the stanford cardinals under 1st year head jerod haase (he likes his breakfast served eggs benedict, no kidding) are 11-9 with an impressive preseason 66-52 victory over seton hall, a sweep of the washington schools in palo alto & 16 point road win in corvallis last week
the cards are led by stud 6'8" 245 lbs reid travis (16.6 ppg & 8.9 rpg) gametime decision due to a banged up right shoulder), 6'5" 215 lbs dorian pickens (12.8 ppg) & 6'9" 220 lbs michael humphrey (9.3 ppg & 5.7 rpg)
what's are the 2 keys to a cal victory this evening at 5:30 pm at haas pavilion?
defensively the bears gotta continue to defend with amped up energy particularly in the paint, stanford is dead last in the pac 12 in 3 point shooting (31.1%)...their offensive is kinda methodical like oregon state with tremendous structure, it's effective at times but it's not the kinda offensive that a future early lottery pick like jordan brown (3.5 gpa) would get developed in on his road to getting minted in the nba
offensively the bears gotta attack the ******* basket like their hair is on fire with entry lob passes to the young ivee, kam & the king, drives to the rim by jabari, dontae, grant, sammy (revenge is best served cold) and charlie (stanford is dead last in the pac 12 in blocked shots) & push tempe/transition for breakaway baskets which was a point of emphasis in corvallis
what's gonna be the potential difference in the game?
along with a very loud fueled up roaring haas crowd of true california golden bears fans (watching on tv & talking **** about the team on game threads is for losers) former stanford tim o'toole's input this week re: the cardinals tendancies (he recruited several of these guys) is resulting in the best gameday scouting reports of the season...tim got the the huf vacated assistant coaching position (eric reveno was also seriously conisdered with a strong recommendation from mike montgomery) & is bringing gameday energy on the bench, east coast (much needed) recruiting connections & a foam paddle board that he beats the **** out of the bigs with during cal's intense & demanding practices
it should also be mentioned that bears are fresh after getting caught up on schoolwork this week & letting some mid season bruises (coleman) heal
how do we know this is a big game?
shocky is gonna be wearing big time big game kicks at the battle of the barricade
let's do this, knock somebody on their azz & make sure you put all your weapons in a clear basket bag
the magic of cal basketball (are you gonna be there?)#:wave:wave:wave:wave