes and our big people not yet making much apparent progress, I think we had better start showing a lot more than this. Three straight last place finishes would be a disaster, and excuses won't mean much to recruits.

Let me know when you hear a tlk about X's and O's. Why do our big people keep being called for travelling?

wvitbear said:

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Let me know when you hear a tlk about X's and O's. Why do our big people keep being called for travelling?

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Samb is over-thinking, or hesitant sometimes, instead of acting instinctively

it's common for some players who are learning new footwork, or are tentative (maybe confidence, maybe inexperience) to walk

Michelle's issue is she rushes her shots

Kinda disagree. Samb came to Cal with some of the best fundamentals of any of the bigs. She was coached up well in her younger years. Doesn't mean she doesn't make mistakes, but those mistakes are compounded because she is a slow athlete ~ especially by PAC12 standards.

Michelle needs to be mentally present. There are flashes of it but alas they are too few and far between. To my eye, year-over-year, she has improved the least of all the players.

After last season, I predicted that Dalayah Daniels and Michelle Onyiah possessed the potential to develop into all-conference players. Based upon 2021-2022 performance, I don't see that happening for either player. Michelle cannot stay on the court because she picks up personal fouls at an alarming rate. She also has gotten worse on her shooting around the basket. She seems less focused and is receiving less minutes (12) as a result. Dalayah Daniels doesn't jump on her inside shots and gets many blocked. The 12 foot set shot or jump shot is the key to her scoring from the field. She executed those shots successfully for a couple of games but has only taken one during the LA series. DD is turning into a good free throw shooter so she needs to pump fake on her inside moves to draw contact.

In the off-season, the post coach (IMO) should work with all of them on how to score on shots from 12-15 feet out like Evelien Lutje-Schipholt has learned and Dalayah Daniels is in the process of learning. Fatou Samb has an excellent drop step move that works when she has time to execute it. Another easy shot to learn is a fade away jumper from the right and left sides of the basket using the glass. If each takes 20 of those per day from each side, they could score inside or draw fouls. Jadyn Bush (5-11) has that shot now and Michelle Onyiah could easily learn that because of her "hops". They should all practice it together as a daily post drill.

I learned that shot for one on one or three on three games when I had to frequently take the ball inside at 5-11. I did not have much jumping ability but I could almost always get my fadeaway shot off cleanly. I was a point guard my entire career so I was a good passer,. outside shooter & free throw shooter. My most important skill was that I was the team's defensive stopper. I also rotated back and stopped fast breaks. Every player needs a role and to contribute different skills for the overall success of the team. GO BEARS!

You could be right. I've noticed her good post footwork recently and thought it was a sign of improvement, but she really received so little PT before that I really didn't know if she entered the program with it, but it makes sense she did

In that case, if lack of quickness is the issue then not sure why she is traveling so much except maybe she is getting bummed when she's making her move, and maybe it's also in her head now

UrsineMaximus said:

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Kinda disagree. Samb came to Cal with some of the best fundamentals of any of the bigs. She was coached up well in her younger years. Doesn't mean she doesn't make mistakes, but those mistakes are compounded because she is a slow athlete ~ especially by PAC12 standards.

Michelle needs to be mentally present. There are flashes of it but alas they are too few and far between. To my eye, year-over-year, she has improved the least of all the players.

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"Learning to shoot" or "teaching someone a shot" are far from automatic successes. Every player with half a brain works on shooting and particular shots, and only a vey few can make them in games. And the likelihood of them "learning to shoot" decreases with every year they fail to do so.

Samb and Onyiah appear to me to be classic bigs that just aren't good enough to succeed at the P5 level. They're solid players, and would be much more of a factor in the WCC, but the Pac-12 is not the WCC.

Samb appears to be too slow, and Onyiah too unskilled, to make a difference for Cal, and blaming the coaching staff for their lack of performance seems unfair. (You can blame the coaching staff/administration for not recruiting better players, however.)

Daniels is somewhat mystifying. She flashed talent in high school and last year, but looks lost this season. It could be the staff is failing her, or it could be other factors we know nothing about.

The guard/wing corps seems solid, but I would expect continued focus on Curry from opposing coaches. As Pete Newell said long ago, basketball is a game of move and counter -- Curry moved, defenses countered. It's up to Curry to make the next adjustment. Of course it would help if a consistent scorer emerged to make it harder to focus on Curry, or if there were a legit post scorer. The more weapons you have, the better.

Still, the women's team is clearly improving, unlike the men's team, and is less affected by the lack of a practice facility, so there's hope.

This is still a very young team. Cailyn and Jazlen missed all of last season and are playing their second seasons. Dalayah, Michelle, and Ornella played one abbreviated season with no real pre-season practice and many cancelled games. With injuries Sela and Fatou didn't even get that and Alma played just part of one game. Mia's spring included only six games.

With both our grad transfers out we now have essentially 2 juniors, 2 sophs, and 8 freshies (with various injuries). They won't be the same two years down the road.