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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:

They have a likely conference player of the year in Ryan Anderson, a potential lottery pick in DeVon Hardin, two young but dangerous players (Jerome Randle and Patrick Christopher). They have a transfer from Duke, Jamal Boykin, who should give solid minutes, defense and rebounding. They could still get Theo Robertson back from hip surgery - and with him veteran leadership and a top defender. Yet, despite all that, the Bears, too, are inconsistent.
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:
After struggling with his shooting throughout the non-conference season, Eric Vierneisel found the perfect time to regain his touch.

Vierneisel made consecutive 3-pointers to break open a one-point game midway through the second half and California spoiled O.J. Mayo's high-scoring Pac-10 debut by beating No. 22 Southern California 92-82 on Thursday night.

"It's been kind of a struggle the first part of the season," Vierneisel said. "Tonight it was going in so I can't really complain. I have confidence in my shot, my teammates have confidence in me, my coaches have confidence in me. That's what I'm out there to do."

Vierneisel was 6-for-35 on 3-pointers this season before hitting the two from long range that put Cal (10-2, 1-0) up 72-65 with 5:44 to go. That started a 15-3 run that carried the Golden Bears to their fourth win in 12 conference openers under coach Ben Braun.

Patrick Christopher led the way for Cal with 24 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Jerome Randle added 16 points and nine assists and Vierneisel had a career-high 15.
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:
PLAYER ROTATION
Usual Starters -- F Ryan Anderson, F Patrick Christpopher, C DeVon Hardin, G Jerome Randle, G Nikola Knezevic. Key Subs -- F Eric Vierneisel, F Harper Kamp, Jamal Boykin
And more notes from their last night's game:
--Cal coach Ben Braun said before the USC game he wanted Hardin to quit worrying about fouls and play aggressively. After logging double-doubles in his first five games, Hardin played more passively in recent weeks. He had 15 points and 10 rebounds against the Trojans, playing 31 minutes.

--Sophomore Patrick Christopher, whom USC coach Tim Floyd admitted the Trojans didn't even guard a year ago, had a superb game. He totaled 24 points, seven rebounds and a career-best seven of Cal's 23 assists.

--Sophomore PG Jerome Randle had his third straight high-level game, contributing 16 points and a career-high nine assists against USC. Over the past three games, Randle has totaled 62 points and 16 assists.
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.

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UCLA by 8
I think we take them seriously and win.
Prediction: UCLA wins conference 14-4.

by Howland on Jan 4, 2008 4:08 PM PST reply actions   0 recs

I'll say
UCLA takes a 11 point halftime lead, Cal cuts it to 5 in the 2nd, but we pull away and win it by 14.

by Ryan Rosenblatt on Jan 4, 2008 4:19 PM PST reply actions   0 recs

AA2's message to Roll
"We got your back until you return, but I'd rather have the raw meat down low!"

by Telemachus on Jan 4, 2008 4:22 PM PST reply actions   0 recs

Love's Ability
Anyone notice K-Love's ability to consistently get other teams' big men in foul trouble and often getting them to foul out of games (Lopez twins last night and at Michigan State)while consistently remaining out of foul trouble himself?  He just seems to have a nack for getting defenders out of position and more easily prone to fouls.  While his passing, rebounding and defense are more obvious, I think this stat is equally telling.

by Bald Eagle on Jan 4, 2008 4:58 PM PST reply actions   0 recs

I noticed it as well
I've watched him pretty closely in every game since he got here. I think his ability to foul out other big men is a function of two things:
  1. His ability to get great position prior to the entry pass
  2. Excellent pump-faking ability
He usually combines the two together, and they are generally death for an opposing big man. If he gets them extremely deep, many times the defender feels like he has to go up to try to get the block rather than give up the easy two. When that happens, and K-Love gets the big man to leave his feet, he will wait until he is out of position and then go up, draw the foul, and be strong enough to usually finish on top of that.

It's what I love watching about Love (no pun intended) -- his basketball intelligence.

by MbahABako on Jan 5, 2008 10:06 AM PST up reply actions   0 recs

idiots
Prediction: UCLA wins conference 14-4.

by Howland on Jan 4, 2008 11:38 PM PST up reply actions   0 recs

Going to play under Roy Williams
in the Dean Dome is far from a stupid decision. I'd have liked to see them at UCLA and I think they'd have done well here, but I wish the kids all the luck in the world (as long as they don't play us). UNC's a great place and if you're not going to play for Howland, playing for WIlliams is a good bet. He's been churning out NBA players of late.

by Ryan Rosenblatt on Jan 5, 2008 1:05 AM PST up reply actions   0 recs

Agreed
Did my MBA at UNC, and it really is a special place. I would have preferred to have them at UCLA, and I am surprised they opted to go across the country, but I am glad they chose my #2.

by DallasBruin on Jan 5, 2008 7:12 AM PST up reply actions   0 recs

Play?
how many front court players can you play at a time?

that's like a running back committing to SUC>

"when you've seen how big the world is, how can you make due with this?"

by silverlakebruin on Jan 5, 2008 9:30 AM PST up reply actions   0 recs

Its a good question
I often wonder the same thing.... Why does Crist go to ND, when they recruited Clausen last year.... same thing. Crist said that he didn't even look at the depth chart when he made his decision.... makes no sense to me, but I'm not a 5* recruit....

by DallasBruin on Jan 5, 2008 10:24 AM PST up reply actions   0 recs

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