The Bears held on for a win last night, against a much shorter, scrappier team. Basically, the Bears won this game at the free throw line, where they got 32 free throws and made 29. SF State made only 15 free throws.
SF State did not have a player over 6'-6", and yet they were able to block taller Cal players off the boards for 17 offensive rebounds, which is unconscionable. Against USF, SF State got only 7 offensive rebounds.
Cal's defense was practically non-existent. SF State's first exhibition game was against USF, and USF killed them, with former Cal verbal commit, De'End Parker, garnering 20 points. USF beat them with defense, getting 9 steals and 4 blocks and 19 turnovers. By contrast, Cal got 2 steals and 3 blocks picked up only 5 turnovers against the Gators. When Brandon Smith left the floor with what was probably a dislocated shoulder, SF State got back in the game, and had a chance to catch Cal in the last few minutes. Apparently, according to Montgomery's quotes, he implied we had trouble defensively with Santa Clara in the closed scrimmage as well. Stanford plays USF on Friday at Oracle, and by comparative scores, we may get an idea how Cal might compare with Stanford at this point in the season.
One bright spot was that we saw more team play on offense from the Bears than we usually do at the beginning of the season. Crabbe getting 5 assists is big for him. The starting five has been playing together at least 2 years, and it shows. Still somewhat out of control, making 12 turnovers, but looking pretty good over all, offensively, this early.
And Brandon Smith looked great. 14 points, 6 for 9 from the floor, all jump shots, and ran the team well, never got out of control. They ran plays for Smith, and he got open, and the rhythm of the team and Brandon looked good doing this. If this is the Brandon Smith we are going to see this year, then it will be a big downer if his shoulder injury is serious. It does not look like Wallace is ready for prime time yet. I have yet to see anything that would indicate he can shoot from outside, and although he did get 3 rebounds last night, he looked like a deer in the headlights young freshman in his first game. He will improve, and he will have to, with Smith and Kreklow out, for the moment.
Another bright spot was the shooting of Solomon. He looked much more in command of himself as he drove to the basket, and he looks to be developing a nice soft touch off the glass, which I have been waiting for two years to see. Kravish rebounded well, but made 3 turnovers, too many for someone who does not touch the ball very often.
The bench did not shine last night. Thurman over the summer looked good, but it was one-on-one ball, and if you don't play team ball, fit yourself into the teamwork, you are not going to perform well or play much for Mike Montgomery. Also, it looks like the plan this year will be to push the ball, which is not so good for Thurman, who is slow, and does not run the floor well.
I hope Kahlil Johnson is not one of these guys who never saw a shot he didn't like, but he put up three jumpers last night, and rushed two of them. He has a tendency to shoot too flat a shot, and missed his first two that way. The third one, he took more time, and used more arch. All 3 shots, however, were bricks, clanking off the iron badly for long rebounds. Powers played only a few minutes, and passed up a couple of looks, maybe playing not to make a mistake, which maybe was a good idea at that point. Behrens and Bak made brief appearances, but I saw nothing positive there. I think the reason the bench did not see much time was that the first string is not playing well, especially defensively, and blocking off the boards, and Monty needs to get them playing better, before trying to give other players some playing time. Overall, not a good start against a weak but scrappy opponent.
SF State did not have a player over 6'-6", and yet they were able to block taller Cal players off the boards for 17 offensive rebounds, which is unconscionable. Against USF, SF State got only 7 offensive rebounds.
Cal's defense was practically non-existent. SF State's first exhibition game was against USF, and USF killed them, with former Cal verbal commit, De'End Parker, garnering 20 points. USF beat them with defense, getting 9 steals and 4 blocks and 19 turnovers. By contrast, Cal got 2 steals and 3 blocks picked up only 5 turnovers against the Gators. When Brandon Smith left the floor with what was probably a dislocated shoulder, SF State got back in the game, and had a chance to catch Cal in the last few minutes. Apparently, according to Montgomery's quotes, he implied we had trouble defensively with Santa Clara in the closed scrimmage as well. Stanford plays USF on Friday at Oracle, and by comparative scores, we may get an idea how Cal might compare with Stanford at this point in the season.
One bright spot was that we saw more team play on offense from the Bears than we usually do at the beginning of the season. Crabbe getting 5 assists is big for him. The starting five has been playing together at least 2 years, and it shows. Still somewhat out of control, making 12 turnovers, but looking pretty good over all, offensively, this early.
And Brandon Smith looked great. 14 points, 6 for 9 from the floor, all jump shots, and ran the team well, never got out of control. They ran plays for Smith, and he got open, and the rhythm of the team and Brandon looked good doing this. If this is the Brandon Smith we are going to see this year, then it will be a big downer if his shoulder injury is serious. It does not look like Wallace is ready for prime time yet. I have yet to see anything that would indicate he can shoot from outside, and although he did get 3 rebounds last night, he looked like a deer in the headlights young freshman in his first game. He will improve, and he will have to, with Smith and Kreklow out, for the moment.
Another bright spot was the shooting of Solomon. He looked much more in command of himself as he drove to the basket, and he looks to be developing a nice soft touch off the glass, which I have been waiting for two years to see. Kravish rebounded well, but made 3 turnovers, too many for someone who does not touch the ball very often.
The bench did not shine last night. Thurman over the summer looked good, but it was one-on-one ball, and if you don't play team ball, fit yourself into the teamwork, you are not going to perform well or play much for Mike Montgomery. Also, it looks like the plan this year will be to push the ball, which is not so good for Thurman, who is slow, and does not run the floor well.
I hope Kahlil Johnson is not one of these guys who never saw a shot he didn't like, but he put up three jumpers last night, and rushed two of them. He has a tendency to shoot too flat a shot, and missed his first two that way. The third one, he took more time, and used more arch. All 3 shots, however, were bricks, clanking off the iron badly for long rebounds. Powers played only a few minutes, and passed up a couple of looks, maybe playing not to make a mistake, which maybe was a good idea at that point. Behrens and Bak made brief appearances, but I saw nothing positive there. I think the reason the bench did not see much time was that the first string is not playing well, especially defensively, and blocking off the boards, and Monty needs to get them playing better, before trying to give other players some playing time. Overall, not a good start against a weak but scrappy opponent.