SB Nation - Max Zhang

Golden Nuggets: Looking Ahead to Pacific

Berkelium97 — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 00:14:26 -0000

Be a good citizen and take two minutes to vote in royrules22's top-25 poll. Democracy isn't that bad, is it?

Jeff Farudo's scouting report is mostly of a look at how Cal will handle Theo's return. He talks briefly about Pacific, though. Attendance is supposed to set a record of nearly 7500 at Stockton Arena. Also, Farudo mentions that Kamp has been participating in about two-thirds of Cal's practices, but he is mentally prepared to redshirt.

"I’m not saying it’s great that Theo was out, but just to let people get a chance to be out there playing," senior point guard Jerome Randle said. "With Jorge, we see he’s able to do a lot of other things other than coming off the bench giving us a lot of defense. He can score. I think he’s better for this team right now when he comes off the bench because he’s very fiery."

Gutierrez worked hard on his shot in the off-season and he entered this week ranked second in the Pac-10 in 3-point accuracy at 53.3 percent. He’s already made as many 3-pointers (8) as all last season, when he converted just 30.8 percent.

"He’s gotten better," Montgomery said. "He’s not pure. But it’s going in, so it’s good."

Randle believes the difference is merely confidence.

"I know a lot of times he second-guesses his shots. I tell him, if I create and draw the defense and you’re open for a shot and you don’t shoot the ball, I’m going to be mad," Randle said. "He takes the shot now. He’s not hesitating. He looks pretty good now. He’s making jump shots."

Gutierrez wasn’t the only Cal player to get more opportunity recently. Center Max Zhang and forward Omondi Amoke also have helped build better depth.

"(Max) gained some confidence, for sure," Montgomery said. "We’ll be able to use all these kids before it’s all said and done. Omondi has come in and done a real nice job, particularly on the boards. He’s very active to the glass. He doesn’t always get to where he’s supposed to be, but he’s a strong rebounder."

[On Pacific]

"They’re very solid. They play hard, they’re physical, they well-coached, they’ve got a lot of pride in their program," Montgomery said. "They’re always a contender in the Big West because it’s important. They don’t beat themselves, they don’t make a lot of mistakes, they know who they are."

Montgomery expects the Bears will have a fight on their hands.

"They’re not going to back off at all. They’ll come after us," he said. "To get a Pac-10 school over in Stockton, it’s a big game for them. They’ll be ready to go."

After the jump a few media outlets look back on Cal's season, Cal is favored by three over the Utes, Theo's return generates excitement, and more.

Cal Football

Cal is favored by 3 over the Utes.
The Poinsettia Bowl is 16th in Stewart Mandel's list of most interesting bowls. It is the second-least interesting of the Pac-10 bowls, however, and is one spot below the USC-BC Emerald Bowl. Mandel says it will be much more interesting if Best returns for his last game of the season (and probably Cal career). UCLA-Temple (assuming Army doesn't win), is the least interesting Pac-10 bowl at 27th.
Ted Miller recaps Cal's season in a single word: strange.
Cal earns a C+ from Buster Sports for its performance over the 2009 season. Its grades for each game of the season were as follows:

A

B

B+

F

F

B

B

B-

B-

B

A-

F

Cal Basketball

Everyone is excited for the return of Theo. Defending Cal will be a whole lot tougher, as Randle, PC, and Theo can score any time they touch the ball.

CBKWitness - Cal turns a corner, sings

CBKWit — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 11:00:15 -0000

Nice work CaliforniaCMB. Email Cal BBall photoshops to: goldenblogs@gmail.com

Saturday found a scene familiar to long suffering Blues - Cal basketball providing a glimmer of hope as Cal football fizzles out. I went to both the men's and women's basketball games on Saturday, two blowout victories surrounding our predictably unpredictable no show at UW. RemorsefulBruinBabe called it a "losing sandwich on winning bread."

The women's freshmen and the men's backups performing so well would be the lead story here, but RemorsefulBruinBabe just found this, via BearBallCarrier. You may not like basketball, or a capella, but the combination is scintillating. That furd Tiger Woods makes you question humanity, and then Max Zhang and Maestro Randle save the day. Max swaying in the background puts it over the top.

The women were up first on Saturday. They won, big. BearBallCarrier, Calnet, and I sat in the chair-backs three rows behind the Cal bench. I even caught a shirt, from a real, live cheerleader. You could, too! There were plenty of great seats available, for only 12 bucks.

The freshman came in with a lot of hype, and so far it is deserved. They're the difference makers on the team, not our three senior guards. Eliza Pierre dominated the game with her speed and defense. The box score says she only had three steals, but she created plenty more of Cal's twelve steals and Colorado State's 17 turnovers.

Pierre isn't a smooth offensive player yet, but she's improved even since the Baylor game 2 weeks ago. She hit a nifty pull up jumper from 15 feet and looked much more in control handling the ball.

Eliza reminds me of Jorge, in the way she uses her tenacious defense to control the game. Like Monty said of Jorge, it's an absolute pleasure to watch Eliza play defense. But as much as I love Jorge, Pierre may be better, relative to her sport. She's faster and more athletic, and I think she'll turn into a natural point guard with more ease than Jorge. It's really worth the price of admission to watch her, and as a freshman with only 7 career games under her belt, she's going to get much, much better.

Yes, this tiny picture is all I could find.

via grfx.cstv.com

The freshman posts have also impressed so far. I haven't seen Brenna Heater yet, as she's been out with a boot on her foot. I heard she's due to return fairly soon, which should be a huge boost to the team. Right now, Cal has 3 healthy forwards, all of them freshman. Senior Rama N'Diaye, our one experienced post, hasn't played this year and seems likely to redshirt. It's been pretty impressive to watch 3 freshman combine for 80 minutes a game at the two forward spots. Stallworth is ridiculously smooth for a freshman with a very consistent shot. Caldwell has what we call a "rebounder's body" (read: big posterior) and moves well for her size. Brandon is probably the fastest and most athletic of the bunch. They are all more effective and more polished than I anticipated, but the biggest (and most necessary) surprise has been their conditioning. Cal was pushing the pace against Colorado State and our big were keeping up, despite only having one sub.

The big void on this team is shooting. Alexis Gray-Lawson has a nice looking stroke but only hits 25-33% of her outside shots on a given night. Layshia Clarendon is more of a scorer than an outside shooter; this will serve Cal well in the long run, as she looks to take over AGL's points next year, but for this season does not fill a glaring need. Senior Lauren Greif is still struggling from outside, going 0-2 on good looks in the CSU game. Stallworth is probably the best three point shooter on the team right now, as she knocked down two threes from the top of the key. The entire team needs work on free throws - they shot less than 50% in both games this weekend, and it particularly hurt them in the loss to Texas A&M. Stallworth hit the three pointers against CSU but missed both her free throws; Caldwell has an awkward over the head motion on her free throw shooting, barely grazing the rim on her first shot and then air-balling the second. Shooting looks like it will be the achillies heel of this team all year.

Layshia Clarendon

via caltriplethreat.files.wordpress.com

I watched 2/3 of the men's game against New Mexico at the Pit last Wednesday. Cal was pretty close to winning, which is pretty impressive considering Harper Kamp and Theo Robertson missed the game due to injury, Markhuri Sanders-Frison, Omondi Amoke, Jorge Gutierrez, and Patrick Christopher had the flu, and the game was played a mile above sea level. If we have Theo, we win. If Amoke, who has been a terror on the glass lately, doesn't foul out with zero points in nine minutes due to the flu, we win. Hopefully New Mexico keeps winning (they're 8-0) and hopefully the selection committee gives us a pass for all the injuries/vomiting and dehydration.

That said, Cal probably wins this game despite all that if New Mexico doesn't go to a 1-2-2 3/4 court press and some combo zone in the half court. What is a 1-2-2 3/4 court press? Just watch the first 13 seconds of this video:

Cal was up 6, I believe, when New Mexico started employing this trapping press to slow the bears down. It worked. Cal lost its rhythm and turned it over at least once that I can remember, a Boykin travel.

Once Cal got into the half court, New Mexico continued to employ some sort of perimeter oriented zone, though I can't remember if it was a 1-2-2 or an extended 2-3. Earlier in the half, Randle buried three pointers on three consecutive possessions as he ran around screens off the ball, plays we generally ran for Christopher against man defense last year. Once New Mexico went to the zone to stop chasing Randle around the court and giving up open looks, the Bears struggled. It's somewhat strange that New Mexico didn't go to a zone earlier, given how badly we struggled with it against Syracuse and Ohio State.

On the first possession against the zone, Randle penetrated and kicked to an open Jorge, who missed it from the top of the key. Theo, come back soon. Cal's offense never settled down, New Mexico hit some tough shots, the Lobo crowd got into it, ball game.

With Wednesday's loss to New Mexico, Saturday's game against Iowa State gained a lot of importance. Wins over Jacksonville, Murray State, Princeton, etc. are nice, but losing every game to a name opponent (which is what they had done so far) is not going to get Cal a lot of cred. And after the football debacle in Seattle (I guess Cal can't score on usc OR former usc assistants), Cal fans needed an upper. We got one.

The first half gave us three of the biggest highlights of the season thus far. Max put his hand in front of Craig Brackins' (future NBA first rounder) face, prompting Brackins to slap it away, irritated. Max was under his skin, and shortly thereafter Brackins whined to the refs about it.

Number two: Max blocked Brackins' shot. Brackins finished the game with 21 points, but most came before Max showed him who was boss. Brackins wasn't a big factor after that.

via cdn1.sbnation.com

Number three: Jorge dunked. He threw it down with one hand on a fast break, giving Cal a nine point lead. I didn't know he could dunk! I don't think any Cal fans did. Did he grow an inch or two since last year? Did he improve his vertical leap? All I know is that I love Jorge more than I did before, and I didn't know that was possible.

The background of this picture, the forefront of my heart

via cdn1.sbnation.com

Patrick Christopher had 4 points at half. In the first minute of the second half, Randle hit him for an alley-oop. He scored another 14, including a couple threes, in the half to finish the game with 20. It was yet another example of Christopher needing a confidence booster of some sort to insert himself in the game. Hopefully he will be more consistent once our calm, steady senior Theo returns and takes some of the pressure off PChris.

Randle had a terrible shooting night, 7-21 overall and 0-7 from three, but still finished with 18 points. Aside from his awful shooting (especially bad considering he is a really, really good shooter), he was great. He controlled the game from the point, dishing out 9 assists against only 2 turnovers. He held his man, ISU's three point specialist (insert Euro name here) scoreless. Randle has really picked up his defense and he doesn't even need his number one asset, his incredible outside shooting, in order to be a very good player in a game.

Cal may be turning a corner. It would have been great to win one or two of the big games we've lost, and with Theo and without the flu, we probably would have. But the flip side to the injuries and illness has been experience to our backups. Max and Omondi Amoke have been coming on very strong lately, and without the increased playing time they've received due to our temporarily depleted roster, they wouldn't have shown this much improvement. Max played the best game of his career on Saturday, against a first round NBA pick no less. He still has plenty to improve on (rebounding, some semblance of a post move), but he's serviceable and that's a lot more than you could say 6 weeks ago, much less last year.

Max, with newfound ferocity

via cdn3.sbnation.com

Amoke is a menace on the boards, especially at the offensive end. He's also grown more patient and relaxed offensively, leading to greatly increased offensive production. He's been forced to play a lot of minutes at the 4 because of Harper's injury, and with Harper likely out for the year, that will continue. But even though he's undersized playing at power forward (6'7 and pretty skinny), he's been able to collect double digit rebounds in limited minutes. He compensates for his lack of size with superior athleticism and persistence.

The really sweet part is that Theo is returning! He's supposedly playing tonight against the Pacific Tigers. He'll help this team in so many ways: breaking zones with his shooting, improving the perimeter defense, allowing Jorge to come off the bench and get back to his ultra-aggressive defense, allow Amoke to play the three on occassion...the list goes on. And he's returning to a team that has improved since he last played, nearly a month ago. Cal basketball is about to get really exciting, and just in time for the Poinsettia bowl. Praise be Bak Bak.

On a completely unrelated note, this is what I sat behind at The Nutcracker last night:

If you're going to a movie/ballet/concert, maybe the best hairdo isn't all of your hair piled on top of your head. There may actually be someone sitting behind you! And if this is your dad, unlike last week, I am not at all sorry.

Golden Nuggets: That Which We Call A Poinsettia. By Any Other Name...

Berkelium97 — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 02:00:17 -0000

...would still cause temporary blindness if its sap gets in your eye. So let's keep the poinsettia champagne cocktails away from Oksi, okay?

In case you missed it, Cal has accepted an invitation to the Poinsettia Bowl where it will play Utah on Wednesay, December 23rd at 5pm.

Here's a sampling of what Tedford had to say in today's press conference.

On how the relatively short time until the Poinsettia Bowl affects preparation and schedules
"It makes it pretty tight. There's a lot going on. There's finals, there's recruiting weekends, there's home visits that need to be made. What this does, it takes away a recruiting weekend, so we have to get a lot of work done in a short amount of time and so that makes it very challenging. Preparation for the game, we should be fine. I don't remember the dates as of right now, but this week we're going out recruiting. Next weekend, we have practice, which will be a generic practice, offense vs. defense. Then we will game plan through the first of that next week, practice starting on, I believe, Wednesday, that will go through until Saturday, and then I think our departure date is Saturday if I'm not mistaken, and so we will practice down there Saturday, Sunday, and then the game is on Wednesday, and we'll get a practice on Monday."

On the travel itinerary and practices after arrival in San Diego
"Most likely we'll fly out early that morning [Saturday], get there, get organized in the hotel, and then practice there. But we're trying to tighten those things down right now to see if those are absolute times."
...

On the use of Isi Sofele as a kick returner against Washington and whether he filled that role because of any injury to Jeremy Ross
"J-Ross was dinged up and Shane [Vereen was] dinged up, and so we were trying some different depth there. We put [Chris] Conte back there as well because Isi was banged up through the week as well, so last week, going into the game, we had quite a few questions of who was going to do what because we had quite a few guys banged up. He did a great job, it was very promising."
...

On the results of Best's examination in Pittsburgh
"That was all positive. I think they're looking toward having Jahvid do some working out this week, whatever the extent of that, I don't know, and I think it's completely on how he feels from day to day on how much he will do. The feedback I got from the medical staff was that he can start progressing and doing some physical activity, but I don't think anyone knows how he's going to respond until he does it."

After the jump we have plenty of recaps for you sadists who want to relive last night's game. To put you in a better mood, I have plenty of stories on men's basketball's great win last night, volleyball's impressive march through the NCAA tournament, and more.

Cal Football

Last night's loss created even more confusion about this team. Naturally, Riley said he was very frustrated, and Vereen suggested that they overlooked Washington (how you can overlook a team with a top-ten draft pick is beyond my understanding). Daily Cal recaps the loss. JO also recaps the loss.
While many fans will remember the 8-4 record, SFGate says many will also remember being outscored 145-30 in four lopsided losses.

Cal Basketball

After the football team was dismantled in Seattle, Monty's team gave Cal fans a reason to go to bed smiling. With an 82-63 win, Monty says his team is starting "to get our swagger back." From PC's 20 points to Amoke's domination on the boards to Max Zhang's block party (and did you hear his roar in the first half?!), this win helped make up for football's performance. NBA scouts from 10 different teams who came to watch ISU's Craig Brackins saw him repeatedly frustrated by Zhang.
While not as thorough as his usual game threads (due to print deadlines), Farudo's game thread is a good barometer for last night's game.
In his post-game quotes, Monty seemed very pleased with Cal's performance. He said they were playing with more energy than they had in recent games and believes they are starting to break out of their mini-slump.
The women took care of business too, routing Colorado St 78-44. Boyle was pleased with their second-half adjustments as well as the defensive pressure they applied. Today they narrowly lost to no. 7 Texas A&M. Too many turnovers and missed free throws kept the Bears from notching an impressive upset.

Women's Volleyball

The ninth-seeded Cal women's volleyball team put an end to Lipscomb's 25-game winning streak and knocked them out of the tournament by sweeping them in three sets. They followed that up with a win over Ohio St, which sends them to the Gainesville Regional semifinal next weekend with a matchup against Baylor on Friday.

Four Factors From ISU-Cal Game

Mark Kieffer — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 17:10:30 -0000

More photos » by Dino Vournas - AP

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I attached probably the funniest picture of the night. Look at the facial expression from Zhang.... Yeah it was a foul, but he wasn't giving a fuck!

Below are the Four Factors from last night's game. Really tells the story if you weren't able to catch any of it:

NCAA Basketball Stats

Look at the OR%! 47% to 25%! Forget the 25%, the fact that Cal had 47% is crazy good! Combine that with shooting the ball better, and turning it over less times, and that's the recipe for the blowout.

Again, from just looking at the game, rebounding was the obvious issue here, and this chart does a nice job showing the disparity on the boards.

I'm not going to rant anymore about this, and let this ruin my weekend. Today, I'm going to sit back, see teams get selected to Bowls, and watch the Iowa-Iowa State Wrestling dual tonight.

Cal Basketball Attacks And Hustles Their Way To 82-63 Victory Over Iowa State

Avinash — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 10:10:02 -0000

More photos » by Dino Vournas - AP

Excuse me Mr. Brackins, but you have entered the Chamber of Max.

Browse more photos »

We'll start with the actual team that played with desire yesterday. (As for football, an official bowl announcement will come around 1:30 PM PST, according to Okanes)

The Bears played like a team in must-win mode, and they dominated a solid Iowa State team and their star Craig Brackins. With little error after three road losses against their best opponents, and Pac-10 hoops in general taking a beating, this win was a good step in the right direction for this team and this conference. Cal did not shoot well from downtown (Randle was an uncharacteristic 0 for 7), but didn't need it thanks to timely rebounding, an attack mentality and strong defense, shutting the Cyclones down when they pulled away in the second half.

Player spotlight: This turned out to be the perfect game for (I can't believe it either) Max Zhang. What Zhang lacks on offense he made up for on defense. Although we are far away from anointing him Yao Ming Jr., when he had to face off on the future NBA prospect, Brackins had to work hard to get his 21 points, needing 19 shots to reach that mark. Zhang played close up on him, crowded his range, and forced him into difficult shots when he was on him. Big ups to Max--if he can play like that against Cole Aldrich in a few weeks we have a slight chance of making the noise.

Stars of the night: Omondi Amoke and Patrick Christopher. 25 of Cal's 51 rebounds (and 9 of their 19 offensive boards) came from Amoke and Christopher. Both guys crashed the glass and got 10 points on putbacks. Without any bigs, you love your smaller guys getting in there and putting their effort into it. Amoke was all hustle tonight, cutting baseline and hustling down boards; his performance opened up what could've been a much tighter game.

Great rebound game for Christopher after the disappearing act in Albuquerque. Christopher seemed more ready to attack the basket, and he managed to earn a few trips to the stripe (he missed some of them, but hey, it's better than nothing). For the most part he took open jumpers and 3s, and if he couldn't get them passed to the open man or put it on the floor. With another tough road test at Pacific looming, the Bears might need another big performance from him, especially if Theo's injury continues to hold him out.

(Postgame reaction from Clone Chronicles)

rollonubears went to his first Cal game and shared his thoughts.

Thoughts on Haas:
I need to bring hiking boots next time. Dear lord it is steep.
The atmosphere was very disappointing. The stadium was probably less than half full. Cal fans can show up and be loud (like at football games), so why not do it for basketball? In my opinion a good basketball crowd is more important than a good football crowd. Frustrating.

Thoughts on the game:

PChris sighting! PChris sighting! After being on the lam from playing well for months, good old PChris is back.

Jerome Randle is really, really good at basketball.

I can’t remember Jorge having a better offensive game. He was confident with the ball, made some 3s, used headfakes effectively, and had only 1 turnover. Hopefully he keeps that up.

Dear Max, You are 7 fucking 3. 3 rebounds is unacceptable in 20+ minutes. A guy 9 inches shorter than you grabbed 8 more rebounds. And it isn’t that he isn’t getting bounces. Its that he isn’t trying for the ball. Max frequently just watches the play and doesn’t move to the ball. Quit being so cumbersome and do something! He needs to go to the Omondi Amoke school of sticking your nose in everything. Speaking of him…

I am officially in love with Amoke. He really is Mr. Everything. He is a great natural rebounder (if he was a few inches taller he would be unstoppable), very athletic, a heady player, and always seems to be in the right place at the right time. Amoke’s play thus far has been by far the most positive development of the year.

Poll

Player of the game...

New Mexico 86, Cal 78: Are the Bears On the Bubble Already?

Avinash — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 21:08:00 -0000

And seven games into the season, Cal is now staring at the bubble.

You might be laughing at this ("it's only December!"), but 4-3, with a tough game with Iowa State this Saturday and a sure loss at Kansas upcoming, combined with the Pac-10's overall perception as a weak conference has the Bears in the tough spot of having to win their conference to have any shot at a tournament bid. It's not a reality I'm happy with, but that's what it's looking like right now. More notes on yesterday's game against UNM after the jump.

Quick notes.

Jamal Boykin is a man beast, and his midrange jumper is a thing of beauty. Another 20-10 night.
Patrick Christopher started the game 3-4. He finished the game 2-10. This disappearing act is getting a little tiring.
Jorge off the bench>>>Jorge as a starter. No diss to Jorge, who is awesome, but defenses don't respect his shot the way they respect Theo.
For a moment, it looked like Jerome Randle was going to carry us to victory a la Arizona. Then New Mexico started trapping and playing up on him, and no one else could really step up.
Max played aggressive on offense, but New Mexico ran pick and roll straight at him late. Instead of blocking the shot, he ran with them and let them scoop in the big layups!!! AGGGH.
MSF picked up 2 fouls in 2 minutes and really didn't have much of an impact again.
Niiiiiikola nailed a few 3s. He was probably the third best player on the floor tonight. That is a sentence I never want to utter again this season.
Amoke was just never into the game, fouling out and playing like a guy with the flu. If he plays well we probably pull this out.
Our 3 point defense left something to be desired. Lots of clangs by New Mexico kept it close, but we really didn't really challenge their shots enough. And sometimes players were wide wide open.
The officiating was horrible (what do you expect in the Pit?). Didn't really cost us the game though; it just totally disrupted the ebb and flow so that neither team could really pull away. Frustrating, but a footnote for me--you don't go on the road in a loud, obnoxious environment and expect to get many calls.
We can't beat a zone right now. Syracuse with it's vaunted 2-3, now New Mexico with the 1-2-2.
If Cal was a healthy team, we probably win. But sometimes the real world isn't kind enough to hand us the ideal. Hopefully we get Theo back sooner than later and we can see what Cal can do at full strength. Right now we're at 70-75%. Just like our tourney chances.

Are the Bears on the bubble?

Poll

Is Cal already on the bubble?

Cal Men's Basketball v. University of New Mexico Open Thread

TwistNHook — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 01:15:15 -0000

More photos » by Jeff Chiu - AP

16 days ago: California's Max Zhang (14) dunks over Princeton's Pawel Buczak (55) in the first half during an NCAA college basketball game in Berkeley, Calif., Sunday, Nov. 29, 2009. California won, 81-60. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Browse more photos »

Tonight, we have the game against the Lobos. Could be a tough one. Here is the broadcast info:

California Golden Bears (4-2) at New Mexico Lobos (6-0)
Wednesday, Dec. 2, 6:00 p.m. (PT), The Pit, Albuquerque, N.M.
Radio: KFRC 1550 AM TV: CBS College
Line: New Mexico favored by 5.5 (HT 33SwisherSweet)

Injury report: Theo Robertson (out), Harper Kamp (possibly redshirting and out for season), Patrick Christopher (supposedly playing with the flu, not confirmed), Omondi Amoke (playing with the flu), Jorge Gutierrez (playing with the flu), Markhuri Sanders-Frison (playing, but has lost 10 pounds)

Pomeroy ratings: Cal 25th, New Mexico 16th. Yes, SIXTEENTH. Ugh.

Use this thread to discuss all the action between Cal and UNM. If you want stream updates, I'll try and find something for you guys before tipoff--the link will be in the comments. GO BEARS!

After the jump, New Mexico fritters about this big matchup, while Monty constantly is forced to tinker with new lineups.

Due to the injuries and general sickness and malaise surrounding our team, Coach Montgomery has been forced to mix and match according to Jeff Goodman of the Daily Cal. Those of us who watched the Princeton game saw some interesting lineups, and we might see more of that tonight.

Because of injuries and illnesses to several of his players, Montgomery has made several adjustments in an attempt to alleviate the Cal men's basketball team's current lack of depth.

He's altered the Bears' starting five several times, more by necessity than by choice.

He's also called upon players like D.J. Seeley and Nikola Knezevic to replace forward Theo Robertson and guard Jorge Gutierrez in the regular rotation.

Reserves and starters alike -- Max Zhang, Jamal Boykin, even Jerome Randle -- are taking on new roles.

"Max played more minutes (on Sunday) than he normally would," Montgomery said. "Jamal played over to the five ... That would not be the norm."

Montgomery is even considering moving Randle off the ball and allowing freshman Brandon Smith to bring the ball up the floor and run the offense.

"Brandon is a good facilitator," Montgomery said. "He's a natural point guard. It would give us a different look."

Once Robertson returns from his foot injury -- the senior has been running on a treadmill with 90-percent weight and will continue rehabbing during the Bears' short trip to Albuquerque, N.M., for tonight's non-conference game against New Mexico (6-0) -- Montgomery might try him in a lineup with Smith, Randle, swingman Patrick Christopher and one post player. It would keep three perimeter shooters on the court and, potentially, take some pressure off of Randle.

Many Cal fans are nervous about venturing into the Pit to take on this 6-0 team. But surprisingly, Lobos fans are nervous, too, about this game:

The Lobos haven't exactly been challenged in The Pit, but have staged two gutsy wins on the road - at NMSU and at Hawaii. The Lobos have posted their unblemished 6-0 record with a smooth combination of focused offense and rock-hard defense.

The defense surely will come in handy against Randle, Christopher and Jamal Boykin, a hot-shooting 6-foot-8 senior forward. So far, the young Lobos = one senior on the roster, period - have been all ears (and moving feet) when it comes to Alford's message about how much he likes to see his Lobos play defense.

"Our defense has been killer," said [star guard Jamal] Fenton. "Coach Alford is such a competitor and the athlete in him comes out and we feed off that. When I came here, I knew the Lobos would have scorers, so I felt I needed to bring something else and I decided it would be defense. I have no problem playing defense."

Fenton, fast becoming a Pit crowd pleaser, helps provide exactly what the Lobos need in their upset bid against Cal: a spark to spark The Pit. "I hope I can do that," Fenton said of rallying The Pit. "When they are behind us and loud, it makes a big difference."

Alford obviously has seen a few areas in which his young Lobos need to improve. Mostly, they need game time and on-the-court challenges. UNM has one senior, Roman Martinez, and one junior, Dairese Gary, who saw action as a Lobo in 2008-09.

But these pups haven' been puppy-like so far. They won by 10 points at NMSU. They won by 12 at Hawaii. Their closest call in The Pit was 16 points over Cal Riverside.

Alford said his Lobos were a little unfocused in the first half at Hawaii, but shouldn't have that problem against a ranked team out of the prestigious Pac-10. Martinez agrees.

"This is a huge challenge," said the El Paso product. "We're not going to just show up and beat a Top 25 team. They are athletic and big and we'll have to show up with our A-game.

"Cal's a great team and they can score in bunches. It's important for us to take their best shot when it comes, and keep on fighting."

The Lobos haven't played a ranked team in The Pit since No. 15 Air Force on Jan. 9, 2007. That was an 8-point loss. UNM's last win over a ranked team was Feb. 21, 2005 over No. 13 Utah, 65-54.

Poll

If I were a gambler, I'd take...

Cal +5.5

19 votes

New Mexico -5.5

5 votes

24 votes | Poll has closed

Cal 81, Princeton 60: Bears Tune Up Before New Mexico and Iowa St.

Avinash — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 00:46:31 -0000

More photos » by Jeff Chiu - AP

"What kind of party is it?" "Block party." "Who's invited?" "Oh, Omondi Amoke's on the A-list."

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~Player of the game: Jamal Boykin. He was hitting everything from outside. He grabbed down big rebounds. He hit Max for his slick posterizing of Ivy League Boy. We can't expect this from Boykin all the way, but he's filled in nicely to fill in the scoring gap from Theo.

~Your standard Randle performance. A few alley oops thrown here and there, penetration into the lane, running the fast break, and the ICBM 3 pointers. Ho-hum.

~Max Zhang outscored Patrick Christopher. Something I'm pretty sure I'd never say. It's interesting that Christopher's performance has been a barometer for success, because other than some solid defense he wasn't really a factor in this one.

~Omondi Amoke has been stepping up big hitting the class, with 8 rebounds and a sick looking block. Although, like Thoroughbred points out, he has to start hitting his free throws.

This is for postgame discussion, a chance to look forward to the upcoming games, and an open thread for whatever's going on tonight. How do you think the Bears will do against stiffer competition in New Mexico (and we'll be travelling down there) and home versus Iowa State?

~Really impressed with Cal's defensive effort, lots of steals and fast break opportunities in this one. If they could replicate that against a team that they didn't thoroughly outclass, I'd be even more impressed (first chance: Iowa State this Saturday).

~Nikola still gives me headaches every time he yanks up a horrid looking shot. He's 4 for 15 this year. Easy there boy, pass the damn ball.

~Nice to see Bak Bak get some action. Still miles away from doing anything big, although that block was monstrous.

~Bears experimented with a three guard lineup with Smith, Knezevic and Randle...interesting wrinkle, I'm not sure if it's something we'll see more of in the future.

~I like Smith has the secondary ball handler--he made more smart decisions with the ball, and Cal seemed to play more unselfishly when he was the one running point. Although that might mean Knezevic might shoot more when he gets the ball. It'll be interesting to see how Monty handles this.

~Seeley, STOP SHOOTING 3s. You've made one all season. ATTACK THE BASKET. You're killing me man.

~If Cal can play this way without Theo and MSF...well, I don't know. I still feel they can win both of their games this week, but it'll be tough. Theo coming back would help us out big-time.

Poll

Cal will go __________ against New Mexico and Iowa State

2-0

85 votes

1-1

25 votes

0-2

3 votes

113 votes | Poll has closed

Syracuse 9500, Cal 73: Bears Faceplant on the Road

Avinash — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:40:41 -0000

More photos » by Julie Jacobson - AP

The refs weren't the only thing that caused Mike Montgomery frustration in Cal's 95-73 loss.

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We can talk about officiating all we want, but this one came down to defense.The Bears did not rotate to their men, did not help well, did not play great off the ball, while Syracuse did, in almost every measure. Cal's offense looked sloptastic, mostly because of the zone, partly because everyone seemed to throw their passes off-target and get into set shots, and more because the Orangemen athletes were just better.

On almost every level, the Orangemen were the better team. Hopefully this trend for every Cal loss this season ends soon.

It's hard to say how much of an effect Theo would've had in this game. It would've been far more competitive than it actually was.
Jerome Randle and the rest of his starting lineup is starting to remind me a little too much of Jahvid Best and the offensive line. Hopefully Randle doesn't start racking up the minutes as the season goes on.
Jamal Boykin again doing all the little underrated things. But other than Boykin and Randle, rest of team shot 30 percent. Yuck.
Every Orangeman shot over 50 percent. Double yuck.
Wesley Johnson looks like a pro.
We could've used Kamp on Onuaku. Just saying.
Patrick Christopher must've catched a late flight, because he wasn't really showing anything until the final minutes. It's becoming hard to discern if he really has any talents other than slashing and an occasional 3 point shot.
Salvage a split tomorrow and it's still a good trip. Not many of us thought we'd go 2-0, so hopefully a good rebound tomorrow will put us back where we need to be.

This is your postgame thread. Feel free to watch the Ohio State-North Carolina game to see who we end up facing, or the Thursday Night game (Colorado 14 Oklahoma St. 10 right now), or whatever else catches your fancy this Thursday night.

nickle had a good postgame comment that I wanted to share here.

In the end, the result of this game doesn’t really matter (well not too much, it still sucks). Lavin and co. might be surprised at the result of this game but I don’t think any of us are. Biggest surprise is Theo being out at the last second, and along w/ Kamp’s injury, we didn’t have a chance from the start. If we get those two back it’s a completely different team.

Cal didn’t schedule these games primarily to build an impressive resume, although that woulda been a huge plus had we won today. But we got a real good look at the Syracuse zone and this experience will help tremendously when it counts most in the tournament (assuming we don’t pull an epic fail this season). Throw that in with the matchup tomorrow against either a very very experienced team or a very very athletic team and we’re getting a huge dose of what to expect from what will be our toughest competition from here on out.

Not a great outing by the bears, but I think it was fine. PC really needs to find a way to get his own shots though.

I think we’ll be fine. I hope…

Cal Men's Basketball vs Syracuse, Pregame/First Half Open Thread

Avinash — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 23:00:37 -0000

More photos » by Ben Margot - AP

Can Cal make do in Madison Square Garden in New York City without Theo Robertson?

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Quick links to get you ready for this. Tipoff is approximately 7:10 PM EST/4:10 PM PST, coverage on ESPN2.

BREAKING NEWS: Theo is out with a foot injury. Jorge would likely take his place in the starting lineup, and we could see more Amoke and Seeley too. Harper Kamp is still out and did not make the trip to New York.

Faraudo's been beastly. Got quotes from Jim Boheim, says Jerome Randle is the key to breaking the Syracuse defense, Cal players adjusting to Madison Square Garden, a 20 question interview with Nikola that doesn't talk about being Michael Cera's body-double, a history of MSG...well done Jeff.
Jeff Goodman of the Daily Cal talks about the team's arrival in NYC, as well as a podcast about how to break down the famous 2-3 zone.
Jim Boeheim is happy with his team's defensive effort in his team's most recent victories.
Wilner ranks Cal 14th, 2 spots behind UW. Hat tip to Berkelium for gathering most of these links!
Shameless self-promotion: CBKWitness recaps the first two games, ieeebear puts the video highlights of Murray State up, and we talk about the game on the podcast for the last few minutes. Additionally, here's our four-way roundtable with the UNC, Syracuse and Ohio State SBN blogs!

This is your thread for the first half. Second half thread will be up around halftime.