I'm really seeing a lot of the intangibles come together quickly for Z in only a little bit of game time. Im REALLY hoping Cow gives him more pt because his passing AND shooting is like having a sniper at an elevated position, and his rebounds per are A+ , can't teach 7-2 legit, can spread floor AND hit shots. Just seeing more developmental potential out of him than the other bigs, plus his attitude.
I think Big Z is gonna ball out soon!
- Thread starter BlazerHallsBallsN96
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One had to be oblivious to the game of basketball to not see he was by far the best of the 3. The fact Cal wasted as much time time developing him during games to this point is infuriating. 6 games where he saw little to no action. If anything is an obvious call you can count on cal to do the opposite. Probably see tons of ugo/bradshaw today.
If you don’t see improvement in every player on the roster then you are just willfully blind.
Blame with Z is 90% ncaa and maybe 10% cal. He should have been eligible from day 1 and that costs us a lot of wins IMO.
He would have gotten time with no ugona and Bradshaw and never looked back. That lost game experience was huge.
Improvement is one thing. Ceiling and potential is another.
Z’s ceiling is not only 10x higher than Ugo’s or Bradshaw’s, but his game also simply fits the other pieces on this team better. But like the poster above said, if something is glaringly obvious, you can count (even BET $) on Cal to do the opposite.
Just speaking on since Z was made eligible. 6 games that Z was eligible he played a total of 12 minutes, that’s on cal, not the NCAA. Even 12 minutes a game in each of those would have gone a long way in Z’s development. The NCAA taking forever certainly derailed Z’s year as a whole, no disagreement there.
Guess it’s not possible for you to not be a 🤡. Your comment has nothing to do with the subject at hand.
As others have said he’s clearly the best of the 3 and it’s not close. In every aspect of the game including D. He’s not great on D and neither are the other 2. His offense is far far beyond either.
As long as Cal plays him, he raises our overall ceiling. He may not get as many blocks as UGO but every other part of his game is more advanced IMO, he’s part of our best scoring lineup, he can pass, he’s fluid running the floor. He can also block shots too. I feel as though he gets lost sometimes but he’s never so far out of position that teams get wide open layups like with UGO sometimes. No bite on the pump take over and over and over.
I would say your 90-10% is accurate. Maybe 80-20.
I also think Ark or Vandy are the type of teams he could explode against, a team that is not overly physical.
For a minute there ugo was the only one of the three that would block a shot or rebound. Z and Bradshaw get pushed around so much it was killing us. All that said Z clearly has a higher ceiling. I just want who ever fits the game at hand to be on the court. That means sometimes it will be Z an and maybe sometimes the others.
Yeah. These next 2 games should be confidence builders.
And I do agree with the other poster he should have played 8 to 10 minutes every game n that stretch referenced, especially after the UGA debut. That part is on calipari.
I’m getting closer and closer to being convinced it’s a burner for someone in the athletic department or Cals friends/family. I never would have thought this even 6 months ago, but it’s getting hard to ignore now.
There is also a fine line between getting experience and being thrown to the wolves/out of condition/lose confidence from being overwhelmed.
Not sure if Cal is to be criticized for not playing a Croatian kid 40 minutes a game at this point.
That said...he should have played some more after the Ga game than he did.
Still wrong. If you don’t see the improvement in his defense the last few games you’re blind. Before he was unplayable his defense was so bad. He’d just wander around with no idea where he should be.
He’s improved greatly and isn’t a massive defensive liability so he plays. This wasn’t Cal wasting him on the bench and purposely not playing him. This was Z not playing until he proved he could play defense.
Z was great offensively, but that has never been this team’s problem. When we’re giving up 90 a guy that’s a defensive liability just can’t play.
Interesting. So in the course of one week, he was unplayable at LSU and Auburn because his defense was so bad but like magic he played well enough to get 20 minutes against Bama and another 20 a few nights later at Miss. St. was his improvement that vast (just from practice alone) that warranted this or perhaps he was allowed to play through a mistake in the bama game to get valuable game experience. If you recall cal had ugo ready to take him out against bama (after a mistake) before calling ugo back after Z made a play. Save the blind comments until you actually pay attention to things. And before you comment back on Z at Auburn, Z’s 30 seconds of play was as bad as I have ever seen but he was pulled immediately and not allowed to ever get into the game. The same almost happened against Bama at Rupp but now we know the rest of the story.
Don’t think I ever said anything about 40 minutes/game and in fact clearly stated at least 12 minutes/game. Z could not even come close to playing a full game at this time due to conditioning. Another month from now could be a different story though.
Those were hard fought conference games. Z didn't get the chance to adjust to the college game by playing the typical cupcakes and early season non-conference teams in which EVERYONE is adjusting.
The NCAA screwed us over, no matter how you slice the cheeze.
It's as if coach is acting like we don't have eyes and ears!! Exactly my point about ceiling and potential
Just wait till he gains 20 lb of muscle and the ability to carve out space, nightmare city haha
Couldn't agree more w this and numbers don't lie, and also say this!!! His feel for the game and skill set compliment this team so much better
On purpose, couldn't be more obvious, he had another sign they don't want us to succeed
I don't care how much he scores. Just want to see his defense continue to improve. I wanna see him hold his own against the more physical big men.
Him being a threat to score alone opens up so much for others. Just can't get abused on defense.
Him being a threat to score alone opens up so much for others. Just can't get abused on defense.
Love z’s game. He MUST get more physical. The big dogs in the SEC have been pushing him around. Literally throwing him around. Have to battle and hold your ground. Which for him will mean he plays 3-4 mins then a break.
Didn't he have to also stop practicing until he was cleared? So much of his development was slowed down because him getting cleared took so long.
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