Some numbers that sort of told the story of the game:

15 = Rebounds for Tyrone Wallace tonight. Showed his toughness fighting for rebounds, diving for loose balls and getting knocked to the floor on drives. 15 rebounds is huge for any player, especially a point guard. (Brittany Boyd had 19 rebounds for the women today.)

22 = Cal's turnovers tonight. Montana's tight man defense kept us from getting easy shots and most of our turnovers seemed to come when the passer and receiver weren't on the same page. In the post game Martin mentioned that they'll need to play the same way more in practice so that everyone knows what to expect of each other.

41 = Brandon Chauca's minutes. Based on the usual ignorant speculation and negativity we've been getting here, that was the over/under on this board for minutes he'd play this entire season. Chauca is now leading the nation in mpg. He played all 41 minutes with his hair on fire, much like Jorge did as a bear. I can easily see Chauca becoming a fan favorite after watching him tonight.

R90;842417072 said:

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41 = Brandon Chauca's minutes. Based on the usual ignorant speculation and negativity we've been getting here, that was the over/under on this board for minutes he'd play this entire season. Chauca is now leading the nation in mpg. He played all 41 minutes with his hair on fire, much like Jorge did as a bear. I can easily see Chauca becoming a fan favorite after watching him tonight.

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Loved Chauca's motor, and hitting his first two three points was huge. Was almost shocked when he missed the front end of a 1-1 in crunch time. He's a keeper.

Great job, again, on the boards by Wallace. He just needs to make free throws in crunch time. Turnovers not surprising when a starter is missing and a player with no experience plays his first game. Chauca definitely showed that he will be a contributor this season, albeit with growing pains.

I think chauca was one of the better (relatively) players for the bears tonite.

Like I said before, Singer should only play a maximum of 10 minutes, or else games that the bears should win will be cut in half or more!

Wallace have to improve his ft and Mathews have to stop getting nervous... He's lucky that he is a good shooter.

Chauca had the best assist/TO ratio (2:1) of any Cal player in the game. Nice work for a first college game.

Singer had 3 big steals and was the only bear to shoot 100% from the free throw line tonight. He was in foul trouble or he'd have played more. I expect he's still ahead of Chauca in the rotation and will likely start again at Nevada if Bird isn't ready to return.

It's clear that Singer sees his offensive role as creating better shots for teammates because other guys are better scorers in most situations. He did take 4 open 3-pointers tonight (making one) and drove a couple times all the way to the basket.

The haters here need someone to hate on, though, and Singer seems to be the whipping boy. Welcome to my ignore list, grrrutilus.

R90;842417122 said:

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Singer had 3 big steals and was the only bear to shoot 100% from the free throw line tonight. He was in foul trouble or he'd have played more. I expect he's still ahead of Chauca in the rotation and will likely start again at Nevada if Bird isn't ready to return.

It's clear that Singer sees his offensive role as creating better shots for teammates because other guys are better scorers in most situations. He did take 4 open 3-pointers tonight (making one) and drove a couple times all the way to the basket.

The haters here need someone to hate on, though, and Singer seems to be the whipping boy. Welcome to my ignore list, grrrutilus.

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+1!

Every kid playing college ball is a work in progress. Virtually no one reaches his basketball prime in his late teens, even early 20's.

Can't Cal fans get their vicarious kicks without slamming this guy or that guy?

Sam has issues of confidence to work through. Every Cal player has his own challenges to work on.

Montana did a lot of things right, but the Bears still out scrapped them in the end.

Of course, we have much to improve upon, but it was still a great and enjoyable (if at times harrowing, mind boggling) win.

R90;842417072 said:

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Some numbers that sort of told the story of the game:

15 = Rebounds for Tyrone Wallace tonight. Showed his toughness fighting for rebounds, diving for loose balls and getting knocked to the floor on drives. 15 rebounds is huge for any player, especially a point guard. (Brittany Boyd had 19 rebounds for the women today.)

22 = Cal's turnovers tonight. Montana's tight man defense kept us from getting easy shots and most of our turnovers seemed to come when the passer and receiver weren't on the same page. In the post game Martin mentioned that they'll need to play the same way more in practice so that everyone knows what to expect of each other.

41 = Brandon Chauca's minutes. Based on the usual ignorant speculation and negativity we've been getting here, that was the over/under on this board for minutes he'd play this entire season. Chauca is now leading the nation in mpg. He played all 41 minutes with his hair on fire, much like Jorge did as a bear. I can easily see Chauca becoming a fan favorite after watching him tonight.

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Love and also thought about the comparison to Jorge - HUGE shoes to attempt to fill (thinking of early Simpsons episode, "huge shoes to fill... huge shoes to fill...), but any somewhat legit comparison there is encouraging.

grrrutilus;842417114 said:

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Like I said before, Singer should only play a maximum of 10 minutes, or else games that the bears should win will be cut in half or /QUOTE]

Brilliant observation...

Somehow we won tonight with Sam in the lineup.

I liked what I saw from Sam last year, and expect him to be a big contributor for us in the coming years. That said, I must admit that I've been disappointed with his play this season, as he seems even less aggressive and more turnover prone than last year. I'm fine with him getting minutes as I think that's the only way for him to regain the confidence that he seems to be lacking this season. While I'm rooting for him to succeed and I think he will, I do understand the frustration others have shown. What surprises me more is the number of fans who blindly support him. I don't remember Brandon Smith getting this luxury, and right now I think Sam is playing a lot like Smith did over his career. Decent defender, decent handle, unwilling shooter, turnover prone. Disclaimer: I was Smith's biggest fan as I am also from San Ramon.

ilyn;842417154 said:

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I liked what I saw from Sam last year, and expect him to be a big contributor for us in the coming years. That said, I must admit that I've been disappointed with his play this season, as he seems even less aggressive and more turnover prone than last year. I'm fine with him getting minutes as I think that's the only way for him to regain the confidence that he seems to be lacking this season. While I'm rooting for him to succeed and I think he will, I do understand the frustration others have shown. What surprises me more is the number of fans who blindly support him. I don't remember Brandon Smith getting this luxury, and right now I think Sam is playing a lot like Smith did over his career. Decent defender, decent handle, unwilling shooter, turnover prone. Disclaimer: I was Smith's biggest fan as I am also from San Ramon.

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Where does this stuff come from? Sam has far and away the best assist to turnover ratio on the team. He has one less assist than Wallace who has the ball in his hands a higher percentage per minute played and who has played far more minutes. Meaning no respect to Brandon Smith, there is no comparison in passing skills between the two.

I'm not trying to pile on Sam, which I tried to make clear in my original post. I'm just hoping that he finds the confidence to let the ball fly soon. I would expect Sam to have a higher assist/min rate than Tyrone, because Sam seems to only be interested in passing the ball right now, where as Tyrone is also looking to put the ball in the bucket. I never meant to compare Sam to Brandon in terms of skill/potential, but more in the way they are playing. Having a guard on the court who the other team doesn't need to fear his scoring ability makes things harder for everyone else. I think Sam definitely has the ability to do that, which is why I'm hoping he finds his swagger soon. I was just curious as to why there are so many more staunch Singer supporters now and I felt like I was alone on the island for not piling on Smith. When I made that comparison I did so just based on the games that I've watched this year and my memory of Smith from years ago. After your response, I was afraid to look at the numbers, but they weren't as different as I feard. Below are Smith's sophomore stats and Singer's stats so far this season.

SEASON TEAM MIN FGM-FGA FG% 3PM-3PA 3P% FTM-FTA FT% REB AST BLK STL PF TO PTS

2010-11 CAL 29.4 2.1-5.0 .410 0.6-1.5 .417 1.7-2.6 .651 2.3 3.9 0.0 0.8 2.1 2.3 6.4
2014-15 CAL 23.2 0.8-2.8 .294 0.2-1.7 .100 0.3-0.3 1.000 2.5 4.7 0.2 0.8 2.2 1.7 2.2

Furthering my support for and appreciation of Sam Singer, please note he leads the team in steals, and is second only to the amazing Tyrone in his rebounds per minute played among the guards (including Bird, but not Moute a Bidias).

Smith's best year by far was his sophomore year. It was his last two years--much of which was post-concussion--that led to his being berated so regularly on this site.

Even still, if one looks at assist to turnover ratio, Singer's is much higher, 4.7/1.7, Smith's 3.9/2.3. And if you compute assists based on minutes played, Singer is about 50% better.

I support and appreciate Sam as well. Hopefully, you haven't grouped me in the "Singer shouldn't play" group. I just want him to be a more willing shooter to spread the floor more. I wouldn't want him to do that if I didn't believe he could be successful at it. I was encouraged by his consecutive drives against fresno st, and also his willingness to take the corner 3 at the end of OT. Can't wait to see more of that!

ilyn;842417171 said:

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I support and appreciate Sam as well. Hopefully, you haven't grouped me in the "Singer shouldn't play" group. I just want him to be a more willing shooter to spread the floor more. I wouldn't want him to do that if I didn't believe he could be successful at it. I was encouraged by his consecutive drives against fresno st, and also his willingness to take the corner 3 at the end of OT. Can't wait to see more of that!

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+1

Agreed fully. Am not sure how Sam went from 30+ points per game to a timid, out of rhythm, reluctant shooter. However, contrasting his 4 for 4 free throw shooting so far this year with his bizarre, timid foul shooting last year (remember the air ball?) I am hopeful his psychological rehab as a shooter will continue. And ultimately we will see the whole package that Sam can bring.

R90;842417122 said:

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Singer had 3 big steals and was the only bear to shoot 100% from the free throw line tonight. He was in foul trouble or he'd have played more. I expect he's still ahead of Chauca in the rotation and will likely start again at Nevada if Bird isn't ready to return.

It's clear that Singer sees his offensive role as creating better shots for teammates because other guys are better scorers in most situations. He did take 4 open 3-pointers tonight (making one) and drove a couple times all the way to the basket.

The haters here need someone to hate on, though, and Singer seems to be the whipping boy. Welcome to my ignore list, grrrutilus.

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Agreed. Singer must and will continue to improve.

Everyone had their moments last night, both good and bad.

They played hard with a new, GENUINE point guard on the court, for the first time.

Martin must be quite happy with his options now.