Stanley, I think, got a contract commensurate with Braun's contract. That parity between coaches for men and women teams has not continued.

stu said:

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ncbears said:

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but to me what was/is missing from the Bears is a Clarendon - who can hit that mid-range pull-up/in transition jumper. That was the shot which was needed last night. RC was not the player to attempt it. I think Smith could be that player - someday but not yet apparently.

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I agree. But if Asha hits 3 of her 9 shots we win anyway.

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Adia Barnes put a tall player on her (she must have seen what Clori Close did at the end of the game to stop our #2 option). The tall defender not only made the shots more difficult, she tipped passes into Anigwe or forced her to throw it too far.

It was fun to see Thomas stand next to McDonald. The 5'7" McDonald is only about an inch taller.

quote=annarborbear]I think the one way to salvage this season is to let the players have a players only meeting and let them decide how they want to play for the rest of the year./quote]

I think I like your proposal, annarborbear.

"The other thing that was frustrating was that after a bad pass into the post, LG would just stand and clap her hands in encouragement. I would have expected her to have a more constructive reaction to a bad play."

OMG I saw that too! That's what you get paid in the high six figures for, as a women's coach in the PAC12? What is she doing? Encouraging bad behavior? I would've expected "Hey watch the passes!" Or "Ladies take care of the ball!" But clapping as in "Good job"?

The other thing that irritates me watching WBB is the number of moving screens allowed. It looks like the players now know the refs aren't calling it, so they're trying to do it now.

Before tipoff one of the announcers says she talked to LG who said they will give McDonald the three. They pretty much did and it killed us.

Barnes gave McDonald breathers to keep her fresh for the end and didn't have her bring the ball up. Anigwe on the other hand got tired (air balled three) and committed the critical grab foul on McDonald (instead of trying to block a shot from a player a foot shorter than her). Anigwe was also tired at the end of regulation in the UCLA game and made a reach in foul with 4.4 seconds left which could have cost us the game at the time.

OdontoBear66 said:

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I think the proof of the pudding was when SI went to Oregon "unless" and that is a big "unless" she was short on academics which I do not know. Great LaMoRinda player in our backyard with a very good supporting class. Very telling.

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Her academics are good. Moraga has more insights since he knows SI, but a lot her decision came down (purportedly) to: 1) Oregon was offering her brother, (2) she thought her game for purposes of professional play would develop more under Graves (that is not farfetched, the guy can coach), and (3) she didn't like the fit at Cal, which led to discussions that probably were unfair to SI and Cal.

My two cents on LG. She is an excellent fit for Cal. She still is a relatively young coach with a relatively young staff (the 3 women coaches are about the same age, and the guy is very young). She can be out-coached and not develop and implement schemes specific to her talent. The team has underperformed relative to its talent the last few years.

LG used to talk a lot to Monty, and I think she really could use a grey beard (or grey pony tail) to help her on the bench. I have always considered LG as a good recruiter, but I think she is being eclipsed the last few years, partially because the program has under-performed since the final 4, and new coaches who have entered to league at UCLA, the Oregons and UofA, are more assertive on the recruiting trail (Furd continues to have good recruiting classes because it is Furd). Time for LG to change the narrative on Cal Women's basketball.

wifeisafurd said:

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My two cents on LG. She is an excellent fit for Cal. She still is a relatively young coach with a relatively young staff (the 3 women coaches are about the same age, and the guy is very young). She can be out-coached and not develop and implement schemes specific to her talent. The team has underperformed relative to its talent the last few years.

LG used to talk a lot to Monty, and I think she really could use a grey beard (or grey pony tail) to help her on the bench. I have always considered LG as a good recruiter, but I think she is being eclipsed the last few years, partially because the program has under-performed since the final 4, and new coaches who have entered to league at UCLA, the Oregons and UofA, are more assertive on the recruiting trail (Furd continues to have good recruiting classes because it is Furd). Time for LG to change the narrative on Cal Women's basketball.

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One would have a hard time faulting the image LG projects both for the program, the university and also herself. At some point she must be expected to deliver and this year she has the horses. Of all the criticism of WJ on the men's board, it is still hard to assess as he definitely does not have players in fold to be competitive (swimming upstream you might say----Lindsay not). Don't know what one does here.

wifeisafurd said:

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My two cents on LG. She is an excellent fit for Cal. She still is a relatively young coach with a relatively young staff (the 3 women coaches are about the same age, and the guy is very young). She can be out-coached and not develop and implement schemes specific to her talent. The team has underperformed relative to its talent the last few years.

LG used to talk a lot to Monty, and I think she really could use a grey beard (or grey pony tail) to help her on the bench. I have always considered LG as a good recruiter, but I think she is being eclipsed the last few years, partially because the program has under-performed since the final 4, and new coaches who have entered to league at UCLA, the Oregons and UofA, are more assertive on the recruiting trail (Furd continues to have good recruiting classes because it is Furd). Time for LG to change the narrative on Cal Women's basketball.

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I agree. I think that's why she frequently goes to talk to Steve Kerr at the Warriors' practice facility. Her loyalty to Charmin Smith and Kai Felton might preclude replacing either one of them. Maybe AD Knowlton could find funds to add another assistant - full-time or part-time.

CalFanatic said:

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annarborbear said:

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The biggest mistake in the Mike Williams LG $700k per year contract, not including the five year guarantee, was not putting in some specific rewards and penalities. We have had 37 TO's and have hit only 10-41 three point shots in our last two losses. A 75% reduction in per game payments would have been about right for those two numbers.

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EXCUSE ME?! Her contract is for $700,000 a year?!

For what, exactly? One postseason win in 3 years? For recruiting whiffs that have left us with just one post- with real playing time on the roster- for next season? I had zero idea that was her salary per season. I am floored.

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That is her total compensation including the annual contribution to her retirement plan. She is the fifth highest paid employee in the entire university. Unfortunately, establishing commensurate accountability for performance apparently didn't cross Mike's mind at the time of the contract extension through 2021.

I can't see Knowlton putting any additional money into the program. In 2017, the last year for which audited data are available, the women's basketball program lost $3.1 million. We had $3.6 million in expenses, including $1.5 million in coaches salaries. We had just $483,000 in revenue, with only $168,000 in ticket sales (after all the discounts and freebies). Donations amounted to $130,000.

As noted previously, the best way to support women's athletics at Cal (and at many other universities) is to buy a season ticket for football, which has to subsidize the other sports.

That said, we do need to insist on much better performance for the money.

wifeisafurd said:

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My two cents on LG. She is an excellent fit for Cal. She still is a relatively young coach with a relatively young staff (the 3 women coaches are about the same age, and the guy is very young). She can be out-coached and not develop and implement schemes specific to her talent. The team has underperformed relative to its talent the last few years.

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I would reverse that and saw the team overperformed in 2012-13 and the other six years have been exactly where they should be - based on a combination of talent & coaching.

A lot of posts on this thread keep mentioning they are surprised KA is only 22-30whatever, surprised KA will leave with one postseason win, etc. Based on this thread, I would assume KA is the Jillian Alleyne of Cal ... great player that is hampered by surroundings slightly below her level. *Again, this is what I would assume having read this thread, not saying this is necessarily the case*

In LG's best season, we had a leader (Clarendon) but it wasn't Clarendon's team. It was Layshia, Talia, Gennifer and a rising star Boyd all taking center stage with Jemerigbe and Gray also playing at high supporting levels and Pierre and Lyles providing specific sparks. The new-Bears only have had one person claiming center stage for the past 4 years, and this coaching style is just not working that way.

Another reason I would say the results now are what they should be (given talent + coaching) and that 2012-13 was an overachieving season is the numbers. Outside of that year, LG has not advanced past the 2nd Round in six tries. Outside of that year, LG has been a "23-10" coach. Outside of that one year, the average Pac-12 finish has been 5th (4.83 to be exact - 2nd, 2nd, 3rd, 10th, 7th, 5th). Notice it's loaded with the best finishes back when she had Boyle recruits on the team. Shoot, even if you add that one year (1st) the average is just 4th.

We are who we are. We're a upper-middle of the pack Pac-12 team. We're a 20-32 national finish team. We're an NCAA Second Round team. There's no real arguing that that's not what Cal Women's Basketball is since LG took the reigns.

At this point, you either accept that that's what we are with the possibility of an overachieving (2012-13) or underachieving (2015-16) year, or you make a culture change which means a new coaching staff.

Just for the record, Oregon did not offer Eddy Ionescu ...

And, as with Natalie Romeo (Carondelet and later Nebraska and Washington), Cal was late to the party on Sabrina. Granted, she was tough to evaluate because she's not an off-the-charts athlete and she played exclusively in Kelly Sopak's system (some thought she was just a system player), but if Cal wants to keep local talent home, it has to take some chances on local talent.

Unfortunately, Gabby Green and Mikayla Cowling, the best local recruits in recent memory, did not work out as well as everyone hoped, though there were clues that Green might have some attitude issues. In hindsight, getting Mariya and Minyon Moore might have been the better option, but that was not the consensus at the time.

Asha Thomas is a good local get, as she has developed well, but missing out on a player who's in serious discussions as the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA draft (after just three years in college) is more than just unfortunate.

Turnovers are a killer but in regards to McDonald, Stanford had better luck.

grin&bearit said:

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Turnovers are a killer but in regards to McDonald, Stanford had better luck.

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Not sure it was luck. I saw our game and the first half of their game against Stanford. Tara was determined not to give McDonald any easy shot. We intentionally gave McDonald the 3. She made 5-8 against us, 0-6 against Stanford.

ClayK said:

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Just for the record, Oregon did not offer Eddy Ionescu ...

And, as with Natalie Romeo (Carondelet and later Nebraska and Washington), Cal was late to the party on Sabrina. Granted, she was tough to evaluate because she's not an off-the-charts athlete and she played exclusively in Kelly Sopak's system (some thought she was just a system player), but if Cal wants to keep local talent home, it has to take some chances on local talent.

Unfortunately, Gabby Green and Mikayla Cowling, the best local recruits in recent memory, did not work out as well as everyone hoped, though there were clues that Green might have some attitude issues. In hindsight, getting Mariya and Minyon Moore might have been the better option, but that was not the consensus at the time.

Asha Thomas is a good local get, as she has developed well, but missing out on a player who's in serious discussions as the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA draft (after just three years in college) is more than just unfortunate.

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You validate a point I was making on another thread about Gottleib's inability to assess intangibles in players. Her evaluations are based purely on superficial athleticism. Cal might have attempted to recruit SI but not not enough. Another case of missing the obvious was Green who though talented also had serious red flags. I think the key for every good recruiter is to find at least a small percentage of under the radar recruits to balance out the obvious ones. Often we do not see the value of things that we lack ourselves. In Gottleibs case that probably is intensity, fire and will to win in players. Which is what Green lacked, but Sabrina had in spades.

You're right no luck involved. I was being sarcastic. We just have a hard time shutting down the best player on the opposing team.