Cal Bears Today

Just a week ago, the California Golden Bears (15-4, 4-2 Pac-10) were rolling through their schedule and it seemed that nothing they did could go wrong.  What a difference a week makes in college basketball!

The Bears lost Thursday night to the lowly Oregon State Beavers 69-65 and to make matters worse, they shouldn’t have lost at all.  Leading by 11 points with less than 10 minutes left in the game and looking like they would turn the lead into 20 points, the Bears collapsed down the stretch scoring just three points the rest of the way to the Beavers’ 18.

Sound a little familiar?  Well, it’s not completely the same type of loss as at Stanford, but the Bears did fold down the stretch in that game as well.  Somehow, Mike Montgomery needs to teach his team about playing 40 minutes, something they seemed well-aware of a week ago. Continue Reading »

Mike Montgomery and the Bears (15-3, 4-1 Pac-10) will look to put their loss to rival Stanford in the rear-view mirror this Thursday when they host the (6-10, 1-5 Pac-10) Oregon State Beavers at Haas Pavilion.

It should be exactly what Cal needs after facing off on the road at three of the toughest places to play in the Pac-10.  Oregon State won only six games last season and will be rolling into Berkeley with just one win over Pac-10 opponents in their last 26 games played within the conference.

In other words, it should be an easy victory for the Golden Bears. Continue Reading »

Jerome Randle began the season on fire. He single-handedly kept Cal in games and oftentimes played a big part in their victorious start to the season. His shooting touch elevated his status as one of the best three-point shooters in Div I college basketball and his ability to run the floor put the Bears on the national map last week.

Continue Reading »

While the Golden Bears move through the remaining games of their 2008-’09 season, defensive play is going to become a focus for the team.  Up until now, their defense hasn’t really played bad, but it hasn’t been exceptional either.  For the year, the Bears rank 88th in field goal percentage defense and 76th in three-point field goal percentage, which isn’t bad when you consider that is out of 330 teams. Continue Reading »

For those of you looking for a preview to the action coming this Saturday when the Cal Bears travel across the bay to take on their hated rival Stanford, check out my piece over at the Cal Bears Examiner.  If you’re a Bear fan, I think that you’ll like my final conclusion.

The Bears will be attempting to do something that they’ve only been able to do once in their past 15 attempts - win at Maples Pavilion.  You would think that winning on the road is more difficult due to the travel that’s required, but for this road game the Bears don’t travel that far.

Unfortunately for Cal, the result is nearly the same as if they’d traveled 10,000 miles to reach the contest. Continue Reading »

Many in the Stanford community were shocked when they learned that their icon for basketball success had re-entered the college coaching ranks as a head coach at another university. Finding out that he was not only going to be coaching against them in the Pac-10 was less distressing than finding out he’d be coaching their most hated rival.

The whispers of, “Traitor,” were heard in the Bay Area and Montgomery also felt that it was necessary to set that record straight on several occasions.  For the record, when Montgomery agreed to come back to coaching with the Cal Bears, Stanford already had a fairly successful coach in place. Continue Reading »

Last week, the California Golden Bears had a second player awarded with the U.S. Bank Pac-10 Men’s Basketball Player of the Week for the season.

It looks like he’s refusing to give it up.

Patrick Christopher was named the Pac-10 Player of the Week for the second consecutive week after his clutch performances over the weekend against both Pac-10 Washington schools. Continue Reading »

It wasn’t pretty, but lucky for the Bears (15-2, 4-0 Pac-10), it didn’t have to be.  In a game where Cal held the lead for only 27 seconds over three overtimes, it’s amazing that they ended up coming away with a victory on the road against the Washington Huskies (11-4, 2-1 Pac-10), 88-85. Continue Reading »

Patrick Christopher led all scorers with 22 points and Jamal Boykin may have had his best game in blue and gold as the California Golden Bears (14-2, 3-0 Pac-10) downed the Washington State Cougars (8-6, 0-3 Pac-10) in Pullman, Washington Friday night 57-50.

Both teams went back and forth in the first half, with neither able to take a commanding lead.  There were only three lead changes during the game, all in the first half, and seven ties throughout the game.  In the end, Washington State’s defense controlled the tempo of the game, but Cal’s offense was able to win it.

For the night, Cal shot 50.0% from the floor and 35.7% from beyond the three-point line.  Washington State continued their shooting woes by shooting just a little better from the field than they did from the arc, 37.7% to 35.7%. Continue Reading »

Getting to the NCAA Tournament isn’t as easy as it seems.  You could win your conference tournament, but that could be a problem if UCLA stands in your way, or you could qualify for an At-Large bid.  In order to qualify for that bid, you have to normally win at least 20 games, be from a powerhouse conference, and have a few quality wins under your belt.  While it seems very straight forward, it’s not.  All sorts of problematic equations can force a team to play in the lesser-prestigious National Invitational Tournament instead.

That’s why winning road games are so critical for a team such as the Bears.  Their lack of prestige, poor tournament history, and recent poor seasonal records will put them at a disadvantage if the Tournament Committee has to chose between them and a team such as Arizona or Stanford.  Beating a conference opponent on their home court goes a long way into their decison. Continue Reading »