Comments on: Basketball: Self calls team’s behavior `ridiculous’

By: SteveNTexas

SteveNTexas — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 05:27:17 +0000

Yoda – I just now looked at your post. What IU and Cal have in common are young teams.

You really can’t be a Cal Grad as your reading comprehension is barely worthy of a high school. I said 2012 -2014 classes – that is the FUTURE – Both IU and Cal suck right now – your reference to a 2010 recruit is about PAST recruiting. If you just follow the simple rule that the higher the year number – the further into the future it is, it would help substantially. 2010 this year 2011 next year- got it?

By: The Wisdom Cow

The Wisdom Cow — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 19:59:40 +0000

My take was that many of the Kansas players couldn’t take what they dished out last year on their home court, there getting all the calls.

If you caught the TV audio, the players all came to the broadcasters before the game and introduced themselves formally. I thought it was classy of Self to have them conduct themselves that way, but then I thought back on it as the game progressed –

Being their first true away game, I can see young guys introducing themselves to the TV folk having the wrong effect. Clearly, Self wants them to see it as businesslike professionalism, but isn’t it more likely 18-20 year olds feel more like they are on tour, doing a press circuit? It easily slips into a sense of entitlement. When Jorge played rough (his usual, but just the way Cal players were roughed up last season in Kansas), a few Jayhawks felt disrespected, their “entitlement” questioned.

I’ll admit I have more respect for Self seeing how he handled this, but I have little for many of his players.

By: Picard

Picard — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 19:57:03 +0000

Kansas shut us down on the post and we weren’t hitting our mid-range jumpers. Since we weren’t consistently making threes, their defense was able to collapse on Kamp and MSF every time we thought about going low.
I do see a bright spot in Crabbe. He has definitely improved and I think by mid-season he could be a real shooting threat. Franklin is still spotty shooting the ball, but he made a couple backdoor cuts that shows he can find the open space. I’d like to see him penetrate more, though. Both guys are still learning the system. Once they have a better feel for it, their production will go up.
We’re not going to win the Pac-10, but if we can minimize sloppy turnovers and increase our poise at the free throw line, we can be competitive.

By: Bears

Bears — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 19:10:25 +0000

We could not shoot the ball, didn’t matter if it was a lay up or a Free throw. Could not get the ball to go down. If you can’t do that you make it really tough on yourself.
The defense and rebounding was really good. As was the effort from the majority. Freshman still need to learn to play at this level. They are not progressing the way I thought they might. There is still time for them to step up!
MSF is a senior and we need more beef to move the program higher. Monty needs to bring in a JC or HS kid or two with height and strength.
The size and strength of KU was glaring.
Filling out the current recruiting class that only has one kid with 1 or 2 more and the 2012 class are key.
The program has a shot to make real noise but recruiting must deliver and young guys here must improve!

By: Picard

Picard — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 18:28:43 +0000

Three things we need to improve on immediately:
1. Perimeter shooting
2. Free throws
3. Turnovers
The missed free throws in particular killed us. We went 19 for 33. That’s 14 points left off the scoreboard. Also, careless passing and dribbling fueled Kansas scoring runs. We could have won that game.

By: joey

joey — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 17:24:43 +0000

Sounds like we need a coach that can recruit.

By: Yoda

Yoda — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 16:19:49 +0000

Oh Steve, by the way, Indiana’s top ranked 2010 recruit was ranked 144 on the Rivals top-150 list. Cal has three players ranked way higher than that, so this “diamonds in the rough” thing seems as wrong as all of Texas.

And what I was originally going to post was props to Bill Self for recognizing some of what happened and acknowledging it.

By: Yoda

Yoda — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 16:19:00 +0000

By: Yoda

Yoda — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 15:56:59 +0000

Steve, no one here but you cares about Indiana. What has Indiana done lately anyway?

This is a Cal team lacking a point guard, which will not be the case next year. That alone will be a huge difference. They start two freshmen but also have no experienced bench, yet they do have talent. Crabbe and Solomon are going to be very good next year. For not they are scrapping like crazy and that mentality will serve them well once their inexperienced players have a year under their belt.

You can’t really be talking about 2014 recruiting, can you? Nobody even has an official class yet for 2012 yet – not even close to signing time. If you were paying attention you’d know that Cal is in the mix for several highly sought after recruits for 2012.

By: SteveNTexas

SteveNTexas — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 13:11:36 +0000

I saw a reference to Cal on an Indiana Board as a “likely sub-par .500 team” a week ago and defended us because like Indiana we are a young team.

There are several differences but the one I’d focus on is that Indiana may have already put the best 2012 and 2014 classes in the nation. I don’t think Cal has verbals for anyone of note.

I’m tired of “diamonds in the rough”, we need to get the best California kids for a few seasons in a row or we are going nowhere.