Photo by Lindsey Wasson, USA Today
Cal Basketball: More Perimeter Shooters Could Also Benefit Bears' Big Men
Cal coach Mark Fox believes the recent addition of two graduate transfer guards will do more than help his basketball team’s perimeter shooting.
That was the primary reason the Bears added Ryan Betley of Penn and Makale Foreman of Stony Brook — seniors who will be immediately eligible next season and bring a combined 375 career 3-point baskets to Haas Pavilion.
“I think for us, we wanted to get more shooting on the floor. As productive as Matt Bradley was, I thought it would really help him to put more shooting on the court to open things up.”
Bradley earned second-team All-Pac-12 honors last season after averaging 17.5 points per game and making 66 shots from beyond the 3-point arc at 38 percent. The rest of the Bears combined to make 94 shots from deep and converted just 31 percent.
Cal ranked last in the Pac-12 in 3-pointers per game at 5.0 per game.
But Fox is confident the arrival of additional scoring threats from the perimeter will have side benefits.
“I think it will help Matt. It will also help (big men) Andre (Kelly) and DJ (Thorpe) and Lars (Thiemann) inside because people didn't have to honor our perimeter players as much last year. It was really important for us to add shooting. I think we did that.”
In other words, if opposing defenses are forced to guard more than Bradley on the perimeter, there theoretically would be more room in the paint for Cal’s low-post players to operate.
The Bears also signed sophomore transfer Jarred Hyder, a point guard from Fresno State. They hoped Hyder would be eligible next season on the expectation that the NCAA would establish a one-year waiver, eliminating the year transfers must sit before beginning to play at their new school.
That waiver was voted down, the decision put off until next January. Fox believes Hyder still may have an avenue to play this season because the NCAA often grants waivers based on other factors.
“The rule had so much momentum that everyone felt like it as going to pass. Then the pandemic hit and they put the brakes on fit,” Fox said. “This may be a year where you see more waivers. I think there’s a way that can still happen. Then we’ll have trust in the process.”
Hyder would become the second point guard on the Bears roster, along with Joel Brown who started 17 games as a freshman last season.
If Hyder doesn’t get clearance, Foreman will get minutes at point guard. “Makale will play a lot in that spot. He’s done that before,” Fox said. “I think he’s very comfortable doing that.”
The Bears will have five newcomers on the roster this season, including incoming freshmen Monty Bowser and Jalen Celestine, and Fox likes the potential makeup of his squad. The X-factor is the effect of COVID-19 on players’ ability to make the kind of offseason progress they normally would.
“You don’t know how much deterioration has occurred because of the pandemic,” Fox said. “Physically, these guys haven’t been able to lift and train and shoot. Every team across the country is in that same predicament.
“Once we can get everybody back and have time to regain the things that were lost — be stronger, be more skilled — then I think we’ll have a much more complete-looking team than we had a year ago.”
The 2020-21 schedule has not been altered to this point by the pandemic, said Fox, who continues to have faith that college sports will return.
“Everything changes every week. Sometimes it’s three steps forward and a step back, but I think we continue to progress, we continue to learn more,” he said. “We have really smart people that are trying to put together a plan that’s safe because that’s the No. 1 priority.
“I remain optimistic we will be able to come back and play and have a season. What it looks like I don’t know.”
Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo
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