from JF:

Freshman Jabari Bird calls his Cal debut `an amazing experience'

well Jabari, it was an amazing experience for the fans too!

Shocky1;842190414 said:

---

anyone else think my favorite bear from last season t-wall bares more than a passing resemblance to samuel jackson's character?

the grind#
unbreakable#

---

---

t-wall turned in a masterful sycracuse/11th overall nba draft pick of the philly 76ers mcw like performance vs cop a feel state

*****sufforcating on ball d & relentless disruption of passing lanes
*****team high 7 assists
*****6 rebounds
*****only 1 turnover & 1 foul
*****20 pts on an efficient 7-14 shooting including 3-6 on 3 pters
*****smiles & encouragement for his teammates

cal family#
this is cal basketball#

Shocky1;842190421 said:

---

beast mode=pride of oakland tech & the university of california, berkeley

---

cal family#

Shocky1;842202094 said:

---

denmark's world traveler & relentlessly physical sami eleraky drove across the bay today to berkeley to check out jabari bird & the monster class at the bears open scrimmage

shout out to south bender for the detailed scrimmage report...cal's ability to knock down a high % of clutch fts at the end of games will likely result in several thrilling wins

sami can't take any official visits by ncaa rules until he has completed half of his jc credits required for graduation...his unit totals will include classroom work at both barton & sfcc along with several online classes at sfcc

eleraky will debut for the sfcc rams on friday night, nov 8th


cal famiy#
50 yr decision#

---

took the 10 minute drive from the olympic club* to sfcc this afternoon to watch sami eleraky for the 1st half (20 minutes) of the rams 4th annual tip off tnt 3rd place game vs santa rosa on my way to berkeley for the women's bb spinal tap level 11 loud crowd game vs duke

spoke with justin labagh, sfcc's hc & former cal bb walk on, before the game and he told me that sami is working hard in the classroom, the weight room & on the court...when i reminded labagh he is the winningest hc in the history of college bb (87.6 winning % heading into this season), he calmly replied, "all i know is that we're 0-1 this season"...justin's real shining achievement is that he academically prepares his players to earn college scholarships as more players from sfcc earn schollys than any other jc in california

sfcc lost yesterday to yuba (which also beat defending state champion mt san jacinto fri nite) & labagh told me eleraky did not have his best game

eleraky is a shade under 7' & is listed at 245 lbs in the program...he is lean looking (but not skinny) & could add another 15 lbs of muscle (under scott thom's elite s&c program if he signs with cal) quite comfortably with his frame

while sami is from aalborg, denmark, his parents are of egyptian descent and he is olive skinned with no visible tats

eleraky can really run with long strides & style wise would fit well with cal's new high tempo transition game...he also has above average jumping skills for a 7 footer

on d he is actively engaged with a crouched stance & constantly talks to his teammates...very impressed with his ability to quickly & physically put his body on an opposing player in an effort to block out when the opponents shoot...sami is not afraid of contact

offensive stats don't mean anything at sfcc as labagh constantly rotates players in & out of the game and they impressively share the ball with one another...his teams don't feature star players with gaudy stats, they just win championships

having said that, sami doesn't demand the ball & doesn't appear to have a go to post move yet...he had one exceptional offensive play when he pinned the defender and then released him for an over the top entry pass catch & lay up...eleraky appears to have good hands

eleraky's inexperience shows up as he doesn't quite have all the angles for rebounds (kravish is great at this) figured out yet & his high flying shot block attempts are a split second off...continued strong coaching & game experiences could remedy those issues

as a disciple under bobby knight, labagh is giving eleraky tough love...after a missed 10 ft fall away jumper (instead of pounding it to the basket), justin yelled, "sami, that's not the shot we want" & then quickly substituted him out

like kameron rooks, sami eleraky has a chance to be good at a high d1 program which is the same scouting report that would have been stated re: both richard solomon & david kravish when they arrived at cal

i'm looking forward to checking out sami again later this season to check out his development (hopefully other bears fans will take in a sfcc game too, wear your cal gear & sit in the row behind the rams bench-listening to jerome randle sized #3 animatedly talk to his coaches, teammates, referees, opponents, the guy in the 4th row and even himself when he's not draining nba 3 pters is worth the $7 admsission in itself)

sami's remarkable journey of traveling from denmark to kansas to san francisco is a story of perseverance & mental courage with many chapters still to be written...


*played the olympic club's fabulously fun par 3 cliffs course with dramatic ocean views & clever shot values with the o-club's greens chairman this morning in under an hr...the cliffs course is one of my 3 favorite 9 hole courses in the united states along with augusta national's par 3 course & the dunes club in new buffalo, michigan...please note that the short course at pine valley is actually 10 holes & the par 3 conservation course at bandon is actually 13 holes...my favorite international 9 hole course is the highly original & quirky valliere course at morfontaine (in the subrubs of paris) whose downhill par par 3 4th hole to a wildly undulating green is arguably the best inland par 3 in the world


the university of california, berkeley=#1 ranked public university in the world (including denmark)

Shocky1;842219748 said:

---

took the 10 minute drive from the olympic club* to sfcc this afternoon to watch sami eleraky for the 1st half (20 minutes) of the rams 4th annual tip off tnt 3rd place game vs santa rosa on my way to berkeley for the women's bb spinal tap level 11 loud crowd game vs duke

spoke with justin labagh, sfcc's hc & former cal bb walk on, before the game and he told me that sami is working hard in the classroom, the weight room & on the court...when i reminded labagh he is the winningest hc in the history of college bb (87.6 winning % heading into this season), he calmly replied, "all i know is that we're 0-1 this season"...justin's real shining achievement is that he academically prepares his players to earn college scholarships as more players from sfcc earn schollys than any other jc in california

sfcc lost yesterday to yuba (which also beat defending state champion mt san jacinto fri nite) & labagh told me eleraky did not have his best game

eleraky is a shade under 7' & is listed at 245 lbs in the program...he is lean looking (but not skinny) & could add another 15 lbs of muscle (under scott thom's elite s&c program if he signs with cal) quite comfortably with his frame

while sami is from aalborg, denmark, his parents are of egyptiian descent and he is olive skinned with no visible tats

eleraky can really run with long strides & style wise would fit well with cal's new high tempo transition game...he also has above average jumping skills for a 7 footer

on d he is actively engaged with a crouched stance & constantly talks to his teammates...very impressed with his ability to quickly & physically put his body on an opposing player in an effort to block out when the opponents shoot...sami is not afraid of contact

offensive stats don't mean anything at sfcc as labagh constantly rotates players in & out of the game and they impressively share the ball with one another...his teams don't feature star players with gaudy stats, they just win
championships

having said that, sami doesn't demand the ball & doesn't appear to have a go to post move yet...he had one exceptional offensive play when he pinned the defender and then released him for an over the top entry pass catch & lay up...eleraky appears to have good hands

eleraky's inexperience shows up as he doesn't quite have all the angles for rebounds (kravish is great at this) figured out yet & his high flying shot block attempts are a split second off...continued strong coaching & game experience could remedy those issues

as a disciple under bobby knight, labagh is giving eleraky tough love...after a missed 10 ft fall away jumper (instead of pounding it to the basket), justin yelled, "sami, that's not the shot we want" & then quickly substituted him out

like kameron rooks, sami eleraky has a chance to be good at a high d1 program which is the same scouting report that would have been stated re: both richard solomon & david kravish when they arrived at cal

i'm looking forward to checking out sami again later this season to check out his development (hopefully other bears fans will take in a sfcc game too)

sami's remarkable journey of traveling from denmark to kansas to san francisco is a story of perseverance & mental courage with many chapters still to be written...


*played the olympic club's fabulously fun cliffs course with dramatic ocean views & clever shot values with the o-club's greens chairman this morning in under an hr...the cliffs course is one of my 3 favorite 9 hole courses in the united states along with augusta national's par 3 course & the dunes club in new buffalo, michigan...please note that the short course at pine valley is actually 10 holes& the par 3 conservation course at bandon is actually 13 holes

---

Eleraky sounds interesting. I really hope at least one of these guys that we sign is ready to contribute next season.

Shocky, I love your posts. Not only content, but delivery. But when a golfer like you suggest you saw hoops at SFCC, I wonder. I think you avoided the San Francisco Golf Club (SFGC) and went to CCSF. My wife is a nursing school grad there from waaaaayyy back.

Thanks for the updates Shocky! Eleraky would be a great addition.

How do you like the conservation course at Bandon Dunes compared to the other par 3 courses you mentioned?

I actually enjoy my Bandon Dunes trips more than my trips to Pebble/Spyglass/Spanish Bay. Can't beat walking 18 holes in less than 4 hours. Just my opinion

Shocky1;842219748 said:

---

offensive stats don't mean anything at sfcc

---

Too bad -- I'm always interested in shooting percentages, assists, turnovers, and (when available) fouls drawn.

2015 6-8 Marquesse Criss visited Cal today apparently.
sounds like a good player (rebounding, defense)

Hope he dropped in on the women's game -- we lost, but in front of more than 10,000.

78-73 in corvallis

really like the coppin state hc, he's an old guy with bad posture who wears a poorly fitting oversized suit and mumbles at his players the whole game

as he left the court at haas i walked over and shook his hand & congratulated him on how hard his team played

his unintelligible answer was something like "thank %&^#$% @#$*& @#$"

gotta love ron "fang" mitchell



go eagles#

stu;842219782 said:

---

Too bad -- I'm always interested in shooting percentages, assists, turnovers, and (when available) fouls drawn.

---

justin labagh of city college of san francisco is the winningiest head coach in the history of college basketball with a 87.6% victory record

ccsf sends a higher % of its players to college on schollys than any other jc in california

go rams#

jay john told me "we have three seniors whose scholarships need to be replaced...with kahlil johnson now leaving the team, we now have a 4th scholarship to offer...he will remain on scholarship throughtout the school year"

roster mgmt#

HoopDreams;842219826 said:

---

2015 6-8 Marquesse Criss visited Cal today apparently.
sounds like a good player (rebounding, defense)

---

Good candidate to replace Thurman as a catch-and-dunker. Don't know if he can do much else. Maybe he doesn't need to.

Sluggo

How tall is Marquesse Criss?

MoragaBear;842220114 said:

---

Don't see much in the way of similarities to Thurman

---

How would you compare Criss to Moute a Bidias?

Shocky1;842219242 said:

---

---

t-wall turned in a masterful sycracuse/11th overall nba draft pick of the philly 76ers mcw like performance vs cop a feel state

*****sufforcating on ball d & relentless disruption of passing lanes
*****team high 7 assists
*****6 rebounds
*****only 1 turnover & 1 foul
*****20 pts on an efficient 7-14 shooting including 3-6 on 3 pters
*****smiles & encouragement for his teammates

cal family#
this is cal basketball#

t- wall named pac 12 player of the week

my guess is that ucla pg of the future bryce alford probably was not 2nd...

Shocky1;842213096 said:

---

former bears all american & cal graduate nnamdi asomugha of nigerian descent was a 1st round nfl draft choice, a multiple time pro bowler & is currently with the san francisco 49ers

asomugha has generated $75+m in nfl earnings

nnamdi is a philanthropist & runs the asomugha foundation: owin (orphans & widows in need) provides food, shelter, medicine, vocational training, literacy education, and scholarships to those victimized by abuse & poverty in nigeria

this yr nnamdi married actress/model kerry washington & they are expecting their 1st child

cal has provided the foundation/opened doors for nnamdi athletically, acacademically, financially & from a community service perspective along with getting the girl of his dreams

cal family#
50 yr decision#


the university of california, berkeley+#1 ranked public university in the world (including nigeria)

---

kerry washington continues her streak of being on almost every magazine cover in america

cal degree=opens doors with the girl of your dreams

50 yr decision#

LVBear;842219771 said:

---

Thanks for the updates Shocky! Eleraky would be a great addition.

How do you like the conservation course at Bandon Dunes compared to the other par 3 courses you mentioned?

I actually enjoy my Bandon Dunes trips more than my trips to Pebble/Spyglass/Spanish Bay. Can't beat walking 18 holes in less than 4 hours. Just my opinion

---

agree with your preference for bandon, oregon vs the monterey peninsula, california from a pure golf perspective...walking is an integral part of the magic of the game & golf carts should be limited to folks 70+ of age and/or with medical disabilities

my monterey rankings are as follows:

1) cypress point
2) pebble beach
3) monterey peninsula cc (shore)
4) preserve
5) spyglass hill

but from a inexpensive fun standpoint, nothing is better than playing pacific grove nine that plays thru the sand dunes

the conservation course at bandon (all green fees are donated to a coastal preservation organization) was designed by the best living architects, coore & crenshaw (tom doak is a close 2nd among architects with gil hanse the 3rd)

the lead on site associate for the conservation course on behalf of c&c was my good buddy dave zinkland (cornell grad like tom doak)...z is working on his 1st independent job on renovating the iconic desert forest in carefree, az which will reopen this dec

i absolutely love the conservation course & its the perfect 2nd round for those at the bandon resort with tired golf swings

Jabari Bird's 14 pts was the most by a Bear in his Cal debut since Ryan Anderson 20 vs Utah Valley St in 2006

Congratulations to Tyrone!

Shocky1;842215860 said:

---

tom, i get where you are going with this but if you will look more closely you will see that the wile e coyote in your photos is actually johnny dawkins

quite frankly johnny dawkins has been trying to impersonate mike montgomery for yrs...but now the stanford ad has figured out that johnny's 39-51 pac 12 record isn't quite the same as monty's 212-112 pac 12 record while he was at stanford

jd's excuse is that he's lost a ton of games in the last 5 minutes & often by less than 5 pts

i had a client lunch today that included a highly respected nba front office executive...i asked him (without mentioning a team and/or coach) what are the core roots of losing a lot of games in the last 5 minutes & often by less than 5 pts

he paused for a moment, offered a brief smile and said, "above average to good players coupled with really bad coaching"

beep beep




adios johnny#

---

one of the most distinerested defensive performances in recent pac 12 seasons by an ineffectual schemed johnny dawkins d which made little effort to stop byu in transition or guard cutters to the basket in allowing 112 pts

stanford players seemed fatigued & played with little heart...did not see a single cardinal all night on the floor diving for a loose ball

offensively jd's triangle offense places their bigs and best rebounder josh huestis 15-18 ft from the basket

not sure where the game was played, the only audible crowd noise was the cougar fans chanting b-y-u




beep beep#
adios johnny#

Shocky1;842220613 said:

---

one of the most distinerested defensive performances in recent pac 12 seasons by an ineffectual schemed johnny dawkins d which made little effort to stop byu in transition or guard cutters to the basket in allowing 112 pts

stanford players seemed fatigued & played with little heart...did not see a single cardinal all night on the floor diving for a loose ball

offensively jd's triangle offense places their bigs and best rebounder josh huestis 15-18 ft from the basket

not sure where the game was played, the only audible crowd noise was the cougar fans chanting b-y-u




beep beep#
adios johnny#

---

Ha! one of your best posts yet.

Shocky1;842214583 said:

---

wall street hedge fund managers, silicon valley high tech venture capitalists & other financially lucrative careers with stoopid crazytown big $ are best targeted with a business degree

a haas undergraduate school (#2 ranked undergraduate b-school in the united states) degree provides the necessary business skills (ability to find the hidden pipe bomb in 300+ pages of financial & legal documents) to successfully move forward without a mba, thereby saving an additional 2 yrs of schooling

stanford & ucla do not offer undergraduate b-school programs, one must study economics which is a less than optimal area of study if one is pursuing a well rounded business foundation for killing it in business in today's fiercely competitive operating environment...stanford & ucla grads need to then enroll in a mba program for an additional 2 yrs unless they just want to be getting coffee for rock star rainmakers & watching from the bench

how many years do you really want to go to college?






50 yr decision#
50 yr friendships#

---

cal family#

the university of california, berkeley+#1 ranked public university in the world (including los angeles)

I was wondering why there was some noise at Maples tonight.
The Mormons gave the little place some life!
112 points surrendered at home, wow, just wow.
What do they have, 5 seniors?

Shocky1;842220613 said:

---

one of the most distinerested defensive performances in recent pac 12 seasons by an ineffectual schemed johnny dawkins d which made little effort to stop byu in transition or guard cutters to the basket in allowing 112 pts

stanford players seemed fatigued & played with little heart...did not see a single cardinal all night on the floor diving for a loose ball

offensively jd's triangle offense places their bigs and best rebounder josh huestis 15-18 ft from the basket

not sure where the game was played, the only audible crowd noise was the cougar fans chanting b-y-u




beep beep#
adios johnny#

---

"no hustle, no attitude, no defense, no crowd, no coach...pathetic all the way around...dawkins sitting on the bench during the last seconds completely stoic and just blinking his eyes wildly...muir (the stanford ad) sitting by himself in the middle of the vip section with his chin in his hand...byu fans much louder than ours...people streaming out with 11 minutes to go...i may not be able to take it any more"

this is stanford basketball#
adios johnny#

Shocky1;842220519 said:

---

agree with your preference for bandon, oregon vs the monterey peninsula, california from a pure golf perspective...walking is an integral part of the magic of the game & golf carts should be limited to folks 70+ of age and/or with medical disabilities

my monterey rankings are as follows:

1) cypress point
2) pebble beach
3) monterey peninsula cc (shore)
4) preserve
5) spyglass hill

but from a inexpensive fun standpoint, nothing is better than playing pacific grove nine that plays thru the sand dunes

the conservation course at bandon (all green fees are donated to a coastal preservation organization) was designed by the best living architects, coore & crenshaw (tom doak is a close 2nd among architects with gil hanse the 3rd)

the lead on site associate for the conservation course on behalf of c&c was my good buddy dave zinkland (cornell grad like tom doak)...z is working on his 1st independent job on renovating the iconic desert forest in carefree, az which will reopen this dec

i absolutely love the conservation course & its the perfect 2nd round for those at the bandon resort with tired golf swings

---

Great top 5 but I was wondering if you include the whole Monterey Bay (Pasatiempo, Bayonet, Blackhorse) and have them 6 or lower, or that they are not included in the immediate peninsula.

OdontoBear66;842220689 said:

---

Great top 5 but I was wondering if you include the whole Monterey Bay (Pasatiempo, Bayonet, Blackhorse) and have them 6 or lower, or that they are not included in the immediate peninsula.

---

1) cypress point
2) pebble beach
3) pasatiempo
4) monterey peninsula cc (shore)
5) preserve
6) spyglass hill
7) monterey peninsula cc (dunes)
8) bayonet
9) spanish bay
10) poppy hills (currently being renovated)

Shocky1;842210944 said:

---

shaggy, don't be such a scardy kat & pass the scooby snacks

alford has been rejected at pg by:

*****amhaad rorie
*****parker jackson-cartwright
*****josh perkins
*****robert cartwright
*****quentin snider
*****jordan mclaughlin

his only pg on the roster after this season will be bryce alford...and the only reason he signed the slowest pg in the pac 12 is because he slept with the recruit's mom

westwood=very scary place these days

this is ucla basketball#
alford's 5 wild wings offense with no pg#
ruh roh#
happy halloween steve#

---

thomas welsh is probably wondering how the pg problem at ucla is going to play out:

the earliest a ucla pg could arrive in westwood would be in 2015 for tw's soph season if welsh attends ucla

if the pg isn't elite (recruiting a top 5 pg will be challenging for alford to sign given his son bryce will be the competition), then that 2015 pg might not be game ready until tw's jr or sr season

cal, on the other hand, has 2014 facilitator/distributor/pure pg ahmaad rorie along with hybrid combo guards 2013 sam singer & 2012 tyrone wallace on board in berkeley

pgs matter#
alford's 5 wild wings offense with no pg#

"no hustle, no attitude, no defense, no crowd, no coach...pathetic all the way around...dawkins sitting on the bench during the last seconds completely stoic and just blinking his eyes wildly...muir (the stanford ad) sitting by himself in the middle of the vip section with his chin in his hand...byu fans much louder than ours...people streaming out with 11 minutes to go...i may not be able to take it any more"

this is stanford basketball#"

Since MM has come over, they have really played us tough.

Hope you don't have to eat your words.

1947;842220981 said:

---

"no hustle, no attitude, no defense, no crowd, no coach...pathetic all the way around...dawkins sitting on the bench during the last seconds completely stoic and just blinking his eyes wildly...muir (the stanford ad) sitting by himself in the middle of the vip section with his chin in his hand...byu fans much louder than ours...people streaming out with 11 minutes to go...i may not be able to take it any more"

this is stanford basketball#"

Since MM has come over, they have really played us tough.

Hope you don't have to eat your words.

---

Monty is 6-5 (5-5 in regular season games) against his former employer. The two losses last year hurt.

calumnus;842221057 said:

---

Monty is 6-5 (5-5 in regular season games) against his former employer. The two losses last year hurt.

---

Two or three wins against Dawkins' charges this year would help.

Go Bears!

Shocky1;842216576 said:

---

check out today's orange county register article: "alford's past paints blurry character portrait"

if steve alford has not protected his star bb player after he raped the 1st student, then the 2nd victim might have been spared this violent crime

if steve alford had been a bb coach at an iowa middle school rather than the bb hc at the university of iowa, he would be in a prison today for his documented role in enabling/facilitating a convicted rapist to escape justice all in the name of his winning a few more bb games

alford's insincere apology (as mandated by the ucla ad) this yr more than a decade later tells you everything you need to know about his character

steve alford=joe paterno

---

steve alford's decade late apology as mandated by the ucla ad from this april:

"at that time i instinctively and mistakenly came to (pierece's) defense before knowing all the facts...i wanted to believe he was innocent and in response to a media question i publicly proclaimed his innocence before the legal system had run its course"

"that was inappropriate, insensitive and hurtful especially for the young female victim and i apologize for that"

"i have learned and grown from that experience and now understand that such proclamations can contribute to an atmosphere in which similar crimes go unreported and victims are not taken seriously"


why did alford wait over a decade to apologize?
does he feel any responsibility for the 2nd rape by pierce of another young lady?
what does this say about alford's character?