Well...the hoops season is upon us and there is come great Cal Golden Bears basketball ahead of us. We'll post some great updates here about Golden Bear highlights.

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One of the claims by the refs with the shot over the backboard is that it is not reviewable because it was a judgment call.

What about that shot is a judgment call?

Is their any difference between reviewing that shot, and reviewing a three-pointer? It is my general understanding that review is OK to decide whether a shot was a two or a three.

This isn't a foul call - there is no shade of gray - either it went over the backboard or it didn't.

There is no analogy I can think of for a shot being illegal. I don't think the referee is necessarily wrong that he wasn't allowed to review it - but saying it was a judgment call doesn't make much sense.

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The other analogy to Shipp's shot has been Larry Bird's falling out of bounds shot at Hartford Civic Center.

Of course, the key thing left out of that discussion is that the shot was immediately waved off:



I guess that is the difference between NBA refs and the losers the Pac-10 keeps bringing back year after year after year.

(Thanks, zoltan for finding the vid on YouTube.)
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Bizarre story on ESPN.com right now. Andy Katz determines that it was the right call because...wait for it...referee Dave Libbey was aware of the rule! Katz gives us further assurances, telling us that Kevin McCabe, Pac-10 officiating coordinator agrees with Libbey that it was a tough call. Well, I am glad that two gentlemen with no personal interest in swaying public opinion have made sure that we are properly informed.

Thank you Mr. Katz for conveying this information without addressing the fact that it clearly went over the backboard. Apparently, it was just too close to call for you to form an opinion on the subject.

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The fact the Pac-10 officiating coordinator has had to make statements (and even going as far as talking to media members hours after the Cal game) make it clear that Pac-10 officiating is in a public crisis. Maybe the actually will do something about this in the offseason.

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Jeff Faraudo sums it up nicely with a couple of lines in his game-story from the CC Times...

His lede...

Pulled this from the comments because it is a great analysis of the last 10 seconds. From zoltan...

what in the hell?

A) Ryan Anderson was fouled.
B) Even if he wasn't, I think it still went off of UCLA.
C) I thought you couldn't throw the ball over the backboard. See Rule 7, Section 1, Art. 3: The ball shall be out of bounds when it passes over the backboard from any direction.
D) I thought you couldn't punch the ball out of bounds. See Rule 9, Section 6, Art. 1: A player shall not travel or run with the ball, intentionally kick it, strike it with the fist or cause it to enter and pass through the basket from below.

It's almost a good thing that game didn't mean much for Cal because that was a joke.

After last night's loss to USC (a game seen by exactly zero people not in the Galen Center) Cal men's basketball team travels across town to face UCLA tomorrow. (ABC Regional coverage, 12:30 p.m.)

The Bruins are ranked No. 3 in the nation. But they have looked pretty bad the last few weeks - barely surviving Arizona and Oregon. Thursday night, they needed one of the worst calls I can ever remember to "beat" Stanford.

The Bears are out of contention for an NCAA tournament berth. I think it is time to change head coaches.

But I also really, really want them to win this game. I even found myself rooting for the Furd last night. Why? Something about Kevin Love and his patchy beard has turned the Bruins from just another good team that found ways to win into a team that gets calls that guarantee that they win (not just last night, but many, many times this season Pac-10 officials have called games favorable to their defensive "style.") And it has turned UCLA fans from appreciative following the Lavin Era to just plain smug.

I really hope the Bears win tomorrow. If they do, I hope it is Braun's last win.

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Today on his College Hotline blog, the Mercury News' Jon Wilner makes the case both for firing Braun, and for not firing Braun (while boldly endorsing neither.)

The argument against Braun - obvious.

The argument for Braun - it will cost a million bucks to buy him out. Next year, it would only cost one month's pay (I am assume this comes out to 1,000,000/ 12.)

Is this actually a reasonable argument for keeping him? ... Not really. It may be an argument against absurd contract extensions and paying decent coaches more than they are worth but clearly it should not weigh on this decision.

Why does one million dollars not matter?

As commentors quickly pointed out on Wilner's post, you only need to look to Cal football.

It doesn't take one of Berkeley's Nobel Laureates to realize it was a very good economic choice to fire Tom Holmoe following the 2001 season.

Of course it was. Did we pay him barrels of money to go away - probably not, but I bet we paid him something.

The result six years later - My dad was "complaining" today about the fact that his season tickets are now $400. That is about double from the price pre-Tedford. Except now we have three times the number of season ticket holders. All estimates are insanely rough, but on a year-by-year basis, the difference in season ticket revenue alone must be about (200 x 15,000) + (400 x 30,000) = $15 million. Per season. That doesn't factor in general admission tickets, concessions, merchanizing money ($60 Nike DeSean Jerseys in three colors), and TV money each of which are bringing in hundreds of thousands if not millions per year than they were in the Holmoe Era.

The argument that the million dollar buyout should weigh in the decision just doesn't reflect reality.

A major improvement in the basketball program could again bring in millions of additional revenue. Hell, you could also just look to Haas being sold out for women's basketball to see the economic benefit of good coaching. That passion makes me question the concept that Mike Montgomery or Randy Bennett or just some new guy couldn't raise a million dollars of speculative interest overnight.

Let's say we don't fire Braun this year. Imagine it is March 2009. Assume that with Ben Braun coaching, the Bears have completed a 20-10 season, and lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament. In this decently likely scenario, there isn't a whole lot of justification in firing Braun - even if it only costs one month's pay. Guess what it costs you to not fire him in 2009 and bring him back for 2010 ... exactly the same undeserved one million dollars!

You need to fire him when it makes basketball sense (now), not when it makes incredibly shortsighted economic sense (2009). Fortunately, the idea of a lame duck season to save a few bucks doesn't sound like Sandy Barbour to me.

The fact that Braun got a million dollars for this year's coaching job - well, that is a different story.

One more note... Not to get too far ahead of ourselves on the coaching search front, but the seventh commentor on Wilner's thread name "Jpf" puts it pretty succinctly...

After more than a decade, this is a tough decision. But the buyout shouldn't be part of it.

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Watching today's broadcast it was interesting to note that there were no references about this being Ben Braun's last home game.

We heard it was DeVon's last home game. We heard it was Vierneisel's last home game. We heard it was (almost definitely) Anderson's last home game.

Yet, I didn't hear any reference to the fact that Ben Braun will be gone after the Pac-10 tournament.

Then I remembered something...It is only in the blog-world that it is a foregone conclusion that Braun is going to get fired after this season.

The Braun era must end, right?

This team arguably has more talent than any Braun team, yet they are going to finish in 9th place in the conference. They have a great offense - that can't score in the final five minutes. Braun's teams normally don't have great offenses. But the last few weeks it has became clear that even Braun's defensive system is completely old-hat - nothing is a surprise to anyone in the Pac-10 anymore.

The Bears have given up...

76 (at home to Oregon State!)
92 (to lose to Oregon by 22!)
83 (to Arizona)
73 (in a good win over Arizona State)
79 (to Stanford including 46 in the second half)
70 (at home to methodical Wazzu in a 21 point loss)
87 (to Washington in a game that really wasn't close)

That is a pretty bad month. Either the team has stopped caring or Braun's schemes have been exposed.

Hardin and Anderson will leave Berkeley as two of the more disappointing players in recent memory. Hardin because he has so much raw potential that never developed. Anderson because he was so good, on teams that never had a chance to be competitive in a Pac-10 conference that has passed the Bears by.

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so, my former 4-year college roommate (and one-time partner in a pair of nosebleed alumni basketball seats until our will was completely broken 2 years ago) and i were discussing the possibility of this year's team being the first in NCAA history to have 2 players drafted in the first round of the same NBA draft while not making the field of the preeminent postseason tourney the same year.  

well, i've saved you all an hour of your lives by spending the morning comparing NBA draft histories and tournament histories side by side (most of you know that early on the NIT was in fact the preeminent postseason college basketball tournament), dating back to 1951.

turns out only 3 teams have ever accomplished this feat over that 57 year period: 1973 U.Minnesota, 1974 Long Beach St., and 1974 Maryland.  

Digging a little deeper, however, Long Beach St. and Maryland actually had what many consider their best teams in history in 1974:

Long Beach St. was ultimately ineligible for postseason play because of the fall-out from the just-ended Tarkanian regime (some people have apparently taken their same bag of tricks from station to station throughout their entire careers), despite going undefeated in conference play (12-0) under new head coach Lute Olsen, and 24-2 overall.  
Maryland was narrowly sniped (103-100 in overtime) by eventual NCAA champs N.C. State (30-1) in the ACC conference championship game in 1974.  At the time, only conference champions received a berth in the NCAA Tournament field, leaving Maryland out despite a 23-5 overall record.  Maryland, consequently, made the NCAA Elite 8 both the year before, and the year after, under legend Lefty Driesell.

so, the 1973 Minnesota Golden Gophers, under 2nd year coach Bill Musselman (sound familiar Bay Area fans?) are the closest thing to a precedent in the last 57 years for what the 07-08 Golden Bears could achieve. even then, the 1973 Golden Gophers went 10-4 in conference, and 21-5 overall, being ineligible for an NCAA berth because they failed to win the Big 10, a feat they did accomplish the year prior, going 11-3 in conference, and a slightly worse 18-7 overall.

so, since expanding the NCAA tourney system to involve non conference champions, we will stand alone.

the parallels between this Minnesota era and our Bears are quite fascinating though (with the "Golden" irony being only the beginning), and since researching this did eat up a good part of my morning, please indulge me:

like Braun, Musselman enjoyed his most successful season his first one (2nd round NCAA and a conference championship) with a roster inherited largely from the previous regimes.  like Braun, Musselman fancied himself a defensive coach, and coached a style of play that led to significant player transfers out of the program.  like Braun, Musselman was temporarily kept afloat by a couple singular talents, among them one of the greatest all-around athletes in history, Dave Winfield, the only athlete to ever be drafted by 4 different professional leagues.  

unlike Braun, who HAS kept his nose clean, Musselman showed a willingness to bend the NCAA rules in the pursuit of on-court success.  unlike Braun, Musselman was coaxed out of town within 4 years' time by an administration that had the good sense to at least try and do so.

[editor's note, by Kevin] Promoting this with the note that it is very unlikely DeVon Hardin gets drafted in the first round. Of course, Ben Braun deserves a lot of blame for that as well (though Hardin himself bought into his own hype as deserves the bulk of the blame.)

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Was there anything redeeming about that loss?

It now is all but official - the Bears won't be going to the NCAA tournament.

They easily could finish ninth in the Pac-10. That would be worse than the Powe-less year in 2005.

With all of this undeniable talent (Anderson, Christopher, Hardin, Randle, Boykin, even Kamp) a ninth-place finish is very possible. Unbelievable.

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Tonight's game against Washington State is obviously winnable. If you can beat a team on the road, like the Bears did at Pullman, you really need to beat them at home.

Of course, I don't have a whole lot of faith that will actually happen.

Why no faith?

Let's take a quick look at some of the more egregious stats from Sunday night's loss to Stanford. Any one of these could be blamed for a loss. But this many is just ridiculous...

Patrick Christopher 20 shots - no assists and no foul shots. Yes that is correct 40 minutes, 20 shots, no trips to the line.

Ryan Anderson 2-for-13 - obviously bad (at least it will help to put a damper on his NBA stock.)

DeVon Hardin - 23 minutes, 5 fouls - isn't that exactly what happened in game one? At one point Sunday night, a shocked Ted Robinson said something like, "Amazingly, the Bears seem to be playing better without Hardin." It isn't amazing Ted. It's normal.

Eric Vierneisel - fouls out in 12 minutes. But then again, he generally doesn't contribute a whole lot more than five fouls. He must have been taking a male enhancement supplement or something!

Outside of Jerome Randle (7) the team only had 5 total assists.

Ridiculously lopsided on fouls overall - 27 to 13. Not an excuse, because though there were some bad calls, the Bears did actually commit a lot of fouls. But obviously it was biased towards a very physical team like Stanford.

The craziest stat - despite being physically outmanned, the Bears actually held the rebounding edge 39-33.
They won the offensive boards too (16-to-11.) Ryan Anderson's 11 overall was the game high. The team edge is shocking, but they still couldn't win.

Hopefully the stat sheet looks a little better tonight.

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Where have we seen this before:

Huge opening deficit...

Followed by the Bears legitimately getting back in the game...

Followed by them barely scoring in the last five minutes of the game.

We saw it against Stanford in the first game this season. And against UCLA. And at home against Arizona. And at Oregon. It even happened at home against Utah.

In the last five minutes, we just shut down the offense and hope for the best. At one point in the past this might have worked for Ben Braun, but it certainly isn't working anyone.

Einstein or someone else really smart said, "Insanity is trying the same thing over and over again, and hoping for a different result."

The main problem is that I am not sure that Braun realizes that he is doing the same thing over and over again.

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He measured in at 5-foot-9 at the draft.

Ouch. He also is only 167 pounds.

Read about it here.

Mel Kiper already dropped him to the No. 2 receiver spot after about a year at No. 1.

Of course, it all changes if he runs a 4.29 or some such non-sense.

Update [2008-2-24 16:21:26 by Kevin]:

DeSean runs a 4.35 40, which is the second best time I have seen today.

Of course, the best was Darren McFadden running an unimaginable 4.27. Damn!

Update [2008-2-24 16:30:11 by Kevin]: Using the lower of Jackson's times he ran a 4.31 making him the second fastest receiver behind Dexter Jackson of Appalachian State. He also ran a 4.27. I assume that McFadden's time is also his lowest rather than his official time. (don't ask me how that works - I think it is either an average or they get some warm-ups and then an official time. It doesn't really matter once they know you are freakishly fast.)

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Wow, the No. 8 women's basketball team sure didn't close out that one. It was a Braunian effort to lose that one at the end.

The Wiggins steal was obviously the turning point in the final minute. I don't watch much (read:any) women's basketball, but I don't quite understanding why Devanei Hampton was handling the ball that far out rather than getting postion.

Alexis Gray-Lawson's shot at the end was pretty bad - they certainly should have been able to get the ball to Hampton or Walker.

Oh well, I guess we will have to wait until next year (or the Pac-10 tournament, I guess).

None of this is meant to criticize Joanne Boyle - clearly she is great evidence of why firing a mediocre coach is obviously a great idea. With losses to only top ten teams, hopefully the Bears can score a No. 2 seed in the tourney. I guess with a Pac-10 tourney win they might be able to steal a one-seed.  

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