Pac-10 Basketball Preview: California, Stanford
"New" coaches have Cardinal, Golden Bears headed in right direction
Dec 7, 2008
Two "new" coaches in Northern California are preparing California and Stanford to be very competitive in the Pac-10 this season.
Mike Montgomery, the conference's Coach of the Year four times during 18 seasons at Stanford, is the new man in charge at Cal. He had an incredible run at Stanford, where his teams went 393-167 and went to the NCAA Tournament each of his final 10 seasons, including a Final Four berth in 1998.
Johnny Dawkins takes over at Stanford, which took second in the conference a year ago. Dawkins, who was a two-time All-American at Duke, played for nine seasons in the NBA. He spent the past three seasons as an administrator with the USA National Team.
The following look at the Pac-10's Northern California teams is the second in a five-part series on the conference.
Montgomery isn't the only new face in Berkeley
It took Montgomery three seasons before he took Stanford to the NCAA Tournament for the first time. He might do it sooner at Cal, where he has a talented but young team that doesn't include one senior on its roster.
Only two starters return from Cal's team of a year ago, but since the Golden Bears were barely above .500 (17-16) that might not be a bad thing. The returners -- the junior backcourt of Jerome Randle and Patrick Christopher -- are certainly talented, though, and have led Cal to a 6-1 start.
Point guard Jerome Randle, third on the team in scoring a year ago at 11.8 points per game, has developed into Cal's offensive leader. He leads the team in scoring (21.0) and assists (4.7) and while he only stands 5-foot-10, he isn't afraid to mix it up inside, either. His 3.6 rebounds per game rank fourth on the team. He has also been deadly from long range, nailing 21 of 34 attempts from 3-point range (nearly 62 percent) after making less than 40 percent a year ago.
Off guard Patrick Christopher, who stands 6-5, is second on the team in scoring (14.6) while pulling down 3.7 rebounds a contest.
Theo Robertson, a 6-6 junior redshirt, has contributed in a multitude of areas with averages of 11.7 points, 3.0 rebounds and 3.3 assists. He also gives the Bears a second long-range threat, as he has made 13 of 25 3-point tries.
Jamal Boykin, a 6-8 junior forward who was a key player off the bench a year ago, chips in with 10.1 points and a team-high 5.7 rebounds per game. Seven-foot junior center Jordan Wilkes rounds out the top five. He hasn't provided much offensively but does pull down 5.6 rebounds per game.
The top newcomer has been 6-3 freshman guard Jorge Gutierrez, who has averaged 4.6 points and 3.6 rebounds per contest off the bench.
The cupboard certainly isn't bare at Stanford
Dawkins inherited a very strong Cardinal squad, with three starters returning from a team that went 28-8 and lost in the Sweet 16. The big question -- literally -- is if the team can replace the Lopez twins, who combined for 29.5 points and 13.9 rebounds per game a year ago.
Stanford has bolted to a 4-0 start this season behind seniors Anthony Goods and Lawrence Hill, who have both made great strides while shouldering a major part of the scoring load.
Goods, a 6-3 guard, leads the team at 19.8 points per game and has been deadly (13 of 28) from 3-point range. He is scoring nearly twice as much as he did a year ago, when he was a secondary option and averaged just 10 points.
Hill, a 6-8 forward, is second at 17.5 points per game and has muscled his way to a team-high 6.8 rebounds a game. He has more than doubled his scoring average (8.6 a year ago).
With the twins gone, rebounding has become a team effort. Hill has led the way but Josh Owens and Landry Fields are averaging 6.0 and 5.0 rebounds, respectively.
Owens, a 6-8 sophomore forward, is also third on the team in scoring at 14.3 points per game while Fields, a 6-7 junior guard, is scoring at a 10.5 clip.
Johnson, the third returning starter, is back to run the offense at the point. The 6-1 senior is averaging 6.3 points and 6.0 assists per game.
Click on the following link for part one of the series:
http://college-basketball.suite101.com/article.cfm/pac10_basketball_preview
