What are your thoughts on that 2nd loss......

[St.PatterSoN-54-]

......specifically, I've been pondering whether the hellfire and brimstone would have been worse if we had been 7-0 headed into the loss with UNCW?

Does it make it any less egregious losing to UNCW since we'd already lost to KU?

For me, it doesn't. Just curious what the board thinks.

 

[dcw62]

The UNCW deflated alot of people including myself after the Miami win..For me, not sure what to expect the rest of the season but not getting my hopes up

 

[ukcatz12]

I know people hate to hear it, but I do think this comes with the territory with a team with so many freshman playing major minutes and isn't so much a coaching thing. That game was just horrible all around, horrible shooting, bad turnovers, horrible defense, very poor effort. I do think it takes some time for the freshman to learn they need to bring it on any given night or they're opening themselves up to an upset. There's only so much motivating a coach can do, at some point the players have to get the rest of the way themselves.

Disappointing for sure, but doesn't really change my outlook on the season. We've seen plenty of Cal team struggle mightily against or lose to bad mid majors and be fine come March. I think it's clear this team has the pieces to be great and in March when we play out our ceiling I'm not sure how many teams can really beat us. The key is getting everyone to give the effort needed to play at that ceiling.

 

[mcnicKY91]

Annoyed...annoyed that the players were feeling themselves after the Miami beatdown and didn't show up at all the first half...annoyed that Cal didn't have them prepared mentally coming off the big win to play with the same level of intensity...

At the same time, not surprised. Cal has had a lot of teams coast through the first half of a game against a mid-major which either occurred right before or right after a big game. Overwhelming majority of the time the team picks it up in the second half and rolls.

The Cats were down by 14 late in the first half and took a 6 point lead in second half, so a 20 point swing. The problem is they let their foot off the gas and stopped defending. UNCW drove at will. Hopefully this serves as a wakeup call to the players that UK gets everybody's best shot.

 

[Ky_Bred_Cat]

After the Miami win, it disappointing, surprising, and a step in the wrong direction.

 

[DCFseattle]

Sucked at time, but tbh I haven't on my own thought about it since. Only when I read somebody crying about it.

 

[KFuqua]

It would have been a terrible loss, no matter what our record was going into that game. The lack of decent coaching was a killer.

 

[UKWildcats1987]

It's worse having lost to KU.

At least if we had won that we would have 2 good wins to more than offset the awful loss.

 

[STL_Cat]

It just kind of dampened my excitement a bit. This team had the look of a potential 1 seed in the Miami game, I genuinely thought we might be headed toward one of those extra special seasons. I thought this might be one of our special teams.

Now, they still could be. I still love this team and with the right style of play I think this is an absolute contender. But let’s face it — none of our truly great teams ever dropped a game like that one.

 

[docholiday51]

Annoyed...annoyed that the players were feeling themselves after the Miami beatdown and didn't show up at all the first half...annoyed that Cal didn't have them prepared mentally coming off the big win to play with the same level of intensity...

At the same time, not surprised. Cal has had a lot of teams coast through the first half of a game against a mid-major which either occurred right before or right after a big game. Overwhelming majority of the time the team picks it up in the second half and rolls.

The Cats were down by 14 late in the first half and took a 6 point lead in second half, so a 20 point swing. The problem is they let their foot off the gas and stopped defending. UNCW drove at will. Hopefully this serves as a wakeup call to the players that UK gets everybody's best shot.

You pretty much nailed it. I really thought we would pull out a win till we didn't

We had enough old hands on the team to get us out of it but they didn't. I think missing Wagner hurt and not the best game for Bradshaw to play his first minutes.
Just no way to justify losing this one. Right up there with any bad loss we have had in the Cal or BCG eras

 

[drew_ukfan]

What door do I watch to see if Cal is leaving?

 

[docholiday51]

What door do I watch to see if Cal is leaving?

Al of them

 

[cats2010]

I know people hate to hear it, but I do think this comes with the territory with a team with so many freshman playing major minutes and isn't so much a coaching thing. That game was just horrible all around, horrible shooting, bad turnovers, horrible defense, very poor effort. I do think it takes some time for the freshman to learn they need to bring it on any given night or they're opening themselves up to an upset. There's only so much motivating a coach can do, at some point the players have to get the rest of the way themselves.

Disappointing for sure, but doesn't really change my outlook on the season. We've seen plenty of Cal team struggle mightily against or lose to bad mid majors and be fine come March. I think it's clear this team has the pieces to be great and in March when we play out our ceiling I'm not sure how many teams can really beat us. The key is getting everyone to give the effort needed to play at that ceiling.

How many bad losses do we have to endure with cal as a coach before it becomes a coaching thing? I’ve lost count how many bad losses we have had but apparently it still isn’t enough.

 

[ukcatz12]

How many bad losses do we have to endure with cal as a coach before it becomes a coaching thing? I’ve lost count how many bad losses we have had but apparently it still isn’t enough.

Is it a coaching thing? Can people actually point out real coaching decisions that led to the loss or are we just assuming it's Cal's fault because that's just the trendy thing to do? Cal doesn't turn the ball over or miss shots or constantly get beat off the dribble on defense.

 

[cats2010]

Is it a coaching thing? Can people actually point out real coaching decisions that led to the loss or are we just assuming it's Cal's fault because that's just the trendy thing to do? Cal doesn't turn the ball over or miss shots or constantly get beat off the dribble on defense.

If I’m coaching and my team is constantly getting beat off the dribble, I’m going to switch things up defensively. Probably give the other team a different defensive look for a few possessions, then switch back again and go with a different defender on the guy who’s torching us. We had 3-4 turnovers the 2nd half and once held a 6 point lead. Turnovers didn’t beat us. The wrong guys taking shots did along with no defensive adjustments, so yes that’s all coaching.

 

[ukjenning44]

We don’t have enough talent on this team for Cal to have any shot at a FF.
Probably would be a crapshoot if he had the dream team at this point.

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

I know people hate to hear it, but I do think this comes with the territory with a team with so many freshman playing major minutes and isn't so much a coaching thing. That game was just horrible all around, horrible shooting, bad turnovers, horrible defense, very poor effort. I do think it takes some time for the freshman to learn they need to bring it on any given night or they're opening themselves up to an upset. There's only so much motivating a coach can do, at some point the players have to get the rest of the way themselves.

Disappointing for sure, but doesn't really change my outlook on the season. We've seen plenty of Cal team struggle mightily against or lose to bad mid majors and be fine come March. I think it's clear this team has the pieces to be great and in March when we play out our ceiling I'm not sure how many teams can really beat us. The key is getting everyone to give the effort needed to play at that ceiling.

"We've seen plenty of Cal team struggle mightily against or lose to bad mid majors and be fine come March?"

I'm curious. Which teams have done that since 2017?

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

Is it a coaching thing? Can people actually point out real coaching decisions that led to the loss or are we just assuming it's Cal's fault because that's just the trendy thing to do? Cal doesn't turn the ball over or miss shots or constantly get beat off the dribble on defense.

Your quote is a great deflection, and would work for people who refuse to think critically.

But this isn't a 2nd grade class. This is a message board filled with men and women who passionately follow college basketball, and every one of us know that it's a coach's job to prepare his team mentally, strategically, and skillfully.

If we followed your disturbing logic, no coach, anywhere in the world, would ever be accountable for his players losing games. It would always be a player issue.

That's not reality though.

 

[UKBB4Ever]

It's just a disappointing loss. No excuse for it. The biggest loss from a perspective is that we would have been top 10 for sure this week and maybe even top 5?

In the long run it won't matter. The CHC will whine about it forever. Even if we went undefeated the rest of the year. They still harp on Evansville even though that team went on to win the SEC by 3 games.

As for why, a combination of things. Mostly young guys feeling their oats. It doesn't matter what the coaches say, they thought they would just show up and win. And what this team had been doing well, scoring and taking care of the ball, we did neither. The defense and rebounding had been poor every game. That continued. We are not going to go thru a season just outscoring every everyone and playing 90-85 games. The defense has to get better and I believe it will. Not from Mitchell and Reeves. They are both 5th year guys and have never guarded. The rest will improve and they will learn team defense. Wagner being out hurt our defense and our turnovers. No way we turn it over like that with him playing.

Still, we shouldn't have needed Wagner to beat the hell out of them. Maybe Cal coached a bad game too? I can't point to anything he should have done differently.

But I read this board and I know our record is 5 wins for Welch and 2 losses for Cal.

 

[UKBB4Ever]

"We've seen plenty of Cal team struggle mightily against or lose to bad mid majors and be fine come March?"

I'm curious. Which teams have done that since 2017?

"18 won the SEC tourney in St Louis and was rounding into form. JV getting hurt late really hurt our chances.
'19 was an overtime loss in the E8 game.
'20 was a team that got better and better all year. Won the SEC by 3 games. Didn't get to show what they could do.
'22 earned a 2 seed.
'23, while disappointing, overachieved.

Maybe you missed all of that?

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

"18 won the SEC tourney in St Louis and was rounding into form. JV getting hurt late really hurt our chances.
'19 was an overtime loss in the E8 game.
'20 was a team that got better and better all year. Won the SEC by 3 games. Didn't get to show what they could do.
'22 earned a 2 seed.
'23, while disappointing, overachieved.

Maybe you missed all of that?

I missed the part where in 2018, 2019, and 2022 we lost to lesser seeded teams, and in two cases, teams playing without starters?

I missed the part where the losses in '18, '19, '22, and '23 were against teams that had a total of two NBA players whereas our teams had a total of fourteen NBA players?

I missed the part where none of those seasons ended in a Final Four?

Nah, I saw it all. I also saw that you have crappy expectations, and that you simply don't understand the pulse of BBN, which would explain why you thought the '18-23 run - a run that included surrendering the all-time wins lead to Kansas, the tournament lead to UNC, a historic-worst season, a historic worst first-round loss - can be classified as "fine."

 

[NociHTTP]

It would have been a terrible loss, no matter what our record was going into that game. The lack of decent coaching was a killer.

It really bothered me how calm their coach was. He wasn't worried about a damn thing. IN RUPP.

 

[docholiday51]

It really bothered me how calm their coach was. He wasn't worried about a damn thing. IN RUPP.

When you don't have to worry about the opposing coach countering anything you are doing then it is easy to be calm

 

[NociHTTP]

You pretty much nailed it. I really thought we would pull out a win till we didn't

We had enough old hands on the team to get us out of it but they didn't. I think missing Wagner hurt and not the best game for Bradshaw to play his first minutes.
Just no way to justify losing this one. Right up there with any bad loss we have had in the Cal or BCG eras

Or Edwards trying to get his, without consequence.

 

[UKWildcats1987]

"18 won the SEC tourney in St Louis and was rounding into form. JV getting hurt late really hurt our chances.
'19 was an overtime loss in the E8 game.
'20 was a team that got better and better all year. Won the SEC by 3 games. Didn't get to show what they could do.
'22 earned a 2 seed.
'23, while disappointing, overachieved.

Maybe you missed all of that?

Embarrassing post as usual.

 

[*CatinIL*]

I went from thinking, hey fun-times are back...only to be thrown back to reality and thinking, not much has changed...

 

[docholiday51]

Or Edwards trying to get his, without consequence.

If he was trying to get his, he should have tried harder

 

[St.PatterSoN-54-]

The question is whether the UNCW loss would have felt more catastrophic had we been undefeated coming into it?

 

[Fox2monk]

......specifically, I've been pondering whether the hellfire and brimstone would have been worse if we had been 7-0 headed into the loss with UNCW?

Does it make it any less egregious losing to UNCW since we'd already lost to KU?

For me, it doesn't. Just curious what the board thinks.

I think people have made their feelings well known lol. It’s a loss we shouldn’t have. They couldn’t miss and we couldn’t guard them. It was a shit show and the worst we played as a team all year. I hope we get those performances out of our system real quick. It wouldn’t have hurt as bad had we kept that Kansas game.

 

[natchezrule]

Is it a coaching thing? Can people actually point out real coaching decisions that led to the loss or are we just assuming it's Cal's fault because that's just the trendy thing to do? Cal doesn't turn the ball over or miss shots or constantly get beat off the dribble on defense.

“12 loss chubby” is the coach

 

[the nail at the foul line]

Cal has got this




63 percent of the time as of late.

 

[_ukcat]

After Miami win I was thinking UK could possibly finally Break its longest drought of not being a #1 Seed in the NCAAs and not setting its longest drought of not making the Final 4. Now feel both out the window.

 

[warrior-cat]

Actually, this is what I have come to expect with a Cal coached team sadly.

 

[chroix]

Got roped into going to a stupid wedding and missed the entire thing. Sucked. Not as bad as watching what y’all sat through but damn it was a lose lose.

 

[chroix]

I hate the Umass coach. I hated him in 1996 and I hate him today.

Welcome back!

 

[Fox2monk]

After Miami win I was thinking UK could possibly finally Break its longest drought of not being a #1 Seed in the NCAAs and not setting its longest drought of not making the Final 4. Now feel both out the window.

Still not out the window as it’s way too early. But we have to win a lot of game and not drop stupid ones from here on out. At least we finally have an early resume win to go with it.

 

[Fox2monk]

Welcome back!

 

[FinancialPlannerZac]

"18 won the SEC tourney in St Louis and was rounding into form. JV getting hurt late really hurt our chances.
'19 was an overtime loss in the E8 game.
'20 was a team that got better and better all year. Won the SEC by 3 games. Didn't get to show what they could do.
'22 earned a 2 seed.
'23, while disappointing, overachieved.

Maybe you missed all of that?

While I actually agree with a lot of what you say in general and appreciate your positive outlook... I've seen you say that we overachieved in 2023 multiple times. I glaringly disagree with that one point. I've personally never been more wrong about a singular team than that one. Returning all the experience, including the reigning NPOY, I thought we'd be a top 5 team all year and a shoe-in for the Final Four. Earning a 6-seed after a frustrating season and flaming out in the second round was a vast underachievement.

 

[STL_Cat]

"18 won the SEC tourney in St Louis and was rounding into form. JV getting hurt late really hurt our chances.
'19 was an overtime loss in the E8 game.
'20 was a team that got better and better all year. Won the SEC by 3 games. Didn't get to show what they could do.
'22 earned a 2 seed.
'23, while disappointing, overachieved.

Maybe you missed all of that?

Overachieved in 2023?
Preseason AP #4
Returned the NPOY

22-12
12-6 SEC record
6 seed in the NCAA
2nd round loss to Kansas State

You were a bad troll before, but we are all going to need you to explain yourself on that one. LOL

 

[STL_Cat]

While I actually agree with a lot of what you say in general and appreciate your positive outlook... I've seen you say that we overachieved in 2023 multiple times. I glaringly disagree with that one point. I've personally never been more wrong about a singular team than that one. Returning all the experience, including the reigning NPOY, I thought we'd be a top 5 team all year and a shoe-in for the Final Four. Earning a 6-seed after a frustrating season and flaming out in the second round was a vast underachievement.

Seriously bro. There is no amount of positive spin that could make anyone agree that last year’s team overachieved. Crazy 😜