SB Nation User Blog: Berkelium97

Golden Nuggets: "We need to find some mental and physical toughness"

Berkelium97 — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 18:12:21 -0000

After SJSU's surprising 68-66 upset over the Cal women's basketball team last night, Joanne Boyle was not too happy.

"San Jose State did a great job. I thought they brought everything you need to win a game. Toughness and energy. We came in and played the first six minutes like we should have and then we checked out. I'm embarassed. I told them the one thing I have always taken pride in is that we've always had tough teams. People would knock you on your butt before they'd get an offensive rebound in the last two minutes of a game. You might have four fouls and five turnovers, but you knew when you left, you had played your butt off. We are soft. Physically and mentally, from top to bottom, we were soft tonight. And we have a habit of that. Being soft and not being mentally tough will get you a loss to anybody. That's where we are right now."

"We need to find some leadership on this team. And we need to find some mental and physical toughness."

"I can't lead them. I am obviously not doing a good job with them in teaching them that being soft is not acceptable at this level. I am not asking them to make baskets. I am not asking them to do anything but play hard and rebound. When someone comes into your gym and scores 32 on you. And the team scores 36 points in the paint and no one is over 6 feet tall, that is a problem. I need to step away and they (the team) need to figure out what they want for their season. Or tell me how to coach them better."

On the third straight game shooting 50% from the freethrow line

" Kids have to be in the gym shooting freethrows. That is not necessarily something you take an hour out of practice to shoot freethrows. Part of it is are they focused at the line? Are they working on it? Do they understand the importance of them? If you don't learn a lessen after the first one (game shooting poorly from the freethrow line), and you don't learn it after the second one, I don't know what to tell you."

After the jump, ESPN rates the bowl matchups, men's bball sends a record crowd home disappointed, and more.

Cal Football

ESPN ranks the Poinsettia Bowl at 14th among the most exciting matchups. Like Mandel said yesterday, this bowl will be more exciting if Best makes a surprising return. Most of the Pac-10 bowls are in the top half of the rankings, though USC-BC came in at 18th and UCLA-Temple (assuming Army wins) was second-to-last.
Ted Miller compares the pre-season and post-season all-Pac-10 teams. Syd, Anger, and Best, all pre-season first-teamers are not on the post-season team. Mohamed made the jump up to the post-season team.

Cal Basketball

The record crowd of 8704 was probably disappointed when the Bears blew out Pacific 79-54. PC enjoyed the hostile road atmosphere, particularly when the crowd gets silenced following a big shot. Farudo's game thread recaps how Cal took a commanding lead early on and didn't let up.

Golden Nuggets: Looking Ahead to Pacific

Berkelium97 — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 17:44:47 -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.

Golden Nuggets: Theo Returns!

Berkelium97 — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 07:24:39 -0000

Theo Robertson will come off the bench Wednesday against Pacific. Monty didn't say who would start at center and mentioned that MSF needs to get his stamina back.

"He practiced today, looked pretty good," Montgomery said. Asked if that means he’s ready to go, Monty added, "I presume so. I’ll see how he is (Tuesday), but he moved around pretty well. Never really begged out. So I’m hoping he can (play)."

Monty said Jorge Gutierrez likely will start against Pacific, but ultimately will probably come off the bench, allowing Robertson to start and giving the team a versatile player who provides energy as a sub.

"We would go back to the way we were, playing him at the 3, then move him to the 4, depending on if we went small," Montgomery said.

Robertson was averaging 18 points through two games when he injured his right foot before Cal’s games against Syarcuse and Ohio State at Madison Square Garden.

"Theo’s maybe our best shooter and he was playing very well before he got hurt. He’s a smart player," Montgomery said. "We could have really used him against those zones in New York, having a third pure shooter. I would think it will be much harder loading up on Patrick (Christopher) and Jerome (Randle). It should change things drastically."

After the jump, Utah fans look forward to playing Ludwig's offense, Ted Miller looks back at what could have been for Cal (and USC), Miller posts his All-Pac-10 team, basketball gets ready to play Pacific, and more.

Cal Football

Isi Sofele was the runner up for the Pac-10 special teams player of the week.
Cal earned a well-deserved F from Wilner for Saturday's loss to Washington.
Our brethren over at Utah's SBN site Block U are looking forward to taking on Ludwig in the Poinsettia Bowl.
Ted Miller looks back with amusement about how wrong his preseason Pac-10 rankings were.
Miller's All-Pac-10 team includes Alualu and Mohamed.

Cal Basketball

Calbears.com previews the Cal-Pacific matchup.

Golden Nuggets: Awards Season

Berkelium97 — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 17:53:14 -0000

Put your CGB tax dollars to work and vote in royrules22's top-25 ballot.

Last night was the annual Cal football banquet, where a variety of awards were handed out to members of the football team. Go here for the complete list of winners. Here are some of the highlights:

Most Improved Player
Skylar Curran

Lifter of the Year Freshman - Mark Brazinski
Senior - Tyson Alualu

Bob Simmons Award - Most Valuable Freshman
Offense - Matt Summers-Gavin
Defense - Aaron Tipoti

J. Scott Duncan Award - Most Valuable Special Teams Player
Bryan Anger

Joe Roth Award - Player best exemplifying courage, attitude and sportsmanship
Tyson Alualu

Everett Merriman Award - Demonstrating commitment to community service
Kevin Parker [AKA Rope Coach]

Bear Backers MVP Awards (voted on by team)
Offense - Jahvid Best and Shane Vereen
Defense - Mike Mohamed

Scout Team Players of the Year

Offense - T.J. Emery and Ryan Wertenberger
Defense - Steven Fanua and Keni Kaufusi
Special Teams - Tyre Ellison and Spencer Hagan

The scout team PotY awards caught me by surprise, as I didn't know Wertenberger was a QB until just a couple weeks ago. Remember the name Steve Fanua in the coming years, as he is certain to become a vocal leader on defense.

After the jump we have more awards as the All-Pac-10 team was announced, reactions from to the Poinsettia bowl from Cal/Utah players and coaches, a lolwut quote of the week as Wilner calls the BCS "fair and open," post-game quotes from women's bball's loss to Texas A&M, and more.

Cal Football

The All-Pac-10 team was announced this morning. Tepper, Alualu, Syd, Mohamed, and Anger all made the first team. Jahvid Best was the lone Cal player on the second team.
Ted Miller provides a brief preview of the Poinsettia Bowl. With its struggles at quarterback, Utah sounds like it won't have an easy time lighting up the Bears' defense like Locker did.
Utah looks forward to playing Cal in the Poinsettia Bowl. Utah's coach Kyle Wittingham says it will be an interesting matchup, as Ludwig knows Utah's defense very well while Wittingham is very familiar with Ludwig's. JO has quotes from Tedford, Wittingham, Vereen, and Tepper, as they react to the bowl announcement.
After getting blown out in their last game, many players want to redeem the season with a win over Utah.
Cal drops to seventh in Ted Miller's Pac-10 power rankings.
In the lolwut statement of the week, Wilner says "Texas’ game-winning field goal was the most important kick in BCS history because of what it did to the BCS: It made the flawed, oft-criticized but incredibly successful system appear fair and open."

Cal Basketball

Boyle was pleased with the effort, aggressiveness, and rebounding in the loss against Texas A & M, but she was disappointed with all the missed free throws.
Monty's team fell out of both rankings after splitting last week's games. They received 5 points in the AP poll and 10 in the coaches' poll.

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

Berkelium97 — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 18:43:27 -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.

Golden Nuggets: "I can sleep like a baby because I know he's running the rock."

Berkelium97 — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 07:15:37 -0000

Once more, Shane Vereen will be expected to lead the Cal offense this weekend.

Now, as they head to Seattle for Saturday's regular-season finale against Washington, it requires no exhaustive video study to identify the key figure in Cal's offense. He wears No. 34, bursts through holes with striking efficiency and, much like Best, is difficult to catch in the open field.

Here's telling statistical evidence: Vereen, not Best, might extend Cal's streak of having a running back gain 1,000 or more yards (seven years and counting). Vereen stands at 738 yards this season, so he needs to average 131 against Washington and Cal's not-yet-determined bowl opponent.

That's realistic, especially if Best misses the bowl game. Best, with 867 yards, could reach the century mark if he returns for the bowl game and reclaims his starting job.

Either way, the ball remains in reliable hands - and among friends. Vereen paid tribute to Best on his eye black against Arizona, wearing Best's jersey number (4) under one eye and his initials under the other. Best, standing outside Cal's locker room after the Big Game, said simply and nonchalantly of Vereen, "I knew he was just as good as me."

"I'm very pleased with how Shane has come in and done a fantastic job," Gould said. "I'm not surprised at all. ... I told him I can sleep like a baby because I know he's running the rock."

...

Gould and head coach Jeff Tedford insisted they didn't plan for Vereen to run the ball 42 times against Stanford. Tedford said he was "shocked" to hear the number after the game, figuring Vereen had about 30 carries.

But Tedford wasn't surprised Vereen could handle it - Tedford didn't hesitate to say he could envision Vereen carrying the ball 42 times again.

"He can do that because he's in great shape," Tedford said.

The Bears probably will lean on Vereen against Washington, partly because of December weather in the Pacific Northwest. The forecast is decent - a high of 44 degrees, low of 32, no rain expected - but the chilly temperatures still seem better suited to running the ball, especially if Cal takes an early lead.

After the jump I have more confusion for Cal's bowl season, the gameday weather forecast, more on Vereen, a look at a couple Bears who attended high school near Seattle, a couple previews of the Cal-UW matchup, Wilner's pick for Cal-UW, injury updates, and more.

Cal Football

Rumor has it (according to kicker David Seawright) the Sun Bowl will select Stanford no matter what. This would likely leave the Emerald Bowl to choose Cal again. They really must want to see The Great White Hope try to take on the impressive (except against Texas Tech) Oklahoma defense. Thanks for pointing this out to me royrules22!
Saturday's gameday forecast calls for temperatures in the high-30s, cloud cover, and a slight but steadily increasing chance of precipitation as the game goes on. The chance of rain will turn into a chance of snow later in the evening (so let's take care of business in regulation, okay Bears?).
Seattle Post-Intelligencer previews this weekend's matchup. It will be a battle between two teams with momentum, confidence, and a feeling that their offensive and defensive units have that have come together with great performances at the end of the season. SportingNews.com also has a preview of the game.
It has been confirmed that Matt Summers-Gavin will miss the Washington game due to his concussion. Thankfully, Syd returned to practice and should be good to go on Saturday.
Vereen says his body is all healed up and ready to go after the heavy workload in the Big Game.
Wilner picks Washington to cover the spread, but believes Cal will ultimately win the game.
Mike Mohamed is in the running for Pac-10 defensive player of the year. As the two-time winner of the player of the week award, Mohamed might be the favorite to win it.
Defensive linemen Trevor Guyton and Deandre Coleman will have a bit of a homecoming this weekend, as they both attended high school in Washington. Coleman looks forward to playing in front of a home crowd, but he'll probably have to wait until 2011, as he's still learning the ropes of the 3-4. Whether either one will wear a purple suit to the game, like Anthony Felder did in 2007, remains to be seen.
News Tribune looks at Cal's turnaround on defense this year. After some poor performances earlier in the year, they have really done a great job in the past few games. The article had an interesting pair of statistics at the end:

The stream of criticism has died down, at least for now. And compared to seasons past, Cal’s total-defense numbers and takeaways are pretty much in line with the others.

In fact, if Cal fans stepped back, they’d realize in terms of bang for their buck, they are getting a pretty solid return. Gregory’s defenses have averaged nearly 26 takeaways in his eight seasons – which would rank in the top 20 nationally almost every season.

All this despite the 46-year-old still being the third-lowest paid defensive coordinator in the Pac-10 ($241,320).

Cal Basketball

After the blowout loss to Baylor, Joanne Boyle is pleased with how her team responded when facing Ohio St, another top-10 team. Although the Bears lost, they kept it a relatively close game and were much better about establishing a consistent tempo and flow throughout the game. With a likely matchup against Texas A&M, Cal will have another chance to take on a top-10 team.

Golden Nuggets: Prediction Thursday

Berkelium97 — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 06:59:47 -0000

Congratulations to all the members of the football team who made the Pac-10 All-Academic team! The first team included Mark Boskovich, Alex Lagemann, and Mike Mohamed. Ernie Owusu, Matt Summers-Gavin, and Giorgio Tavecchio made the second team, and Skylar Curran, Chris Guarnero, and Mitchell Schwartz made received honorable mention. At a school like Berkeley, it is even more impressive that they made the list.

Despite thinking that one or both teams may come out playing flat, Ted Miller anticipates a big Cal victory.

California 35, Washington 21: The Bears have steadily -- and quietly -- risen in the Pac-10 since suffering those embarrassing consecutive losses to Oregon and USC. It seems like things are clicking on both sides of the ball, and the Bears certainly have the athleticism on defense to handle a scrambling Jake Locker. Moreover, Cal seems to have an advantage coming off a bye week while the Huskies might not be focused after winning the Apple Cup last weekend.

All five CBS experts predict a Cal victory.

All five Yahoo experts predict a Cal victory.

After the jump, we have player quotes from Tuesday's press luncheon (including some humorous remarks from Tepper), injury updates for Cal and Washington, motivation for both Cal and Washington to win this weekend's game, recap/analysis of basketball's loss to New Mexico, 20 questions with DJ Seeley, and a preview of the weekend in Cal sports.

Cal Football

JO has quotes from a few players from Tuesday's luncheon. They talk about preparing for the December weather in Seattle, the loss to Washington in 2007, bowl game possibilities, bouncing back from the losses to Oregon and USC, and preparing to take on Washington. Tepper had some funny quotes that are too good to pass up:

On bowl experiences

It’s gotten to the point with me that I don’t know where we’re going to go. I’ve been to Vegas, I’ve been to Holiday, I’ve been to Texas before – I’ve been a lot of places. I’ve kind of learned over the years that bowl games are what you make of it. Even though I was under 21 in Vegas, I made the best of it. You find ways. In San Diego, they have the whole gaslamp district and the whole party scene down there. Texas, Dallas had its own little scene down there. It’s what you make it. If you want to sit in your hotel room, like previous centers (Alex Mack), and sit there and do nothing, that’s fine with me. But I don’t think I’m ever going back to Dallas unless I’m playing for an NFL team there, or I’m transferring flights there. So I’m going to go have fun. That’s part of the bowl game. You realize you’re playing a game, but you also realize you’re traveling somewhere and you want to have fun with it. I don’t really care where I go. Vegas is always fun, but I’ve had fun in San Diego and I’ve had fun in Texas.

Tedford seemed quite proud of all the players who made the All-Academic team and made a point to talk about it before any reporters even had the chance to ask about it. In a surprising development, it seems MSG sustained a concussion against Stanford and he may not play against Washington.
No one has forgotten the loss to Washington in 2007, what many considered to be the low point of the season. Holley, Mohamed, and Riley were especially bothered by the loss and are committed to coming out of Seattle with a win.
Most everyone on Washington has seen the clip of Best's concussion-inducing fall and that got the team thinking about whether or not to hurdle defenders. While the players are not prohibited from attempting to jump over a defender, their running back coach makes a point to tell them "If you are going to leave your feet, you are on your own."
Washington's starting center and team captain Ryan Tolar will likely miss Saturday's game after it was determined that he suffered a concussion against WSU. This seems to be a major blow to the O-line, as it was riding momentum from a great performance against the Cougs.
After last week's shutout, Washington DC Nick Holt is especially excited about playing this week. He believes his unit is finally starting to develop into an effective, cohesive group. He thinks Cal will be a great test for the D and he and his players embrace the challenge.

Cal Basketball

Farudo has another segment of 20 Questions; this time, DJ Seeley answers the questions. He talks about his dream team, which historical figures he'd like to have dinner with, best and worst Pac-10 fans, and more.
Injuries, foul trouble, the mile high elevation, and a rowdy home crowd all proved to be too much for the Bears as they lost to New Mexico despite leading for most of the game. With injuries and illness hurting the Bears, guys ran out of energy by the end of the game. Monty's post-game comments indicate that he thought the team played with great effort, but not enough energy. It didn't help that New Mexico switched to a zone D--which has really hurt Monty's team this year--with just under ten minutes to go.. In his post-game notes, Farudo says the Bears have to heal up and play better if they hope to challenge for the Pac-10 title.
No. 19/20 women's bball hosts the Colliers International Classic this weekend, featuring Colorado State, Southern Illinois, and no. 10 Texas A&M.

The Rest of the Weekend in Cal Sports

Women's volleyball opens the NCAA tournament with a matchup against Lipscomb at 4pmEST on Friday.
Women's swimming and diving sends its swimmers to the AT&T Short Course National Championships today through Saturday while the divers will compete at the Texas Swimming and Diving Hall of Fame Invitational today through Saturday. On Sunday, the swimmers will head to the U.S. Long course Timed Final National Invitational.

Golden Nuggets: A New Look on Offense

Berkelium97 — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 05:59:17 -0000

Monty is considering adding a new look to Cal's offense when Theo returns from injury.

Don't expect to see this tonight at New Mexico, but Cal coach Mike Montgomery is tinkering with the idea of moving All-Pac-10 point guard Jerome Randle off the ball at times to give the Golden Bears another offensive look.

With power forward Harper Kamp unlikely to play this season after offseason knee surgery, the Bears may periodically use a lineup that essentially features four perimeter players and one post.

In that scenario, Montgomery could use Randle at shooting guard opposite Patrick Christopher, moving the 6-foot-5 Theo Robertson from the wing to power forward, and going with freshman Brandon Smith at the point.
...
Randle practiced some at shooting guard Monday, and Montgomery sounded intrigued by the possibility, given Cal's personnel issues.

"We're going to mess a little bit with moving him off the ball ... Brandon is a good facilitator," Montgomery said. "Jerome (is) better in the open court with the ball. He's also a very, very good shooter."

The Bears did some of the same thing a year ago, but with Randle still at the point and either Jamal Boykin or since-departed Jordan Wilkes at the post.

Randle, who still figures to be the Bears' primary point guard, said he's open to doing what is necessary.

"I'm a basketball player. I can do whatever," he said. "I'm trying to learn Patrick's position, Theo's position. I like it, coming off screens.''

After the jump we have football practice/injury updates, a look at the threats Washington has on offense, the prospect of ten wins as a motivator for the team, and more.

Cal Football

The Holiday Bowl plans on inviting the winner of the USC-Arizona game if (and it's not a small "if") Oregon beats OSU this weekend. If Arizona manages to upset USC, I find it surprising that the Holiday Bowl wouldn't be willing to take Cal, as Cal would have a better record if they beat Washington, own the tiebreaker over Arizona, and have a history of bringing plenty of fans to the Holiday Bowl. With a win Saturday, Cal fans can look forward to booking tickets to El Paso, Texas for New Year's Eve.
JO gives a report on last night's practice and the media luncheon. Vereen was wearing a red jersey and was minimally involved at practice. This should be of no concern, however, as Forsett did this throughout much of 2007 as he carried an equally heavy load each week. MSG also appears to be taking it easy and sitting out practice. Resting his sprained ankle, Syd also sat out practice. JO updates us on Best who is visiting Dr. Michael Collins, a leading expert in sports concussions. Best hasn't said much about his visit so far, but he did say it's pretty cold out there and he seems to be enjoying the food.
Predicting which bowl they'll end up in is too complicated at this point, so the players instead are focused on trying to earn their ninth and tenth wins. Holley says Tedford brought up the 10-win possibility and the team has focused on achieving that goal.
Daily Cal has a brief scouting report of Washington. Not surprisingly, the focus is on Jake Locker, who is second in the conference in passing yards per game. Like Luck, who was shut down by the Bears' defense, Locker can make plays with his feet and has the longest rushing play of the season for Washington with a 56 yard TD run. His play helps Washington convert 47.8% of third downs, good for 12th in the nation.
Chris Polk is the first UW freshman ever to rush for over 1000 yards. He broke the old record of 986 set by Jake Locker in 2007. Polk can usually gain several yards even without much of a hole opened up by the O-line and that is how he has amassed most of his 1019 yards this season.

Cal Basketball

Daily Cal elaborates a bit on the potential change on offense. Monty expects to implement it after Theo returns. It is designed to help keep the pressure off Randle, whose high scoring will likely draw more defensive attention. By coming off screens, Randle should be able to get more uncontested shots.

Golden Nuggets: Best is Heading to Pittsburgh for Evaluation

Berkelium97 — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 08:14:29 -0000

First off, congratulations to Hana Cutura for being named the Pac-10 women's volleyball player of the year!

Second, put your CGB tax dollars to work and vote in royrules22's top-25 poll.

As usual, today was the Tuesday Press Luncheon. Tedford talks about Best, Vereen's role as starter, preparation for Washington, bowl games, and recruiting. Riley mostly talks about preparing for Washington, but he also answers questions about Vereen and recent improvement of the O-line. Riley seems to have plenty of motivation this week, as he remembers leaving Washington in 2007 with "a terrible feeling after that game. So we're going to have to get pumped up for this game, for sure. Because that wasn't Cal football. It was kind of embarrassing."

Here's what Tedford had to say about Best's current condition.

On whether he has any updates on Jahvid Best's status (concussion, back)

"No, no update at all. Jahvid did go back today to get evaluated in Pittsburgh [Pa.] and he'll be back tomorrow. He seems to be doing very well but we have not discussed at all a return."
On whether he will play against Washington
"He won't play this week."
On any specific types of evaluations Best is undergoing
"I don't know what they're doing. I do know that the expert in that field that a lot of people rely on is back there, so that's why he went there. But his head's been doing fine. His thing now is he's got a sore back, that's the main thing. He hasn't had any symptoms with headaches or anything like that for a couple weeks now. The back has been what's bothering him."

On whether this expert in Pittsburgh is seeing Best for his back injury or concussion
"It's still just making sure that the head is 100 percent completely clear, and we've given it a lot of time. It's something that we said after that happened, that we'd by no means take any risk or anything like that with him. He's back there just getting evaluated to make sure that everything's okay."

After the jump we look at how the bye week helped football, some basketball articles mostly focusing on Max Zhang, bball injury updates, and more.

Cal Football

Despite momentum from their wins over Arizona and Stanford, Tepper, Mohamed, and others embraced the bye week so they could heal up and get some rest after six consecutive weeks of play.

Cal Basketball

Monty says Kamp will likely redshirt this season. Kamp hasn't reached a decision, but he's leaning towards sitting the year out, especially after he was hindered by injury last season. Theo will miss the visit to New Mexico, but may return against Iowa State this Saturday or the following Monday against Pacific. Jorge will play at New Mexico and MSF, despite losing ten pounds while ill, should also play against New Mexico.
Monty talks about how experience can easily trump young talent and how that has been demonstrated in early Pac-10 play (particularly with UCLA's loss to Portland). He's quite proud of Portland coach Eric Reveno, one of his former assistants.
At yesterday's press conference Monty talked about preparing for Portland and incorporating Zhang into the team's gameplan. While Zhang's confidence has its ups and downs, Monty is pleased with his progress. Daily Cal writes about the changes Zhang has made since joining the team last year. He's gained 35 pounds and is working on improving his aggressiveness in the paint. To help that, Zhang has been boxing with conditioning coach Mike Blasquez. Zhang has no shortage of motivation and enthusiasm and he seems to be doing everything he can to improve.
After advancing to the finals for the Ohio Classic and losing to Ohio St, women's basketball jumped up two spots in the AP poll (20), but fell four spots in the coaches' polls (19).

Everything Else in the Wide World of Cal Sports

Men's cross country brought in the nation's #4 recruiting class.

Golden Nuggets: Final Exams for Men's Basketball

Berkelium97 — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 08:24:04 -0000

Last week you guys did a great job in boosting the number of votes in royrules22's incredibly easy-to-use top-25 poll. Keep up the good work and vote again in this week's poll.

Farudo looks at the next four games in men's basketball's schedule, possibly the toughest stretch of the entire season, especially when you factor injuries into things. Should Cal win all four, Farudo anticipates a parade down Telegraph Ave. Realistically, he expects two or three wins.

   – at New Mexico, Wednesday: The Lobos are 6-0 and are extremely difficult to beat at The Pit in Albuquerque. They’ve won their four home games this season by an average margin of 20.3 ppg and were 16-2 on their own floor a year ago.

   — vs. Iowa State, Saturday: The Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series matchup in Berkeley against the Cyclones features 6-foot-10 forward Craig Brackins, projected as the No. 15 pick in the 2010 draft by NBAdraft.net. Iowa State is 6-1.

   – at Pacific, Wednesday, Dec. 9: The game is being billed by UOP as the "Stockton Showcase" and will be played at the city’s new downtown Stockton Arena, which seats 10,500. The Tigers are 4-1, and will be motivated to score just their third win over Cal in a series that dates back to the 1908-09 season.

   – At Kansas, Tuesday, Dec. 22: The Jayhawks are 5-0 and ranked No. 1 in the nation. The feature All-Americans Cole Aldrich and Sherron Collins, along with Xavier Henry, a 6-foot-6 freshman guard who is outscoring both of them.

Do the math: the Bears’ next four opponents are a combined 21-2, and Cal must play three of them on the road. The roster’s health status will be a critical factor.

After the jump we have last night's practice report, an update on Best, a look at how Justin Forsett and Frank Cignetti are doing, some interesting movement in the men's basketball top-25 polls and more.

Cal Football

Cal remains at third in Ted Miller's Pac-10 power rankings, behind Oregon and OSU. Could Cal move up to second with a win this weekend?
JO believes Best will not play this weekend. Tedford says he and Best "haven't even talked about" his return. Tedford believes Syd will return to practice this week and play this weekend against Washington.
Justin Forsett had the best game of his promising career yesterday with 130 yards and two TDs on 22 carries. He is really shining as a replacement for the injured Julius Jones.
Cignetti talks a bit about his decision to leave for Pittsburgh as well as his place within the Cal program last year. While he had primary control over the offense, Tedford had input. In fact, many of the trick plays, such as the hook and lateral in the Big Game, were called by Tedford. Cignetti estimates that Tedford would call three or four plays per game. Cignetti seems to have no regrets about the decision to leave. He took a pay cut to be closer to his family.

Cal Basketball

Men's basketball dropped eight spots to 37th in the AP poll and two spots to 25th in the coaches' poll. Farudo talks about the silliness of Cal dropping despite two blowout wins.
SFGate recaps the win over Princeton. Boykin and Randle were thrilled with Zhang's dunks yesterday. They say they have been trying to get his confidence up on offense. On defense, however, Zhang says "I feel like I can dominate." MSF will probably miss Wednesday's game against New Mexico and Theo is improving, as he can run on the treadmill while supporting 90% of his weight. Montgomery seems to in no rush to get him back on the court.