Cal’s Success No Surprise To Eastman WSU Coach Impressed With Changes Braun Has Made To Bears’ Program
The afternoon will most likely belong to Isaac Fontaine, who needs just nine points to become the most prolific scorer in Washington State men’s basketball history.
The season could end up belonging to 25th-ranked California.
The Golden Bears take a 19-6 record into Friel Court for today’s 3 p.m. tipoff against Fontaine and the Cougars (11-14).
While UCLA, Stanford and Arizona were being anointed preseason favorites in the Pacific-10 Conference, Cal was being written off as a team that couldn’t contend without departed stars Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Jelani Gardner.
Four months later, Cal is second in the conference with a 10-4 record, one game behind the Bruins. With non-conference wins over Iowa, Massachusetts and Illinois, in addition to Pac-10 wins over UCLA and Stanford, the Bears will almost certainly be invited to next month’s NCAA Tournament.
Should anyone be surprised? Not at all, says WSU coach Kevin Eastman.
“They’re like a couple teams in the league - I think they’ve got a lot of the parts,” Eastman said Friday. “I just thought they were going to be good.”
Eastman sees several differences in this Cal team, coached by Ben Braun, and the team that went 17-11 last season under Todd Bozeman.
“They’re doing some different things with (point guard Prentice) McGruder that are helping them, doing a better job of reacting to the double teams that are taking place,” Eastman said.
“They’re probably pressing a little more effectively than they did in the past. It was more wild pressing in the past and I think there’s a real kind of rhythm to it and reason for it now.”
Ed Gray is also more productive, and not just because the senior guard is leading the conference in scoring with 23.8 points per game.
Consider Thursday night’s win at Washington, in which Gray dished out seven assists.
“I think he might have had seven for the year last year,” Braun quipped during Friday’s shootaround. “Ed’s done a much better job this year for us.
“I think one of the things he has done is improve his passing ability. And he’s really concentrated harder on defense.”
Unlike Stanford, which methodically defeated WSU 76-63 on Thursday, Cal scores in spurts, forcing turnovers with half-court traps and full-court presses.
“I think Cal can go at you in big-time spurts that they create,” Eastman said. “I think Stanford is a reaction to, are you making your shots or not?”
Game notes
Backup Cal forward Sean Marks has a thigh bruise and is not expected to play tonight. The 6-foot-10, 250-pound junior is averaging 8.2 points and 5.4 rebounds… . Stanford scored the first nine points Thursday, prompting Eastman to start freshmen Blake Pengelly and Beau Archibald in the second half. Eastman said he’ll give Kareem Jackson and Rodrigo de la Fuente one more chance. “Then if it’s another slow deal, we’ll probably have to make some adjustments in the last four games,” he said… . As per Pac-10 rules, tonight’s game won’t be stopped if and when Fontaine breaks the record. “That’s good, though,” Fontaine said, “because I don’t want them to stop the game. That’s just another distraction for the team. So just say I broke it and keep going.” Fontaine has 1,886 career points, behind only Steve Puidokas on WSU’s list… . Of Cal’s 10 conference wins, none was closer than a 77-75 double-overtime win over WSU on Jan. 23.
, DataTimes