Southern Duck

It's interesting, I was listening to PAC-12 radio on Sirius XM and they were talking to Nick Aliotti about this hire and he seemed somewhat perplexed by the hire. He said something about the old school honor amongst coaches not taking lateral jobs in conference and I thought that was strange to say the least.... He went on to say he'll be talking to Justin Wilcox later this week to get to the bottom of it. It was like this hire didn't sit well with him for some reason. For me I think there are too many chefs in the defensive kitchen at Cal and this gives DeRuyter his own D again... I could be wrong but I know the money will be better and so will the talent in Eugene!

I was a tad nervous that this team was "unfairly" living in the wake of Sabrina, Ruthy, and Satou. So when they lost to Stanford, UCLA and then mailed it in against AZ the fireworks that they are struggling to find an identity on the fly seemed very real. To be very honest, without Prince showing up "almost healthy" yesterday, those questions still may not have been answered. Luckily a clear path has now been lit for the rest of the team to follow. The key " for me" is to keep Prince healthy and rested as to not put to much pressure on her to carry this team until the others have the D-1 confidence to be major contributors. Parrish looked sooo much more comfortable out there knowing she could toss it into Prince. I'd like to also see Dugalic and Sabally be in at the same time to play double danger rebounders when Prince takes a rest. My hope is at some point either Sabally or Dugalic is going to channel their inner Karl Malone. That is the missing ingredient for this team and one very necessary to beat the more physical southern schools who play soooo tough around the glass! We'll see....

I really like have a coach coming in who has been a DC before and it seemed that many of the other candidates mentioned had no real DC experience. That said, the only red flag I have to this hire was why wasn't he the primary play caller for Cal's defense last year?

What I noticed yesterday that was huge was the whole team looked to Prince and she has the personality to carry it! I haven't seen that this whole year yet. She will allow the others to play free which they haven't for the last two weeks. Once that happens this team will be DAMN GOOD! Another nice thing is this team has a Catfish that can clean up around the boards in Dugalic. Everyone may be focusing on PaoPao, Parrish, Pince, Sabally and Scherr but Dugalic will quietly get 10 -12 a game soon cleaning them all up off the glass.

How would you compare Cardwell to Benson? Can they coexist like a Royce and Benoit or will this cause one to go elsewhere for touches like Cyrus just did?

I feel the teams identity was largely established yesterday against UW and their leader found! The entire offense going forward needs to be run through Prince in my opinion. She is an Arvydas Sabonis like player for our lady Ducks! She can see over "almost anyone" she'll face, passes very well and is a double/ double machine in the making. Once she's doubled and she will be, she can kick it out to a Parish or Boley for a wide open three. I also really think she could run a very tough high pick and roll game with Sabally "once healthy" having Prince instigating from the top of the key that would be damn tough to defend.

Is Cyrus seeing the writing on the wall with a full RB room and doesn't want to be used for "only" short yardage plays? Would the addition of Byron Cardwell and the development of Benson be pushing him out the door? Boise St. might really like him! He's a good DUCK and hope he finds a starting spot on another team!

What's the thinking on why Deruyter wasn't calling plays for Cal this year? Kayvon has said many times he likes having his hand in the dirt, do you see that changing this under Deruyter? Would you think our new DC is on the level of Avalos or more a Leavitt that doesn't choke his players or have massive stock in Pepsi?