Willie on KSR - “Cal got complacent, Soft”

[Skyguyb27]

I'm not buying the fact that Cal didn't ciach basketball. I don't see how that's possible. Maybe he didn't coach fundamentals, that's definitely not in Cal's wheelhouse, but his assistants are supposed to do that and since our players did get better throughout the season in most years, somebody had to be teaching something.
Plus, you can't take a new batch of high school kids every year, not teach them anything, tgen

I’m sure he taught them some stuff but if you compare someone like Pope to Cal it would be a drastic difference level of instruction.

 

[ukcatz12]

I’m sure he taught them some stuff but if you compare someone like Pope to Cal it would be a drastic difference level of instruction.

I don't think it's a different level of instruction, it's just a different type of instruction. They have two very different approaches to coaching a team. I think Cal coaches less now than he used to because he doesn't care anymore, but when he cared his teams were consistently at the top of college basketball. That didn't happen by accident.

 

[Skyguyb27]

I don't think it's a different level of instruction, it's just a different type of instruction. They have two very different approaches to coaching a team. I think Cal coaches less now than he used to because he doesn't care anymore, but when he cared his teams were consistently at the top of college basketball. That didn't happen by accident.

That was more talent than skill and iq.

 

[Digger-Cat]

I’m sure he taught them some stuff but if you compare someone like Pope to Cal it would be a drastic difference level of instruction.

No doubt and that's not hard to believe. Cal never talked X's and O's, or analytics, he seemed to only care about what to do with his chess pieces and how to make each one better individually.
The game passed him by years ago and it's putting more and more distance on him. If he cones back for another year next year, it's going to be worse.

 

[CNJ1966]

Also saud Cal didn't really teach him anything about basketball, it was more of the off court stuff, how to build a brand, etc

I can believe that. He was here 3 years and never developed one post move.

 

[ukfan1622]

I don't think it's a different level of instruction, it's just a different type of instruction. They have two very different approaches to coaching a team. I think Cal coaches less now than he used to because he doesn't care anymore, but when he cared his teams were consistently at the top of college basketball. That didn't happen by accident.

Yeah, his UMASS and Memphis teams were well coached, especially on defense. Something changed somewhere along the way.

 

[fatguy87]

I wonder who we would have hired? Who were the hot names at the time? Obviously Bruce Pearl had just taken Auburn to the Final Four, Tony Bennet won the national title (boy that would have been a disaster).

Honestly, we probably would have hired Chris Beard.

He had just taken Texas Tech to the National Championship game, was being praised by anyone and everyone as a "win no matter what" guy, and this was before he had any off-the-court issues- I bet that's who we would have made a play for.

Yeah Beard was a hot commodity. After Beard and Pearl who else would have been feasible? Dana Altman? Gregg Marshall was running on fumes at Wichita by 2019 and he had some issues that were already out. Maybe Hoiberg post NBA fizzle?

 

[MachineHead1]

Yeah, his UMASS and Memphis teams were well coached, especially on defense. Something changed somewhere along the way.

He won a national championship and didn’t think he had anything left to prove