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 »

Saturday night, two Golden Bears will get a chance to make an even bigger name for themselves in front of NFL scouts and personnel at the Under Armour Senior Bowl at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Alabama.  This entire week has been a showcase of most of college football’s top talent that will be available at the 2009 NFL Draft in April.

Performing well here could elevate a player from a late third-round pick all the way up to a first-round selection.  That’s why this week is so important for Cal’s Alex Mack and Zack Follett. 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 »

In what may be the best show of giving from the sport of football, three Bears will be ready to do their part in contributing to the giving that goes on for the 84th annual East-West Shrine Game.

The game is a showcase for some of the best players in all of college football, but it is also a way to help raise funds for the Shriners Hospital for Children.  Here’s an excerpt from their website :

“Every year since 1925, the East-West Game has been played to raise funds for Shriners Hospitals for Children and to raise awareness about the expert orthopaedic, burn, spinal cord injury rehabilitation, and cleft lip and palate care, available at no charge to patients and families, through the 22 Shriners Hospitals for Children.” 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 »