Grading the Cuonzo Martin era
It feels like it was just yesterday that Cuonzo Martin was named as the successor to Mike Montgomery as the head coach of the Cal men’s basketball team. After three seasons, Martin has already departed, on his own volition, for what he hopes will be greener pastures at Missouri. Below is a critical assessment and grading of each season that Cuonzo Martin had at Cal.
2014-15: In Cuonzo Martin’s first season at Cal, the Golden Bears went 18-15 overall and 7-11 in the Pac-12, finishing 8th in the conference. The departing players were Justin Cobbs, Richard Solomon, Ricky Kreklow (graduate transfer to Creighton), Jeff Powers, and Garrett Galvin (did not return to the team but stayed enrolled at Cal). The incoming recruiting class consisted of Kingsley Okoroh, Brandon Chauca, walk-on Nick Hamilton, walk-on Cole Welle, walk-on Xavier Valdes, Cornell graduate transfer Dwight Tarwater, junior college transfer Brenden Glapion, and Georgetown transfer Stephen Domingo.
The 2014-15 season was a transitional season for the Golden Bears with the departure of three really important players as well as a changing of the guard from the Mike Montgomery era to the Cuonzo Martin era. Senior power forward David Kravish and junior point guard Tyrone Wallace led the team valiantly and proved to be a solid one-two punch for Cuonzo Martin to work with. Sophomores Jabari Bird and Jordan Mathews were on the upswing as one of the most dynamic shooting duos in the country and appeared to be the future of the program over the next two seasons.
When looking at the 2014-15 season, I can’t really give Cuonzo Martin all that high of marks considering that Cal missed the NCAA Tournament and NIT. When the high note of the season is Tyrone Wallace’s buzzer beater to beat USC, that’s kind of all you need to know. Martin’s first recruiting class was very underwhelming and when looking back at his roster, there’s no reason for why he shouldn’t have gotten Cal to the NIT.
At the same time, it’s always hard to take over a program and find instant success unless you really inherited a great team. With that in mind, I can’t give Cuonzo Martin too low of marks either. He could have gotten more out of his team, but to his defense, it wasn’t really his team yet. He was largely working with guys who he didn’t recruit, making it harder for him to implement his system.
The overall grade I give the 2014-15 season is a C+/B-. It wasn’t bad, but it also wasn’t good either. It’s hard to give it a grade much higher or lower.
2015-16: In Cuonzo Martin’s second season at Cal, the Golden Bears went 23-11 overall and 12-6 in the Pac-12, which was good enough for a #4 seed in NCAA Tournament. The departing players were Christian Behrens, David Kravish, Xavier Valdes (did not return to the team but stayed enrolled at Cal), and Dwight Tarwater while the incoming recruiting class consisted of 5-star small forward Jaylen Brown, 5-star power forward Ivan Rabb, 3-star small forward Roman Davis, and San Diego graduate transfer Nick Kerr.
This was the season that was supposed to really usher in the Cuonzo Martin era at Cal and it was certainly ushered in with a bang due to the commitments of Ivan Rabb and Jaylen Brown. The commitments of both players really energized the fan base and gave new life to the program.
With a core consisting of Tyrone Wallace, Jabari Bird, Jordan Mathews, Ivan Rabb, and Jaylen Brown, Cuonzo Martin was really cooking with gas and led the team to the highest NCAA Tournament seed in school history with a #4 seed. Martin made more history by leading Cal to a perfect 18-0 record at home, including a 74-73 win over #12 Arizona.
Where this season loses marks is the postseason. In the week leading up to the NCAA Tournament, assistant coach Yanni Hufnagel got fired for sexual harassment, Tyrone Wallace suffered a broken bone in his hand, and Jabari Bird had back spasms flare up which also kept him out of the NCAA Tournament. With Hufnagel gone and two of their top players injured, Cal went down to #13 seed Hawaii in the first round of the NCAA Tournament by a final score of 77-66.
While one certainly cannot blame the series of unfortunate events that happened on Cuonzo Martin, those events are still a part of the era and need to be addressed when looking back on Martin’s time at Cal. Even though he had those issues to deal with, Martin still had Ivan Rabb, Jaylen Brown, and Jordan Mathews healthy for that opening round game against Hawaii. He should have been able to get more out of those guys and lead Cal deeper in the NCAA Tournament.
Cuonzo Martin always preached that injuries and adversity are a part of life and yet when they happened to his team, he was unable to make the necessary adjustments. He still had plenty of talent to work with in the NCAA Tournament and failed to take advantage of the #4 seed.
When grading the 2015-16 season, I have to give Cuonzo Martin a B+. He deserves very high marks for bringing Brown and Rabb to Cal as well as guiding Cal to a perfect 18-0 home slate and a #4 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Knowing the history of Cal basketball, those are monumental achievements that Martin should be remembered well for. As an added bonus, Brown went #3 overall in the 2016 NBA Draft to the Boston Celtics and Wallace got drafted by the Utah Jazz with the #60 and final pick. This would have been an A season had Martin been able to guide Cal to at least the Sweet Sixteen amid all the adversity that they went through. But the lack of postseason success and just the overall way the season ended is why the season gets graded down.
2016-17: In Cuonzo Martin’s third and final season at Cal, the Golden Bears went 21-13 overall and 10-8 in the Pac-12. Cal was given a #1 seed in the NIT before losing its opening round game to CSU-Bakersfield. The departing players were Brenden Glapion, Nick Kerr, Tyrone Wallace, Jaylen Brown (early NBA Draft entry), and Jordan Mathews (graduate transfer to Gonzaga). The incoming recruiting class consisted of 4-star point guard Charlie Moore, junior college transfer Don Coleman, Columbia graduate transfer Grant Mullins, and Kentucky transfer Marcus Lee.
After having such an explosive recruiting class the year before, the 2016 recruiting class was a definite letdown. Charlie Moore flipping from Memphis to Cal really saved the 2016 recruiting class as did the additions of Grant Mullins and Marcus Lee, who will be the focal point of the 2017-18 team.
That said, missing out on 4-stars Jayce Johnson and Vance Jackson were major losses on the recruiting trail and while Moore did ultimately come to Cal, he did initially choose a different program.
As far as the season itself is concerned, there were still high expectations coming in due to Rabb returning for his sophomore season (as a preseason All-American) as well as Bird entering his senior year. When looking at the roster from top to bottom (at the beginning of the year), this Cal team had the expectation of making the NCAA Tournament. Instead, they barely missed the field and landed in the NIT as a #1 seed in their region.
What’s most disappointing about the 2016-17 campaign of the Cuonzo Martin era is all the missed opportunities. Cal was unable to get home wins against Virginia, Arizona, and Oregon as well as wins at Stanford, at Colorado, and against Oregon again in the Pac-12 Tournament. Had Cal won any one of those games, they would have made the NCAA Tournament. The fact that Cal was so close to making the NCAA Tournament really stings. When you see so many missed opportunities, you have to dish out a fair amount of criticism to the head coach for not finding ways to get his team over the hump.
As a cherry on top, the way the NIT went was disappointing as well. While it isn’t the NCAA Tournament, the NIT is still a respectable tournament with a rich history and tradition. Martin appeared to already be on his way out before the tournament began, judging by the overall vibe of the game and his tone in the post-game press conference.
PowerMizzou.com confirmed to GoldenBearReport.com that Martin already met with Missouri representatives before the NIT and that the meeting likely took place on Sunday, before Martin addressed the media in advance of the NIT. With knowledge of this report, it appears as though Martin knew he was moving on from Cal before he even saw the NIT or NCAA Tournament draw.
Given this picture of how things went down and also the lack of an ability to get one more win to make the NCAA Tournament, I have to give the 2016-17 season a C+. Finishing as the #5 seed in the Pac-12 Tournament and advancing to the semifinals bumps up my grade a little bit, but I can’t give it anything higher considering the lack of an NCAA Tournament appearance and an early exit in the NIT.
Grading the Cuonzo Martin era as a whole: If you average out the grades of Martin’s three seasons at Cal, what you get is a B- and that really feels about right. Cuonzo Martin accomplished a lot in terms of his ability to recruit Jaylen Brown and Ivan Rabb and guide Cal to a #4 seed in the 2016 NCAA Tournament, but his lack of an ability to get one NCAA Tournament win during his time at Cal is also very disappointing.
This era could have been so much more than it was and that is how it ought to be remembered. It feels like there was more success than there actually was because of the recruiting splashes. If you didn’t know about the recruiting part of the equation, all you would see is missing the NCAA Tournament and NIT in year one, losing in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in year two, and losing in the first round of the NIT in year three. That really isn’t much to get excited about, which is why Cal fans shouldn’t feel too bad about the opportunity to get a coach who can produce much better results on the hardwood, which at the end of the day are the only results that matter.
What’s next: Cal is now in the process of finding its next head coach. With many of Cal’s top head coaching candidates still competing in the NCAA Tournament, we may not find out who the next head coach will be for a couple of weeks or more. The names that appear to be atop the list are Florida State assistant coach Dennis Gates and Nevada head coach Eric Musselman. For more details on both candidates as well as all the other candidates that are in the mix, check out our basketball coaching hot board, which is being updated as more candidates emerge.
As far as the roster outlook for next season is concerned, Cal is set to lose Jabari Bird, Sam Singer, Stephen Domingo, Grant Mullins, and Roger Moute a Bidias. Ivan Rabb is expected by many to declare for the NBA Draft, but he is yet to formally announce his decision.
The incoming recruiting class is Jemarl Baker, Jr., Juhwan Harris-Dyson, Justice Sueing, Grant Anticevich, and Trevin Knell (who is expected to join the team in the 2019 season after serving his LDS mission). Whoever gets the Cal job will have a lot of nice pieces to work with provided he can keep the roster intact.