Premium article and I don't have espn insiders so I can only read the first part:
http://insider.espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/11992651/analyzing-outlooks-rookie-head-coaches-2014-15-college-basketball

Basically says much easier job for coaches that inherit coaches leaving on good terms instead of getting fired, which makes perfect sense.

Do you guys feel like we are on the right path? There are definitely things we are doing better (pushing the tempo, overall intensity, big man play), and things we seem to be dropping on (ball security, half-court offense)

here's the relevant part. Cal is 1st on his list.

Here's a look at this season's rookie head coaches, ranked in order according to how well I project their teams will fare in 2014-15:

Cuonzo Martin, California Golden Bears

Granted, it's December, and there's certainly a good deal of basketball remaining to be played in 2014-15. But at this point, Martin appears to be the only rookie coach in the major conferences with a shot at an at-large bid. Cal's surprisingly easy win over Syracuse at Madison Square Garden two weeks ago could pay dividends if and when Jim Boeheim's group does round into form as a solid second-tier ACC team (though, clearly, that hasn't happened yet).

Martin inherited a roster in Berkeley with Tyrone Wallace, Jordan Mathews, David Kravish and Jabari Bird already in place. Even without Justin Cobbs, who led Cal in scoring as a senior last season, this team projects to finish above .500 in the Pac-12 thanks in large part to very good interior defense. And if league opponents no longer connect on 37 percent of their 3s -- the way they did against the Bears in conference play last season -- all the better.

That being said, Cal had an unexpectedly tough time putting away Montana in Berkeley last week, needing two overtimes to defeat the Grizzlies. Bird sat out the game with an injured foot, but Cal's going to have to perform at a higher level than that if these guys want to compete in the Pac-12.

rookie coach is a misnomer, since he's been a head coach at 2 D-1 schools before Cal.

I like our 7-1 record.

With five more home games before the start of conference, we should be 12-2 (#2 Wisconsin is coming to Haas).

Hopefully, we will have a 10-8 conference record, which will make our overall record 22-10 and an NCAA lock with around a 10 seed. That would be quite an accomplishment for Coach Martin.

I know it is WAAAY too early to speculate about getting into NCAA, but, lack of a football bowl bid makes hoping for a success in basketball necessary!

Correction: if we lose to Wisky, we'll be 11-2, not 12-2.

So far: 1 quality win (neutral court), 2-0 road record, no bad losses. Of course, if Syracuse keeps f-ing up, the quality win goes away...

I'd like to see 11-7 or 12-6 in order to be comfortable, but since the P12 season hasn't started yet, it is silly to speculate.