California Golden Bears
Pac-12 (23-10, 12-6)
California has had an up and down year and Coach Cuonzo Martin has tried everything to get some consistency from his relatively young squad. The fact that for a while he pulled Jordan Mathews and Tyrone Wallace from the starting lineup is a sign that this team was trying to find a way to win games on the road. It really did not work as the road record remained dismal. But starting or not, Mathews and Wallace are the upperclassmen leaders of this team and will finish games. Mathews is a superb outside shooter, knocking down 41.4 percent of his attempts on the year and averaging 13.2 points per game. Wallace can do it all. He is not a shooter like Mathews, but he always finds a way to score. But on top of his 15.3 points per game, Wallace averages 5.4 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.0 steals.
Big Wins: 1/3 Utah (71-58), 1/23 Arizona (74-73), 2/11 Oregon (83-71)
Bad Losses: 11/26 vs San Diego State (58-72), 11/27 vs Richmond (90-94), 1/14 at Stanford (71-77)
Coach: Cuonzo Martin
Why They Can Surprise:
The Golden Bears can stay in most games because of their defense and rebounding. Coach Martin will have 6-7 Jaylen Brown on the floor along with 6-11 Ivan Rabb and seven-footer Kameron Rooks or 7-1 Kingsley Okoroh. That is a lot of size and why the opposition has a tough time getting easy buckets and why the opposition has an even tougher time getting offensive rebounds. Brown is an athletic wing, but he is big and does his job on the glass. He also is one of leaders on the team with 15.0 points per game. Rabb, another freshman who is having an amazing year, is the team’s top shot blocking threat and easily the most effective rebounder on the squad. He is a double-digit scorer too. Rooks and Okoroh will block some shots too, but neither is much of a threat offensively. But that is fine since Cal just needs them to help patrol the paint and make it tough for anybody else to get close to the basket.
Why They Can Disappoint:
Cal plays tough, straight up defense and they are not going to create many turnovers. But even with a negative turnover margin, they can get extra possessions because of their rebounding. But the offense has to take advantage of those extra possessions. The team as a whole shoots pretty well from the floor, but the three-point shooting drops off pretty quickly and significantly after Mathews. Jabari Bird has had his moments, but has been inconsistent. But generating points can be tough for this group at times. With such a big team, attacking the basket and settling for free-throws seems like a good way to grind out some points, but this is not a good free-throw shooting team either. When the younger players are playing like upperclassmen, this team can beat anybody. Whether or not they can beat anybody good away from Berkeley is a big question though.
Probable Starters:
Tyrone Wallace, Senior, Guard, 15.3 ppg, 4.4 apg, 5.4 rpg
Jabari Bird, Junior, Guard, 10.4 ppg, 3.3 rpg
Jaylen Brown, Freshman, Forward, 15.0 ppg, 2.0 apg, 5.5 rpg
Ivan Rabb, Freshman, Forward, 12.5 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 1.2 bpg
Kingsley Okoroh, Sophomore, Center, 1.4 ppg, 1.9 rpg, 1.1 bpg
Key Roleplayers:
Stephen Domingo, Senior, Guard, 1.7 ppg
Jordan Mathews, Junior, Guard, 13.2 ppg, 1.2 apg, 3.4 rpg
Kameron Rooks, Sophomore, Center, 3.5 ppg, 4.9 rpg
Sam Singer, Junior, Guard, 3.5 ppg, 2.7 apg
By the Numbers:
Scoring Offense: 75.0 (134th in nation, 8th in conference)
Scoring Defense: 66.5 (51, 1)
Field-Goal Percentage: 46.3 (64, 4)
Field-Goal Defense: 39.1 (14, 1)
Three-Point Field Goals Per Game: 7.0 (170, 6)
Three-Point Field-Goal Percentage: 36.9 (69, 4)
Free-Throw Percentage: 65.7 (312, 12)
Rebound Margin: 7.2 (25, 3)
Assists Per Game: 13.1 (198, 10)
Turnovers Per Game: 12.4 (145, 8)
Recent Postseason Appearances:
2014 NIT First Round win over Utah Valley
2014 NIT Second Round win over Arkansas
2014 NIT Regional Final loss to SMU
2013 NCAA Second Round win over UNLV
2013 NCAA Third Round loss to Syracuse
2012 NCAA First Round loss to South Florida
2011 NIT First Round win over Mississippi
2011 NIT Second Round loss to Colorado
2010 NCAA Round of 64 win over Louisville
2010 NCAA Round of 32 loss to Duke
2009 NCAA Round of 64 loss to Maryland
2008 NIT First Round win over New Mexico
2008 NIT Second Round loss to Ohio State
2006 NCAA Round of 64 loss to North Carolina State
2006 NCAA Round of 64 loss to North Carolina State
*all team stats through 3/6
