Cal 81, George Washington 54: 23-0 Run Sinks The Colonials
by norcalnick on Nov 13, 2011 9:21 PM PST
in California Golden Bears Men's Basketball
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PrintFor most of the first half Cal's offense was sloppy. The Bears turned the ball over 10 times to start the game, and those mistakes allowed George Washington to take the lead twice. After 14 minutes the Colonials hit a three to take a narrow 19-18 advantage.
They never got closer than 16 the rest of the way. Cal tightened things up on both ends and more than doubled their point total in six minutes of game time. As usual, it was Jorge Gutierrez who ignited this teammates with a quick jumper, two made free throws, then a steal to start a fast break. By the time halftime mercifully paused the run Crabbe, Cobbs, Kravish and Kamp all contributed to the scoring onslaught. Cal hit three more buckets to start the second half before George Washington finally hit a field goal to end a stretch of 9:15 without a made basket.
The run essentially meant that there were 15 minutes of garbage time. Emerson Murray and Bak Bak both got double digit minutes off the bench and David Kravish got to play more than half the game, and Jorge and Harper didn't even need to spend 30 minutes on the floor. With most of Cal's starters resting George Washington cut the deficit from 26 to 16, so Monty put the starters back in. They immediately built the lead back up to 25 before Monty emptied the bench to finish things off.
So what does this win mean? Well, it means more than a win over UC Irvine, that's for sure. George Washington isn't a world beater, but they're an average team in a decent conference, so it's a decent win for Cal's strength of schedule. They're probably similar in quality to a bottom of the conference Pac-12 team, an Oregon State perhaps. That Cal (early struggles aside) so easily broke them down means that this team is exactly where we thought they would be.
The Bad
1. Ten turnovers in the first 16 minutes.
2. No new AP photos in the SBN feed. I demand pictures of gold dyed hair!
3. A mixture of bench players and starters weren't able to continue the blowout and allowed GW to kinda-sorta-maybe get back into it? I'm just trying to fill this section with something.
The Good
1. Only five turnovers over the last 24 minutes
2. Continued impressive showings from David Kravish. Most Cal fans were reasonably confident in Richard Solomon and Harper Kamp, but you have to have a 3rd big, right? It's rare for both big guys to play 30-35 minutes each without occasional foul trouble. Well, it looks like we've found our 3rd big. Kravish played 24 minutes of calm, controlled basketball. Nine rebounds, a few fast break baskets, solid defense and just one turnover in 24 minutes would be a more than acceptable performance in Pac-12 play. We'll see if he can keep it up against more athletic, talented players but I'm liking everything I've seen so far.
3. More solid play from Justin Cobbs. I don't think anybody is surprised with what Cobbs has brought to the court, but his continued good shooting, aggressive drives and all-around solid play has to put a smile on the faces of Cal fans. His ability to get to the line could be a nice addition to a team that already had the knack of getting to the line. His ability to score might really take the pressure off of the rest of our perimeter rotation.
4. Three point shooting. 8-13 from behind the arc? As I mentioned in the gamethread, who let Jerome, PChris and Theo back in the building?
A good win. We'll wait to get really excited until the Bears play Georgia and Notre Dame or Missouri in Kansas City, but right now Cal hasn't given us any reason to not to embrace the high expectations many have for the 2011-12 season.
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Kravish!
You said it, but I’ll say it again. David Kravish has been the revelation of this young season. He flat knows how to play basketball.
On O he moves well and with a purpose, sets solid screens, and makes the right play with the ball. On D he moves his feet, rotates well, gives good help, times his shot blocks well, and goes after boards rather than waiting for them.
He’s had a few lost moments and made some fundamental mistakes that I’m sure will be corrected, but it’s encouraging to have someone so obviously ready to contribute at least a handful of meaningful Div 1 and Pac-12 minutes this early in his career.
I’m quite excited to see him develop.
totally agree
Once he puts some weight on his frame I think he’ll be able to replace Kamp really well next season.
Also, Bak Bak looked as good as i’ve ever seen him out there. He showed really good hands, good energy on defense, and he hit that sweet 15 footer from the baseline.
Team is looking solid!
by ucsdgoldenbear on Nov 13, 2011 9:44 PM PST up reply actions
Bak has always had the midrange J in practice
I think it’s a confidence issue with him at game-time, more than anything.
"We don't want our people to be preoccupied with seminude, crazy men jumping up and down who are chasing an inflated object," said Sheik Mohamed Osman Arus, head of operations for the Hizbul Islam insurgent group.
He’s demonstrated he can hit the mid-range J for quite a while. He was hitting that shot last year as well. It’s the other aspects of his game that need a little work.
"i, for one, welcome our new atomic overlords" - GoldBlooded
by atomsareenough on Nov 14, 2011 6:33 PM PST up reply actions
Hands
Like his stone hands. That pass to him from under our basket out to mid-court was a turnover as soon as launched.
Similarly, Thurman saved a ball under our basket against UCIrvine, fired a hard pass to Bak and of course the ball continued past him out of bounds.
Am not sure what is the cure for this problem.
Kravish looked excellent, no doubt
Surprisingly athletic. He needs to bulk up, obviously, but he’s got time for that. He’s very quick for a player of his size.
"We don't want our people to be preoccupied with seminude, crazy men jumping up and down who are chasing an inflated object," said Sheik Mohamed Osman Arus, head of operations for the Hizbul Islam insurgent group.
thurman
a little surprised to see thurman sitting the whole game, especially with Bak and Kravish getting so many minutes. He had me hopeful he could emerge this year to give us a bigger body in the paint off the bench, but maybe his production in europe was just a tease?
On another note, I’m loving Kravish’s impact. The way he attacks the boards is impressive. Seems like he may be able to start in place of harper next year if he keeps it up
PUMP THAT SUNSHINE!
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I might be a NegaBear here, but I’m actually concerned that Cobbs’s penetration is (to me) so easily stopped. I see him drive a lot, and almost always get turned away. Sometimes this ends in an off-balance jumper, sometimes it results in contact, sometimes a nice pass. Not that I was expecting Dwyane Wade, but I thought he would look a little more dominant considering the quality of opposition the first 3 games. Hopefully I really am just worrying too much.
yea, i haven’t seen anyone on our team who can take an opposing defender one-on-one off the dribble, which might be a good thing because it means our team is more team oriented. but hopefully as pac-12 play rolls around, somebody will be able to step up and have the ball in their hand when the time comes (jorge, allen, or justin probably)
I think both Crabbe and Jorge can create their own shots – perhaps not in the traditional way that someone like, say randle did – but Crabbe can dribble into a money pull up jumper, while Jorge has a sneaky amount of spin moves, half stutter steps and scoop shots in his arsenal.
Honestly, if this is our biggest worry (I don’t think it is) we’ll be in excellent shape.
There’s plenty of offensive firepower on this team. I was hoping to see more of what Soloman could do last night, but oh well. The biggest weakness on the team offensively is there’s not much of a post presence, but outside of that….Crabbe can light it up from outside, Smith is a fine offensive role player, both Cobbs and Jorge are well rounded guys that will give you a little of everything (handle the ball, create for teammates, shoot, drive, get out in transition) even if they aren’t amazing at any one thing, Harper is a fantastic passing big man who’s comfortable with the ball anywhere on the court, he also can finish a bit and has a bit of a post game, Kravish looks like a smart player who finishes, Murray looks like he might be able to shoot it….the offense will be good. I liked the flex action they were running last night, and the 1-4 high post motion, too. Monty has them playing team ball, and they’re only going to get better under him.
by Missing Barry on Nov 14, 2011 10:06 AM PST up reply actions
Kamp might be the only player you can throw it to in the post and get points out of – but I think most college teams (especially those without Jared Sullinger and Josh Smith) don’t have traditional back to the basket post guys anyways.
Absolutely not
Kamp is in about the 95th percentile of college bigs when it comes to low-post offense. And Solomon will get his on putbacks and lower-difficulty moves. Frontcourt scoring is a non-issue for this team.
It’s the defensive end where the Cal forwards might end up being an achilles heel.
"We don't want our people to be preoccupied with seminude, crazy men jumping up and down who are chasing an inflated object," said Sheik Mohamed Osman Arus, head of operations for the Hizbul Islam insurgent group.
Well, like I said, I was hoping to see more of Soloman last night. Not ready to make a judgment on what he’s ready to provide yet. As of now, though, I don’t think the team will be able to throw it down on the block consistently and expect it to result in great offense. Harper’s not bad, and hopefully Soloman shows some growth down there, but the strength of the team is still on the outside. The team has a lot of offensive talent, and is going to perform well on offense, but ideally I’d rather be a team built around a powerful inside game than one built around an outside game. That’s not what this team is necessarily built for. That said, I don’t think big man offense is a weakness or anything.
by Missing Barry on Nov 14, 2011 8:41 PM PST up reply actions
I agree, I tend not to worry about traditional post players in the college game too much. That said, the rebounding part of things is a real concern, I think.
by Missing Barry on Nov 14, 2011 8:38 PM PST up reply actions
Kravish?
As the going gets tougher (i.e., in St. Louis) we shall see if Kravish can keep up his remarkable rebounding.
As far as post defense, Solomon has not looked half bad, in my opinion, so far. His problem has been at the offensive end.
I’ve only seen the GW game so far, so based on a sample of one, I’d have to say his problem is fouling!
by Missing Barry on Nov 15, 2011 9:19 AM PST up reply actions
At least 1 or 2 of those fouls looked like BS to me.
"i, for one, welcome our new atomic overlords" - GoldBlooded
by atomsareenough on Nov 15, 2011 3:44 PM PST up reply actions
Those were very ticky-tacky fouls about the forearm in the back. That one ref apparently loves that call…
by Missing Barry on Nov 15, 2011 8:06 PM PST up reply actions
I don’t think it’s something to be concerned about. Playing 1 on 1 basketball isn’t good ball anyways, and isn’t what a Monty coached team is about. I thought Cobbs did some nice things when he had better opportunities to use his dribble to attack the defense – in transition and off screens. He shouldn’t really be looking to break a guy down one on one unless the shot clock is running down, but rather look to attack when he gets his guy off balance.
Last note – I don’t think GW is all that good, but they are athletic, and their guards can play some D. The quality of the whole team might not be that good, but in terms of defending someone like Cobbs off the dribble, they’re not lacking in quality.
by Missing Barry on Nov 14, 2011 10:02 AM PST up reply actions
Cal looked like a good team
1. after the first 10 minutes of slop, I was impressed by how smooth the team looked, particularly on offense. They were patiently aggressive and just seemed comfortable in distributing the ball and setting themselves up. I don’t know how much to thank GW’s problems for that, but I am pleased the boys looked comfortable, confident and in control. Really liked the fact that there were multiple scoring options on the floor at all times.
2. particularly impressed because this happened with Crabbe struggling in the first half. The team was able to manufacture the run without relying on its best scorer.
3. Gutierrez (#2) and Kamp (#22) look like seniors out there, which is what you want to see. They both have very complete games now, even if they struggle sometimes finishing at the rim (who wouldn’t?)
4. My biggest concern is still on the play of the big men when Cal plays better teams. Kamp (#22) is great, but has some physical limitations. Solomon (#3) still is maturing; has yet to show much of an offensive game and needs some more savvy on d. Kravish (#45) looks awfully skinny, and while smart enough to get in the right position, does not give me much hope yet that he will be able to deal with a strong or a quick college post player. Love Bak (#15), and appreciate that he can actually shoot the ball, but he still looks like a soccer or ultimate frisbee player playing basketball.
Jason Hafemeister
Yeah they’re looking to me like a pretty good team, with the biggest weakness being inside, specifically on D. Not sure how well they’ll defend the post, or more importantly, rebound the basketball, against teams with big, physical players. Kravish supplies some nice shotblocking at least, and I would say Soloman, as well, but he doesn’t seem to be able to do that AND avoid fouls at the same time….
by Missing Barry on Nov 14, 2011 10:09 AM PST up reply actions
I hate to be pedantic...
but
After 14 minutes the Colonials hit a three to take a narrow 19-18 advantage.
They never got closer than 16 the rest of the way.
They actually were closer than 16 all the way through that initial Cal run… they were down by 2, then 4, then 6, then… ;-)
Fun game to watch. Wish there were more than 6700 or so people there to watch this team.
I gave Crabbe the MVP for the game only because I would otherwise be giving it to Jorge every game.
Solid win...
Great to see them winning big against teams they should blow out. Disappointed with Soloman’s performance, but equally encouraged by Kravish’s. Both those guys are essential to this team’s success.
So many positives from these first two games, but the one that excites me the most is 39 assist on 56 field goals. Indicative of how well this team passes and runs their offense.
Agree with paulthomas the biggest concern will be the defense in the frontcourt, but few teams will be able to take advantage. UCLA is of the most concern, but their lack of a backcourt could cancel that out. More worried about Washington though who are equally as stacked in the backcourt. The two most interesting conference matchups this year IMO
As disjointed as Arizona has looked and UCLA suspending their best player, Cal is emerging as the Pac-12 favorite. Hopefully they can keep rolling through the nonconference matchups till then.
Nah, Washington has squadoosh for frontcourt scoring options
Two of their guys are as green as an unripe apple, one is essentially incapable of scoring on anything other than dunks, and one is Darnell Gant, who is, well, Darnell Gant.
The most balanced team in the rest of the league is actually, believe it or not, Stanford. Though for whatever reason, Montgomery has absolutely owned Dawkins since they came into the conference.
"We don't want our people to be preoccupied with seminude, crazy men jumping up and down who are chasing an inflated object," said Sheik Mohamed Osman Arus, head of operations for the Hizbul Islam insurgent group.
The reason is obvious – Monty is awesome!
by Missing Barry on Nov 15, 2011 8:06 PM PST up reply actions
Rossi...
Is there any ETA for Rossi’s return? That must’ve been one gruesome sports hernia to keep him off the court for over a year.
He was supposed to be as good a recruit as Crabbe… Be really nice to actually see him play.
I’d like to see him too, more depth is always a good thing, but Crabbe was a much more heralded recruit than he was – Top 100 vs. a 3-star guy.
by Missing Barry on Nov 14, 2011 10:39 PM PST up reply actions
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