Cal Basketball: Joel Brown `Pleased, Not Satisfied' With Freshman Season

Point guard expecting more from himself and the Golden Bears next season

Even while back home in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic, freshman point guard Joel Brown feels excitement about what he and his Cal basketball teammates can accomplish next season.

The Bears won 14 games under first-year coach Mark Fox, a six-game improvement from the two previous seasons. Among eight returning players are five who were freshmen this past season.

Brown envisions continued progress.

“I think everybody trusts the process. Everybody has built great relationships with the coaches,” he said. “I think guys are very excited with what coach has going forward. Definitely looking forward to next year.”

Brown started 17 games for the Bears and is the heir to the full-time job as starting point guard.

He believes he made progress from the start of last season to the finish, but is expecting more from himself.

“Reflecting back, I was pleased but I wasn’t satisfied. The reason being, I know I was capable of being able to produce more, do more, help the team a little bit more,” Brown said.

Simply being put into the starting lineup was a huge lift for Brown.

“That helped give me confidence. These coaches have trust in me and I’m able to play at this level.”

Brown said he was pleased with his contributions on defense and he tried to offer leadership as a freshman. “I think I was one of those guys who was very encouraging.”

Brown averaged a modest 2.4 points and 1.7 assists, and he knows he must improve his shooting across the board: 34 percent from the field, 31 percent on 3’s and 40 percent on free throws.

But he saw progress in less tangible but important areas of his game.

“As the season got on, I was able to understand the game more and how it’s played. Not forcing things,” he said. “Early on in the season I kind of had a habit of doing certain things I usually would do in high school and I noticed, `OK, now we’re in Pac-12, now we’re in college basketball. It’s much different. I think I grew from that.

“The game slowed down for me and I think it will continue to slow down as I’m getting into coach Fox’s offense.”