SB Nation - Harper Kamp

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.

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

24 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

Big Night in Mountain West Hoops: Open Thread and Previews

Jeremy Mauss — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 00:48:41 -0000

Tonight is the first really big night in hoops with San Diego State playing at University of San Diego, #25 Cal playing at the Pit against New Mexico, Arizona is hosting UNLV, and BYU is at Utah State. These are the biggies for tonight. The first preview will be the Cal game at New Mexico.

Next Game

#25 California Golden Bears (4-2)
@ New Mexico Lobos (6-0)

Wednesday, Dec 2, 2009, 6:00 PM PST
The Pit

TV: CBS College Sports

Complete Coverage >

Out all the Pac-10 woes from UCLA losing big man Drew Gordon to Gonzaga because he said "the team has no heart." Then there is that the league being pretty pathetic with league loses to Montana, Cal State-Fullerton, San Diego, Oral Roberts, and Loyala Marymount. Then there is Cal who is number 25 in the polls sitting with a 4-2 record. New Mexico is no joke sitting at 6-0 and is getting a little pub from the polls, but this will be their first big test this year.

The Lobos have a chance to contend in the Mountain West with their tough schedule that will test them and that starts tonight against Cal and then continues with games against Texas A&M, Creighton, San Diego, Texas Tech, and Dayton. Their RPI will be up there but wins will be necessary as well for the Lobos.

The Lobos thought they would be struggling to replace their top three scorers, but coach Steve Alford has been surprised with Darington Hobson (18.2 ppg, 7.3 rpg) and forward Roman Martinez (14.7, 5.7), but the bigger surprise might be that Phillip McDonald who at any time can blow up; as example from his 27 point performance against rival New Mexico State.

On the Cal side, the team is still not at full strength until it gets Theo Robertson and Harper Kamp back in the lineup on a consistent basis, gives the Lobos a barometer to see how good they will be this season. The Bears' guards Jerome Randle and Patrick Christopher will be the best back court they see all year.

Next Game

BYU Cougars (5-0)
@ Utah State Aggies (3-2)

Wednesday, Dec 2, 2009, 6:05 PM PST
Dee Glen Smith Spectrum

TV: CW 30 (locally in Utah)

ESPN 360 and ESPN Full Court

Complete Coverage >

This game is always a big matchup as both schools have been good the past five years. On the year BYU has been blowing out teams by 27 per game and scoring 88 per game. Those numbers will not be the same tonight, because Utah State has won 20 wins per season for who knows how long. Also, the Aggies do not lose at the Spectrum which is one of the loudest arenas in the country.

Do not let the 3-2 record fool for Utah State they are always a good team the non-conference season can be difficult for the Aggies at times, but when the season ends they will be at the top of the WAC with 20 wins. The only decent team that Utah State has played is Utah who is only 3-3 and lost by a single point; while the rest of their games have been against some pretty weak competition.

The leaders for Utah State are Tai Wesley (13 PPG and 5.8 REB), Jared Quayle (11.8 PPG, 8 REB, and 4.4 AST), and Nate Bendall (10.6 PPG and 7.4 REB). In addition to those three there are three more players who average seven to eight points per game. The Aggies have a balanced team which could help against BYU, but they will need to either play uptempo with BYU or try to stop the offensive power of Jonathan Tavernari, Jimmer Fredette, and Jacksn Emery. All three of those players combine for 46 points which is nearly half of the teams production, so if Utah State can slow down any of those three the Aggies will have a good chance.

Next Game

TCU Horned Frogs (2-2)
@ SMU Mustangs (4-3)

Wednesday, Dec 2, 2009, 5:30 PM PST
Moody Coliseum

TV: none

Complete Coverage >

Neither of these schools are great hoops teams, but this is a rival game and that should make this an interesting game. Both schools can put up some points as TCU averages 75.7 where SMU 69.3, and are capabale of scoring above that average.

TCU's top players PPG REB AST

Ronnie Moss	G	19.1	3.4	7.1
Edvinas Ruzgas	G	14.1	2.6	0.6
Zvonko Buljan	F	13.1	10.7	2.3

SMU top players PPG REB AST

Mouhammad Faye	F	14.8	5.3	0.5
Paul McCoy	G	14.3	5.3	2.8
Derek Williams	G	13.3	2.5	2.8

The top players from each school matchup pretty well and the first school to stop one of the top three should be able to win this game.

CBKWitness - at least we're not ucla

CBKWit — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 11:00:16 -0000

First thing's first: BIG, big props to CaliforniaCMB for his great work above. If you want to submit a (mens or womens) Cal bball photoshop/MS Paint to be featured in this space, email us at goldenblogs@gmail.com. A couple of football notes before we get to bball:

TwistNHook had the line of the night about the Neuheisel/Carroll D-bag competition: "dude, I bet Neuheezy is happy, because you know that dude bet the fucking over." Well put, Twist

I turned on the Stanford/Notre Dame game just in time to see Condi Rice administer the coin flip as this week's Stanfurd honorary captain. I'm hoping they drag out Donny Rumsfeld for the Emerald Bowl

And to basketball: About 40 minutes into one of our podcasts (so nobody heard it), Ragnarok predicted that Jamal Boykin would have a 20 point game sometime this season. I was skeptical, because I didn't think there'd be enough points to go around with Randle, Christopher, and Robertson. On Sunday, Roberston was not in the lineup due to his mysterious foot injury and Christopher continued his uneven play, chipping in only 5 points. It was the perfect opportunity for Boykin to contribute, and he matched his career high with 22 points. Ragnarok 1, CBKWit 0.

I saw only one Cal game last week, owing to Thanksgiving in the great state of Washington. The women's game against Ohio State was broadcast on Big10 TV, but sadly CBKParents didn't spring for channel 412 in their cable package.

So Cal versus Jacksonville at Haas last Tuesday was it, and there isn't too much to say about this one. Cal jumped out to a big lead early and dominated the game, winning it by 32. It was the biggest crowd by far this year but not noticeably louder than prior games; the crowd was relaxed with a four day weekend on the horizon and a blowout on the floor.

Patrick Christopher had has best game of the year, going for 23 points. He didn't have much in the first half and struggled as he has for much of the year, missing two three pointers and scoring only a few points (though he did have a spectacular two-handed put-back jam, getting up way above the rim). Then, early in the second half, he came up with a steal and breakaway for an easy bucket. He was lights out after that, hitting four threes on four attempts from the left arc. The performance was yet another indicator that Christopher's play is, for better or for worse, influenced by his mental state. He wasn't much of a factor in the first half; once he came up with the steal and breakaway, perhaps boosting his confidence, he was the most dominant player on the floor.

via cdn2.sbnation.com

Omondi Amoke continued his strong play with 15 points and 8 boards. He's a good leaper and persistent on the offensive glass, though he isn't a great finisher around the rim. He is going to play a huge role for the Bears this year, with the not too surprising news that Harper Kamp will likely redshirt and with Theo still out with his foot injury. I wouldn't be surprised if Amoke plays 20 minutes a game at the 3 and 4.

Bak Bak had two block blocks.

Yes, that's all I remember from this game.

via cdn3.sbnation.com

WSU won the Great Alaska Shootout over the weekend, which, amazingly, is not a harbinger of greatness. Cal won it three years ago with the DeVon Hardin/Ryan Anderson/Ayinde Ubaka team, propelling the bears to an 8th place, 6-12 finish in the Pac-10. WSU looks to finish, at least, in the middle of the conference this year. Klay Thompson, a 6-6 sophomore guard, is my pick for conference player of the year. He's an incredible shooter and is going to score a ton of points this year (he set the Great Alaska Shootout single game scoring record with 43 in the final; Glenn Big Dog Robinson had the previous record, 41).

To end on a happy note, ucla lost all three of its games in the 76 Classic, held in ANAHEIM. Yes, the bruins went 0-3 in a tournament held an hour from their campus. Butler is #10 in the country and the bruins almost pulled it out in the end, but losing to Long Beach State by 10 in the 7th place game? Portland has also beaten Minnesota and Oregon, but they didn't win those games by 27, as they did against ucla. To make matters worse for the small ________ bears, their starting forward Drew Gordon has left the team and is transferring out. Ben Braun went after him hard (Gordon is from San Jose), but I believe there's a two year penalty for transferring within the conference so I doubt we'll see him end up at Cal. Not that we need him with Max Zhang patrolling the paint. So yes, we are almost definitely without Harper for the year, Theo's already missed four games, and we lost big, twice, on national TV. But it could have been three times, in Oakland, to lesser teams, with Boykin leaving the team, and with the entire Stanfurd football team mocking us as they run up the score in the last minute. If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times: at least we're not ucla.

Pac-10 Weekly Wrap - Washington stays on top

Nuss — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 06:47:53 -0000

Welcome to the latest edition of the 2009-2010 Pac-10 Weekly Wrap, which looks at the state of the conference's hoops featuring my personal power rankings and analysis of the state of each team. It's a day late (we'll usually do it on Monday), but hopefully worth the wait.

The last week was better for the conference than the first couple, but not by a whole lot. On to the rankings and recaps. Guess who's climbing the charts?

1. Washington

Rank last week: 1
Record: 5-0

Nine days between games made for a rusty Washington team against Montana, their only game of the week. The Huskies escaped the Griz with a four-point win after trailing much of the game. I wouldn't read too much into this game, as Montana is a pretty decent Big Sky team with some nice talent.

Bright spot: The Huskies absolutely shut down Montana's best player, Anthony Johnson. He's a Pac-10 talent, and that should be as encouraging as anything. They nearly let the other guys beat them but that can be tightened up. This team still has the potential to be very good defensively.

Question mark: Who is going to lead this team? Quincy Pondexter looked superb through the first four games, but disappeared against Montana's zone. If he wants to be the man, he's got to assert himself in all situations. That's something they've got to sort out before Pac-10 play.

2. California

Rank last week: 2
Record: 4-2

I guess there's really no reason to move them down, given the results: a pair of blowout wins over terrible competition. But I did consider moving them down because Harper Kamp is likely to miss the rest of this season, and Theo Robertson is still on the shelf. This week will tell us a lot -- they really ought to handle New Mexico, Iowa State and Pacific pretty easily if they're as good as everyone wants to think they should be. We'll see.

Bright spot: Despite the loss of Kamp and with a woefully thin front line, the Bears have been one of the best defensive rebounding teams in the country. Hard to believe that didn't make more of a difference against Syracuse and Ohio State. One has to think it'll start making a difference soon.

Question mark: What in the world is their front line rotation going to look like the rest of this season without Kamp? That'll be a huge issue.

3. Arizona State

Rank last week: 3
Record: 6-1

Close loss to Duke combined with two decisive wins -- over a depleted LSU and Arkansas Pine Bluff -- all away from home solidify the Sun Devils as the third best team. However, I'm not sold they can stay here. They were eventually overwhelmed by the Blue Devils' talent, and their win over the Tigers had as much to do with LSU running out of gas as anything else.

Bright spot: The Sun Devils are proving that there still is some talent left in the wake of the departures of James Harden and Jeff Pendergraph. Derek Glasser has been especially impressive -- not bad for a guy who was originally supposed to be a walk-on at USC.

Question mark: Just because there's still talent doesn't mean everyone has been replaced. The Devils have been one of the worst defensive rebounding teams in the country so far, even giving up 44.5(!) percent offensive rebounding to Arkansas Pine Bluff. Yeow.

4. Washington State

Rank last week: 5
Record: 6-0

How far can Klay Thompson carry the Cougs? That will likely be the question going forward. The Cougs face their toughest stretch of the early season, including trips to The Kennel and Manhattan, Kan.. This will either be a big boost to the team, or put them in a postseason hole they'll spend all season digging out of.

Bright spot: Did you know that Reggie Moore has a 133 offensive rating? That's really, really good. He is just simply not playing like a freshman.

Question mark: What's going to happen on a night when the other team takes Klay away? Who will score? There are options, but nothing proven. We might find out tomorrow night.

5. Arizona

Preseason rank: 4
Record: 3-2

Wisconsin and Vandy are both good teams the Wildcats lost to last week, but they needed overtime to beat Colorado. Could have been a really bad trip to Maui without the win over the Buffs. When we say the Cougs will go as far as Klay Thompson can take them, we could say the same about Nic Wise and the Wildcasts.

Bright spot: Wise looks as if he desires to be the man for UofA. Good thing, because it's a young team that needs a strong leader.

Question mark: The Wildcats gave up an absurd amount of free throws in Maui. Aberration, or sign of things to come?

6. Oregon

Preseason rank: 7
Record: 4-2

Think this is too high after losing back-to-back games against Portland and Montana? That loss to the Pilots doesn't look nearly as bad anymore, and the loss to Montana might not either after the Griz nearly beat Washington, too. Obliterating Montana State was good.

Bright spot: Michael Dunigan is back. The Ducks really need him, and are going to continue to need him. He provides an advantage up front in a a conference more or less devoid of big men.

Question mark: The Ducks play three games in two weeks. Can they stay sharp, especially with upcoming games against quality opponents such as Missouri and St. Mary's on the docket. For the second year in a row, it looks like the Ducks might be a victim of scheduling too aggressively.

7. Stanford

Preseason rank: 8
Record: 4-3

Beat Virginia -- we don't have to tell you how far that goes in these parts -- and take Kentucky to overtime? Perhaps we underestimated Johnny Dawkins and his merry band of scholars.

Bright spot: The Cardinal have the same thing going for them that the Cougs do -- a great scorer who can explode on any given night. Landry Fields is averaging 23 points and 9 rebounds. That's good.

Question mark: We're still not sure we actually believe the Cardinal are for real. Can their nonexistent front line really be that small of a factor.

8. Oregon State

Rank last week: 10
Record: 2-3

After the public flogging we gave the Beavers last week, they came up with a nice win over George Washington. Nice job for OSU.

Bright spot: They survived yet another horrible offensive performance to beat GW. This is going to be a constant struggle for the Beavers all year long.

Question mark: Three of the Beavers' five games have been played at 68 possessions or more. What the heck? That's way, way too fast for that team. Perhaps some of their problems come from that.

9. USC

Preseason rank: 9
Record: 2-2

Beat Coppin State, lose to Nebraska. Not a lot to learn here again.

Bright spot: The Trojans are still shooting the ball well -- 28th nationally in 3-point percentage.

Question mark: For as well as they're shooting the ball, they're dead in opponent 3-point field goal percentage.

10. UCLA

Preseason rank: 6
Record: 2-4

What the heck is going on in Westwood? Can't win a game in your own tournament? Your starting center is transferring? Wowzer. If Ben Howland squeezes a berth out of these guys, it'll be considered his greatest coaching acheivement.

Bright spot: They beat Princeton. Yay!

Question mark: Too many to count. Way too many.

Pac-10 Hoops Weekly Wrap: Washington is the new No. 1

Nuss — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 23:28:12 -0000

More photos » by Julie Jacobson - AP

Jerome Randle is left wondering just how his team got blitzed by both Syracuse and Ohio State.

Browse more photos »

Welcome to the first edition of the 2009-2010 Pac-10 Weekly Wrap, which looks at the state of the conference's hoops featuring my personal power rankings and analysis of the state of each team. I suppose the season's been going on for about two weeks now, but everyone's got enough games under their belt now that we can actually have some semi-meaningful analysis.

We came into the season suspecting the Pac-10 to be way down this year, and while I'm going to be one of the few to say that has yet to be proven, I think one thing has most certainly confirmed another suspicion: This is going to be the most wide-open conference race in years. There is no 300-pound gorilla this year, as every team in this race has not just little flaws, but big-time flaws that could be exploited on any given night.

In other words, prepare for a wild ride where the conference champ has at least five losses. While I initially dismissed it, all that talk about this being a three-bid conference just might be spot on.

On to the rankings and recaps. (When I say preseason rank, that was my own personal preseason rankings ...)

1. Washington

Preseason rank: 2
Record: 4-0

The Huskies have done what they were supposed to do, win all of their games, but they move up to the No. 1 spot more out of default than anything else. Playing all four games at home, they've posted two dominant wins (Belmont, Portland State) and two wins where they were firmly in control (Wright State, San Jose State). They do get credit for not stubbing their toe, but there's just not a lot here to go off of yet.

Bright spot: Count me among those who were/are skeptical they can replace Jon Brockman's interior presence. However, all signs are good so far. They're still an offensive rebounding machine -- currently an absurd 47.6 percent, good for fifth in the country -- and they're doing a competent job on the defensive glass. Of course, that's against overmatched competition, but that's what they're supposed to do ...

Question mark: The shooting. Their effective field goal percentage (what's that?) is a pedestrian 51.7, inflated by one superbly hot shooting night against Portland State. Otherwise, they've been under 50 percent in their other three contests. Not good. As a team they're shooting just 32.8 percent from 3-point range -- somebody has to fill Justin Dentmon's void.

An honorable mention for the question mark would be the defense: It's been merely average.

2. California

Preseason rank: 1
Record: 2-2

Nothing like getting slapped around by a couple of Top 25 teams early in the year to bring an excited fanbase back to reality. Seriously, I feel sorry for Cal fans. Their football team was considered a worthy challenger to the USC throne (we all know how that's turned out, although beating Stanford certainly takes out some of that sting), and now their basketball team is off to a rocky start. Theo Robertson is out indefinitely, and Harper Kamp is touch and go as he recovers from a knee injury. To not even be in those two games is not the kind of start you'd expect from a team returning so many players, even without those two guys.

Bright spot: Jerome Randle can still shoot -- 50 percent on 26 3-point attempts this year. He's well on his way to following up last year's breakout campaign.

Question mark: The defense. It was atrocious against both Syracuse and Ohio State, which ought to be pretty disconcerting, since that was a target for improvement this year. Here's what Basketball Prospectus 2009-2010 had to say about the Bears' efforts to improve there:

We’ve seen this script play out before. You know, the team that can score at will but can’t get stops. But they return everyone from the previous season…and this time they mean business! They’ve been thinking about defense all summer, blah, blah, blah. Last year at this time, these words were being spoken about Baylor, and to a lesser extent Notre Dame. Two years ago it was NC State. Each of those teams failed to improve their defense and fell short of lofty preseason expectations.

Cal is a good team that is going to win a lot of games this season….But they’re also a team with a significant weakness. One that history says is very difficult to overcome, even with hard work.

Four games in, this is looking downright prophetic. It might not cause a huge issue in the Pac-10 this year -- assuming Robertson comes back healthy to complete the three-headed monster on offense -- but they better shore it up if they don't want a repeat of their first round exit against Maryland.

3. Arizona State

Preseason rank: 7
Record: 4-0

Who wants to be No. 3 in the Pac-10? Step right up, Sun Devils! When you start to look at the remaining eight teams and figure out who the third-best team in the conference is right now, your options are somewhere between OK and really bad. So, congratulations on being OK, Arizona State, after more or less destroying your annual parade of cupcakes at home (a close, 52-49 game with TCU notwithstanding). They've done it with a balanced attack (four different guys are averaging double figures, despite only averaging 62.9 possessions as a team) and pretty good defense.

Bright spot: The Sun Devils can still shoot -- their 62.3 effective field goal percentage is third nationally. I don't care who the opponent is, that's impressive. They're shooting 49.4 percent from 3-point range, and when you're shooting 3s on nearly 40 percent of your possessions (79th nationally right now), that's a recipe for some blowouts. Rihards Kuksiks, Derek Glasser, Ty Abbott and Jamelle McMillan are all shooting better than 45 percent from long range.

Question mark: There was one game, however, where the Sun Devils did shoot poorly; care to guess which one? If ASU's offensive effectiveness is going to be that closely tied to their shooting, their fans are in for one roller coaster ride of a year.

4. Arizona

Preseason rank: 4
Record: 2-0

The Wildcats have only played two games, but they handled both Rice and Northern Arizona effectively. Nothing here yet to really suggest moving them up or down. We'll know more pretty quick -- they take on Wisconsin in Maui tonight, then face either Colorado or Gonzaga tomorrow.

Bright spot: By the time Sean Miller left Xavier, he had molded the Musketeers into an excellent defensive squad. It appears the Wildcats are buying in early, holding NAU to 91.0 efficiency (what's that?) and Rice to 67.8.

Question mark: The Wildcats were a pretty good offensive rebounding team last year, thanks mostly to some guy named Jordan Hill. With Hill gone, Arizona is currently 246th nationally in offensive rebounding percentage (what's that?) -- despite playing vastly inferior competition. And it's not a style thing, since Miller's Xavier teams were routinely one of the better offensive rebounding teams in the country.

5. Washington State

Preseason rank: 7
Record: 3-0

Congrats, Cougs for not puking up a game against an inferior opponent! Given what's going on around them in the conference, winning three games is no small accomplishment, especially when you note that two were blowouts and one was a blowout until a late run by a veteran squad brought the margin uncomfortably close. This team is young and is going to be inconsistent, but as you look around at the rest of the conference, you realize just how valuable of a commodity Klay Thompson is. There are a number of other teams that would absolutely kill for a scorer like him.

Bright spot: Thompson looks to be every bit the big-time scorer and leader we hoped he would be. Also, did we mention that a young squad with a new coach has played well enough to dominate the better part of three games?

Question mark: This one's easy -- the rebounding brought about by a thin frontcourt. The defensive rebounding has been merely average, and that's against some inferior competition. Not necessarily a good omen. Problem is, there's really no ready solution, since they're not likely to get taller or bigger.

6. UCLA

Preseason rank: 3
Record: 1-1

A lot of people thought the Bruins could survive their early defections on the coaching wizardry of Ben Howland. The early returns aren't great -- UCLA opened the season with a double OT loss to Cal State-Fullerton, then trailed Cal State-Bakersfield through much of the first half before pulling away late. Injuries to guys like Tyler Honeycutt have slowed the team down, and it hasn't helped that Nikola Dragovic went and got himself arrested for felony assault and subsequently suspended.

But if you're really looking for a reason why UCLA has slipped the last year-plus, look no further than highly touted recruiting classes where guys that were supposed to come in and make an immediate impact just haven't. If I were ranking purely on accomplishment, the Bruins would be down near the bottom of the conference right now. But I've got to balance performance with potential, and the smart money is still on Howland figuring out a way to squeeze a Tournament berth out of these guys.

Bright spot: The Bruins are getting only 2.1 percent of their shots blocked, eighth nationally. They've got that going for them. Which is nice.

Question mark: Can the Bruins survive the beginning of the season until they get healthy without tanking their NCAA Tournament chances? They're going to face some teams in the 76 Classic that will likely be on the bubble come March; losses there could be costly.

7. Oregon

Preseason rank: 8
Record: 3-1

The Ducks cruised through their first three games, even flashing some decent defense along the way. Then came a loss on the road to Portland in which the Ducks allowed 88 points on 66 possessions(!). Now, the Pilots are looking as if they might really be a threat to knock off the Zags in the WCC -- they have yet to shoot less than 58.3 eFG% in three games -- but if the Ducks want to get up into the top half of the conference with all that purported talent they have, they're going to have to do better than that. Granted, it was without Michael Dunigan ... but still.

Bright spot: Tajuan Porter is scoring efficiently, and I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've ever used the words "Porter" and "efficiently" in the same sentence. He's got a 129.1 offensive rating through four games. That's enough of a sample to suggest that he's doing some things right.

Question mark: Can Dunigan ever stay on the floor long enough to be the impact player his McDonalds All-American status suggested he should be? Last year it was fouls, this year injury. The Ducks need him to be a force.

8. Stanford

Preseason rank: 10
Record: 2-2

I actually looked at numbers for about five minutes trying to figure out how to rank OSU, Stanford and USC 8, 9 and 10. Then I realized I was spending actual time trying to figure out how to rank OSU, Stanford and USC 8, 9 and 10. They all stink right now. Badly. So they're in a relatively arbitrary order. I'll give Stanford some credit for having two wins and almost winning a third. But holy crap is the bottom of this conference awful. That alone should give the Cougs (and other middling teams) hope that they can get up into the NCAA Tournament conversation, because there are wins to be had.

Bright spot: The Cardinal are 14th nationally in turnover percentage and 22nd nationally in defensive rebounding percentage!

Question mark: With the lack of size up front, the Cardinal are already showing they're going to have a heck of a time defending the paint -- teams are shooting 51.8 percent from inside the arc against them. That's 241st nationally. Against teams like San Diego, Oral Roberts, Cal Poly and Florida A&M ... well, the only word that comes to mind is "ouchie."

9. USC

Preseason rank: 9
Record: 1-1

USC fans knew that offense was going to be hard to come by with this squad, so it's fortunate that defense is Kevin O'Neill's calling card. Unfortunately for the Trojans, their defense has been awful, and when you combine that with a subpar offensive night, you get a bad loss to Loyola Marymount at home. Ugh.

Bright spot: Nikola Vucevic is giving them some quality offense -- he's playing 97 percent of the minutes so far, using 23 percent of USC's possessions, and posting 123.0 offensive rating. Not bad at all.

Question mark: So many directions we could go with this one, ranging from Dwight Lewis failing to show up in the loss to the Trojans allowing their opponents to get to the line at an absurd rate. But, we'll go ahead with this one: Opponents are shooting 50 percent against USC from 3-point range. Obviously, that number is going to come down, but when your two opponents have shot 3s on 26 percent of their possessions -- 46th nationally -- and are hitting at that kind of a clip, that says something about your ability to close out on shooters. Ouch.

10. Oregon State

Preseason rank: 5
Record: 1-3

Are the Beavers really the worst team in the conference? Probably not, as two of their three losses were fairly close. But they get a penalty for failing to live up to preseason hype -- especially when Craig Robinson did little to downplay Oregon State as a contender for an NCAA Tournament bid. Usually teams wait until conference play to crumble under the weight of expectations; OSU did it in the first two weeks.

To say the Beavers have been atrocious on offense just isn't strong enough. Pick your synonym -- abysmal, abominable, awful, dreadful, painful, terrible, unspeakable -- and it probably doesn't do them justice, either. You would think they would be more efficient in their second year in Robinson's Princeton offense. Guess not. Only one player is averaging double figures, and I don't care what pace you play at, that's just brutal. Or awful. Or dreadful. Or whatever.

Bright spot: They didn't lose to South Dakota.

Question mark: How does Robinson get this offense rolling? The Beavers have been abysmal in ever facet of the offensive game -- they're even shooting under 60 percent from the free throw line. One has to believe there's some regression coming, but four games is more than 10 percent of the season, and to be that bad suggests something more than mere small sample size. OSU better get its crap together, right quick.

Golden Nuggets: The Great Transformation

Berkelium97 — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 02:36:13 -0000

SFGate looks at Tedford's recent transformation and the transformation of the program during his first 99 games.

Tedford, 48, will say he learned his lesson two years ago, when the Bears started 5-0 and then lost six of their final seven regular-season games amid rampant locker-room moping. Cal players say Tedford's transformation helped them avoid a similar plunge this season, after blowout losses to Oregon and USC. They since have won four of five entering the Big Game.

"I've noticed he's really more fiery this year - my first year here (2006), you didn't see too much of that," linebacker Mike Mohamed said. "He's more of an offensive guy, but he's also trying to get more involved with the defense, just so everyone feels like we're one big team and everyone can trust him.

"The yelling he's done this year, good yelling, some guys have said, 'OK, this is a new Tedford.' We get fired up because it's a side of him we really haven't seen before."
...

But as cranes hover over the west side of the stadium, and the facility begins to rise from a giant hole in the ground, other not-so-encouraging elements converge. Some fans grumble about Tedford's troubles in important games. They question his play-it-safe strategy and lament his inability to coax quarterback magic out of Riley, the way he did with Aaron Rodgers.

Then, on another level, an entirely different problem: Cal professors recently recommended the school stop subsidizing the athletic department's annual shortfall, given the bleak economy. That's especially relevant when the football coach will earn more than $2 million this year; Tedford's guaranteed salary is $1.82 million, and he pocketed another $500,000 in bonus money in January.

It seems fair to expect big results for big money. So has Tedford reached a crossroads at Cal? Will the Bears reach Rose Bowl/BCS glory under him, or will they stay stuck in the pack of good-but-not-great teams?
...
This much is certain: The Bears will be held to a high standard in the coming years. Offensive tackle Mike Tepper, on the verge of completing his sixth season in the program, flatly predicted that Tedford "will win a national championship at Cal, without a doubt."

After the yump we look at Sports Illustrated's Pac-10 fan survey, practice notes (Hill is back!), Ludwig's response to the UNLV rumors, post-Syracuse quotes from Randle/Montgomery, and instant recap, quotes, and analysis of today's loss to Ohio St.

Before we continue, let's take a moment to remember Uga VII, the University of Georgia mascot who died prematurely at age four (!) this week. May he be succeeded by more glorious Ugas who will rest comfortably on bags of ice and bite at Auburn players.

R.I.P. Uga VII

Cal Football

Sports Illustrated released its 2009 fan survey results. Among Pac-10 teams, Cal is last in "biggest conference rival" (3.3%), fifth in "favorite stadium to visit" (8.8%), third in rudest fans (I blame the tree-sitters) (9.2%), and, paradoxically, third in most polite fans (8.2%).
JO's practice notes: Derrick Hill will return in a limited role Saturday. After missing the last practice with a deep quadriceps bruise, Marvin Jones was back in action last night at full capacity. Tedford addressed the issue of kickoff coverage, particularly since Cal will be responsible for slowing down Chris Owusu. Tedford says he has no idea where the axe is kept throughout the year, as he only sees it during Big Game Week. If Tedford himself doesn't know where the axe is, whoever is in charge of it should consider putting it in a more prominent location.
Ludwig says no one has contacted him about the UNLV job. He says he has no interest in it at this point in his career anyway, he just wants to beat Stanford.
Tedford downplayed the fact that this is his 100th game. He says 100 wins would be a bigger milestone, and said this week is about the players, particularly the seniors, and their accomplishments.
Gregory and the defense talk about what is needed to stop Stanford's offense this weekend. They have to stop Gerhart and play smart to avoid letting Luck beat them through the air. Last week's performance seems to have given Gregory and his crew some confidence.

Cal Basketball

Farudo's game thread is a good recap of the game. Turnovers, fouls (questionable or not), and blocked shots killed Cal in the first 25 minutes before their rally fell short in the last few minutes. ESPN recaps the game.
CalBears.com has post-game quotes from Monty and Randle. Monty says the zone defense and the blocks huge in determining the outcome. Randle was pleased with the effort, particularly during the attempted comeback.
CCTimes recaps last night's loss to Syracuse. Without Robertson and Kamp, the Bears didn't have much of an inside presence and instead had to rely on jump-shots and threes. Unfortunately, the shots weren't falling. It sounds like the team is discouraged and lost its confidence. Monty hopes his team can bounce back Ohio St.
Monty and Randle have some post-game comments. Monty knew Syracuse's size and 3-2 zone defense would give Cal trouble, and he said some things they worked on in preparation for the game did not show up on the court. It didn't help that Syracuse hosted a block party in the paint. Monty said that really discouraged and shut down the inside game.

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?

Browse more photos »

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.

CBKWitness

CBKWit — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:14:24 -0000

View full size photo »

With only 3 more chances to Revel in Victory and with Avinash completing basketball recaps before I can even exit Haas, I am running out of my extremely limited usefulness around here. If I don't start contributing, I'll probably miss out on that internet money which is coming to us any day now. So for the 5 basketball fans around here (including 3 mods), I give you CBKWitness, a weekly compilation of what I witnessed from Cal Basketball.

Most important observation so far? Go to the games, people! Haas was about half full for the two men's games, which is embarrassing for a team this good, this entertaining, and this easy to root for. Show up and support our team!

The men won their two preliminary Coaches Vs Cancer games last week, 75-70 over Murray St and 95-61 over Detroit. From the Murray State game:

- The referees respect Montgomery much more than Braun. The lead official called an absolutely horrendous charge on Boykin midway through the first half, and Monty completely dressed him down at the time out as 4,000 Cal fans looked on. Not surprisingly, the refs didn't call much on Cal for the rest of the half and all of the close calls went the Bears' way.

- From my friend Mike Montgomery: "Murray St is playing some good d". They were, for almost the entire game. Murray State is a good team and they challenged Cal for the first half before mounting a serious comeback to close the game. It was a little tense in the final minutes as Randle nearly turned it over a couple times and Murray State hit some improbable threes. Don't be surprised to see the Racers in the NCAA tournament.

- Randle put on 10 or 15 pounds in the off-season to improve his defense (sick of Jorge hounding him in practice, perhaps?) and it looks to have paid off. He was strong on the ball and did not let Murray State's point guard break him down on the dribble.

- The downside to Randle's new bulk? He did not look as explosive offensively and struggled to shake his man. I hope the extra pounds haven't slowed him down, because his speed is one of his chief assets, and at his height he needs defenders to respect his quickness in order to get enough space to get his shot off.

- Randle struggled to get in the lane and struggled with his outside shot, but still finished with 18 points. Like all good scorers, he knows how to get to the free throw line when his shot isn't falling. He hit 10 of 11 from the line for the game, 8 in the final 6 minutes of the first half as Cal built an 8 point halftime lead.

Boykin has some new offensive moves to go with his trademark hugs

via cdn1.sbnation.com

- The biggest cheer of the game came as Max Zhang entered late in the first half. He's still a liability offensively - it would be one thing if he just got out of the way, but his spacing is poor and he's often in the wrong spot. It's the mark of a truly bad offensive player - not just being being ineffective, but making your teammates worse. On the other hand, his defense and boxing out have really improved, and Cal built its lead with Max in the lineup.

- DJ Seeley was the star of the inter-squad scrimmage, displaying a beautiful shooting stroke on a team full of great shooters. In this game, however, he was pretty juiced up and missed badly on his only three point attempt. Once he settles down he'll be able to score off the bench. Defensively he's a huge liability, as he was unable to stay in front of his man. Jorge, teach him how it's done!

- Markhuri Sanders-Frison, our new JC transfer center, was strong defensively, aggressive (at one point diving to the floor for a loose ball), vocal - all things that Jordan Wilkes was not. He doesn't have Wilkes' smooth passing or shooting touch yet, but he was better offensively than expected. One thing he doesn't seem to do is jump - he boxed out fairly well, but I don't think I ever saw him jump for a board. He also lost the opening tip, and something tells me that if we can't win the tip-off against Murray State, we're probably not going to win it much this year.

- We have kind of a freak-show at center: a 7'3 guy who weighs maybe 240 pounds and a 6'7, 270+ pound guy who can't jump. If Max ate Markhuri, I think we'd have an unstoppable force. As it is now, we have some improvement at center from last year in terms of production and a lot of improvement in terms of entertainment.

- Cal was a bit lazy getting out to challenge the three point shot. I thought they played pretty well defensively in general, but this was their weak point, especially at the end of the game. The final score was probably a little closer than the game as Murray State hit some late threes, but Cal has to improve its perimeter defense.

- I love Jorge. He is approaching the Hawk status in my mind. He hit two spot-up three pointers, which wasn't part of his game last year.

Ragnarok is right: The band plays a lot more than at football games.

via cdn0.sbnation.com

Detroit:

- Randle came out on a mission to prove that his offensive struggles in Monday's game were a fluke. He looked great, getting around Detroit's point guard with ease. Late in the second half Randle had 15 points, 0 fouls, while his opponent was scoreless with 3 fouls.

- Cal jumped out on Detroit and seemingly put the game away early, building a 40-25 advantage. Detroit scored the last 7 points of the first half and first 4 points of the second half before Cal took over and cruised to a win. Murray State is a better team than Detroit, but Detroit has some impressive athletes and skilled players.

- Sanders-Frison contributed even more offensively with a number of slick moves but struggled with fouls for the second game in a row. With limited depth in the post, this will be an ongoing concern.

- Part of that lack of depth is Harper Kamp, who did not play in either game and will miss the trip to Madison Square Garden. He did practice on Monday, so hopefully he'll be able to play this year. We'll need him.

- Christopher had a tough first half, scoring only 4 while Detroit's two guard went for 15. That changed after half, as he finished with 18 points and clamped down on D.

- Theo isn't very fast or agile, but he's so smart and fundamentally sound defensively that he keeps his man from getting to the lane. His shooting form is beautiful, and he's also taking the ball to the hoop more.

- Midway through the second half, Cal was 24-26 from the free throw line.

- Max played 14 minutes and looked good, altering and blocking shots, boxing out, rebounding, even scoring on a few put-backs to tally 7 points. He has a long ways to go, but he's much improved from last year.

- Jorge again had four fouls, but some were pretty cheap. Monty played him for several minutes with four fouls, perhaps to let Jorge practice playing with more caution. Jorge finished the game and never picked up the fifth foul.

- The senior starters came out early with a huge lead, and our bench played strong in their stead. Our final lineup had players from five countries: Max (China), Nikola (Serbia), Jorge (Mexico), Nigel Carter (USA), and Bak Bak (Sudan)

- Yes, even Bak Bak played, which (I believe) prevents him from redshirting this year. It seemed like a strange move at the time, as Bak is clearly not ready to contribute and won't be for at least another year. If Monty did indeed burn his redshirt, it is probably to maintain class balance. Cal just signed a (very good) recruiting class of four freshman who will arrive next fall, and if Bak redshirts that will make 5 players in one class year. By "playing" (four minutes!) this year, he'll be a sophomore with Brandon Smith next year, making a freshman class of 4 and a sophomore class of 2 instead of 5 and 1. Monty probably wants to avoid having another huge class like our current 5 seniors, which could have been 7 (!) had Jordan Wilkes and Ryan Anderson stuck around. It means one less year of Bak in the program but more balance.

- I'm heading to my first women's game of the year, this Sunday against Baylor, so I'll have plenty about the ladies next week.

- Cal plays Syracuse at 4PM tomorrow. Syracuse lost their exhibition game to a D-II school but will be playing with a huge home court advantage in Madison Square Garden. Cal has a fantastic opportunity to show off for the rest of the country, playing an east coast team at an east coast time. May they be awed by the power of Max

via cdn3.sbnation.com

Go Bears!

California-Chico State Analysis: First Glimpses

Avinash — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:00:25 -0000

by Ben Margot - AP

We'll probably see Brandon Smith and Max Zhang plenty next year. But this season?

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The season tips off against Murray State Monday night at 8 PM PST/11 PM EST, and you can watch the game on ESPNU! Rags will have a preview of the game in tonight's open thread. If you want to start panicking, stare at this horrifying line Vegas posted for the game.

Preseason basketball is a strange animal. Strategy-wise, you learn nothing. Rotation-wise, you learn even less.
This one's all about getting a taste of the icing before diving in.

Unsurprisingly, we learned the least about our seniors. Randle made one of those crazy 3s and had a few nice drives and dishes to Christopher. Theo nailed some wide open shots. In many ways, it was just like old times.

There was only one thing I noticed that I didn't see during those old times. We're playing really hard on the defensive ball.

Chico State only shot 29%, and I can't recall many easy shots. The Bears played very well off their man, scrambled into their rotations, made sure no Chico player got off a good look. They forced 25 turnovers, a trouble spot all of last season. Most importantly, they played great as a team, ratcheting up the pressure on every possession.

Now let me say that it's just effort at this point. We don't really know how efficient the Bears D will be until they start playing quality opponents, starting in Madison Square Garden. But right now I'm really digging the way Cal is digging in. Even Randle sees it.

"I liked the intensity. As a team, we came out and tried to stop them, put it on them defensively. I think the defensive intensity was definitely there. I was proud of my team."

Chico State is not a very good team, so you're free to take what I'm saying and file it away. But if the Bears can replicate that effort through the season and especially on the road, maybe they're as good as our early ranking shows. We should know more in 12 hours.

After the jump, snap judgments and quick thoughts on the players.

Here are quick looks at the players.

Markhuri Sanders-Frison looked a little out of place, although he managed to grab nine rebounds. He didn't really seem to space correctly on offense. Any rebounding down low will be much needed though, so we can worry about that later.
Brandon Smith played unselfish, efficient ball. Exactly what you'd like from your future point guard. He appeared to do everything right with the time he had, dishing off four assists. More importantly, zero turnovers. Good good stuff.
Omondi Amoke? Finished great with the opportunities he got. There'd been a lot of talk that Amoke had made huge leaps this offseason, and it looks like he could be a very capable backup this season. Plus he was rebounding too. Overall I was most impressed by what Amoke was doing.
For what seems like the hundredth straight game, the moment Jorge came into the game, the Bears immediately went on a scoring run. You always worry with him since he always plays amped up, and that ankle sprain near the end of the game left us a little anxious. Everything looks good though.
D.J. Seeley was alright offensively, but really looked good defensively, playing great off the ball and forcing the Chico ball handler to throw into traffic on several occasions. Struggled in the second half a little bit, although Cal was cruising. Sporting a fine beard.
Max Zhang had two blocks on two consecutive possessions. This could very well be highlight of his year, so savor it Max fans. I really didn't see anything offensively in the post to suggest he'll be anything more than a 2-3 minute breather for Sanders-Frison, Boykin, and (when he comes back) Kamp. I hope he proves me wrong. If I does, I'd be sporting the giant Max head on a stick before game days.
Nikola Knezevic looks like he has a crush on his cousin Maeby. Apparently CBKWit has been making this joke for years.
Boykin was a rebounding force early on. His post moves looked really polished and he could really be underrated in his efforts this season, especially with the perceptions that the Bears are weak inside.
Randle looks built. They weren't exaggerating about his offseason workout--you can tell he's Ironmanned it up this offseason. His offensive game looked a little out of whack--four turnovers, including two on two possessions, but hopefully he'll round into form next week.
Patrick Christopher keeps on wearing out his shoe collection with his hops. He was slashing, stroking it from outside, making steals and breaking away for the hammer.
Theo hit a few open shots. That's just what Theo does. What Theo shouldn't do is commit four turnovers.
Nigel Carter's probably going to have to wait his turn barring injury. Too much depth at guard.
A lot of what happens this season could rest on Harper Kamp's knee. With Boykin, MSF and Kamp rotating in and out, I feel the Bears can get by. We'll probably have no such luck if it's Max who has to be spelling the two starters (Note: I don't think Max is totally lost, but at this point, with that height, you have to show some ability inside right?)
As for our future hero, Bak Bak? He displayed some of the potential that'll hopefully be on display in 2010 when he had one freakish block (albeit goaltend) that made him look like Anthony Randolph. Crazy athleticism. He'll probably redshirt.

Poll

To me, Cal's preseason game against Chico State was...

Great

17 votes

Good

23 votes

Okay

8 votes

Bad

3 votes

51 votes | Poll has closed