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What I've learned since Cal has been here is that you don't know anything about his teams until the seasons kick into gear, and even then you don't REALLY know until about February 15th.
On paper, I will agree that this team has some glaring holes and weaknesses. Then again, we've never really seen any of them play, and certainly not together.
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We are talking a lot about how much we may or may not miss Vanderbilt. The question I have is "How did this go so long before it became an issue?" We knew about some kind of foot injury back in March or April. Back then everything was "hush, hush" -- and to a large degree, still is. I realize the nature of the injury is nobody's business, and certainly not ours. Still, it seems to me that qualified medical personnel might have been able to determine months ago that this injury would require more intense treatment -- up to and now including surgery.
The whole thing just seems a bit strange to me.Comment
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They may have thought the injury would heal without surgery, and then when they began individual workouts recently he realized it was flaring up. Or he potentially re-injured it in practice this weekend.
Surgery is generally seen as not that big of a deal but there's a definite risk of complications, particularly when it's an 18-year-old kid. It's the last option unless they just have no choice.Comment
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If he can turn into Eloy Vargas I would be thrilled. We shouldn't need a ton from him with as big as we will be across the board but it would be nice to have seven or eight minutes a game for him to come in and grab three or four rebounds. I wish he would've gotten more time last year as he seemed to not be lost out there. We don't need ten and six from him but four and three in a handful of minutes would be awesome.Comment
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Eloy had some flashes of production, but he also had the misfortune of playing behind the best center to ever play at UK his last year here.
It'd be really unusual for a guy to come from nowhere like Wynyard and be a major contributor, but I do think he'll get a shot. Cal generally rides the guys who have pro potential though and lets them play through mistakes for most of the season. Richards also is going to have a steeper learning curve than most because he hasn't played a ton of basketball. So I think we'll see a lot of him even if he hits some bumps in the road.Comment
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I'm reserving judgement till I see them play first. It's impossible to tell how these kids will adjust to the college game before the season starts. It's also hard to say who is better or worse than their high school reputations suggest.Finally can't say what kind of chemistry they will have as a team, or their work ethic. As always with Cals teams just too many unknowns to make an accurate prediction.Comment
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Good points.
I wasn't sold on 2010-2011 either coming into that season, and then when I saw them in Canada I immediately thought we had something. Mostly I was worried that we'd be thin (even before we knew about Kanter) and I wasn't sold on Knight or Lamb out of high school. So I was definitely wrong there.
On the other hand I was more sold on the NIT team because I kept thinking Poythress was going to be a stud, and we all thought Harrow would be better. So that went way worse than expected.
I do think you can get a feel for most (not all) of these players if you follow them in high school and watch them play against other great players. The reason for this is because the talent they're playing against in those showcase games is at a really high level; those are guys who will a lot of times make NBA rosters in just a calendar year's time. But some players do radically improve throughout a season and/or are way better than their high school ranking. Some guys just have it between the ears and when the competition heats up they respond regardless of their age.Comment
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It does feel like an awful lot of "ifs" have to come to fruition for this to be a special season. We'll be good IF Green is a good floor general and shoots well. We could be a good shooting team IF Baker plays enough defense to be on the floor to be able to shoot. We could be good IF SKJ and Gabriel have progressed as much as Cal indicates. We may be deep enough IF Vanderbilt is fully recovered by January...you get my point. A lot of pieces just have to fall in place to make a real run in March.Comment
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This is true and I thought about it as I hit "post reply." But feels more so this year. For the reason's you mention and the fact that our PG is one of the biggest question marks. If he is a leader I think we're OK. If he has the growing pains some have had--even one's who were thought to be total studs--we're going to be disappointed.
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I don't see this at all. I think Knox and Diallo are both very good. Seeing them on All America teams will not surprise me. I also think PJ Washington is going to be really good And I'm not nearly as down on Quade Green as a lot of people. Cal loves the guy and we should know to trust him with point guards. Richards and Wynyard can beat and bang, play enough defense and rebound well enough. With the depth of Alexander, Baker and Vanderbilt when he comes back. This team will be just fine. I fully expect another deep tournament run.Comment
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Like I said, hope I'm wrong.
I think we'll have kids who are going to contribute and who will play well, but I also don't see the jaw-dropping "wow" factor you've seen with Cal's very good teams that have been led by freshmen.
Knox definitely has it. Diallo too, but as we saw this summer he's a very uneven player right now.
The others look like players who are much more normal. I.e. kids who are going to have to grow into their games.
But as I said above, I saw Eric Bledsoe do nothing in the Derby Classic game. Saw Doron Lamb twice and never thought he'd contribute like he did. Wasn't high on Knight at all. So you never know what a kid is going to bring. So much of this game is about desire and heart and that can't be expressed in the tiny sample sizes we get of them in high school.Comment
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