Some Notes On The Cal Bears

Ben Ball warriors do not get to relax following their big win at Maples last night. After taking care of the Lopez family last night, Love et al. now have to get ready for another monster front court in the Bay Area. Love, LRMAM, AA2, and Mata-Real (who may still be recovering from his groin injury) go up against the lethal combination of Ryan Anderson (21.6 ppg /9.3 rpg) and Devon Hardin (10.3/9.9) tomorrow afternoon. Those are not the only two guys. The Bears are not lacking in terms of talent. From the Band Is Out On The Field:

Those guys are looking good with a 10-2 record and a win against the over-hyped gap closers from across town last night. Anderson and Hardin had their typical big nights, however, it was the "young but dangerous players" - Randle and Christopher - along with some clutching shooting from some guy named Vierneisel, who were key to the victory. From the AP recap: Yeah, Vierneisel should sound familiar. The senior wing played a key role in the Bears' win last March against the Bruins in that ugly game at Staples Center. Here is the Bear's full rotation per Sportsline.com: And more notes from their last night's game: Also some quick impressions from the guys at the Band Is Out On The Field.

Tomorrow's matchup is going to be a huge test for our defense. Cal right now has the second highest scoring offense in the conference averaging 82.4 points a game. UCLA's has the second best scoring defense averaging 54.7 points a game [See Pac-10 official statistics]

While a lot of folks are going to be focusing on the matchup between the two frontlines, I think it will be pivotal for our backcourt to apply severe ball pressure on the Cal guards, and play the same kind of team defense we played during second half of last night's game. To date, Westbrook has been sensational on defense. If we can get the same kind of effort in terms of applying on ball pressure from DC and Shipp, it would go a long way towards disrupting the Cal offense tomorrow afternoon. On the offensive side, I will be surprised if we don't see a little zone from Cal. It was weird to see Stanford not zoning up against us last night, electing to go man to man most of the game. If we see the zone, hopefully DC, Shipp and even LRMAM will attack it with Westbrook's gusto by driving inside and creating opportunities or kicking it out to an open guy on the outside. And it will be key for Shipp and others to make sure they are shooting those 3s within the flow of the offense instead of forcing the issue.

Going back to the front court, I think it is worth mentioning again the defensive effort of Love against the Lopez brothers from last night. If Love can play at the same level against Hardin, it will be huge for us. And it will be up to AA2, Mata-Real, LRMAM and even Keefe (who may get more mins tomorrow night) to make sure we can hold our own, if not get an edge, on the boards.

It goes without saying that the Bruins need to come out with energy and focus in a hostile environment in which they have to play a mistake free game. They were great last night as they, if have my notes right, turned the ball over only 9 times the entire game. And I think they had only 2 of them in the second half. Again, if they can play with that kind of composure tomorrow afternoon they will be in decent shape.

We'll have more on the game in the morning roundup. Hopefully, our boys can follow up Thursday's total team effort with another stellar one on Saturday.

GO BRUINS.