Golden Nuggets: Looking Ahead to 2010-11

In his post-game thoughts, Faraudo looks ahead to the drastic changes the team will undergo for the 2010-11 season.

– Do the Bears need to get bigger? Asbolutely. A year from now, their big men actually could be the strength of the team. I talked with Harper Kamp in the locker room and he cannot wait to get started. Figure him to be a leader and a productive player for the 2010-11 Bears. Max Zhang will be better, Markhuri Sanders-Frison hopes to clear up his back problems and get into better shape, Bak Bak is taking care of his academics (according to Kamp) and incoming freshman Richard Solomon (who needs strength and bulk) will provide some athleticism up front. And you can bet that finding a true big man will be the coaching staff’s top priority this summer.

– I have declined until now to comment on Internet rumors that Max Zhang might be leaving to join the Chinese National Team. Well, I talked to him afterward and he said, "I will be back." He noted that he has commented on several occasions that he’d someday love to play for his national team, but that there is no year-round program to be a part of in any case. But he will be at Cal next season, and if he improves as much as he did from a year ago, that’s good news.

– For anyone still wondering, Omondi Amoke WAS NOT in Jacksonville this weekend. Again, we decline to offer speculation on what he did to get himself indefinitely suspended — there is plenty of that online if that’s your preference. We may not always have every bit if information you’d like (although we will try), but we will not publish unsubstantiated rumors. They may be right sometimes, but often they’ll be wrong.

– Biggest question mark for next season’s team: Who plays point guard? My guess is junior-to-be Jorge Gutierrez gets the first shot, although I wonder if Mike Montgomery might prefer someone else — Brandon Smith or incoming freshman Gary Franklin Jr. — earn the job so Gutierrez can remain primarily off the ball. Point guard requires a lot of energy that Gutierrez could use on the defensive end of the floor.

After the jump it's all Cal-Duke, as a successful season came to an end.  Monty, Randle, and PC praise the stout Duke defense, the seniors talk about their college careers coming to an end, and Cal's incoming recruits continue to give hope for future success for Monty's teams.

Cal Basketball

• SFGate recaps the game.  Taking a moment to think about Cal's lowest-scoring game of the season, Boykin called the 52-point offensive output "shocking."  Monte Poole says Duke was unquestionably the better team in the contest.
• Faraudo follows the game in the live thread.  Close for the first seven minutes, Duke made a big run early on and never looked back.
• Pat Christopher says this was the best he had been defended by any team.  That coupled with trying to come back after receiving several stitches in his head, led to one of PC's worst games of the season.
• Wilner gives a few impressions from the Cal-Duke game.  He makes an excellent point in his final note, "Any Old or Young Blue who’s disappointed in the season might want to consider a reality check."
• We get a full transcript (beware, it's in .pdf form) from the last post-game press conference of the year.  Monty, Randle, and Boykin talk about the tough, physical play of Duke, their dominance in the paint, and the reality that this is the last time the five seniors will play for Cal.
• Allen Crabbe and Richard Solomon led their team to a 21-point win to capture the Division IV title.  They'll face Berkeley-St Mary's next weekend in Bakersfield.  Meanwhile Gary Franklin Jr's season came to an end as Santa Ana-Mater Dei lost to LA-Westchester in the Division I final.