The California Golden Bears finished 4th in the Pac 10, 22-10 overall, and 11-7 in conference play.
They are lead by Head Coach Mike Montgomery who had great success at Stanford, prior to going to the NBA.
During the year, they had:
Wins against – Pacific, San Francisco, Texas Pan American, NC A&T, @UNLV, DePaul, @Utah, Nevada, Colgate, Dartmouth, Portland, Arizona, Arizona St, @Washington St, @Washington, Oregon, Washington, Washington St, Stanford, @Oregon, USC, @Arizona
Losses against – Florida State, @Missouri, @Stanford, Oregon St, @UCLA, @USC, @Oregon St, UCLA, @Arizona St, USC
Cal has 3 players avg in double-figures in scoring.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/teams/cah/stats
Hubert Davis on ESPN said that Cal is the best 3point shooting team in the Country, but has limited post play.
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news?slug=teamreports-2009-ncaab-cah&prov=sportsxchange&type=team_report
California Team Report
Yahoo! Sports 12 hours, 37 minutes ago
Getting Inside
Between now and the start of the NCAA Tournament next week, the Golden Bears have some work to do.
“Now it’s time to be mature and come together collectively and put together two good halves,” junior guard Patrick Christopher said after third-seeded Cal was bounced from the Pac-10 tournament with a 79-75 quarterfinal loss to USC in Los Angeles. “We’re playing all great teams from here on out.”
The Bears (22-10) are certain to hear their name called Sunday by the selection committee. But they enter the NCAAs riding a two-game losing streak after a flat performance in an 83-66 loss at Arizona State, then the USC defeat.
The Trojans jumped the Bears from the opening tip, surging to an 18-point lead on the way to a 42-27 edge at the break.
“It’s happened to us on a number of occasions, and it’s something we’re going to have to figure out,” coach Mike Montgomery said of the feeble starts. “At a certain level of basketball, people are going to come out and they’re angry. They have an edge. We don’t always have that.”
Christopher said: “They made the first punch and made more consecutive punches. We didn’t really punch back.”
That won’t work beginning next week.
Usc 79, Cal 75: “Embarrassment.” That was the word junior Theo Robertson used to describe the Bears’ first-half performance Thursday against the Trojans. Cal trailed by 15 points at the break before pulling even on a 10-foot floater in the lane by Jerome Randle with 19.6 seconds left.
But USC’s 6-foot-5 Daniel Hackett drove on the 5-9 Randle, drew the foul and made both free throws with 3.8 seconds left to give put the Trojans in front for good.
USC hammered Cal on the boards, outrebounding the Bears 53-27. Cal had been outrebounded by a margin of 10 or more just once previously this season. The Trojans generated 31 second-chance points.
Cal shot just 30.3 percent in the first half, including 1-for-9 from 3-point range. But the nation’s most efficient 3-point shooting team was 6-for-11 in the second half.
Notes, Quotes
• The Golden Bears were angry.
Their flat performance in an 83-66 loss at Arizona State was disappointing, but perhaps predictable. Cal had done its heavy lifting two nights earlier at Arizona, essentially clinching an NCAA Tournament bid with an impressive 83-77 victory in Tucson.
They were happy and loose arriving at ASU, where a fired-up Sun Devils team took them apart in a noon tip-off.
“As a team we played horrible,” said point guard Jerome Randle, who scored 55 points on the Arizona trip. “The intensity wasn’t there. They came out and dictated what was going on.”
Coach Mike Montgomery wasn’t quite sure how to feel. He wanted his team to hurt a bit and recognize it cannot afford to play such a lackluster game again this season.
“We weren’t ready to play,” he conceded. “It was kind of what you saw coming a little bit.”
He also played the realist, acknowledging, “It doesn’t change anything, and I think that’s probably the way we approached it.”
Cal had clinched the No. 3 seed for the Pac-10 tournament at Arizona, and the loss to ASU merely dropped the Bears into a tie for third in the final standings. Still, not bad for a team picked eighth in the Pac-10.
“I’m proud of the guys,” Montgomery said. “The fact of the matter is we’ve got the third seed in the tournament, and that’s a hell of an accomplishment for these kids.”
• Cal had zero second-half turnovers while rallying from 12 points down in the win over Arizona.
• The Bears’ 16-for-30 effort from 3-point distance at Arizona tied the school record most 3-pointers in a game and was the most they’ve ever made in a Pac-10 game.
• The 83 points Cal allowed in the loss at Arizona State was the most given up by its defense in a regulation Pac-10 game this season.
Quote To Note: “Jerome Randle … are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? If you come up on him, he’s going to blow by you. Some of the shots he’s making are unbelievable.”—ASU coach Herb Sendek on Cal’s junior guard, who scored 24 points against the Sun Devils and 55 in the two-game trip to Arizona.
Strategy And Personnel
Mike Montgomery started the same lineup in every regular-season game except one, when C Jordan Wilkes sat out with a concussion.
Player Rotation: Usual starters—F Theo Robertson, F Jamal Boykin, C Jordan Wilkes, G Patrick Christopher, G Jerome Randle. Key subs—F Harper Kamp, G Jorge Gutierrez, F Omondi Amoke.
Roster Report:
• Junior PG Jerome Randle scored 18 points Thursday but missed two of three free throws with 1:14 left, then lost the handle on the inbounds play and watched the ball go out of bounds with 2.3 seconds left and the Bears trailing by two.
• G Patrick Christopher shot 1-for-6 in the first half against USC but finished with 15 points and five rebounds.
• Freshman G Jorge Gutierrez came off the bench for career-best totals of 14 points and five assists while providing a spark at both ends of the floor Thursday.
Initial Thoughts:
This is a basic pick’em type of game, but I love MD drawing a team where there is a lot of tape on them… love drawing a team with limited post play…
I believe this will be an up and down the court type of game, which suits MD well…. because that transition game allows MD’s guards and wings to score in the paint.
If MD can get past Cal, they will get the opportunity to play Memphis in a similar type of game…. Memphis would be the big favorite with reason… but they would not be any different athletically vs what MD has faced in games vs UNC, and Wake…. the Tigers are a team that just wants to run… really is the perfect team for MD to potentially score a major upset against.
All in all, everything that happens from this point is a bonus… the MD Terps are back in the tournament, and all is right with the world!
Owner
Chris Stoner founded Baltimore Sports and Life in 2009. He has appeared as a radio guest with 1090 WBAL, 105.7 The Fan, CBS 1300, Q1370, WOYK 1350, WKAV 1400, and WNST 1570. He has also been interviewed by The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Business Journal, and PressBox (TV). As Owner, his responsibilities include serving as the Managing Editor, Publicist, & Sales Director.