cc @espnbillc.bsky.social

Honestly this is one of my better works right up there with Oski reading “Hell Is A World Without You” @jasonkirk.fyi

I am ready to walk into the ocean

an absolute nightmare; that Duke data point shifted up more after tonight

cc @nick.writeforcal.com @mingemi.bsky.social

Back again tomorrow for a look at Cal's opponents this weekend and the ACC as a whole! Tag anyone you think might be interested!

The defense has been good so far, but they have a chance to be great.

There is a lot to be proud of here and more room for this special team to keep growing.

Two things to watch for:

(1) Going forward, do the coaches opt to extend the defense to the three-point line to take away deep looks, leaving the interior more open?

(2) Or, do they let it ride, in the hopes that opponent three-point shooting falls back toward the mean?

In fact, until Sunday night’s victory at Haas over Florida State, Cal’s opponents were shooting better from three than they were from two. If Cal’s conference opponents to date were a single team, they’d be the second best three-point shooting team in the league.

(4) Cal’s defense in conference games is above average, but it has slipped some from the lofty heights of nonconference play. Why? While Cal’s two-point defense is still stout, Cal’s conference opponents are hitting 39.1 percent from three.

(3) Cal has been a great defensive rebounding team in league play, allowing offensive rebounds on only a quarter of opponent misses. That leads the league!

Is that attributable merely to more permissive refs in ACC play? It doesn’t seem like it: Cal’s opponents are getting to the line about as frequently in conference play as they did during the noncon season.

(2) Are referees swallowing their whistles when Cal has the ball? Cal’s free throw rate, measuring how often a team goes to the line relative to the number of shots it gets off, has plummeted in league play.

On Cal:

(1) The Bears have cleaned up turnovers so far in conference play. A 7 percentage point reduction in turnovers between nonconference and conference play means about five more chances per game for an acrobatic drive from Kayla or a bomb from Ioanna.

And for visual learners:

this is the most joy I’ve felt watching Cal basketball in so long, I can’t even remember when

has his win-loss record for the last eight years not given you that impression?