stu said:
4thGenCal said:
goodHoop Dreams - I enjoy your perspective on the Men's Board - this i my first post/questions regarding the women's team. A honest/pull no punches assessment for me would be appreciated. Questions: 1) I remember we had recruited two 5 star players (are they playing? if so an assessment) 2) The scores I have followed are showing an an outclassed (and often crushing losses) team with no wins, why? The HC is in her 2nd year and thus far no growth/progress has been shown - I ask because when the Men's team has been struggling, strong criticism was voiced. Note - I have not seen any games this season, but I was an former girls AAU coach and support our teams.thanks.
I'm not HoopDreams but I'll chime in anyway...
Previous recruiting misses and the coaching change left us last season with 4 seniors, 1 junior, and 0 sophs. We recruited 4 freshies, had the expected rough start, and finished the season beating some good teams.
This season's freshies include 1 five-star, 3 four-stars, and 2 international players. Last year's junior left so we have 4 sophs and 6 freshies (plus 2 former walk-ons). It looked like it would be another rebuilding year but we lost 2 soph guards for the season with injuries before the first game. Then we lost 1 freshie guard (the better one) for the season with an injury in her first game. So we're down to 2 scholarship guards, 1 soph and 1 freshie.
To put that in perspective consider how our men's team would look with only Brown and Klonaras at guard. No Bradley. No Foreman. No Hyder. No Betley. With Alters and and Thorpe and Kelly bringing the ball up against the press. I don't think many coaches would win a lot of games under those circumstances.
What I (and I presume most Cal WBB fans) are looking for this season is player development and progress through he season. Next season we should have enough perimeter players with 2 coming in and hopefully 3 recovered from their injuries. With a year of experience the current freshies should be playing up to their star ratings.
Stu, good write up. I'll only add:
current team: - 6 scholie players: 2 guards (1 soph, 1 fresh), 4 forwards (1 soph, 3 fresh)
- 2 walkon guards
currently out for season:- 2 sophs (including best player according to pac12 coaches)
- 1 fresh ('most college ready according to coach)
- soph also missed two games due to concussion
- all the above are guards
- also currently out 1 fresh center (not sure how long will be out)
Considering the:- 1 five star, 3 four star (but all freshmen)
- extreme youth (2 sophs, 4 fresh, 0 juniors/seniors)
- extreme lack of depth (6 scholie players, giving the coach almost no flexibility, and too many minutes for 3 of the players)
- unbalanced roster (2 guards, forcing coach to play two players out of position for extended periods of time)
- maybe only one legit 3 point threat
I'd say it's tough to run any type of offense, especially against a pressure defense