There isn’t a single coach in the country who can assemble as talented a roster as Cal can. Who can manage egos as well as Cal can. The problem is, it’s no longer enough to have the most talented team on the court. The game has changed considerably the past 5 years with the advancement of technology and widespread adoption of analytics. The playing field is far more even, and teams with less talent have a much better understanding of how to make up for their shortcomings.
Cal is asking a group of 8-10 guys who haven’t spent considerable time playing together, and, in the case of the freshmen, often haven’t been exposed to many advanced basketball concepts to play winning basketball. When everyone was taking long 2s and PFs/Cs were posted up on opposite blocks, this worked. Talent won out. This is far from the case now, and I am convinced that Cal could land the top 5 players from each recruiting class going forward and it likely wouldn’t matter. It’s simply too much to ask of these guys.
Unfortunately, I’m not sure where we go from here. I dont want this to be a critique of Cal, because there truly is no one better at executing this strategy. I’m just not sure it’s tenable anymore.
Cal is asking a group of 8-10 guys who haven’t spent considerable time playing together, and, in the case of the freshmen, often haven’t been exposed to many advanced basketball concepts to play winning basketball. When everyone was taking long 2s and PFs/Cs were posted up on opposite blocks, this worked. Talent won out. This is far from the case now, and I am convinced that Cal could land the top 5 players from each recruiting class going forward and it likely wouldn’t matter. It’s simply too much to ask of these guys.
Unfortunately, I’m not sure where we go from here. I dont want this to be a critique of Cal, because there truly is no one better at executing this strategy. I’m just not sure it’s tenable anymore.
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