I think it's obvious to most of us that Cal can only win with highly ranked players, who are good enough to overcome his lack of coaching. This got me thinking, how would Cal do with UConn's roster this year? They had a roster full of 4 stars and a bunch of transfers from mid major schools. UConn's 4 stars got a lot better the last few years because they have a coach who develops players over the course of their career. Let's look at Cal's guys who have stuck around for more than 1 year recently:
Wheeler- worse the 2nd year, bad enough for him to quit
Toppin- same player for 2 years, got marginally better his 3rd year but was maddeningly inconsistent
Ware- came in a garbage player, still a garbage player, has not developed even one offensive move
Oscar- good his 2nd year but not as good as the 1st year
Collins- didn't improve at all, same player as 1st year
Fredrick- DNP 1st year due to injury but was terrible this year and a big step down from his Iowa career
Brooks- same player for 3 years, never got better, just played more minutes
Allen- never developed
Hagans- never got better
Montgomery- never got better
Richards- improved a lot his 3rd year
Quickley- really improved his 2nd year but played behind Dragon until he quit the team
Gabriel- never got better
Cal's track record is not good with retaining players and when they actually do return, his results are terrible for guys actually improving over the course of 2-3 years. So, what would Cal have done with UConn's roster this year? We'll never know but if recent history is any indicator, they would've had at least 10 losses and an early round exit.
Wheeler- worse the 2nd year, bad enough for him to quit
Toppin- same player for 2 years, got marginally better his 3rd year but was maddeningly inconsistent
Ware- came in a garbage player, still a garbage player, has not developed even one offensive move
Oscar- good his 2nd year but not as good as the 1st year
Collins- didn't improve at all, same player as 1st year
Fredrick- DNP 1st year due to injury but was terrible this year and a big step down from his Iowa career
Brooks- same player for 3 years, never got better, just played more minutes
Allen- never developed
Hagans- never got better
Montgomery- never got better
Richards- improved a lot his 3rd year
Quickley- really improved his 2nd year but played behind Dragon until he quit the team
Gabriel- never got better
Cal's track record is not good with retaining players and when they actually do return, his results are terrible for guys actually improving over the course of 2-3 years. So, what would Cal have done with UConn's roster this year? We'll never know but if recent history is any indicator, they would've had at least 10 losses and an early round exit.
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