Bear Down Wildcats

While they were playing at Arizona, according to enfuego:

TJ McConnell "mid-major point guard"
Stanley Johnson "doesn't share the ball"
Brandon Ashley "D league player"
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson made fun of his offense, sarcastically called him a "stud"

After the season:
They are irreplacable players that will allow 3 teams Arizona beat 7 times last season (4 of which were blowouts) to jump over Arizona in the standings, despite the fact that Arizona has the #1 recruiting class, the #1 JUCO player coming off a redshirt, and two senior transfers, one of which was all-ACC. And that Utah team just lost their best player in decades, and UCLA team is losing Powell, Looney, and still has coach's son the chucker.

#enfuegologic

UAEebs86 wrote:While they were playing at Arizona, according to enfuego:

TJ McConnell "mid-major point guard"
Stanley Johnson "doesn't share the ball"
Brandon Ashley "D league player"
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson made fun of his offense, sarcastically called him a "stud"

After the season:
They are irreplacable players that will allow 3 teams Arizona beat 7 times last season (4 of which were blowouts) to jump over Arizona in the standings, despite the fact that Arizona has the #1 recruiting class, the #1 JUCO player coming off a redshirt, and two senior transfers, one of which was all-ACC. And that Utah team just lost their best player in decades, and UCLA team is losing Powell, Looney, and still has coach's son the chucker.

#enfuegologic

Not quite accurate:

Stanley Johnson "doesn't share the ball": For half the season, that was accurate.
Brandon Ashley "D league player": Was always a big fan of Ashley and called him Arizona's best player.
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson made fun of his offense, sarcastically called him a "stud": On defense I did think he was a stud. Was limited offensively.

Zzzzzzzz ....

Beachcat97 wrote:

ASUHATER! wrote:Teams are more than 3 players and don't play on paper.

Yep. Miller > Cuonzo, Tarc > Rabb, our total roster > Cal's total roster

Sorry, until Cal proves it on the court as Miller's teams have the past few seasons, AZ gets the edge.

That sums it up. AZ has the deeper, more developed roster. Not that Cal doesn't potentially have a big season, but it depends on how developed its freshmen are, because hyped freshmen don't always deliver right away. If Rabb is as good as Ashley or Jarrett was as a freshman (both were top ten forward recruits), he won't be dominating Tarc next year. Sometimes freshmen dominate (like Okafor this year), but that is not something that is consistently seen.

midnightx wrote:

Beachcat97 wrote:

ASUHATER! wrote:Teams are more than 3 players and don't play on paper.

Yep. Miller > Cuonzo, Tarc > Rabb, our total roster > Cal's total roster

Sorry, until Cal proves it on the court as Miller's teams have the past few seasons, AZ gets the edge.

That sums it up. AZ has the deeper, more developed roster. Not that Cal doesn't potentially have a big season, but it depends on how developed its freshmen are, because hyped freshmen don't always deliver right away. If Rabb is as good as Ashley or Jarrett was as a freshman (both were top ten forward recruits), he won't be dominating Tarc next year. Sometimes freshmen dominate (like Okafor this year), but that is not something that is consistently seen.

Rabb is nowhere near as physically developed as Okafor. Actually, it's just that Okafor is naturally a bigger guy. Rabb is rail thin.

Cal fans deserve to be excited, and they should have high expectations for 2015-16. But the path to a Pac title goes through Tucson.

UAEebs86 wrote:Jon Rothstein thinks we're all drinking the Kool-Aid:

We have potentially three seniors starting plus a top five class. Cal brought in some talent, but add it to a perimeter rotation that we turned into two utterly noncompetitive games, and you don't get a clear favorite.

I would say they're in the same boat as us. Some talent, some inexperience and a lot of unknowns, both good and bad.

The difference between our programs is that they got a huge class and we get one every year. It will be nice to have some Pac buzz, though.

If he pulls Swanigan has there ever been a less accomplished coach to pull such a recruiting class at a school where before every one woke up the morning of Ivan Rabb's commitment no one cared about the basketball program? I mean this is pretty unprecedented. The Kool Aid must be loaded with sugar, that or hippy chicks must be considered real hot by this generation.

I would serious think some Rick Barne$ shenanigans was going on. Not that there has been any whispers, just that it seems suspicious.

If Cal lands Swanigan, that's one of the best recruiting classes the Pac has seen for a while.

with cal paying every player and asu leading for maker and solaimon I feel like I am having a bad dream! Wtf!!!

Just going to make it funnier when we win the conference again

Has Basnight's head exploded yet?

Interesting, Cal could be a Final Four team with that lineup. Martin might be able to parlay a highly successful run next year to a big-time job in the SEC or ACC.

az91 wrote:Interesting, Cal could be a Final Four team with that lineup. Martin might be able to parlay a highly successful run next year to a big-time job in the SEC or ACC.

What's funny is he had a pretty damn good job in the SEC that he was run out of due to lack of success and somehow he managed to pull this. It doesn't quite make sense honestly.

That team could be a Final Four team, the only thing stopping them from doing so ironically enough is Cuonzo.

Martin has been to the tourney 1 time in 7 years as a head coach, Cal has only been as far as the sweet 16 twice since 1960 yet they are going to pull a Duke/UK type class. Something is not right here. I doubt they get to a final four. Martin doesn't have the experience to coach guys to that level. They were barely .500 last year in a weak pac-12. Some guys are making some bad choices here. It always amazes me how cocky these kids are. It takes work to get to the next level.

What is this guy thinking? Michigan State seemed like a prefect fit.

Merkin wrote:I would serious think some Rick Barne$ shenanigans was going on. Not that there has been any whispers, just that it seems suspicious.

So he commits real late in the process and then decommits two weeks later?

That's got a pretty strong smell of "Oh the check arrived...and it cleared? Hmmmm...."

SCCats wrote:

Merkin wrote:I would serious think some Rick Barne$ shenanigans was going on. Not that there has been any whispers, just that it seems suspicious.

So he commits real late in the process and then decommits two weeks later?

That's got a pretty strong smell of "Oh the check arrived...and it cleared? Hmmmm...."

California doesn't have donors that would pay for this. Well they have donors, but absolutely none that care about basketball this much to pay these guys. The lack of any sort of major basketball success since the 1960s is pretty good indicator of that.

Dave wrote:What is this guy thinking? Michigan State seemed like a prefect fit.

Agreed. Who would prefer to be coached by Martin instead of Izzo? Something smells rotten in Berkeley.

Zagoria must be getting a chubby

hah! i hope cal lands swanigan. but doesn't rabb want to play power fwd? also, what is cal's scholly count looking like?

Wait, is someone going to get Cuonzo'd?

UAEebs86 wrote:Wait, is someone going to get Cuonzo'd?

He is going to have to push someone off the ship.

az91 wrote:

UAEebs86 wrote:Wait, is someone going to get Cuonzo'd?

He is going to have to push someone off the ship.

not a good look for cuonzo and his recruiting. that said, i still hope cal lands swanigan. maybe domingo could qualify for an academic scholarship - he's a really smart kid.

You cannot receive an academic scholarship after being recruited for athletics.

oh - i thought that's what stainbrook from xavier did this season to make room for his brother on the team. i probably heard the story incorrectly, because duh - that's why the kid was an uber driver.

the other example that comes to mind is zach peters who i understand received an academic scholarship after he left the team due to his condition. but i'm guessing it's more of an exception because he was no longer playing..

dirtbags wrote:oh - i thought that's what stainbrook from xavier did this season to make room for his brother on the team. i probably heard the story incorrectly.

Good point. He did give his scholie to his brother but didn't receive an academic one.


Redshirt senior Matt Stainbrook is Xavier's top returning scorer, but the center will be paying his own way at school this season so that his brother Tim, who walked-on to the basketball team last year as a freshman, can have his scholarship.

Stainbrook's tuition as a post-graduate student is only $14,000 while his brother's undergraduate fees come out to $43,000 a year, so he decided to help his family out by having his scholarship transferred, and picking up a new job as an Uber driver to help defray the costs of his MBA.

thanks, merk - haha, i was just updating my post about the uber thing when you posted that.

so who on the cal roster does cuonzo convince to be an uber driver next season??

MSU is apparently back in the mix for Caleb "once a Spartan always a Spartan" Swanigan along with Kentucky: http://spartanavenue.com/2015/05/18/cal ... n-the-mix/

How long is he committed to Purdue before he decommits?

If Swanigan's commit holds Purdue will have one of the best front lines next season. A B1G contender too.

ASUHATER! wrote:How long is he committed to Purdue before he decommits?

CatsbyAZ wrote:If Swanigan's commit holds Purdue will have one of the best front lines next season. A B1G contender too.

See, I can never believe this and don't think anybody this wavering in their commitment will have the impact the school or fans think he will.

Matt Painter or Cuonzo Martin are going to bring things out in Swanigan that Tom Izzo can't? That's funny.

http://www.nbadraft.net/2016mock_draft" target="_blank

Does Cal really have three probable #1 draft picks this year? Wow. We'll see if Cuonzo can capitalize before they all leave in a few months.

http://bearinsider.com/forums/forumdisp ... Basketball

For the most part, what a bunch of whiny Dbags........I detest CAL, second only to ASSU.

Hope we meet up in the tourney and put them down!

Best part is they have only one guy signed for next year and arent likely to sign any guys like they did this year. Only one other 3 star guy is even on their 2016 radar. Wallace is gone and Brown and Rabbi probably are. This year is their year to win it since next year they'll basically just have Rooks, Matthews and Bird

ASUHATER! wrote:Best part is they have only one guy signed for next year and arent likely to sign any guys like they did this year. Only one other 3 star guy is even on their 2016 radar. Wallace is gone and Brown and Rabbi probably are. This year is their year to win it since next year they'll basically just have Rooks, Matthews and Bird

Cool, glad to hear this ASUHATER! Rabb and Brown are gone for sure IMO. Would love to see CAL back towards the bottom of the P12, where they belong .

Bangkok Wildcat wrote:

ASUHATER! wrote:Best part is they have only one guy signed for next year and arent likely to sign any guys like they did this year. Only one other 3 star guy is even on their 2016 radar. Wallace is gone and Brown and Rabbi probably are. This year is their year to win it since next year they'll basically just have Rooks, Matthews and Bird

Cool, glad to hear this ASUHATER! Rabb and Brown are gone for sure IMO. Would love to see CAL back towards the bottom of the P12, where they belong .

They hit the lotto this year with rAbb and Brown

And that Cal game was no UCLA...we did not get some McKale ref magic. The only questionable call our way was the fall down/step out on the baseline late.

The officiating in the PAC is infuriating on the road, but we get every bit of that same crap back at us and more on the road. And I am fine with it in a lot of ways...seems like we are so much better off in the NCAAs for our conference making winning on the road nearly impossible with home-gym influenced officiating. We can count on home wins, and we really have to be +10 to win on the road. This year, it hurts seeding a big, but we are fine there most years because we are +10 on the road in most games. We get to the NCAAs, and it is like being in the on-deck circle swinging the heavy bat...the actual bat is light as can be. With the exception of the insanity of the late call against Nick vs Wisconsin, I think we have made officiating largely a non-factor in the tournament by being so ready to play D with our feet, and then feeling out what the refs will allow in the actual tournament. It causes heart issues during the season, but by and large, conference play for Arizona is all about preparation for the NCAAs. Throw your best at us...

But to point...Cal had no reason to whine. They had a star in foul trouble, yes, but they also got every amazing bounce in the end game...right up to the last 110 seconds. Rabb hits a 3? A 1-7 3-pt shooter hits a 3. Zeus misses the front of a 1-1, Ryan misses a FT. They were one more...anything positive...from ending that game. And they didn't get it. They didn't make a single thing positive happen that last 2 minutes. Kind of like us vs Illinois in 2005...for all of that shitstorm, we only needed one call, one free throw, one make on the final possession from Jawaan...just ONE thing. Or one miss by them. None of that happened. And as much as we can be pissed about the missed calls, we didn't make one thing happen that last 3:30.

Cal didn't make one thing happen in the last minute. And we made everything happen. And both had to happen for us to win. So Cal fan can cry me a river...

3goggles wrote: They hit the lotto this year with rAbb and Brown

Yup. And short of a miraculous run in the NCAAs (and I could see their defense getting them somewhere if they get a few breaks), their idea of winning the lotto is likely a 2nd or 3rd place finish in conference and a 2nd weekend in the NCAAs.

Sometimes it is hard to imagine the worldview for programs like that from our position. While we flip out that our coach took a crater over and only managed to get us to 3 Elite Eights in 5 years, an Elite Eight run for Rabb and Brown and this will be the year of gofundme documentaries and neverending nostalgia for Cal fan...

Strange to still see Brown pick a Nike school like Cal. I think Adidas felt bad after that decision

I hope kids keep doing that.

They have no reason to be loyal to a bunch of shoe companies using them to sell product/promote their teams. The shoe influence is so f'n dirty and disgusting. If they have any sense of self worth, they will make their decisions based on the program/school/coach, and let the shoe peddlers down over and over again.

What a stupid reason to choose where you are going to be for the next 1 to 4 years...the shoe they wear. Well, ABCD was great to me, but I don't really like the coach, town, or school. But the camp, man...THE CAMP!!!

I agree but you are also assuming benefits are also not exchanged during the course of the high school careers

So things won't be the same...

I wonder if Rabb and Brown were harassed into coming to Berkeley?

Wallace out with a broken hand. Probably won't even make the sw16 now.

84Cat wrote:Wallace out with a broken hand. Probably won't even make the sw16 now.

Oh wow. Tough break. The conference has not had much luck with the draws they each received and now this for Cal.

Olsondogg wrote:So things won't be the same...

I wonder if Rabb and Brown were harassed into coming to Berkeley?

Nice little two-year Pac 12 run for Cuonzo. He will be on his way to a downgraded program shortly