That was a severe ass-kicking. For all the talk about how Washington's defense had improved, we sliced and diced it for 82, and that after a slow start. Our defense, on the other hand, was excellent. We owned the middle, challenged the three point line, and had the Dogs shooting from places they weren't comfortable with. They shot poorly, but it wasn't all them.

Too bad there are still so many empty seats at Haas. This is a pretty enjoyable team.

I laughed. Seems like an understatement. I sure would have liked to attend to redeem last years Husky game, but fortunately for the team i had other obligations.

That was the best defense I ever saw us play for 30". Absolutely determined to get on Wilcox and let other people beat us. Great defensive footwork, contesting shots without reaching, etc. Just suffocated them. Part of the strategy which the announcers didn't notice was to keep the pace down so our transition defense was sound and it didn't turn into a track meet. Although we can play that style also, we had a huge advantage at this pace. After about 10" Washington was noticeably frustrated.

Mostly moved the ball well on offense as well, nice to see Powers getting the green light and freeing space for other guys. Kravish seems a bit less than he looked earlier in the year but Solomon looks great. My gosh how much he's matured in the last 2 years. Even Behrens got into the act on both sides, + Singer as well.

Now if we can incorporate Mathews and Bird into the action we'll really have something. I'm not sure Bird really knows what he's doing yet. Mathews is maddeningly inconsistent and he stops the ball (except for some reason in the Oregon game).

I was once encouraged by the play of Behrens and I think we are harder to defend with Powers on the wing as his defense has not yet been a great liability. I loved Singers block at the end, on the replay it looked like he got mostly ball.

saltybear;842263316 said:

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I laughed. Seems like an understatement. I sure would have liked to attend to redeem last years Husky game, but fortunately for the team i had other obligations.

That was the best defense I ever saw us play for 30". Absolutely determined to get on Wilcox and let other people beat us. Great defensive footwork, contesting shots without reaching, etc. Just suffocated them. Part of the strategy which the announcers didn't notice was to keep the pace down so our transition defense was sound and it didn't turn into a track meet. Although we can play that style also, we had a huge advantage at this pace. After about 10" Washington was noticeably frustrated.

Mostly moved the ball well on offense as well, nice to see Powers getting the green light and freeing space for other guys. Kravish seems a bit less than he looked earlier in the year but Solomon looks great. My gosh how much he's matured in the last 2 years. Even Behrens got into the act on both sides, + Singer as well.

Now if we can incorporate Mathews and Bird into the action we'll really have something. I'm not sure Bird really knows what he's doing yet. Mathews is maddeningly inconsistent and he stops the ball (except for some reason in the Oregon game).

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Don't agree. Kravish started slowly because his shots were not going down.
But he then got going and had a few big blocks.
I really liked mid-second half. He blocked one shot, got back on offense and wound up scoring.
He had the biggest smile as he came back on defense.

Yes. Kravish had a pretty nice power dunk too

The difference is that the Bears have two bigs that play well together. Cal has a solid PG plus another five players that can drain it from outside.

If this team continues to progress, I think that they can go farther than the last talented Cal team that Duke KO'd in the Sweet 16...GO BEARS!

GivemTheAxe;842263343 said:

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Don't agree. Kravish started slowly because his shots were not going down.
But he then got going and had a few big blocks.
I really liked mid-second half. He blocked one shot, got back on offense and wound up scoring.
He had the biggest smile as he came back on defense.

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I thought Kravish played a hell of a defensive game and was a bit off on his shooting, but made some nice plays offensively too. He's fine.

GivemTheAxe;842263343 said:

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Don't agree. Kravish started slowly because his shots were not going down.
But he then got going and had a few big blocks.
I really liked mid-second half. He blocked one shot, got back on offense and wound up scoring.
He had the biggest smile as he came back on defense.

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That was in retrospect an obvious overstatement
I got spoiled by the games where he was raining in 17 footers.
I love the guy and he's obviously a great teammate.

I never thought I would be in the position to say this but I thought it was a boring game to attend because the outcome was determined too quickly.

bearister;842263476 said:

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I never thought I would be in the position to say this but I thought it was a boring game to attend because the outcome was determined too quickly.

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When we are delivering the beat downs, I love it. It makes me feel better about those ones Monty's Stanford teams inflicted on us.

Go Bears!

bluesaxe;842263407 said:

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I thought Kravish played a hell of a defensive game and was a bit off on his shooting, but made some nice plays offensively too. He's fine.

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One of the reasons we were down early (besides not making shots) was because Washington initially went with a 4 guard lineup which left Kravish guarding #11 Anderson, a 6'4" guard who ran around, took him outside and then went around him with ease. Once we started attacking the basket and taking advantage of the miss-match on our end, the match ups changed and Kravish could help more inside.

bearister;842263476 said:

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I never thought I would be in the position to say this but I thought it was a boring game to attend because the outcome was determined too quickly.

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Heh, heh. Not me, had a great time. I might have been bored if it was a blowout of SF State, but I enjoy every minute of beat downs of Stanford, UCLA, UW, USC, Arizona, Oregon....
:beer:

bluesaxe;842263407 said:

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I thought Kravish played a hell of a defensive game and was a bit off on his shooting, but made some nice plays offensively too. He's fine.

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+1.A double double cannot be all bad. His shooting touch was off a bit but he more than made it up in other areas. Others picked up the shooting (52 point second half)

bearister;842263476 said:

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I never thought I would be in the position to say this but I thought it was a boring game to attend because the outcome was determined too quickly.

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No problem for me to sit back and enjoy a beat down of a Pac team...it did feel pretty strange to not have any real stomach churning moments though I'm sure there will be plenty more of those in the next couple of months

bearister;842263476 said:

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I never thought I would be in the position to say this but I thought it was a boring game to attend because the outcome was determined too quickly.

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IMO I was not comfortable until the clock was well under 10 minutes.

I am the proto-typical Cal fan, I expect the worst to happen.
When Cal's 20-point lead dwindled down to 14 early in the 2d half, I thought to myself - "great, two 3-point plays by UW would make this game way too close for comfort."

But lucky for my stomach, Cal quickly took the lead back up to 20.

In the post-game he explained the defensive approach: Wilcox is their only true 3-point threat, and they really don't have reliable post scoring. They get most of their points driving, so the philosophy was to switch on screens so there was no lane and dare Andrews and Williams-Goss to shoot from outside (they were 0-5), and have Justin lock down Wilcox outside. Kravish and Solo contested all passes into the post. Net result: 30% shooting; 14% from beyond the arc.

68great;842263579 said:

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IMO I was not comfortable until the clock was well under 10 minutes.

I am the proto-typical Cal fan, I expect the worst to happen.
When Cal's 20-point lead dwindled down to 14 early in the 2d half, I thought to myself - "great, two 3-point plays by UW would make this game way too close for comfort."

But lucky for my stomach, Cal quickly took the lead back up to 20.

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Down by 14 was not a problem for the Bears at OSU. I never count the chickens until the beaks start emerging from the shell.

68great;842263579 said:

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IMO I was not comfortable until the clock was well under 10 minutes.

I am the proto-typical Cal fan, I expect the worst to happen.
When Cal's 20-point lead dwindled down to 14 early in the 2d half, I thought to myself - "great, two 3-point plays by UW would make this game way too close for comfort."

But lucky for my stomach, Cal quickly took the lead back up to 20.

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PRECISELY!!!

"If there is a way to lose, Cal will find it"

I have to get over that. Mike Montgomery is Not Ben Braun, Lou Camp, Roger Theader, Joe Kapp, and late-era Jeff Tedford. He new precisely what was required and understood EXACTLY how to game plan them.