There have been a lot of complaints and concerns about the direction of the Cal men's basketball team with Wyking Jones at the helm pretty much since he took the job and those concerns haven't been alleviated by what we've seen on the basketball court this season. The team is at the bottom of the Pac-12 and has lost five straight games since their stunning win at Maples Pavilion against Stanford.
I figured I should weigh in on this matter and share my honest thoughts and opinions on the Wyking Jones era thus far. My job on here is to cover the basketball team and addressing the performance of the head coach is certainly part of the job. It is not my job to defend the head coach or paint a rosy picture of the program. My job is to call it as I see it.
The first thing I want to say is that this season has been very rough. There's no denying that. Aside from the wins at Stanford and San Diego State, the product on the court has ranged from "embarrassing" to "a work in progress." It's tough to go from the days of Jaylen Brown and Ivan Rabb to this.
There are some nights when one can't help but wonder why the product can't be better even with this present roster. Why do they give up so many threes? Why is Marcus Lee so inconsistent? The roster can't be that bad can it? Even if the roster is that bad, shouldn't good coaching elevate these guys to make them play more inspired basketball?
While I do think there is more that Wyking Jones can be doing, I really think Cal's struggles are much more the result of having a roster that is not up to Pac-12 standards. Kingsley Okoroh is a rim protector and rebounder. He's not a guy who you can rely on to score in double figures every night. Don Coleman would be a nice sixth man on a competitive Pac-12 team, but if he's your best scorer, you got issues.
Justice Sueing, Darius McNeill, and Juhwan Harris-Dyson are all legit Pac-12 freshmen, but that's just it, they're freshmen. Sueing is stepping up big time, but he can't be expected to carry the load like he is. As for Harris-Dyson, his illness was very serious as is evident by the fact that he's still not at 100%. The fact that he hasn't been fully healthy has not helped at all. Even the best of freshmen like Jabari Bird and Tyrone Wallace weren't ready to carry the load until they were in their junior seasons. We even saw Jaylen Brown and Ivan Rabb struggle during some stretches of their freshman seasons and both were projected NBA lottery picks.
As for Marcus Lee, he's been very disappointing and I don't think Wyking Jones deserves much blame for the way he's performed. He's in Lee's ear all the time, telling him to be more assertive, a better leader, and smarter on the court. The only person that's preventing Marcus Lee from averaging 20 points and 10 rebounds is Marcus Lee. I think we're seeing why Kentucky didn't want him back. He's just not an alpha dog type of guy, which is a shame because he's got the athletic package to be dominating. He's a great kid off the court, but on the court, he's just not lived up to the hype.
The bottom line is that there's really only so much Wyking can do with this roster. Anyone who thinks this collection of players should be above .500 in the Pac-12 is fooling themselves. This roster isn't very good because (A) The upperclassmen have their own limitations and (B) Harris-Dyson, Sueing, and McNeill are freshmen. When they're juniors and seniors, those guys will be really good but right now they're still a work in progress.
As far as how short of a leash Cal should have with Wyking Jones, I think he deserves an opportunity to show what he can do with the guys he recruited in 2018. Matt Bradley, Jacobi Gordon, and Andre Kelly are all going to be really nice players for this Cal team as will Paris Austin, who will assume the starting point guard role next year. With those guys on the floor next year, we should see a much better product on the court.
Wyking sees a lot of the same issues that you all do, but he just can't get the current players he has on the floor to do what we wants them to do. Part of that is a function of his in-game coaching, but I really do think most of it has to do with his roster. The very fact that Deschon Winston is getting legitimate minutes at point guard just shows how weak this roster is.
I think the soonest Wyking Jones' seat should be seriously hot is after the 2019-20 season. That will be his third season and the season in which he will have had two seasons with Bradley, Gordon, Kelly, and Austin. He may have also Jordan Brown as well as some other really talented recruits by then. Plus, Juhwan Harris-Dyson, Darius McNeill, and Justice Sueing will have finished their junior years. If Cal doesn't make the 2020 NCAA Tournament, I think we can have a legitimate discussion about whether or not Wyking Jones should continue on as head coach.
.
I figured I should weigh in on this matter and share my honest thoughts and opinions on the Wyking Jones era thus far. My job on here is to cover the basketball team and addressing the performance of the head coach is certainly part of the job. It is not my job to defend the head coach or paint a rosy picture of the program. My job is to call it as I see it.
The first thing I want to say is that this season has been very rough. There's no denying that. Aside from the wins at Stanford and San Diego State, the product on the court has ranged from "embarrassing" to "a work in progress." It's tough to go from the days of Jaylen Brown and Ivan Rabb to this.
There are some nights when one can't help but wonder why the product can't be better even with this present roster. Why do they give up so many threes? Why is Marcus Lee so inconsistent? The roster can't be that bad can it? Even if the roster is that bad, shouldn't good coaching elevate these guys to make them play more inspired basketball?
While I do think there is more that Wyking Jones can be doing, I really think Cal's struggles are much more the result of having a roster that is not up to Pac-12 standards. Kingsley Okoroh is a rim protector and rebounder. He's not a guy who you can rely on to score in double figures every night. Don Coleman would be a nice sixth man on a competitive Pac-12 team, but if he's your best scorer, you got issues.
Justice Sueing, Darius McNeill, and Juhwan Harris-Dyson are all legit Pac-12 freshmen, but that's just it, they're freshmen. Sueing is stepping up big time, but he can't be expected to carry the load like he is. As for Harris-Dyson, his illness was very serious as is evident by the fact that he's still not at 100%. The fact that he hasn't been fully healthy has not helped at all. Even the best of freshmen like Jabari Bird and Tyrone Wallace weren't ready to carry the load until they were in their junior seasons. We even saw Jaylen Brown and Ivan Rabb struggle during some stretches of their freshman seasons and both were projected NBA lottery picks.
As for Marcus Lee, he's been very disappointing and I don't think Wyking Jones deserves much blame for the way he's performed. He's in Lee's ear all the time, telling him to be more assertive, a better leader, and smarter on the court. The only person that's preventing Marcus Lee from averaging 20 points and 10 rebounds is Marcus Lee. I think we're seeing why Kentucky didn't want him back. He's just not an alpha dog type of guy, which is a shame because he's got the athletic package to be dominating. He's a great kid off the court, but on the court, he's just not lived up to the hype.
The bottom line is that there's really only so much Wyking can do with this roster. Anyone who thinks this collection of players should be above .500 in the Pac-12 is fooling themselves. This roster isn't very good because (A) The upperclassmen have their own limitations and (B) Harris-Dyson, Sueing, and McNeill are freshmen. When they're juniors and seniors, those guys will be really good but right now they're still a work in progress.
As far as how short of a leash Cal should have with Wyking Jones, I think he deserves an opportunity to show what he can do with the guys he recruited in 2018. Matt Bradley, Jacobi Gordon, and Andre Kelly are all going to be really nice players for this Cal team as will Paris Austin, who will assume the starting point guard role next year. With those guys on the floor next year, we should see a much better product on the court.
Wyking sees a lot of the same issues that you all do, but he just can't get the current players he has on the floor to do what we wants them to do. Part of that is a function of his in-game coaching, but I really do think most of it has to do with his roster. The very fact that Deschon Winston is getting legitimate minutes at point guard just shows how weak this roster is.
I think the soonest Wyking Jones' seat should be seriously hot is after the 2019-20 season. That will be his third season and the season in which he will have had two seasons with Bradley, Gordon, Kelly, and Austin. He may have also Jordan Brown as well as some other really talented recruits by then. Plus, Juhwan Harris-Dyson, Darius McNeill, and Justice Sueing will have finished their junior years. If Cal doesn't make the 2020 NCAA Tournament, I think we can have a legitimate discussion about whether or not Wyking Jones should continue on as head coach.
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