I LOVE this team. I'm sure we still have a 20-point meltdown loss ahead of us, but more than any team we've had in the past, I can see these guys listening to Cal. Every game we play, I see them explicitly adopting the instructions Cal is giving, sometimes to an extreme. For example, how many times in the past have we heard Cal say "we need to take more threes?" I can't remember any. Why is that an issue? It's not because these guys don't love taking threes. With a green light, Knox and PJ would shoot 20 a game between just the two of them. It's because Cal said, "You guys need to live in the lane. Drive, drive, and drive some more. Use your height, play over the top." And our guys listened. Half our turnovers occur because Quade, Shai, and Knox are trying to make the extra pass in the offensive action instead of dribbling around, which elite offensive players love to do.
These kids are humble, and they're learning. And because they're a bunch of freshmen with little to no "elite" talent, my expectations are low. So every win is a pleasant surprise. This is actually a low-stress, highly-enjoyable season for me.