As most of you know by now, Don Coleman did not make the trip to LA and will not be present for the game against USC on Sunday. The team's official statement cites a "violation of team rules" as the reason for why he isn't playing. I was able to get confirmation of his absence prior to the team's official statement and found out through my sleuthing that Don and Wyking had some sort of disagreement.
Rather than sharing everything I heard in the game hub, I decided to wait to share everything after the game since the game hub is supposed to be focused on the game. Below in italics is a summary of what I've been told from the sources that I talked to yesterday:
Don has had a bit of a chippy relationship with the coaching staff over the last couple of months, not feeling like he's getting treated fairly. I was told that what fueled his second half surge against San Diego State was frustration over a paper he wrote earlier in the week for one of his classes. He received a zero on the paper because the professor said he plagiarized the paper. Don insisted that he did not plagiarize the paper and was very frustrated that the professor didn't give him a good explanation for why he got the zero.
Don felt that Wyking didn't have his back in the way that he would have wanted. Wyking's attitude was basically one of "You still passed the class so that's all that matters" kinda thing. Don would have liked Wyking to have his back more and vouch for him that he's not the kind of guy to plagiarize a paper, etc. Don didn't just care about still passing the class. He cared that he had been wrongfully labeled as a guy who would cheat in class and he didn't feel like Wyking cared about that part as much as he should have. So, that experience left a bit of a sour taste in Don's mouth.
With that as background information, you can better understand what led to Don's latest frustrations, which were about him having to come off the bench against Arizona State. Don was told that the reason he wasn't starting against Arizona State was because he picked up a technical foul against Arizona and that per team rules, any player who picks up a technical foul in the previous game cannot start in the next game.
What tipped Don over the edge was finding out that Marcus Lee was going to start against UCLA despite the fact that he picked up a technical foul against Arizona State. Don was frustrated that he and Marcus weren't held to the same standard. Don figured the real reason for why he was benched against Arizona State had more to do with his performance as of late, which hasn't been as good as it was in the non-conference portion of the season. Don is frustrated that this wasn't communicated better.
One of my sources added that the team is having a tough time buying into the system. The source told me the game plan is to feed Marcus Lee in the post a lot, but the guards don't want to do this as much as the coaching staff wants them to because they feel Marcus turns the ball over too much in the post (traveling, charges, etc.). Also, the team used to have mandatory early morning workouts, but now those have become voluntary and all they do is practice from 12-3 every day. Basically, it doesn't appear as though this team is as unified as they need to be and when you can't get everyone on the same page, that makes it tough to win basketball games.
Upon soaking up all this information, my main takeaway is that both Wyking Jones and Don Coleman need to do a better job of communicating with each other. One of the sources I talked to didn't place blame on either party, but felt they both needed to do a better job of communicating. The source felt that Don can be pretty emotional and is very passionate, causing him to perhaps overreact to stuff. Don has also been in a bit of a slump on the court and that has led to him getting even more agitated.
I do not get the sense that Don's long-term future with the team is in jeopardy or anything along those lines. I'm under the impression that Don will be back with the team next week and compete in their next home stand against the Oregon schools. It is theoretically possible that Don explores doing what what Jordan Mathews did, which is to take a bunch of units over the summer and graduate a year early to put himself in the grad transfer pool, but I was told he's been slowing down his units so as to stay at Cal for next year as well, so I don't know if that's really going to be an option for him.
Personally, I think it might be in Don's best interest to actually sit out these games against the LA schools and gather his thoughts over the weekend. He's a great kid and one of my favorite players on the team, but it sounds like he could probably benefit from a little time away from the court and regain his composure. Wyking's decision to not have him travel with the team seems like one that might actually be in the best interest of Don and the team.
I don't think it's really fair to place blame on one side over the other. Both Wyking and Don need to do a better job communicating with each other. Hopefully this weekend does both of them good and allows them to start afresh next week. As much as some of you dislike Don Coleman's game, the team is better when he's doing what he does best. As we saw last night, without him on the court, this team has a much harder time generating the type of offense that they need in order to win games.
Rather than sharing everything I heard in the game hub, I decided to wait to share everything after the game since the game hub is supposed to be focused on the game. Below in italics is a summary of what I've been told from the sources that I talked to yesterday:
Don has had a bit of a chippy relationship with the coaching staff over the last couple of months, not feeling like he's getting treated fairly. I was told that what fueled his second half surge against San Diego State was frustration over a paper he wrote earlier in the week for one of his classes. He received a zero on the paper because the professor said he plagiarized the paper. Don insisted that he did not plagiarize the paper and was very frustrated that the professor didn't give him a good explanation for why he got the zero.
Don felt that Wyking didn't have his back in the way that he would have wanted. Wyking's attitude was basically one of "You still passed the class so that's all that matters" kinda thing. Don would have liked Wyking to have his back more and vouch for him that he's not the kind of guy to plagiarize a paper, etc. Don didn't just care about still passing the class. He cared that he had been wrongfully labeled as a guy who would cheat in class and he didn't feel like Wyking cared about that part as much as he should have. So, that experience left a bit of a sour taste in Don's mouth.
With that as background information, you can better understand what led to Don's latest frustrations, which were about him having to come off the bench against Arizona State. Don was told that the reason he wasn't starting against Arizona State was because he picked up a technical foul against Arizona and that per team rules, any player who picks up a technical foul in the previous game cannot start in the next game.
What tipped Don over the edge was finding out that Marcus Lee was going to start against UCLA despite the fact that he picked up a technical foul against Arizona State. Don was frustrated that he and Marcus weren't held to the same standard. Don figured the real reason for why he was benched against Arizona State had more to do with his performance as of late, which hasn't been as good as it was in the non-conference portion of the season. Don is frustrated that this wasn't communicated better.
One of my sources added that the team is having a tough time buying into the system. The source told me the game plan is to feed Marcus Lee in the post a lot, but the guards don't want to do this as much as the coaching staff wants them to because they feel Marcus turns the ball over too much in the post (traveling, charges, etc.). Also, the team used to have mandatory early morning workouts, but now those have become voluntary and all they do is practice from 12-3 every day. Basically, it doesn't appear as though this team is as unified as they need to be and when you can't get everyone on the same page, that makes it tough to win basketball games.
Upon soaking up all this information, my main takeaway is that both Wyking Jones and Don Coleman need to do a better job of communicating with each other. One of the sources I talked to didn't place blame on either party, but felt they both needed to do a better job of communicating. The source felt that Don can be pretty emotional and is very passionate, causing him to perhaps overreact to stuff. Don has also been in a bit of a slump on the court and that has led to him getting even more agitated.
I do not get the sense that Don's long-term future with the team is in jeopardy or anything along those lines. I'm under the impression that Don will be back with the team next week and compete in their next home stand against the Oregon schools. It is theoretically possible that Don explores doing what what Jordan Mathews did, which is to take a bunch of units over the summer and graduate a year early to put himself in the grad transfer pool, but I was told he's been slowing down his units so as to stay at Cal for next year as well, so I don't know if that's really going to be an option for him.
Personally, I think it might be in Don's best interest to actually sit out these games against the LA schools and gather his thoughts over the weekend. He's a great kid and one of my favorite players on the team, but it sounds like he could probably benefit from a little time away from the court and regain his composure. Wyking's decision to not have him travel with the team seems like one that might actually be in the best interest of Don and the team.
I don't think it's really fair to place blame on one side over the other. Both Wyking and Don need to do a better job communicating with each other. Hopefully this weekend does both of them good and allows them to start afresh next week. As much as some of you dislike Don Coleman's game, the team is better when he's doing what he does best. As we saw last night, without him on the court, this team has a much harder time generating the type of offense that they need in order to win games.
