Men's Basketball - What'd you see last week and what do you want to see this week?

BlueandGold15: I was really encouraged by the strong play from Solomon and Kravish in the first half, which kept us afloat for a while - [aside: as someone who doesn't watch a great amount of Cal basketball, Solomon's defense on the inside has been a pleasant surprise for me every time I've seen him]. I also liked that Justin Cobbs showed some signs of finally finding his shot in Pac-12 play, shaking off a rough first half to hit some shots as part of a small rally later in the game. Cal also defended extremely well in the paint, making very little easy for the Cardinal as part of a 36% shooting night for the Palo Alto boys. But those might've been the only highlights, considering the 10 point defeat, that the Wallace/Crabbe/Cobbs triumvirate went a combined 12-39, and some horrendous refereeing that resulted in a 31-15 free throw disparity for Furd. Allan Crabbe was also a nonfactor for too much of the game, and perhaps a bit too reckless at the end of the second, charging to the rim a couple of possessions in a row to no avail. Still, whenever you hold an opponent to those kinds of shooting numbers, you should win. Just an ugly, ugly game that slipped away from us.How many times have you heard that one this season?

Unclesam22: (I saw the last couple of minutes of the first half and then the last 10 minutes of the second half...plus I know nothing about basketball so take what I say as you will.) From what I saw there wasn't much to be encouraged about. Cal played uninspiring basketball and much like some of the issues that plagued the football team last season, I am at a loss to really explain why. Rebounding seemed to be an issue, especially when giving up second chance points. It also seemed like there were some sequences where Cal was just plain sloppy with the ball, not executing good passes or turning it over on the dribble. And what really discouraged me was Allen Crabbe's lack of dominance in the game. I've only seen parts of 3 Cal games now, but in each one of them he's taken a really long time to get going and even once he does, he seems to settle for a lot of jump shots instead of pressing towards the basket. Again, I'm not a basketball person so I'm not sure if this is because the D is keying in on him or what, but from what someone that is a known scorer, I just expected more dominance. So that definitely disappointed me.

LEastCoastBears: What is encouraging from the Stanfurd game is that Cal certainly has the skills to win the game. It was not pure luck that Richard Solomon and David Kravish were getting easy looks and displaying and converting on a variety of post moves in basically the first quarter (first 10 minutes of the first half) of the game. Justin Cobbs also finally started to make some shots in the second half, for the first time in awhile. Sure, the shots that Cobbs took and made were more difficult but Cobbs has shown the ability to make these in the past as well.