As has been established, the Pac-10 is awful this year. It may arguably be the worst season ever put forth by a BCS conference. As of today, the leader of the pack, er Pac-10 is Mike Montgomery's Cal Golden Bears.
The Bears have not won the Pac-10 regular season title in 50 years. That's not good. This season, they rank 22 in RPI and 9th in SOS, so even if they didn't get the auto-bid, they have a strong at-large case. Except they haven't beaten anyone. Their best non-con win is over Murray State in November at home. To their credit, they did schedule Syracuse, Kansas, New Mexico & Ohio State. And they lost to them all.
Cal's strength is their offense (4th in AdjO). They rank 29th in scoring, 28th in shooting % and hit a respectable 37% of their 3 attempts. They also make their throws, 74%. Cal also protects the ball pretty well.
On the defensive side of the ball, they are not good. Not only do they give up points (171st), they give up a high % (176th). They don't block shots (276th) nor do they create many steals (278th). They are okay on the boards (58th).
The player to know is Jerome Randle, the diminuative Senior point guard who does it all for the Bears. The bulk of their production comes from Seniors, like almost all of it. So if you buy into the upper classmen cliches, you might like this team and you would be wrong. They might win a game, but they're not a team built to make any kind of long run save some March magic.
But, they can still hold their heads high if they win the conference even if it is watered down. If Montgomery wants to build this into a power program, he needs a starting point and this could be it.
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