California Golden Blogs

CBKWitness - Randle makes good

2010-02-10T08:00:27Z

Friday January 8, 2010 11:27 Comment From Knox Harrington: Can you please roll ucla at Pauley? I hate them.

Jerome Randle: UCLA made me mad. I know we should have won that game. I'm more upset that I wasn't 100 percent and I couldn't be myself. From this point on, the entire Pac-10 is just going to get my best.

I'm not going to suggest that my comment a month ago has been motivating Randle this entire time...but clearly, it has. I posed this challenge to Randle a few days after ucla's dumb luck win at Haas. Cal was favored by 14 points or so, which seemed really high at the time. Cal not only failed to beat the double digit spread - they failed to beat the bruins at all. Then we found out a few days later that Randle was sick during the game (thanks to some fine investigative journalism by yours truly). How would have the game played out had Randle been healthy? Well, after Saturday's game, now we know. It turns out I was wrong (no way!) and the odds-makers were right, they just didn't know Randle was going to be throwing up during the game.

via image57.webshots.com

TOUGHNESS

Monty has been preaching, since approximately day one, that this team needs toughness. He said Cal needed to get tough in the off-season, after our season ending loss to Maryland in the NCAA tournament. He has said so this year, as Cal lost, despite holding late leads, to ucla at home and to Arizona on the road.

After leading USC by 13 points in the first half last Thursday, Cal needed some toughness and focus to maintain their execution and their comfortable lead. Instead, USC went on a 25-0 run (25-0!!) spanning the half and more than 10 minutes. USC is more than capable of making life tough for the Cal offense with their long, athletic players, but giving up 25 consecutive points is simply pathetic. USC is not a good offensive team, which makes their huge run even more frustrating. Sure, they cranked up their defense and flustered Cal's offense, but Cal has to tighten their defense in response.

After clawing back into the game, Theo Robertson had a chance to tie the score with 10 seconds left...and missed the first of two free throws. Cal was picked to challenge for the conference title largely because of their experience. We may not have the most athletically talented roster, but we should, in theory, make up for that with poise and composure that comes from having four senior starters. Giving up 25 consecutive points and then having your 80%+ free throw shooter miss with a chance to tie (while USC's 70% guy hits 4-4) does not indicate poise or composure.

Monty could not believe what had happened. He rambled during the post game interview with Roxy, a muted, shell-shocked stream of consciousness that touched on defense, rebounding, and yes, toughness. He was at a loss, and did not sound confident about things changing in the upcoming games.

After the game, Jerome Randle said "I'm just disappointed in our team effort. I think we really need to dig down deep and do some self-evaluation checks and see if we really want this. By the way we're playing right now, it doesn't look like we want it. (We) just need to come together and figure something out before it slips away." Unlike after past losses, there's wasn't much of the "we didn't play hard but we will next time" sentiment. Randle, Monty, and the rest of the team seemed to recognize that there was something more systemic at play, that the 25-0 run and resulting loss was not an aberration but part of an increasingly frustrating pattern. It did not leave one optimistic for Saturday's game against Pauley. Cal has not exactly had the best of luck versus the bruins lately (the over the backboard cheat, the seven point play last year, and Roll's lucky jumper, to name a few excruciating incidents), and now Cal was set to play ucla with a lot of pressure and without much confidence.

via cdn1.sbnation.com

A third of the way into the second half with Cal up 4, Markhuri Sanders-Frison delivered the toughness the Bears had been so sorely lacking. Ucla was on a 10-2 run fueled by transition buckets. Cal only had one turnover during this stretch but missed three three-pointers; missed three pointers turn into long rebounds, and the bruins retrieved the boards and quickly passed up the floor for easy lay-ins. On this particular play, bruin whipping boy Jerime Anderson stole the ball from Theo Robertson, leading to a 2 on 1 break. Jerome Randle was the 1 for Cal, and he did his job by forcing a pass to the second bruin, bruin whipping boy (there are like 5 of them) Malcolm Lee. As Lee went up for a seemingly uncontested lay-in, Markhuri Sanders-Frison came out of nowhere and hammered Lee. It was a good, clean, but very hard foul, and Markhuri probably got the worst of it as he landed awkwardly after falling on a camera man (I'd love to have floor seats at a Cal game, but having 270 Sanders-Frison fall on you would not be pleasant).

The lesson from Markhuri, and Cal, was clear: we're not letting you have any more easy buckets. (Ok, James Keefe had a dunk a few moments later, but that's it.) Lee made only one of two free throws to cut the large, dicked Bear's lead to three, but Cal scored on the next possession and went on a 22-8 run. Instead of blowing or nearly blowing their second half, double digit lead in late in the game, Cal ran the bruins off their own floor, with Randle feeding Christopher for an alley-oop as the exclamation point. In contrast, Cal attempted to feed Christopher an alley-oop at least three times during the second half of the usc game, and failed every time.

It was fitting that Cal made this statement against ucla, a program under Howland that prides itself on tough, hard-nosed basketball (and moving screens and cheap body bumps on shooters that don't get called, but that's another story). It was also fitting that Markhuri Sanders-Frison was the man to bring the physical play, because that's exactly why he was recruited. Lacking any real muscle inside with Harper Kamp on the shelf, Taylor Harrison retired, and Jordan Wilkes off to the real world (ok, that last one doesn't really fit), Markhuri came to Berkeley to provide defense, rebounding, and a physical presence on the interior. Back spasms have severely limited his playing time during conference play, but he had his best game of the year against ucla: 25 minutes, 6 points, 6 rebounds, and the game changing foul. Granted, ucla does not have a good front line, but few teams in the Pac-10 do. If Markhuri can provide that stat line and that physical play for the rest of the season, Cal will be in much better shape.

via cdn3.sbnation.com

The bigger issue is whether or not the team will respond for the rest of the season. Cal really clamped down on defense after spotting ucla a 14 point first half lead, but the defensive effort and intensity have been extremely inconsistent for the Bears throughout the year. Markhuri is supposed to bang around down low in the half court set, but I think it says as a lot about the rest of the team when (slightly doughy, not in game shape due to injury) Sanders-Frison is the guy getting back on transition defense and not our wings or guards. Against ucla, Cal showed that they can be physical and they can play with a lead - the question is, will they do it for the rest of the season? If they do, and if they play defense which allows them to get out in transition, the Bears will be pretty good.

I feel that Markhuri's foul on Malcolm Lee was the defining moment in the game, but it would not have mattered without the 29-8 Cal run over the last 12 minutes of the first half. As much as I love Jorge and hate to admit this, the game turned when he was removed and Omondi Amoke came in. Jorge actually started the game and played the point, in an effort to free up Randle off the ball for some open outside shots against ucla's 2-3 zone. Jorge came up with two nice hustle plays/steals early, but he turned the ball over a couple times and twice was easily beaten by Malcolm Lee dribble drives. The Jorge of old (and hopefully the future) would do a much better job of staying in front of his man, but with the knee injury Jorge just doesn't have much lateral quickness. Right now he's heart, grit, and beautiful hair atop a gimpy knee.

Amoke and Sanders-Frison (subbing for Boykin) entered the game and started the bear comeback by grabbing rebounds. They had seven boards between the two of them over the twelve minute span, creating second chances for Cal on offense and denying second chances for the bruins on defense. Ucla beat up Cal on the boards to start the game (they had offensive rebounds on their first two possessions) but Cal out-rebounded the bruins for the game, 28-22.

via cdn0.sbnation.com

Jeff Farudo from the CoCo times put it nicely: "The Bruins’ other freshman forward, Modesto native Reeves Nelson, has an effective bullish quality to his game, but we wonder how long Pac-10 refs are going to allow him to stick his head into a defender’s chest to create space." Twice in the second half Nelson simply ran into a stationary Cal player as he was shooting and drew a foul. The Cal defenders had position and were simply standing there with their arms vertical - foul. Ucla getting preferential treatment from the refs: not at all new. Cal beating ucla by double digits despite the officiating: new and refreshing!

I was much more irritated by a terrible charging call against Jorge. At the Cal Alumni chalk talk before the ucla home game, Jay John said that a study of blocking/charging fouls revealed that 70% had been called incorrectly. I used the most cutting edge photo altering software available to demonstrate why this particular call belongs in the 70% category.

Jorge was driving with the ball to the rim (along the path of the blue arrow) when he collided with Nikola Dragovic, pictured here as the aqua line. The aqua line represents Dragovic's shoulders; I have included a rat tail and orange arrow to indicate which direction he was facing. Dragovic was sliding to his right, (as shown by the dashed purple arrow) when he blocked Jorge. When two players collide, it is only (correctly) called a charge when the defender is not moving forward/backward or side to side, but despite the fact that Dragovic was clearly sliding right when he ran into Jorge, Jorge was called for the charge. Why? Because the referee who called the foul is a moron. More subtly, it's because he does not understand the concepts of redundancy or positioning.

The referee who made the call is pictured above as the red "X" on the three point line. From his vantage point, he can easily see if Dragovic moves forward or backward. What he cannot easily tell, since Dragovic's shoulders are parallel to his line of sight, is whether Dragovic slides left or right. For a very exaggerated demonstration of this, hold up a piece of paper as if you were reading it. Now rotate it 90 degrees, so you're looking at the side of the paper. It's easy to see the paper move front and back in front of you, but it's much harder to detect its motion when you move it towards you or away from you.

One of the other refs was standing on the baseline, indicated by the green X. This block/charge call is his to make; he can easily see Dragovic sliding right to intercept Jorge. Does he call a charge? Nope! The red ref does, because he apparently did not take 10th grade physics.

Not the referee in question, but you get the idea

via media.pennlive.com

Cal's in-bounding plays, especially from the baseline, are a mess. We turned it over at least twice, with several near misses. This follows many other turnovers and more near misses from previous games.

On a related note, Cal was sloppy with the ball late in the game, leading to a couple turnovers. We saw this in the last minute of the ASU game and the last five minutes of the OSU game. Randle is the primary guilty party, as he can become a little out of control, and his lack of height makes it difficult for him to see over the traps. This carelessness has not cost us a game yet, but the OSU game in particular was far too close for comfort.

On a happier note, Cal ran their final possession offense to perfection in the first half. Cal held the ball near half court for the last shot, and with only 4 seconds left Theo dished to Boykin inside for an easy lay-in. It was a high quality shot and did not leave enough time on the clock for the bruins to create a shot of their own. At the end of the first half against usc, Cal turned it over and gave the trojans a fast break bucket. Both times Cal had a 5 point lead and was in position to take the last shot. Cal went to the locker room with a 3 point lead against usc and a 7 point lead against the bruins. That four point swing was crucial in the usc game, as Cal went on to lose by three.

via cdn2.sbnation.com

After watching the game at ~~Raleigh's~~ Manuel's Taproom, our group wandered over to Haas to catch the second half of the Cal-ucla women's game. I was buzzed (80% due to Cal beating ucla, 20% due to beer), so I was pretty confused when we arrived at Haas. The scoreboard read 20-18 when we sat down...but the game was supposed to be in the second half by then. It was the second half, and six minutes into the second half at that. We had apparently missed a half of epic futility, 14-8 ucla after 20 minutes.

I hate giving ucla props for anything (to be fair, they very rarely deserve any commendation), but their defense is almost exactly what I would employ if I were a women's college bball coach. They use a 3/4 court trapping press, which creates turnovers and easy transition buckets, vital for teams that struggle to score in the half court (and 14 points in one half is proof that the bruins do struggle to score). Because they use this 3/4 court trap instead of a full court man to man, the bruins are able to retreat into their half court zone defense once their opponent gets the ball up the court. They use a 2-3 zone, which is perfect for women's college hoops because its main weakness (giving up open outside shots) is one that most teams cannot exploit. Ucla held Cal to 32 points for the entire game - Alexis Gray-Lawson scored more than that by herself at OSU a few weeks ago.

One of the talking heads mentioned Joe Shipp during the men's broadcast, so I was inspired to create this:

* Shipp Quality determined by basketball ability, hottness, and intelligence as indicated by academic prestige of selected university

Do what Ragnarok says and fill up Haas. The first day of the rest of the season is tomorrow, 6PM against UW. They smoked us (with an injured Randle and no Jorge) up in Seattle earlier this year but the Huskies have not won a game outside of Seattle this season. Show up, shout your ass off and make sure the Huskies remain winless on the road. Go Bears, beat the Huskies!

Golden Nuggets: The Best Grass in Berkeley

2010-02-10T01:00:25Z

Cal Rugby's beloved Witter Field will temporarily be replaced with turf as part of the Memorial Stadium retrofit. After this season's final game, Clark's squad will find a temporary place to play home games until 2013 or 2014 so they can avoid playing on turf.

What many call the "best grass in Berkeley" will be torn out and replaced with artificial turf to accommodate practices for football and lacrosse.

"Playing on artificial turf beats the hell out of you," said Clark. "Even the newest generations of turf are not appropriate for rugby."

Watching the field that you built being paved over is tough. Not being able to play at home is worse.
...

"It wasn't too long ago when I was flying around the states, standing on a chair in a crowded room saying 'I need you all to throw in some money behind Witter Rugby Field," Clark said. "Now, I'm in the awkward position of having to call back and say that we're putting artificial turf in the middle. These are difficult calls to make."

The group of donors began funding the construction of Witter. A grass field, a scoreboard and eventually the Doc Hudson Fieldhouse, formerly the bathroom outside of Memorial Stadium, were installed. The Fieldhouse now holds offices for all the rugby coaches and serves as the home for the team's rich history.

"(During football games) it was such a nasty place that you'd go and pee out back," said Clark. "Now we have 100 years worth of rugby memorabilia and Olympic memorabilia in here."

For Clark, Biestman and the other rugby donors, there is an understanding that the University must honor.

"We're all supporters of the Memorial Stadium retrofit," says Biestman "But what needs to happen is some type of commitment on behalf of the University to restore Witter Rugby Field to its original condition."

For now, the University is intent on honoring that commitment.

After the jump Tosh Lupoi earns honors from Rivals and ESPN as a top recruiter nationwide, Tedford discusses QB competition and a more aggressive defense, Pac-10 commish talks expansion and TV contracts, Randle dares defenders to contain him, and more.

Cal Football

Wilner talks to Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott about expansion, a Pac-10 television network, Monday night basketball games, and more.
An ABC affiliate in Salt Lake City reports sources tell them that Utah will be invited to the Pac-10, but they admit it's speculation. [Speculation that sources are telling them about a speculative development? It sounds like a bunch of noise to me]
CalBears.com has the transcript for yesterday's live chat with Tedford. He revealed that the QB competition will be up for grabs again and said that he and Gregory "need to be more aggressive as a philosophy" on defense.
Tosh Lupoi was named Rivals.com's recruiter of the year. Lupoi's involvement with the recruitment of Allen, Martin, Forbes, King, McCain, and Whiteside allowed Cal to bring in its best defensive class under Tedford. ESPN named Lupoi as the Pac-10's best recruiter.
More on Cecil Whiteside's decision to play baseball this spring.

Cal Basketball

Randle's quickness and agility are a nightmare for opposing point guards. His best advice for other teams is "Never let me touch the ball...especially if I'm 100 percent." If he crosses over, you're done.

Bring the Noise, Cal Fans!

2010-02-09T23:00:31Z

More photos » Gus Ruelas - AP

It's going to be a battle the rest of the way, Bear fans.

Browse more photos »

You know what, Bear fans? I'm disappointed in you.

This feeling has been building all season, really. We've got ourselves a first-place basketball team, one that's exciting to watch to boot, and yet fan support at Haas can best be described as 'tepid' or 'middling'. In many ways, the crowds are reminiscent of those that showed up to watch the end of the Ben Braun era, as the team stumbled to eight-place finished, hoping for NIT berths. Sure, a good number of people show up on gamedays, but not nearly enough to fill the building, and not all of them make much noise. The fact that organized cheers from Bruin fans were audible during UCLA's comeback victory in January is flat-out embarrassing. Where are you people, and why aren't you screaming your heads off for a team that very much deserves your support?

In some ways, attendance has followed the pattern it does every year. The stands aren't packed for the non-conference schedule because it's still football season, and few (if any) of the games are against interesting opponents, and some are against those you've never heard of. Then the students all go on winter break, and us working adults are on vacation, so that's where we all were during the Stanfurd, U$C, and fUCLA games. Then Cal hosted the Oregon schools, and neither of them are good, so many of you didn't bother to show up. Excuses beget excuses beget excuses. Lame.

Look, here's what's going down. Cal has seven games left in the Pac-10 season, and they've got a one-game lead on everyone else in the conference. They've got a favorable schedule down the stretch, with all their toughest opponents at home. But if they're going to use that home-court advantage to win their first conference title since the Eisenhower administration, they're going to need your help. They're going to need your noise. They're going to need your momentum-building cheers after big threes from Randle, your stifling roar on defense as they try to stem an opponent's run, your fervored distraction during free throw attempts. More that just about any sport I know, the roar of a crowd can turn a basketball game the home team's favor, but if we want it to turn the Bears' favor, we're going to have to show up in numbers and bring a little frenzy with us.

Now, I think it's important to note that I am not merely an athletic department shill. Frankly, Cal Athletics won't return CGB's calls, and you could best describe our relationship with them as 'nonexistent'. Personally, I don't care how many tickets they sell to these games, or whether they make any money at all. Buy your tickets from scalpers if you can get a better deal. Heck, sneak into the game for all I care -- it doesn't matter to me if you pay your way in, so long as you're vocal in your support for your Golden Bears once you're inside. (Protip: if you wear a straw hat and carry a musical instrument, it's pretty easy to sneak in the front door; they smile and wave you right on by.)

The important thing is that you're there, supporting this very deserving team. So when the Bears make a big bucket, I want you loud. When the Bears are on defense, I want you loud. When the opposing team takes a timeout and the band strikes up 'Big "C"', I want you singing along loudly. When it's time for the anthropomorphic Odwalla bottle race...well, actually, the Odwalla race is stupid. You should use that time to buy a hot dog or go to the can or something. Just so long as you're back in your seat in time for when the game begins again.

Finally, I know I'm not alone in this because KoreAmBear has posted a call to arms in much the same vein over at BearInsider. Here, I"m going to finish by just copy/pasting his entire post below.

Dear Cal men's basketball fans, our team is in a dogfight to win the Pac-10 title for the first time in 50 years and need every one of these next four home games desperately. Not only is the title involved, these games concern whether we receive a ticket to the NCAA tournament ("the Big Dance") and as well maximizing our seed when we do make the Big Dance.

Here's what you can do: 1) fill up Haas. Show up and go to as many of the last four as posssible. 2) when you are there, do not be passive. Our team is small, deplete with injuries and does not have much depth. You can be the extra player on the bench (pun intended). Do not WAIT for a great play to happen. Will our team to victory.
Make noise, be demonstrative, bring signs, join in chants and even stand on certain possessions. It's been well documented that a great crowd feeds into confidence and better play, as well as demoralizing the other team.

Our players have said that they don't feel like they get the support that some of the other teams in the Pac-10 get. That's a shame on us, especially coming from a tradition of the greatest home venue in the Pac-10, Harmon Gym. But we have four games to disprove this notion. And I am sure you will. Please pass this on to as many Cal fans who could make any of the next four games. Time to roar and rock the Haas again. Go Bears!

See you all on Thursday evening! Go Bears!

Cal Women's Week in Review: The Agony and the Ecstasy

2010-02-09T20:00:24Z

In their most Jekyll and Hyde week of the year, the Cal women beat USC in perhaps their strongest team effort of the year, then promptly lost to UCLA in one of the most painful offensive games you’ll ever see. Since I went to the UCLA game and my wife got a number of good pictures we’ll spend most of our time analyzing that game. But stick around ‘til the end to read about the USC game – that win was as awesome and cathartic as the UCLA loss was ugly. If you don't want to read about it, at least watch this great video produced by the athletic department that shows off game strategy, offensive rebounding, and everything the Bears can do offensively when things are working:

Now, on to UCLA: Determined to get better pictures this time around, I approached the ticket office and requested the best reserved seats they had. They handed me seats in section 1, row BB. When we reached them, we quickly realized that we had bought tickets that traveling UCLA fans hadn’t purchased. So we had the luxury of a great view and the interesting insight of being within hearing distance of the UCLA bench.

We also had to deal with the hardcore UCLA fans. Most were fine, if a bit overzealous, but their knowledge was kind of creepy – they knew the first name of refs! And yelled at them personally! Also, one guy yelled "MISS" at the top of his lungs right when any Bear released a free throw, which just sounds awkward when your team is on the road. Plus, he kept doing it even when Cal was shooting meaningless FTs at the end of the game with UCLA up 14. Kinda lame, dude.

I think I spent 90% of the game watching two Bruins guard 1 Bear

When trying to decipher Cal’s struggles there is a critical factor to keep in mind – UCLA is a very well coached team. Too often as fans we only analyze the performance of our team and discount how different opponents impact their performances. UCLA plays incredibly disciplined defense, and they had a great game plan. UCLA played a token full court press that accomplished one main goal – it frequently took 5 to 10 seconds for Cal to start their half court offense, leaving them perhaps only 20 seconds to get a good shot. Once Cal finally crossed half court they constantly harassed Cal’s guards, and every single time Alexis Gray-Lawson got the ball on the wing two players would immediately trap her. We sat two rows behind the UCLA bench and during every timeout Nikki Caldwell was working with her players on their trapping defense. The Bruins prevented entry passes to our bigs, they prevented most dribble drives, and contested nearly every shot. As long as Caldwell is at UCLA playing the Bruins is going to be a miserable experience.

Nikki Caldwell effectively plots how she'll ruin my Saturday

Having said that, Cal did not make the tall task of beating the UCLA defense any easier on themselves. The game was littered with overthrown passes and wild shots. Coach Boyle had this to say after the game:

Offensively, I felt we were scared. We didn't want the responsibility. We had players hide. We had players not show up. We got out-toughed.

That pretty much hit the nail on the head. When Cal players received passes, it seemed like most of the time their instinct told them to get the ball to someone else’s hand as quickly as possible. There wasn’t much of an attacking instinct. When a player did get the ball in a position to shoot the shots were incredibly rushed and generally well off target. The half court offense was so stagnant that Coach Boyle went to an aggressive full court press in the 2nd half. It succeeded in creating transition opportunities for Cal before UCLA could set their defense, but it also allowed a reasonably disciplined Bruins team to occasionally break the press and get their own easy baskets.

Good defense --> transition offense

The one weakness to UCLA’s defense is that it can be overly aggressive at times and the Bruins tend to commit too many fouls. Early in the game Cal wasn’t totally out of sorts on offense and exploited this to get to the line. The UCLA fans we were surrounded by were outraged at the referees, but the plain fact is that UCLA’s spectacular defense comes with the price of more fouls. But as soon as UCLA’s defense got into Cal’s head (maybe 7 or 8 minutes into the game) Cal stopped attacking and drawing fouls.

So I suffered through two hours of painful basketball while being surrounded by UCLA fans gleefully doing their chants over the fight song they stole from our band. Such are the risks of college fandom, particularly when you're watching a team with 6 freshmen against a well coached, veteran outfit.

Cal vs. USC Recap

Let's move onto the successful part of the weekend. This is what I wrote after Cal last lost to USC on an Ashley Corral buzzer beating banked in three pointer:

As much as I try to stay positive and enjoy following my Alma Mater, sometimes the results make me come to the conclusion that God does in fact hate the University of California. And the proof frequently manifests itself when the Golden Bears are matched up against teams that hail from Los Angeles.

So when Ashley Corral hit two straight completely absurd 3 point shots in a row (one of which banked in) to draw USC within 2 with 34 seconds to go I started having horrible flashbacks to previous insanely painful losses to USC. But evidently the women's team is made up of sterner stuff than I am, and they successfully held off the Trojans for a huge victory, almost entirely on the strength of their offensive rebounding. Check out this play-by-play from the 2nd half:

53-49, Cal
2:29 - Defensive Rebound, Gennifer Brandon
2:12 - Missed 3 Pointer. Offensive Rebound, Eliza Pierre
1:44 - Missed Jumper. Offensive Rebound, Gennifer Brandon
1:41 - Good Jumper, Gennifer Brandon
55-49, Cal
1:19 - Steal, Gennifer Brandon
1:15 - Missed Jumper, Offensive Rebound, Eliza Pierre
0:46 - Good Layup, Layshia Clarendon
57-49, Cal
(USC hits two 3's, then commits a foul. 57-55 Cal)
0:28 - First FT Good, 2nd FT no good. Offensive Rebound Natasha Vital. USC Fouls
0:27 - First FT Good, 2nd FT no good. Offensive rebound Gennifer Brandon. USC Fouls
USC fouls Alexis Gray-Lawson, she makes both FTs. Cal leads, 61-55.

Cal took nearly two minutes off of the clock, and in that span (from 2:29 to 0:37) they held USC to zero shots and pulled down 3 offensive rebounds. Then when Corral hit her crazy 3 pointers the Bears iced it with two more offensive rebounds. Also worth noting: Cal beat the Trojans with a mortal performance from Alexis Gray-Lawson, who only scored 9 points on 3-9 shooting. Instead strong performances were turned in by Gennifer Brandon, Layshia Clarendon and DeNesha Stallworth, who in particular seems to love playing against USC.

Stat Chart vs. USC and UCLA

	FGs	3 pts.	FTs	Pts	Rbs	Asts	TOVs	Mins
Alexis Gray-Lawson	6-20	0-4	8-10	20	9	2	1	75
Gennifer Brandon	3-16	-	1-3	7	22	0	6	48
Layshia Clarendon	9-20	2-9	4-5	24	6	4	8	64
DeNesha Stallworth	8-24	-	2-2	18	12	1	5	71
Natasha Vital	2-12	0-5	3-4	7	8	3	7	42
Eliza Pierre	0-5	0-3	-	0	4	3	1	28
Talia Caldwell	2-2	-	2-3	6	6	2	3	28
Rachelle Federico	3-6	2-4	1-2	9	2	0	1	21
Brenna Heater	1-4	0-1	0-2	2	3	0	1	16
Lauren Greif	0-2	0-2	-	0	0	0	0	11

Well, everything looks pretty bleak when you nearly set a record for fewest combined points in a half in NCAA history. It's a shame there isn't really a stat to reflect Cal's defensive effort for the first 10 minutes of the UCLA game (other than the zero stat on the scoreboard) because for a time the Bruins were even more frustrated than Cal. I'm going to file these stats in the back of my brain and hope they never show up again.

Player of the Game vs. USC - Brandon, Clarendon, and Stallworth

Fine, I'll admit that I'm too wishy-washy to pick one. Clarendon led the Bears in scoring and hit a variety of runners and two huge 3's - one to beat the shot clock buzzer - that kept Cal in contact when USC threatened to pull away late in the first half and early in the 2nd half. Gennifer Brandon again had an absurd game on the glass, pulling down 14 rebounds and the majority of the offensive rebounds that ultimately won Cal the game. Stallworth contributed both points (14) and rebounds (10) and again showed off a variety of inside moves to get her points against the Trojans - I bet she fell asleep Thursday night dreaming of drawing USC again in the Pac-10 tournament so she can add to her total of 44 on the year.

Player of the Game vs. UCLA - Rachelle Federico

Federico calmly directs traffic against UCLA

‘Mooch’ has been a role player for Cal this year – an excellent three point shooter who can help break down a zone defense. Against UCLA she was the only player on the court who looked remotely composed in the face of UCLA’s perimeter pressure. She came into the game with 17 minutes left in the 2^nd half and stayed on the court for the rest of the game. During her time on the court she hit two tough threes, a runner in the lane, drew a shooting foul and only turned the ball over once. Basically, she single-handedly kept Cal in striking distance and generally seemed to be putting out the most effort. Her performance makes me think that she should perhaps be getting more time on the court in the future.

What's Next: Cal @ WSU (1-10, 6-16), Cal @ Washington (4-7, 9-12)

For some reason playing a team with no conference wins irrationally scares me, so I'm thrilled that WSU got their first Pac-10 win of the year on Saturday on the road against ASU. WSU is pretty good for a team that's 1-10; they've been within 10 points of each team in their last 5 losses, including against Cal. They won't be a pushover in Pullman. Washington, meanwhile, is in a painful slump. They've only won 1 game (over WSU in overtime) in their last 7. Cal should win both games to rise to 8-5 in the conference, but they'll need to bring the same defensive intensity they had against UW and WSU the first time around, and hopefully the offense that came to play against USC and not UCLA.

Poll

After splitting with the Arizona and L.A. schools, Cal is 6-5 in the Pac-10. Are you...

Interview with new California Golden Bear Coleman Edmond

2010-02-09T11:00:33Z

In 2007, Cal had a triumvirate of wide receivers, Robert Jordan, Lavelle "The Hawk" Hawkins, and DeSean "Tha1" Jackson. Unfortunately, after that year, they were gone to the NFL. I don't think it would be controversial to say that Cal has not quite had that same level of play since. We've got some new WR recruits that, alongside our current WRs, hope to change that. Coleman Edmond is one such recruit! It's been a long time coming for him. Check out his story here:

This was some trip from Ulster County to northern California.

Edmond, who played quarterback and running back at Kingston in 2005, left the school to attend Harmony Community prep school in Cincinnati. He accepted a scholarship offer from Division I-AA Wagner and red-shirted in the fall of '07.

Edmond left Wagner after a year and came up with a plan to go West. Edmond, a wide receiver and kickoff returner, enrolled at UCLA in the fall of '08 and ran on the track team that spring to try to get the attention of UCLA's football staff. He was a standout sprinter on the track team at Kingston.

"I always wanted to go to a bigger school," said Edmond, who is 6-foot-2, 210 pounds. "I couldn't just sit back, I needed to follow my dream. I was just trying to get to the top, and you only live once."

While at UCLA, running the 100- and 200-meter dashes, Edmond walked into the Bruins' director of football operations office and told Steven Radicevic he wanted to walk on. According to Edmond, Radicevic laughed at him.

However, Edmond, 21, persuaded UCLA to allow him to participate during summer workouts last summer. According to Edmond, UCLA told him they didn't have any scholarship money for him. He had already taken $35,000 in loans to pay for one year of school in Westwood.

"I was devastated, I thought the summer workouts went well," Edmond said. "As well as I did, I thought they would have picked me up right away."

Edmond ended up at Pierce this past fall with the help of defensive coordinator Jeff Phillips, who coached at Wagner during Edmond's short time there. Edmond starred at Pierce, making 37 receptions, including nine for touchdowns, and amassing 1,584 all-purpose yards. He returned a kickoff and a punt for a touchdown.

In one game, a 62-55 overtime win over West Los Angeles Community College last fall, the opposition kicked the ball away from Edmond a dozen times.

Edmond ended up at UCLA, running track, hoping to get a spot on the football team. Even though I am still able to tag him in this post as a UCLA WR, it didn't work out there. Now he has a second chance, via Pierce Community College, to play Pac10 football. Here's hoping the UCLA fans say "Oh, what could have been" over the next few years!

Edmond is a man smart enough to make it into two separate elite UC schools. Despite that intelligence, he agreed to an interview with CGB. After the fold, learn more about one of the newest Golden Bears, Coleman Edmond. Many thanks to Coleman for his effort here, we really appreciate it. Good luck to him and GO BEARS!

1) What originally interested you in Cal? What was the biggest appeal you saw in coming to play for the Bears?

The family atmosphere that the whole coaching staff created. And being from the east coast it's great to be able to play for coaches that feel like family!

2) What do you look for in a school?

Great academics, die hard fans, and offensive minds that have great intentions to scheme big plays!

3) You were originally recruited by the Bruins. How was your time at UCLA, and what made you decide to go the junior college route?

My time at UCLA was great! I had a rough season running track due to the coast changes but as far as just being happy at a school, UCLA was a pretty special place! I was heart broken when I had to leave UCLA to go to junior college but I'm a fighter. I tightened my belt and got to work! The UCLA football program let me leave despite doing very well in summer workouts with the team and my endless efforts to do what ever it took to stay there, so with no money junior college was my last hope!

4) Are there any other positions you'd like to play at the collegiate level?

I would just like to do whatever my team needs me to do. I want to show the University of California I'm worth the time and money they are going to spend on me with my scholarship!

5) How did the facilities at Cal affect your decision?

Facilities are never a big deal to me as long as I have people around that care about me. I just thank God I can be at a great university with the chance to graduate. There were many days and nights I would sit up wondering if that would that ever happen due to my financial background!

6) What were your feelings on the way Cal played this year?

Great! In the game I saw Jahvid had 5 touchdowns. I don't really know what happened after that because I was busy with school and really didn't watch much TV or even Sportscenter - I know, shocking!

7) What was your JC coach like?

I love my JC coach Efran Martinez. I loved all my JC coaches. They welcomed me with open arms and helped me get to the position I am in now.

8) What's junior college life like?

Junior college life is a grind, but again I've been grinding for the last 5 years so everyday was just another day at the office!

9) You're originally from New York. What made you decide to come out to the West Coast and LA in particular?

Since I was little I always had a dream and joked with myself about what it be like to be mentioned amongst the best athletes to ever live. High hopes, I know, but what better place to go to accomplish that dream and joke then UCLA?

10) So after you and UCLA parted, you still were content with being out West?

Yes I love the west coast. I have a pretty good life out here and life is about being happy. Hopefully if I'm happy off the field it will translate to pretty good success on the field.

11) Who was your host on the team, or the guy you've talked to the most? What's your relationship like?

Chris Moncrese. Great guy. I don't know much about our defense except that we got some pretty good linebackers coming in. I hope Chris gets a shot to show Cal what he can do. That'd really make me happy.

12) Please share w/ the fans your fondest recruiting story.

Seeing all the Nike gear I will get upon my arrival to campus. I can't wait! I love Nike!

13) Who do you believe is most responsible for your success at the collegiate level?

There are so many people: my father and mother definitely, Earl and Sylvia Edmond; my best friend's parents Bill and Patty Stote; my highschool guidance counselors; the family that took me in that I lived with in LA; and God because he is the creator of all the great people I have come across in my life. I am truly blessed.

14) What are you looking forward to the most as being a Golden Bear?

Hitting the home run and hearing the bear fans screaming with excitement. Of course I will only hear that after I score because you can't hear much while running except your cleats hitting the turf.

Again, thanks to Coleman and GO BEARS!

Djax had a amazing year this year thought id do a video

2010-02-09T09:31:03Z

Djax had a amazing year this year thought id do a video

Tosh Lupoi named Rivals Recruiter of the Year

2010-02-09T05:17:12Z

Tosh Lupoi named Rivals Recruiter of the Year

"While recruiting is a team effort and the whole staff played vital roles in our recruiting success, Tosh is worthy of being recognized as doing an exceptional job," Bears coach Jeff Tedford said. "His dedication to develop strong relationships and communicate the great opportunities that Cal provides makes him a very strong recruiter."

Lupoi was involved in signing many of Cal’s top recruits, including Chris Martin, Keenan Allen, Nick Forbes, Gabe King, Cecil Whiteside and Chris McCain.

Go Tosh! (HT chowder)

Golden Nuggets: Crabbe Excels on the Court and in the Classroom

2010-02-09T01:00:22Z

Cal basketball recruit Allen Crabbe has shown great development over the past season.

At tiny Los Angeles Price, a school of kindergarten through 12th grade in the sprawling Crenshaw Christian Center, Allen Crabbe is the boy everyone has seen grow up before their eyes.

His grandfather, the Rev. Frederick K.C. Price, is the founder of the school. Crabbe has been a Price ball boy or student seemingly forever. When Price was winning five state Division V basketball championships in the last decade, he was preparing for his chance to join in the fun.

Now he has grown to 6 feet 6, makes three-point baskets as if they were free throws and has the skills to win any dunk contest. He also has a 3.5 grade-point average, has signed with California and has developed into one of the best players in the state.

"He's a zero-maintenance kid," Coach Michael Lynch said. "He's constantly in the gym. I don't ever have to think about him."

Crabbe has always been able to shoot and score, but he grew two inches and gained 10 pounds since his junior year, and the added strength has elevated his game. He is averaging 23 points and nearly 11 rebounds in leading Price to a 22-2 record with one week remaining in the regular season.

"Adding that strength to his game has really taken it to another level," Lynch said. "His mid-range game has just blown up. He's posting smaller people, where he wouldn't in the past. His game has just blossomed."

Said Crabbe: "It gives you more confidence when you know you have that strength to go up against other opponents."

In recent weeks, Crabbe has scored 38 points twice, against Ventura and Los Angeles Crenshaw. But it's his leadership that Lynch has appreciated most.

"When we've needed him to come through, he's been telling the team, 'Come on, guys, we can do this,' " Lynch said.

There's no better example for what a teenager can accomplish when combining athletics and academics than Crabbe, who has used his twin focus to put himself in position to have a bright future.

Talking about his many years attending Price, Crabbe said, "It's like a big family. You have teachers who care for you and always want you to do good and succeed in life. They're always on top of you, even if it's a little homework assignment you missed. They emphasize it's very important to get your work done, because you can have sports but without an education, you can't do anything."

While Price is heavily favored to win a Southern Section Division 4AA championship, the Knights won't consider it a successful season without a state title.

"Everybody's hungry," Crabbe said. "We've been to the game before the state championship and come up short."

After the jump Ted Miller looks ahead to the 2010 season, basketball continues to be respected by the computers, and the rest of Cal sports enjoy a relatively successful weekend.

Cal Football

Former Cal LB Scott Fujita was part of the Super Bowl-winning Saints squad. Even more impressive was his suggestion to run the "Ram-1" blitz, which was the play that led to the game-sealing pick-six. (HT oskigobears)
Ted Miller picks Trajuan Briggs as Cal's newcomer to watch this season. I'm a bit surprised he didn't pick Keenan Allen or Chris Martin. We'll see during spring practice if Briggs can surpass DeBo and Yarnway. Of all the newcomers, I wouldn't be surprised if Martin has the biggest impact.
Tyson Alualu comes in at 14th in Ted Miller's top-30 Pac-10 players of 2009.
Ted Miller says Syd's role will be the biggest vacancy for Cal next season. Will Hill, Nnabufie, or Hagan be able to fill it?

Cal Basketball

Lunardi's bracketology features Cal as the lone Pac-10 participant in the Big Dance. And, as has been the case all season, Cal garners no votes from the humans but earns some respect from the robots. Cal is 26th in the RPI ratings and 35th in the Sagarin computer poll. I, for one, welcome out new robot overlords.
Faraudo recaps another bizarre weekend of Pac-10 basketball.

The Rest of the Weekend in Cal Sports

Cal rugby's match against Chico State was cancelled because Chico State's field was deemed unfit.
No. 4 men's swimming defeated USC 158-136.
Men's tennis defeated Hawaii 6-1.
No. 4 women's water polo defeated no. 5 UCLA and no. 9 ASU at the Stanford Invitational. They followed that up with a win over no. 3 Hawaii but ultimately lost to no. 1 Stanford.

Interview with New California Golden Bear Chris Adcock

2010-02-08T11:00:24Z

On February 3, 2009, offensive lineman Chris Adcock sent in his Letter Of Intent to enroll at Cal and play for the Golden Bears. He played left tackle, deep snapper, and defensive tackle at the high school level. My understanding is that they are looking for him to play Center eventually at Cal. It looks like he has a lot of versatility and the intelligence to pick up several positions. From his official website (linked above), check this out:

GPA-4.0, Ranked 1st in class.

SAT= Verbal and Math =1420/1600, Math=760/800

Ok, those were better numbers than I had applying to Cal! And I completely lack any athletic skill. This guy is the total package! And, to illustrate his intelligence, he agreed to do an interview with the California Golden Blogs. After the jump, see his thoughts on why he chose Cal, who his friends on the team are, and his thoughts on becoming one of the newest Bears. Many thanks to Chris Adcock for his time here! Welcome aboard, Chris! GO BEARS!

1) What originally interested you in Cal? What was the biggest appeal you saw in coming to play for the Bears?

1) I originally contacted Cal because my dad went to UC Davis and had always kind of been a Cal fan and my mom is from Merced, CA. Because of that I have family through different parts of the state and had frequently visited California and had always been aware of the great education available at Cal. Because of all this Cal was on the short list of schools that I wanted to play for. The biggest appeal to come and play for the Bears was the education followed by a close second of big-time PAC-10 football.

via web.mac.com

2) What do you look for in a school?

2) In a school i was first looking for an education. My parents from the start have instilled in me the value of a good education and that is the first thing I wanted from a school. The second of course was great football. I set my goal to play D1 football once I started high school football and I made it happen. One of the deciding factors in a school was a place that I fit in and overall felt wanted as an asset to the team and the University. I found all of this and more at Cal!

3) How did the facilities at Cal affect your decision?

3) Facilities were not a deal breaker for me and my decision on a school, but I was impressed by the history behind Memorial Stadium and new facilities are never a bad thing. I'm looking forward to being one of the first classes to use the new Student-Athlete High Performance Center.

4) What were your feelings on the way Cal played this year?

4) Cal was my team this year. I felt like a part of the team and lived and died by their wins and losses. I felt the Stanford game was the highlight of the year. No one gave the Bears credit and they beat a great team at home no less!

5) Who was your host on the team, or the guy you've talked to the most? What's your relationship like?

5) My player host on my visit was RS Freshman Center Mark Brazinski. He represented the team and university very well. I've talked the most with Coach Steve Marshall both on the phone and through multiple visits here and in Berkeley. I've enjoyed getting to start a relationship with my future coach and I've been fortunate to get to know him in just about every aspect. I've met him here, there, I've seen him coach a practice and a spring game, and I'm looking forward to getting to play and learn the game under him and all the great coaches at Cal.

via web.mac.com

6) Please share w/ the fans your fondest recruiting story.

6) My funniest story would be on my unofficial visit to Notre Dame. My family and I were in the Chicago area for a Northwestern Junior Day and decided to make a call to Southbend and try to get a visit arranged. Needless to say we scheduled a time with a coach and headed that way. What we didn't realize is that Southbend is in a different time zone than Chicago. The great part was we didn't even know until my mom got pulled over for speeding and we noticed the time on the ticket! We ended up being an hour late but still had a good campus tour.

My best recruiting story was when I went on my Junior Day visit to Cal last April. It went very well and at the end of the day I walked away with my first scholarship offer. The funny side was that Coach Tedford was under the impression that I had already received many others at that point. Needless to say, he was as surprised as I was to receive my first offer when he realized the miscommunication.

7) Who do you believe is most responsible for your success?

7) I believe that my hard work and determination are responsible for my sucess in football, but I couldn't have done it without the help and motivation of my coaches, family, friends, and fans. My dad was very helpful in my recruiting process and my parents were always supportive of my goals and did everything they could to help me succeed. I also couldn't have made it without the examples set by my high school coaches. I've learned a lot over my 18 years and I am always striving to apply the lessons I've learned to my everyday life.

via web.mac.com

8) What are you looking forward to the most being a Golden Bear? Do you have any dreams or aspirations to accomplish during your student/athlete career at Cal?

8) I am looking forward to getting to play at the next level and playing in a big time bowl game with a chance at a national title every year. I want to see the Bears win a Rose Bowl during my stay at Cal, and I want to become the best player I can be fulfilling my potential and playing in the league if the opportunity arises.

9)You attended both the US Army All-American and Football University Combine. Can you tell us more about your Combine experiences and how they helped you to become a better player?

9)The main thing I learned from my combine experience was improved pass blocking skills. Other things include honing a competitive edge while competing against some of the top players in the country, and learning to prepare and be confident for many different scenarios and circumstances that can arise at the different combines.

10) How do you think your skills will develop at the next level fighting in the trenches for the Golden Bears?

10) I believe that my skills will improve tremendously while playing for the Bears. I have full confidence in the coaching staff at Cal and what they teach. I hope to improve all aspects of my game and become the best player that I can be. I'm going there with the attitude to get better everyday and motivate the team to be better as well. I can't wait to head out to Berkeley in July and start the next stage in my life as a California Golden Bear.

Again, many thanks to Chris Adcock, good luck at Cal, and GO BEARS!!

Golden Nuggets: Cal Reclaims First Place in Pac-10 Standings

2010-02-08T03:00:24Z

After the 25-0 fiasco on Thursday, Cal showed some much needed toughness and resilience in its win over UCLA.

"We've been losing games down the stretch," point guard Jerome Randle said, "so we wanted to be aggressive and get a big lead this time."

Patrick Christopher and Theo Robertson each scored 20 points, as Randle (14 points, six assists) took his foot off the pedal and calmly led the offense against UCLA's zone defense.

Cal is now 14-0 when it shoots over 46 percent.

"We started slowly, made a couple of substitutions, got some energy and started playing very well," Cal coach Mike Montgomery said. "Jerome did a marvelous job running the team. He was patient and never panicked."

The Bruins (11-12, 6-5) scored on 10 of 11 possessions early and led 22-8 eight minutes in.

That's when reserves Markhuri Sanders-Frison and Omondi Amoke gave the Bears a push, literally, around the glass and defensively.

After Montgomery had gone small and started third guard Jorge Gutierrez, Sanders-Frison and Amoke turned the game around with 12 rebounds, seven offensive. Cal outrebounded UCLA 31-23.

"That's my job, to bring some energy and be the enforcer," said the 6-foot-8, 275-pound Sanders-Frison, who also had six points and a steal in 25 minutes.

He has been bothered by back spasms and foul trouble, but he only had one foul Saturday - "a record," he said, smiling.

Sanders-Frison went barreling over a cameraman in the second half, this after he butted heads with UCLA bruiser Reeves Nelson early. Nelson, ineffective the rest of the game, was diagnosed with a concussion afterward.

Two days earlier, it was Cal that was jarred, outscored 25-0 at one point in a loss at USC. But the Bears had their own 25-point margin, a 33-8 run, against the Bruins.

After the jump we have more on Cal's win over UCLA and a recap of women's basketball's bizarre loss to UCLA (a game that was scoreless 10 minutes in).

Cal Basketball

Faraudo's live thread follows the game as it unfolds. It was ugly early until Cal's 33-8 run gave them the lead permanently. Faraudo recaps the game for CCTimes.
Monty attended Price High's 79-45 win over Lutheran of La Verne. He watched Cal commits Allen Crabbe and Richard Solomon who had 23 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists and 13 points, 4 rebounds, and 5 blocked shots, respectively.
Cal women's bball lost to UCLA 44-32. It was an ugly game and still scoreless 10 minutes in. Cal went on an 8-0 run before UCLA closed out the first half with a 14-0 run. After the game Boyle said she was "disappointed in our execution, our offensive execution, and in our toughness."

Super Bowl Open Thread

2010-02-07T23:01:13Z

Use this thread to discuss the game, commercials, and, if you really feel like it, you can discuss the halftime show here too.

If you don't know who to root for, remember that former Bear Scott Fujita plays for the Saints.

Poll

Who dat? Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints?

Nobody!

19 votes

The Indianapolis Colts, of course!

18 votes

37 votes | Poll has closed

Cal Bears Avenge Loss to Bruins, Come Home In First Place

2010-02-07T11:09:51Z

More photos » Gus Ruelas - AP

Oh my, how I've missed me some Jorge!

Browse more photos »

Well, it wasn't how you draw it up, but the Bears are returning home off a tough four-game road trip in sole possession of first place, so I for one can't complain too much.

Looking at the four-game stretch of @ASU, @Arizona, @USC, @UCLA a couple weeks ago, it seemed that an unlikely 4-0 performance would give them complete control of the Pac-10, 3-1 would set them up nicely, 2-2 is where things would get dicey, and 1-3 or worse and ... well, that didn't happen, so I don't want to talk about it. Turns out, I underestimated the mediocrity of this conference, where merely splitting on the road and waiting for all your rivals to lose is apparently a winning strategy.

But before I get lost in big-picture analysis, there's the little matter of the Bears pulling out a rare win in Pauley Pavilion on Saturday to discuss. Now, this may be one of the most talent-starved Bruin teams we've seen in quite some time, a young team that has yet to see the high side of .500 this season, but a win in Pauley is still a win on the road against a team that came into the game tied for first place. The outcome was not a given, and given the way the Bears opened up the game, for a time it looked doubtful.

UCLA has had difficulty manning-up on defense all year, so the Bruins have tried to hide their deficiencies by instituting a base zone defense. What was once fairly exotic in the Pac-10 when Herb Sendek brought it to Arizona State a few years ago has now become fairly commonplace in the conference (in various different flavors, at least), and while the Bears continue to struggle against the zone, the Bruins defense looked thoroughly commonplace in comparison to some that we've seen this year.

The Bears gave themselves an early 3-0 lead with great ball movement and a drive by Patrick Christopher that led to a kickout to Theo Robertson and a wide-open three. Overall, however, the Bears came out with frustratingly few answers for the Bruins' defense. Their first four shot attempts were three-pointers, and only the aforementioned shot by Theo went in. None of the other three shots were rebounded by the Bears. Jorge turned it over on the next possession, a steal by Malcom Lee that led to two easy points. Nothing was coming easy.

However, it wasn't just that the Bears weren't getting good shots; they didn't get many opportunities to take them. There was a TV timeout before the Bears grabbed their first rebound (by Jamal Boykin more than four and a half minutes in), and the Bears missed three more contested jump shots before Jerome Randle was able to put up a three in transition. By the time Omondi Amoke grabbed the Bears' first offensive rebound (nearly seven minutes in), Cal found themselves down 17-6, and a minute later they were down 22-8 as Michael Roll nailed another three, giving him 10 early points (he would finish with a game-high 22). The Bears were looking like they were going to be blown out of Pauley (and first place) by a thoroughly mediocre Bruins squad.

Then the game turned.

I don't know whether it was something said by Mike Montgomery during a timeout, or perhaps by one of the players, or if there was some sort of collective decision about what needed to be done. But around this time, two things happened:

1) The Bears stopped settling for contested jump shots early in the shot clock, instead working better ball movement to open up holes in the Bruins' zone.
2) The Bears ratcheted up the defensive pressure, making UCLA really work for their points. For the most part, the Bruins couldn't get it done.

Regarding the defense, Cal's achilles' heel all year has been slow rotations leaving shooters open on the perimeter. Sometimes (Oregon) they don't hit those shots and it doesn't hurt you. Sometimes (UCLA's key second-half run in their first meeting) they do. But when the Bears made a concerted team effort to get out on shooters (in particular, I recall Jorge harassing Michael Roll wherever he went on the floor), they can make it very tough for opponents to score. There's staying in front of your man and fighting through screens and boxing out and all sorts of various defensive schemes Monty might try to teach and employ, but in the end its all about effort for this team, and the Bears will go as far this year as they're willing to put in the defensive effort to get there.

Once you get an opponent to toss up a contested shot, by and large they're going to miss. Now it's all about getting the rebound. Here's a telling stat for you -- in the opening six minutes, the Bruins out-rebounded the Bears 10-1, 3-0 on the offensive end. The final fourteen minutes of the first half? Cal won that battle 12-2, 5-0 on the offensive glass. That's 10 extra possessions that the Bears used to turn a 14-point deficit into a 7 point lead.

The first half was pretty much a reversal of the opening half at USC on Thursday night, with this time the Bears falling behind only to come roaring back with a decisive run. While not as stifling as the 25-0 streak the Trojans reeled off, I do want to briefly go over the final two minutes of the first half, when Cal closed with 11 straight points to turn a four-point deficit into a seven-point lead that they would never relinquish. It's the stuff opposing coaches have nightmares about:

Michael Roll missed Three Point Jumper.
Patrick Christopher Defensive Rebound.
Patrick Christopher made Three Point Jumper. Assisted by Jerome Randle.
Foul on Markhuri Sanders-Frison
Michael Roll Turnover.
Patrick Christopher Steal.
Theo Robertson made Three Point Jumper. Assisted by Jerome Randle.
Michael Roll missed Three Point Jumper.
Patrick Christopher Defensive Rebound.
Jerome Randle made Three Point Jumper. Assisted by Theo Robertson.
Nikola Dragovic missed Two Point Jumper.
Patrick Christopher Defensive Rebound.
Jamal Boykin made Two Point Layup. Assisted by Theo Robertson.

On offense, that's 4-4 shooting, with all four shots coming from four different players. Moreover, all four shots were assisted by either Randle or Theo, demonstrating the kind of ball movement necessary to get good, open looks at the basket. On the defensive end, that's three rebounds and a steal for Patrick Christopher, three jump shots forced by the Bears -- nothing inside. Whether you're looking at play-by-play data or game film, it's hard to tell exactly how much of this is due to skill, how much due to effort, and how much due to luck, but basketball is a game of averages, and the Bears have enough skill that, when they choose to put forth the effort, they'll make their own luck.

The second half was less interesting, analytically, but it was nice to see that Cal's extra effort continued into the second half (mostly). Once again, the Bears got complacent with a big lead, letting the Bruins go on an 11-2 run to close a 12-point lead to within three, but this time Cal was able to stop the bleeding, turning the effort back on to build the lead back to seven, then twelve, then seventeen. UCLA never really threatened again, and Cal managed to finish comfortably, only the third time they've been able to do so in Pac-10 play.

One cause for concern is that, given that the Bears' major weakness (besides a lack of size inside, which doesn't hurt them in the Pac-10) is a lack of hustle, it would be nice if we could get more from the bench. Montgomery's rotation only went seven-deep on Saturday, with Max, Seeley, Knezevic and Brandon Smith all left cheerleading on the sidelines. While some of that was surely matchup-related (Max in particular), it sure would be nice if we could get some more bench minutes. On the flip side, however, it was very nice to see extended, effective minutes from Jorge (23) and Markhuri (25), given their respective injury issues. Getting those two back and healthy can only bring good things vs. Washington next Thursday.

So, now the Bears sit alone in first place at 7-4, but five teams (UCLA, USC, Arizona, Arizona State and Washington) are all nipping at their heels at 6-5. With the parity (mediocrity?) present in this league, I firmly believe that 12-6 will be good enough to win it. After all, they do have to still play each other, too, and the bottom four in this league are all good enough to pick off teams that don't bring their 'A' game.

Looking ahead, the schedule is pretty favorable, with four of seven (including all the toughest teams left) at home. Next week, they host the Washington schools, before heading to Oregon, hosting the Arizona schools the following week, and closing out the season at Stanford. Given their 1-game lead, 6-1 over that schedule would guarantee them a share of the conference title, and most likely be enough for an outright victory. 5-2 is probably enough for at least a share of the crown, and given the schedule, is a totally realistic outcome. The Bears should be favored in all seven games, however, and I do believe that if they display the sort of effort and desire we've seen mostly in just flashes this season, they can actually win all seven.

-----

I do want to briefly mention our women's basketball team too (because I finally managed to catch a game on TV), though given the ugliness on display at Haas on Saturday, probably the less said, the better. Still, here's a quick summary from NorcalNick:

Cal went on an 8-0 run to open the game.

Then UCLA came back with a 14-0 run of their own.

And then it was halftime.

Yes, 14-8 was your halftime score. And yes, 22 combined first-half points tied an NCAA record in the shot-clock era. And no, this wasn't some sort of throwback promotional game where they turned off the shot clock, because I saw the Bears commit at least one shot-clock violation, possibly more. The second half featured more scoring (the Bears broke 30!), but not more winning, as Cal fell 44-32.

It wasn't merely a case of bad shooting, as both teams played pretty well defensively, but UCLA's defense was tougher, and that was the real difference in this game. Offensively, the Bears looked completely lost, and outside of a couple of threes from Rachelle Federico, Cal just wasn't doing much of anything. Not only did they not have answers for the Bruins' defensive pressure, they looked like they didn't even know what questions to ask.

Still, this is a young team, and they kept battling out there, and while this was one of the tough ones you know you're going to have, I still see plenty of hope for the future. Though perhaps not the immediate future.

Cal-UCLA Postgame Thread: Bears Wreck Bruins in Pauley

2010-02-06T23:35:13Z

To discuss what appears to be the ugliest women's basketball game ever, click here for the Cal-UCLA women's open thread.

Well, 2-2 was where most of thought this team would be on this road visit. It wasn't exactly ideal basketball after the ASU victory, but I guess if you get the opportunity to win in Pauley by double digits, you'll take it and run with it. Robertson, Christopher and Randle all brought the best of their games for the final 30 minutes, and the defensive intensity and ball movement were superb. We've finally gutted those little Bruins.

Five questions to ponder about this road trip:

1) Was it a successful road trip?

2) Which team will give us the most trouble the rest of the way?

3) Who played the best on this road trip? Who needs some work?

4) What are the key adjustments Mike Montgomery has to make down the stretch?

5) How much fun was it to FINALLY beat UCLA?

Poll

2-2 on the road trip is....

Cal Women vs. UCLA Game Thread

2010-02-06T21:30:15Z

Cal Women (6-4, 12-9) vs. UCLA (7-3, 14-7)
Time: 2:00 PM PST
TV: CSN Bay Area
Radio: CalBears.com
Streams: No official streams

Scroll down to the thread below to discuss the Cal-UCLA men's hoops game. This thread is for the women's game.

It's odd that Cal's most important regular season game is coming just past the halfway point in the Pac-10 season, but that's the situation the Bears are in. If Cal beat UCLA, Stanford beats USC (very likely) and ASU beats WSU (very likely), there will be a four way tie for second with Cal, UCLA, USC, and ASU - all at 7-4. If Cal loses the Bears will fall all the way down to 5th. But beyond conference standings, UCLA is a potential NCAA team and if the Bears notch a win they can start thinking about (admittedly unlikely) scenarios that would lead to the NCAA tournament. So how will the Bears beat UCLA? Hit the jump and we'll break it down!

Cal looks for a better result against UCLA after losing in LA.

Cal's previous game against the Bruins may have been the low point of the season - they shot 28% from the field, 50% from the line and turned the ball over 23 times in a truly horrific offensive performance. Some of the credit for those numbers must go to a Bruins team that plays excellent defense, but nobody would argue that the Bears played up to their potential in Los Angeles. Even worse, freshman Markel Walker had a nose injury and was effectively taken out of the game - she should be back and ready to redeem herself today. UCLA's big gun is transfer Jasmine Dixon, but Darxia Morris and Doreena Campbell are also key contributors in UCLA's balanced offensive attack.

	eFG%	Opp. eFG%	ORB%	Opp ORB%	TOV%	Opp. TOV%	FT/FGA	Opp FT/FGA
California	44.1	43.6	44.3	35.1	18.1	21.0	21.9	21.2
UCLA	46.4	40.8	43.1	35.4	19.6	24.2	19.4	28.7

Season totals: Four Factor percentages. Bold = statistical advantage
Key: eFG - effective field goal. ORB = offensive rebounding.
TOV = turnover margin. FT/FGA = free throws per field goal attempts.

At first glance Cal seems to have the advantage in most statistical categories, but that's a tad misleading. Cal's rebounding advantages are very small and UCLA has a pretty sizeable advantage in field goal efficiency offense and defense, which is the single most important stat. UCLA plays the best defense in the Pac-10 outside of Palo Alto and they made Cal's life miserable on the offensive end earlier in the year. Cal needs to come out on a mission to prove they have improved immeasurably since their 57-46 loss in January. It shouldn't be difficult for the Bears to shoot better and improve their ball security compared to their last game against the Bruins. Hopefully that will be enough for the Bears to notch a crucial sweep and secure a 3-1 home stand. Comment away and GO BEARS!

Cal Men @ UCLA Game Thread

2010-02-06T20:00:23Z

Ben Margot - AP

View full size photo »

Time: 1:00 PM PST/4:00 PM EST
TV: CBS
Radio: KFRC 1550 AM
Streams: Post links in comments

The Cal men will take the floor at Pauley Pavilion with a chance to turn their season around. Despite painful losses to UCLA at Haas, to Arizona last Saturday, and to USC on Thursday, the Bears are in 1st place in the Pac-10. Wait, what? First? Yes, the Pac-10's continual mediocrity means that Arizona, Cal, UCLA and Arizona St. all sit at 6-4. If the Bears win today they will take the first steps toward atoning for both their ugly performance against UCLA earlier in the season and their recent two game losing streak. So, how do the Bears match up?

	Oeff	Deff	Tempo	eFG%	TO%	Off Reb%	FTA/FGA
Cal	117.6 (6)	93.6 (70)	71.2 (43)	52.1 (54)	18 (46)	34.7 (108)	35.4 (223)
UCLA	103.8 (131)	97.8 (119)	65.5 (266)	52.2 (52)	21.2 (190)	30.3 (260)	37.3 (179)

Source: Ken Pomeroy

Just like the last time Cal faced the Bruins, Cal has the advantage in most every category, with the notable exception in the ability to get to the line. Surely the Bears would have beaten an overmatched Bruins team in the friendly confines of Haas, right? So why did the Bears lose last time? Well, Cal shooting 2-18 from 3 while UCLA shot 9-20 might have had something to do with it. We Cal fans chalked up the game to bad luck and moved on, but perhaps, considering Cal's recent performance, losing to UCLA wasn't as flukey as well all thought. UCLA has taken advantage of good fortune and steadily improved while Cal appears to have regressed. Hit the jump for more UCLA analysis and the game thread.

Alpha Dog: Reeves Nelson - Yup, UCLA is being led by an unheralded freshman. Cal fans will remember Nelson because the Bears were completely unable to defend him without committing a foul at the end of UCLA's overtime triumph. Nelson doesn't really use any more possessions than Malcolm Lee or Nikola Dragovic, but he has the best offensive efficiency of the bunch and he's UCLA's best defensive rebounder and he gets to the line. Cal absoltely must do a better job on Nelson if they want to pay back UCLA.

Key to the game - don't let Roll, Keefe and Dragovic get open 3's. Please? I'm begging you Bears, I can't handle losing this game. Comment away and GO BEARS!

Cal Turns Around For UCLA Must-Win; Q&A With Bruins Nation

2010-02-06T11:00:22Z

More photos » Danny Moloshok - AP

Reeves Nelson and the UCLA Bruins are coming together just in time. Will they find themselves back on top of the Pac-10 when all is said and done?

Browse more photos »

For the third time in four games, the Bears will be fighting for at least a share of the lead in the Pac-10. A loss to the Bruins would put them in dire straits, as UCLA would own the head-to-head tiebreaker. Cal is running out of chances to prove themselves before the curtain comes down on what looked to be a promising season.

To say the least, Cal should and must win this game if they really want to be considered for an at-large bid. A sweep to the worst UCLA team in a decade would be nothing short of disastrous and pretty much put us in the same position as every other team in the conference--win the tournament to get in. Yuck.

We take a look at the revitalized Bruins with the help of ryebreadraz of Bruins Nation, who was kind enough to answer our questions about UCLA hoops.

1) Malcolm Lee seems to be struggling a lot. Is he really a good fit at the point guard spot?

Well, he's as good of a fit as this team has. Since moving from the shooting guard to the point guard spot, Lee has lost much of his aggressiveness going to the rim and coupled with his poor shooting (under 10% from three in Pac-10 play), his scoring has nosedived. Once UCLA's most dangerous penetrator and only player who can really create his own shot, Lee now focuses on initiating the offense and not turning the ball over. After the horrid point guard play the Bruins got early in the season, the limited turnovers is the best we can ask for from the point guard spot and Lee is providing it.

2) He probably is the player on the team all Bruins fans have different feelings about--what are your thoughts on Nikola Dragovic?

I fall somewhere in the middle of most people when it comes to Dragovic. Some loathe him and irrationally blame him for everything that goes wrong with the team. Others have become so repulsed by the attacks on Dragovic that they blindly defend most criticisms of him. What I think he really is is a below average player who can get hot, but it a major liability on the defensive end. In UCLA's Final Four years, that wasn't enough to get on the floor, but with this year's team, it's enough for 35 minutes a game. For reasons unknown, Dragovic is an awful shooter until Pac-10 play starts, then he turns it on and becomes a solid shooter with the ability to get unbelievably hot. His defense is laughable though to the point that he can't even be hidden in a zone. In the end, he plays because there are few good options behind him.

3) Are the Bruins starting to play better as a team? What are the adjustments you've seen from them as January turned to February?

Right now, the Bruins are playing as well as they've played all year. The biggest fault this team has is not enough good players (I hear good players are helpful) and their lack of athleticism and that made Howland's normal man-to-man defense an impossibility. The switch to the zone defense has helped mask the team's lack of athleticism and has done a lot to help the team out on the defensive end. Also, because the team has become confident in the basic zone defense, they have been able to mix in some adjustments to the basic zone that can better match-up to the team they are playing. The better defensive play has been the biggest change to the team recently, although I would be remiss if I didn't at least mention the return to health of Tyler Honeycutt and dozen of games or so that has let the talented freshman adjust to the college game.

4) UCLA is somehow tied for first place. Does that speak more to the resilience of the Bruins, or the ineptitude of the Pac-10?

The Pac-10 is an embarrassment. That cannot be overstated. It is truly awful, atrocious, abominable and whatever other synonyms you can think of. This year's UCLA team would struggle to lead the Pac-1 in any other year yet are tied for the lead in the Pac-10 this year. The conference is a joke.

5) You had a great deal of fortune beating us last time. See a second round of good luck charms coming your way, or will the Bears finally get the best of the Bruins?

A great deal of fortune? Jerime Anderson has spent hours perfecting the bank pass off of an opposing player. It's in the playbook. Honestly, the Bears should beat the Bruins. Cal isn't going to shoot 2-18 from three again and there's a decent chance that UCLA tops 15 turnovers again. That said, nothing is for certain in the Pac-10 this year and because of that, a UCLA win wouldn't shock me. I just wouldn't put money on it.

Golden Nuggets: "Well, it's like a broken record" -Montgomery

2010-02-06T01:00:21Z

With a great chance to go 8-2, Cal now sits at 6-4.

Runs happen in basketball, but 25-0?

That's not a matter of a few miscues and missed shots. Rather, it speaks volumes about both the team's focus and desire.

Point guard Jerome Randle said it best.

"I'm just disappointed in our team effort," Randle said. "I think we really need to dig down deep and do some self-evaluation checks and see if we really want this. By the way we're playing right now, it doesn't look like we want it. (We) just need to come together and figure something out before it slips away."

There are eight games left in conference play, but if Cal doesn't develop some mental resolve soon, Randle's words may prove to be prophetic.

Two games in a row the Bears have been unable to close out a team in the final minutes of the game. Instead of sitting at 8-2 with a comfortable two-game lead, Cal finds itself in a four-way tie for first place in the conference.

"Now it's going be very difficult," Montgomery said.

The problem is it didn't have to be this difficult. The Bears have a starting line-up comprised of four seniors -- all of which can fill up the stat sheet.

Yet on Thursday night, Randle was the only senior putting up a fight.

The point guard scored 17 of his 29 points in the second half and nearly single-handedly willed his team to a victory. The other three seniors scored 10 points combined in the final 28 minutes.

"Jerome just decided he didn't want to lose," Montgomery said. "He just started making plays. We need more guys to think like that."

After the jump you can relive the 25-0 fiasco or feel better by reading about how the Cal women won a hard-fought game against USC. There is also more on the recruiting class in case that will improve your spirits.

Cal Football

Scout has an in-depth look at Cal's recruiting class as well as a look ahead to spring, the 2010 season, and the NFL for select players.
Best comes in at no. 16 in Ted Miller's top-30 Pac-10 players for the 2009 season.

Cal Basketball

Faraudo's live thread traces the flow of the game. Cal was doomed when it went 10 minutes without scoring while allowing USC to score 25 unanswered points. Randle brought the Bears back into the game, but like last week against Arizona, Cal couldn't take care of business in the final minute (like missing a game-tying free throw with 3 seconds left).
CCtimes recaps the game. SFGate also recaps the game, which allowed four-way tie for first to emerge.
During the post-game press conference Monty sounded very frustrated with his inconsistent, unpredictable team.
Despite the loss, Cal only dropped two spots in the RPI rankings.
Women's basketball held on for a 61-55 win over USC. At the post-game press conference Boyle praised her team's balance on offense and ability to close out the game in the final few minutes.

All the Bears' Flaws on Display in Loss to USC

2010-02-05T12:00:48Z

More photos » Christine Cotter - AP

How bad was it for the Bears? 7' 3" Max Zhang was getting his own shot attempts blocked!

Browse more photos »

Editor's note: this is draft #2 of this Cal men's basketball recap. Draft #1 was a mostly-uninterrupted string of curse words, some of them quite creative. It was deemed 'practically unpublishable', and this second, more sober draft was thrown together. Am I going soft with a baby daughter on the way? Perhaps, perhaps.

From the sound of it, Cal's 66-63 loss at USC Thursday night was all kinds of ugly. I say 'sound', of course, because this game was not televised anywhere. Now, I really enjoy listening to Roxy Bernstein calling a Cal Basketball game, but there's very little he could do to make long stretches of this game palatable. Lots of things went wrong for the Bears tonight, but, gun to my head, if I was forced to pinpoint what cost the Bears tonight, I'd look at the 10+ minutes between when Jerome Randle hit a 3-pointer with 6:48 left in the first half, and when Jerome hit another three with 16:02 left in the second half. In between, the Bears:

- missed all 11 shots they took, 2 of them blocked
- turned the ball over 7 times
- committed 6 fouls
- gave up 25 points and 4 offensive rebounds
- Jerome Randle(!) missed two straight free throws, their only attempts over that stretch

Most times, if your team gives up a 25-0 run, your team isn't going to have a prayer. The mere fact that the Bears had a chance to win at the end (even holding a couple brief one-point leads) is a testament to the Bears' perseverance, or, at the very least, Jerome Randle's unwillingness to lay down. Randle hit some big threes to get the Bears back into the game, finishing with a game-high 29 points (Dwight Lewis was the second-leading scorer in the game, with 13).

So, there's that to celebrate, at least. Let's take a look at a couple other key stats:

Now, to shamelessly ape an old Simpsons' bit:

- Jorge Gutierrez had 8 rebounds on the game. Only USC's Nikola Vucevic had more in the game. That's good!

- Jamal Boykin, Markhuri Sanders-Frison, and Max Zhang combined for a total of two rebounds. That's bad.

- Jerome Randle hit 6-12 from beyond the arc, single-handedly keeping the Bears in the game at times, and is now Cal's all-time leading three-point shooter. That's good!

- The rest of the team was 13-35 from the floor, a very poor 37% shooting. Patrick Christopher was just 4-13, and Jorge Gutierrez was 2-8. That's bad.

- The Bears defense played a large part in 18 Trojan turnovers. That's good!

- The Bears missed something like 9 or 10 layups, many of them uncontested. That's bad.

- The Bears were outrebounded 37-27, a minus-10 margin on the boards. That's also bad.

- Theo Robertson gets fouled with the Bears down two and about 10 seconds left, but the usually steady senior misses the first shot (he hit only 3 of 6 on the night), and the Bears never get another chance to tie. Yep, also bad.

- Arizona lost at Washington, so the 6-4 Bears remain in a first-place tie, now with UCLA and Arizona State as well. That's good, I guess. First team to 12 wins gets the conference crown! That's good for competitive balance, bad for getting teams into the NCAA tournament.

You could level a lot of criticism at the Bears tonight. You could say that they were soft inside, that they didn't hustle after rebounds, that they got complacent with a 13-point first half lead and let USC back in the game, that they pressed and got even sloppier as USC took the lead in the second half, that their lineup isn't deep enough to win a conference championship and that Monty is forced to run his seniors into the ground, that they forced too many shots too early in the shot clock and that when things start going wrong for them offensively, they let it hurt them on the defensive end as well.

Yeah, you could say all those things.

...

Oh, is this the part where I say 'but,...' and say something good about the team? Nah, I don't wanna; nobody else has. Monty rambled on in the postgame show, not only listing various problems the Bears had tactically, but also questioning his player's heart, their drive to go get that loose ball, that extra possession. Roxy was clearly frustrated, saying he felt like kicking the dog after this clunker. KFRC's nighttime music programmer seemed blissfully unaware, so it stung even more that the first song they played after the Bears' postgame show was Bachman–Turner Overdrive's "Takin' Care of Business". Screw you, KFRC. That's not funny! Not funny at all!

However, through it all, the Bears are still in first place. Their last two losses have both been heartbreakers on the road, and playing 'what if' is only going to make me mad right now. But if the Bears can regroup at Pauley Pavilion on Saturday and come home with a win and first place intact, well, tonight's game will simply be remembered as a miserable Thursday night, and not the start of something worse.

Tedford's Early Recruiting Classes- An Objective Re-Evaluation

2010-02-05T11:31:50Z

(Bumped up. Well worth a read)

INTRODUCTION: This past signing day, according to Rivals recruiting, Cal signed two five star and seven four star prospects. But what does that mean? Someone rated 5.8-6.0 is four stars, evaluated as an “All-American Candidate.” Here is the Rivals scale:

*6.1 Franchise Player; considered one of the elite prospects in the country, generally among the nation's top 25 players overall; deemed to have excellent pro potential; high-major prospect

* 6.0-5.8 All-American Candidate; high-major prospect; considered one of the nation's top 300 prospects; deemed to have pro potential and ability to make an impact on college team

* 5.7-5.5 All-Region Selection; considered among the region's top prospects and among the top 750 or so prospects in the country; high-to-mid-major prospect; deemed to have pro potential and ability to make an impact on college team

* 5.4-5.0 Division I prospect; considered a mid-major prospect; deemed to have limited pro potential but definite Division I prospect; may be more of a role player

*4.9 Sleeper; no Rivals.com expert knew much, if anything, about this player; a prospect that only a college coach really knew about

The rating is part projection of talent, part inflation to appeal to fan observers. While I’ll be pleasantly surprised if the nine Cal recruits rated four stars or better turn out to be All-Americans during their careers in Blue & Gold, I think reality will fall just short. On the other hand, I highly doubt all 20 four star University of Florida recruits will become All-Americans! How do we reconcile the hypothetical with reality? (Be warned: the very premise of this exercise will result in fewer four stars for our beloved Bears.)

OBJECTIVE:

The following research will be taking an objective, retrospective (pending, in the case of current players) look at a player’s contributions at the college level. Each player, as judged by their collegiate accomplishments, will then be awarded a star level and “Rivals Rating” score based on the scoring system employed by Rivals.com.

METHODOLOGY:

One nuance of college recruiting “stars” should be noted. Four- and five-stars are limited commodities. In any given class, only the top 25 are awarded a fifth star, while only the top 250 prospects are awarded four stars; in other words, it’s enough to have five-star ability if you are evaluated as the 26th best player in the nation. Because I am generous (well, mostly due to a misread before my research), for the purpose of this exercise, I have accepted the top 50 recruits in the Rivals 250 as five-stars.

Rivals released their top 250 list in 2007 for the first time, rating the best prospects from 1 to 250. I took the past three Rivals250 lists and averaged the number of four- and five- stars awarded by position, per year. To better understand the relativity inherent in the rankings—keeping in mind that stars are based as much on an individual’s talent vis-à-vis another prospect as that of the individual, independent—I divided the total number of prospects by seven for each of the six BCS conference plus an additional catch-all for Independents and other non-BCS conferences. The result is shown below:

via img213.imageshack.us

In reading the chart, let’s look at the defensive backs category. Over the three-year period, there were 106 DB’s rated at four stars or better with an average of 35 per year. During the same period, 62 players evaluated as "athletes" were rated with an average of 21 per year. For this project, "athletes" were re-classified with allocation as follows: 33% defensive backs, 33% wide receivers, 24% running backs, and 10% linebackers. Therefore, the yearly defensive backs average gains seven for a total of 42. Dividing that total by seven makes six which draws the following conclusion: the six best defensive backs in a conference in any given year is a four-star player (thinking about it in another way, would you expect the 7th or 8th best defensive back in a conference selected as an All-American that year?). The same process is done for five star recruits, reaching the conclusion that the best player in the conference at each position is five stars.

The challenge, then, is to find player ratings by year, by conference. For this, I consulted all-conference teams. I have a high degree of confidence in the evaluations, as the honor is conferred by coaches who weekly scout and gameplan against the opposition—I trust coaches’ evaluations infinitely more than media, scouting "experts," or myself, to be honest. In a typical year, the coaches will select one quarterback, two running backs, three wide receivers, one tight end, five offensive linemen, four defensive linemen, three linebackers, and four defensive backs each for first and second teams. Thankfully, this neatly corresponds to the "by conference" breakdown for four stars so that first (sometimes second) team selections are awarded four stars. The two exceptions are defensive linemen and receivers, where first and second teams are considered. Within four stars, the Rivals Rating is to be laddered as followed:

FOUR STARS

6.0- One first-team selection, plus at least one other first- or second-team selection

5.9- One first-team selection, plus an honorable selection from another season

5.8 One first-team selection, or two second-team selections

For five stars, there needs to be clear indication that the player was considered the best at his position relative to other conference performers. The following are ways to achieve five stars, awarded automatically

FIVE STARS

For linemen—both offensive and defensive—winner of the Morris Trophy
Conference offensive or defensive player of the year
Consensus first-team selection
Recipient of national honor for position play (for example, Doak Walker, Thorpe, Randy Moss, etc.)

Players who received second team (excluding receivers and D-line) or honorable mention but no first team were awarded three stars with a Rivals Rating of 5.7. Any special teams member who earned any All-Conference honor was given a 5.7 rating.

The rest of the class was awarded three or two stars, and along with their Rivals Rating, this was accomplished exclusively from player participation based on the number of games played per season:

TWO-THREE STARS

5.6 and Three Stars- Played in at least 75% of eligible games

5.5 and Three Stars- Played in 50-75% of eligible games

5.4 and Two Stars- Played in average of four games a season

5.3 and Two Stars- Played in average of three games a season

5.2 and Two Stars- Played in average of two games a season

5.1 and Two Stars- Played in average of one game a season

5.0 and Two Stars- Zero participation, transfer, non-qualifier

Without further ado, here are the re-rankings of Coach Jeff Tedford’s 2003-2007 recruiting classes. Please keep in mind that the last two classes—2006 and 2007—are still in progress and subject to change based on performance in the next few seasons.

via img689.imageshack.us

via img43.imageshack.usvia img687.imageshack.us

via img688.imageshack.us

Cal-USC Postgame Thread: Bears Give Up 25 Unanswered Points

2010-02-05T05:43:36Z

via www.magic-city-news.com

Post pictures of cute animals in the comments!

Only question tonight. What's the cutest animal and why?

a) bunny rabbit

b) puppy dog

c) kitty cat

d) baby bear

e) other