I originally picked Memphis to win it all (then their defense decided not to show up), so I would naturally want to pick against them if I could change any one pick in my bracket. I was up to 12th before they lost, but am still going strong at 22nd. I’d take UConn through to the championship if I could revise that Memphis choice.

Ted Miller was in Berkeley to see what has been happening at practice

Receiver? Everyone is back, so this will be a far more seasoned group than 2008. And there are new names — youngsters and players returning from injuries — making the list of potential contributors long.

Nyan Boateng, Verran Tucker and Jeremy Ross top the list, but it seems like everyone has a favorite to add to the mix.

Sophomore Marvin Jones? “He’s a guy if you ask who stood out the first week, it was Marvin Jones,” Tedford said.

Mansion praised sophomore Alex Lagemann, who also earned a note from Tedford. A couple of practice kibitzers expressed esteem for redshirt freshman Charles Satchell. Sophomore Michael Calvin, who’s sitting out spring while still recovering from a knee injury that ended his 2008 season, might be the most talented of the lot.

Ludwig, meanwhile, gushed about the depth and athleticism at tight end.

Ludwig likes to talk about playing “pitch and catch.” The Bears didn’t do that very well last year, ranking seventh in the Pac-10 and 83rd in the nation in passing.

There seems to be plenty of catchers. The issue that likely will decide if Cal is a top-10 team is the pitcher.

Some other notes:

Tedford’s special project with Riley during the offseason was shortening the junior’s throwing motion. After watching film of 2008, Tedford said that as the season wore on Riley developed a bigger wind-up that hurt his passing accuracy.

I also had Gonzaga upsetting a Lawson-less UNC. Awesome.

That didn’t work out so well.

Where the hell is everyone this morning? Also, is there a J.O. chat today?

Dana Vollmer is an amazing swimmer:

BERKELEY – Senior swimmer Dana Vollmer, who won a pair of individual NCAA title while leading Cal to the national team championships, has been chosen as the country’s top collegiate female athlete in swimming & diving. The honor was based on the results of national balloting among 1,000 NCAA member schools as part of the Collegiate Women Sports Awards program, now in its 33rd year.

Vollmer’s victory will earn her the 2009 Honda Sports Award for swimming & diving, given annually to the top women athletes in 12 NCAA-sanctioned sports, along with automatic nomination for the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year. Vollmer was previously nominated for the Honda Sports Award for swimming & diving in 2007, and she is the third athlete from Cal to win it. The other winners, both of whom received the award twice, are Mary T. Meagher (1985, ’87) and Natalie Coughlin (2002, ’03). Vollmer was voted over three other nominees: Julia Smit, a junior at Stanford; Rebecca Soni, a USC senior; and Gemma Spofforth, a junior at Florida. All four nominees were selected by the All-American Selection Committee.

Ashley walker named USWBA All-American:

The U.S. Basketball Writers Association has chosen the recipients of its 2008-09 women’s postseason honors, naming Golden Bear senior forward to its 11-member All-American team.

The U.S. Basketball Writers Association, formed in 1956, has named a women’s All-America team since the 1996-97 season. The association has also named a national player of the year since 1987-88 and a national coach of the year since 1989-90. There were 11 players named to the team this season instead of the normal 10 due to a tie in the voting.

The award is the fourth career All-American honor for Walker, but the first time she has been named to a post-season first-team. She was named a Third-Team All-American earlier this week by the Associated Press. She was a Sports Illustrated Second Team selection last season and was a pre-season Sporting News First Team All-American this year. Walker was previously a two-time honorable mention for AP All-American and an honorable mention for WBCA All-American last year.

This is the first time a Cal Bear has earned All-American honors from the USBWA.

Womens lacrosse crushes St. Mary’s

BERKELEY – California scored a school-record 22 goals to rout MPSF foe Saint Mary’s, 22-13, on Wednesday at Memorial Stadium. Cal senior attacker Sam Price led all scorers with seven points (4 goals, 3 assists). Five Golden Bears – senior attacker Sam Price, junior midfielder Alex Tickner, junior midfielder Alyse Kennedy, freshman midfielder Vail Horn and senior attacker Elizabeth T Jahp – scored hat tricks, with Price scoring four goals and tallying three assists to lead all scorers with seven points. The Bears improved their record to 5-8 (3-1 MPSF) and snapped a five-game losing streak with the victory. Saint Mary’s fell to 1-8 (0-4 MPSF).

Price tied her personal scoring record of seven points set in Cal’s season-opening 19-0 win on Feb. 7 at Fresno State. She also tallied four goals and three assists against the Bulldogs. That seven-point total ties her for fifth place on Cal’s all-time single-game scoring list.

The Bears’ previous team goal-scoring record was 21, set in a 21-10 win over UC Davis on April 5, 2008, in Davis, Calif.

Mens tennis tt ake on Arizona:

at No. 20 Arizona
Saturday, April 4 – 1 p.m.
LaNelle Robson Tennis Center | Tucson, Ariz.

vs. No. 18 Pepperdine (Senior Day)
Tuesday, April 7 – 1 p.m.
Hellman Tennis Complex | Berkeley, Calif.

Complete April 1 California Men’s Tennis Release in PDF Format Get Acrobat Reader

THIS WEEK: The No. 44-ranked California men’s tennis team (8-7, 0-2 Pac-10) buckles down for two matches against top-20 teams this week. First, the Golden Bears will head to the desert and look to extend a six-match winning streak against the Wildcats as they take on No. 20 Arizona (16-2, 1-1 Pac-10) at the LaNelle Robson Tennis Center in Tucson, Ariz. on Saturday, April 4 at 1 p.m. Upon its return to campus, Cal faces No. 18 Pepperdine (13-8, 1-0 WCC) on Senior Day at the Hellman Tennis Complex on Tuesday, April 7 at 2 p.m. Geoff Chizever and Eoin Heavey will be honored in pre-match ceremonies. The match at home against the Waves will feature live webcasts from each court via the CalBears.com men’s tennis website.

Baseball loses to Long Beach State:

BERKELEY, CALIF. – Trailing only 6-4, the California baseball team yielded eight runs in the seventh inning and went on to fall to Long Beach State, 19-7, Wednesday afternoon at Evans Diamond. Earlier this season, the Golden Bears had swept the 49ers (11-8, 9-6, 6-3) Feb. 27-March 1 in Long Beach. The Golden Bears dipped to 15-11 and Long Beach State even its record to 12-12. Cal did have some offensive highlights, however, as junior first baseman Blake Smith and sophomore right fielder Mark Canha hit back-to-back home runs to lead-off the third inning, and junior center fielder Brett Jackson hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning.

The losing pitcher for Cal was sophomore right-hander Yasser Clor (3-1, 2.0 innings, six hits, five runs, three walks, two strikeouts), who lost his first game of the year. Long Beach State’s T.J. Mittelstaedt went 4-for-5 with two doubles, a home run and six RBI. Canha and sophomore left fielder Dwight Tanaka hit doubles for the Bears, while Smith hit his second home run in as many days. Both Canha and sophomore designated hitter Brian Guinn extended their hitting streaks to 14 games.

Cal will next return to Pac-10 play when they travel to Corvallis, Ore. for a three-game conference series versus the Beavers, beginning Friday, April 3 at 5 p.m. at Coleman Field/Goss Stadium.

Track and Field at Sac Invite this week:

This Week
California makes a short trip to Sacramento this week for the Sacramento State Elite Invitational on Saturday, April 4, on the Sacramento State campus. The Invitational kicks off with the women’s hammer at 10 a.m. The running events begin at 12:30 p.m. with the women’s 5,000 meters. Cal added 10 NCAA regional qualifiers last weekend at Stanford Invitational, and now has 19 on the season. The Cal men are ranked No. 21 in the USTFCCCA preseason rankings.

Last Time Out: Stanford Invitational and UC Davis Multis
At last weekend’s Stanford Invitational, junior Yosef Ghebray clocked in at 28:32.27 in the 10,000 to set the school record, surpassing Girmay Guangul’s time of 29:17.78. Ghebray’s time was also an NCAA automatic-qualifying time. Sophomore Cherrelle Garrett won both the 100 and the 200, and set regional-qualifying times in both those events. In the 200, Garrett clocked a personal-best time of 23.63, just shy of fifth on Cal’s all-time career list (23.62).
Sophomore Kyle Mills-Bunje and freshman Kevin Kuechler also competed in the UC Davis Multis last week. Mills-Bunje set a new personal best in the event with a final score of 6,778 points and placed third overall. Current Cal volunteer assistant coach, Mark Jellison, won the event with 7,274 points.

Mens Gymnastics heads to Championsihps:

The No. 3 California men’s gymnastics team will make the short trip down to Stanford, Calif., for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships on Saturday, April 4 at 4 p.m. at Maples Pavilion. The Bears stand an excellent chance of winning the meet after their successful 9-1 regular-season campaign. Cal finished third at last year’s conference meet and last won it in 2004.

Where the Cal Team Ranks Nationally
Team: No. 3
Floor: No. 7
Pommel: No. 3
Rings: No. 4
Vault: No. 7
Parallel Bars: No. 3
High Bar: No. 2

Can I just say how weird it is to find out that two of your friends who have been going out for about as long as you can remember broke up…through changes to their relationship status on facebook newsfeed. It’s a stark introduction to the news.

Not to continue to write random shit here, although I do wish to continue to write random shit, but I just remembered that once I was standing in line at the supermarket. The dude in front of me was only buying 1 thing, a home pregnancy test.

The checker was all “Congratulations???” with a tone implying confusion as to whether he was getting the test for positive or negative reasons. And he stopped, looked at her and with the most depressed tone I’ve ever heard, just said “No.”

That…………………was awkward.

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/pac10/0-8-3/Ranking-the-Pac-10-s-30-best-players—No—8.html

also, they still haven’t ranked javid best yet.

Anybody see South Park last night? Hilarious stuff!

So…is there a J.O. chat today? Link?

I am incredibly disappointed that this is not DBD 4.2.09 Because you didn’t know enough about MIddle School TwistNHook

I was considering posting that but I think I would be the only one to find it amusing.

Scientists have detected particles that may come from invisible “dark matter”.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7977102.stm

Dana White verbally attacks journalist. Check out the vid.

I have to say, White sounds pretty stupid and overly agressive.

…at Dodger’s Stadium. Should I wear:

a. Giants gear (my team)
b. A’s gear
c. Cal gear
d. Hipster gear

Thanks, I’ll take my answer off the air.