Golden Nuggets: A First Look at Bridgford and Maynard During Spring Practice

by Berkelium97 on Mar 31, 2011 3:30 PM PDT in Golden Nuggets

One of the major storylines during spring practice is that the team needs to find a starting quarterback. During Tuesday's practice, the media had an all-too-short glimpse of Zach Maynard and Allan Bridgford, both of whom will try to take the starting role.

On offense, competition for the starting quarterback position will gain the most notoriety. For the first time since Joe Ayoob battled Nate Longshore for the position, Cal doesn't have a true front-runner for the job.

Zach Maynard, a junior transfer from Buffalo has the most experience leading a team at the D-I level. As a sophomore, Maynard threw for 2,694 yards and 18 touchdowns that were offset by 15 picks.

During the limited time allowed for media to watch, Maynard showed athleticism, accuracy, but his arm strength could be his biggest obstacle in becoming Cal's next starter -- some throws didn't have velocity required to be completions in live action play.

Alongside the other quarterbacks on the roster, Maynard has comparable height, but he is very thin. At his listed 6'3", 181-pounds, he's the smallest quarterback on the roster.

Junior Beau Sweeney and senior Brock Mansion are the only other quarterbacks on the roster who bring D-1 game-time experience to the competition for the starting quarterback position, but none of the players stood out amongst the others today. Sophomore Allan Bridgeford had a couple of good throws that stood out during the media session, but the session was far too short to give an accurate assessment of the competition.

After the jump Tedford and Marvin Jones speak after practice, Larry Scott considers moving Pac-12 games to Sundays (if the NFL season is cancelled), and the 2011-2012 basketball conference schedule is released.

Football

The first practice is in the books and JO has his report from practice. The depth chart is very fluid at the moment, with unknowns like Austin Clark taking first team reps. Tedford hopes to narrow down the QB competition to four guys after Thursday's practice. This will most likely include Bridgford, Maynard, Mansion, and Sweeney. JO has more from practice including quotes from Tedford about calling plays and toning down the offense for the younger QBs.
Spring practice has begun for the Bears. They'll be practicing all over the Bay due to construction at Memorial Stadium and turf issues at Witter Field and Clark Kerr.
Ted Miller previews the spring for the Bears, hitting such issues as finding a starting running back and quarterback, injuries, and the Bear's nomadic lifestyle this spring.
If the NFL lockout leads to a cancelled season, Larry Scott will consider moving several Pac-12 games to Sundays to offer better nationwide exposure.
BearInsider has video of Tedford's post-practice comments.
GoldenBearLair had a short interview with Marvin Jones. Jones, like many other players, has been raving about Blasquez's workouts for the players.

Basketball

The new basketball schedule was released. It is a mix of good (only playing Arizona once, playing the Oregons four times) and bad (home series against USC and UCLA during New Year's Eve weekend).
Allen Crabbe finished 6th nationwide in scoring among freshman during conference play.
Faraudo looks ahead to next season with reason to believe that the Bears will be even better.
Jorge was named to NetScoutBasketball.com's All-Internation First Team.

Baseball

In the middle of a very impressive season, the Bears are expecting more good news: the program will likely be reinstated after it received donations of about $10 million.

Softball

Swimming

12 Bears from the men's team earn Pac-10 All-Academic Distinction, with 5 being named to the first team.
USA Swimming.org has 20 questions for Nathan Adrian.
13 from the women's team were part of the All-Academic team.

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Comments

Guys

Playing bad opponents in basketball is a bad thing. Having NBA talents leave other Pac-10 schools is a bad thing.

The NCAA puts incredibly heavy emphasis on strength of schedule. It is NOT— repeat, NOT— helpful for Cal if they play a crappy selection of Pac-10 foes, or if said foes are diminished in strength through defections.

Playing the Oregons four times and Arizona once might help Cal rack up more useless, RPI-killing fluff wins, but it is a severe blow to the team’s ability to amass wins which are relevant to the selection committee.

"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.

by PaulThomas on Mar 31, 2011 4:23 PM PDT reply actions

So, aside from having an OOC schedule that consists of Duke, Kansas, Texas, Ohio State, Butler, VCU, UConn, and Florida what is the answer? Have undercover Cal operatives go to places like Ucla and threaten kids like Tyler Honeycutt that if he leaves early he’ll end up with a giant hole in his head?

I'm thinking of having a little party down in Newport.

by SoCal Oski on Mar 31, 2011 5:07 PM PDT up reply actions

I'm not sure why you're asking me for an "answer"

I don’t know that there is one, other than to continue to attempt to get high-quality OOC games. Obviously Cal has no control over the league scheduling office, so that’s just a “sucks, but it’s life” observation.

I just don’t understand why people seem to be happy about something that damages Cal’s NCAA tournament chances.

by PaulThomas on Apr 1, 2011 1:36 AM PDT up reply actions

Weak strength of schedule sucks. You know what also sucks? Losing basketball games.

Our strong SoS has not helped us the past few years. You could say it kept us out of the tournament and knocked us down to an 8 seed.

I’d be happier with a balance: average SoS and 20+ wins will do us fine..

Email: bearsnecessities@gmail.com

by Avinash Kunnath on Mar 31, 2011 5:10 PM PDT up reply actions

So this, as long as we are a 5 or 6 seed

Am I known as Cugel the Clever for nothing?

by Cugel on Mar 31, 2011 9:05 PM PDT up reply actions

Strong SOS was what had this Cal team in even vague contention for the NCAA tournament

Adding a few more crummy wins at the expense of games like Kansas would have had the team RPI in the NCAA’s equivalent of the “we don’t know why you even bothered applying” pile in a college admissions office. Cal might not even have made the NIT.

And if you think Cal got a #8 last year because of playing a strong schedule… I mean, I just don’t even know what to say to that. Cal got a #8 because neither it nor anyone else in the Pac-10 beat ANYONE outside of the Pac-10. Cal was 1-5 against the top 50. It was an upper-middle-class man’s version of this year’s UAB team.

by PaulThomas on Apr 1, 2011 1:44 AM PDT up reply actions

Say what?

1-5 vs. the top 50 is really understating our case. Three of those losses were to TOP FIVE TEAMS.

Email: bearsnecessities@gmail.com

by Avinash Kunnath on Apr 1, 2011 1:57 AM PDT up reply actions

I'm stating the same case that the selection committee saw on their nitty gritty sheets when they were evaluating ninety different teams

There probably is something to be said for trying to schedule teams #10-20 rather than 1-5, for precisely the reason that they still count on said sheet as “great wins” without actually being over truly elite teams, but it’s hard to see, this far in advance, who’s going to be “very good but not elite.” About the best you can do is to organize the teams into rough tiers and try to get a few from every tier down to #50 or so, along with maybe a few road games against teams in the 51-100 range.

Scheduling Sacramento State and its ilk, however, is a guaranteed way to get none of the above. One way to ensure that you will not have any good wins is to deliberately not play any good opponents.

It’s rather clear that Cal got a crummy seed last year because it had next to no good wins (I actually understated the case— Cal was 1-6 against the top 50 entering the Tournament last year). Think about it— why would the Selection Committee give a high seed to a team that had not proven it could beat NCAA tournament-quality opposition?

I’m pretty comfortable saying that if Cal has a sucky nonconference schedule and zero wins over Arizona, UCLA or Washington next year, the Bears are not going to make the Tournament. I mean, I suppose it’s mathematically possible for Cal to like win every single other game, or something, but let’s be realistic— there are going to be a couple of stray losses here and there. And assuming that first sentence is true, news that Cal is only getting four games against the aforementioned group is not good news.

by PaulThomas on Apr 1, 2011 2:38 AM PDT up reply actions

I mostly agree that bad opponents is a bad thing, but Is there going to be a Pac-12 Tournament, and is it still an automatic bid?

by JABear on Mar 31, 2011 5:43 PM PDT up reply actions

Yes, and yes

but the impact of player defections on Cal’s odds of winning the auto bid, in a situation where it did not already have an at-large locked up anyway, are minuscule at best.

by PaulThomas on Apr 1, 2011 1:47 AM PDT up reply actions

Well, that depends on your goal, doesn't it?

I’d much rather win the Pac-10 title and get an 8 seed than finish 3rd in the conference and get a 6 seed. I might be weird that way, but NCAA tournament success is so random.

I mean, Cal’s not going to be contending for a national title next year. If we play poorly enough that we’re a bubble team, then I’m not going to freak out about strength of schedule because the team will have had their chances to play their way off the bubble all season long regardless of who they play.

The #1 greatest threat to America: BEARS

by norcalnick on Mar 31, 2011 7:13 PM PDT up reply actions

20+ wins coming from a power conference will be good enough

The internet's most successful troll!
www.CaliforniaGoldenBlogs.com

by TwistNHook on Mar 31, 2011 8:05 PM PDT up reply actions

Is the Pac-10 a power conference at this point?

The last time a team got a top-three seed was in 2008. One second-weekend NCAA tournament win in those three seasons. Of last year’s 10-man All-Pac-10 “team”, only three are more or less definitely returning, and five are gone for sure.

Calling that a “power conference” is a stretch.

In any event, neither of those criteria are even looked at by the selection committee on a more than cursory basis. This year there were five major-conference teams which were omitted notwithstanding 20 wins. The total number of power-conference teams is 73, which means that you’re talking about about one team in fifteen meeting the criteria which you think is “good enough” and yet failing to get in. Of the BCS-league teams who actually amassed 20 wins, it’s five out of 36, or almost one in seven odds.

There is nothing talismanic about 20 wins in a “power conference.”

by PaulThomas on Apr 1, 2011 2:10 AM PDT up reply actions

No, it is a power conference, because it is one of the 6 power conferences that will always get a leg up due to the tradition.

The internet's most successful troll!
www.CaliforniaGoldenBlogs.com

by TwistNHook on Apr 1, 2011 8:05 AM PDT up reply actions

This.

*Insert something witty here*. Oh, and Stanfurd Sucks.

by FrankCohen on Apr 1, 2011 9:17 AM PDT up reply actions

Okay

How many times do various different people, and not just self-interested committee members but disinterested media who participate in mock exercises too, have to say “conference affiliation doesn’t get discussed— really, we mean it” before anyone takes them seriously?

by PaulThomas on Apr 1, 2011 9:37 AM PDT up reply actions

Except that it looks like the traditional powers are back.

UCLA was supposed to be completely out this year but got to the second round. UW had a good showing too and lost to UNC by 3. Arizona beat Duke and got to the Elite 8, losing to UConn by 2. Cal looks to be a much improved team next year; just having Cal/WSU/USC as that second tier of teams is good for the conference. They can’t necessarily beat everybody, but can play with the best of them when their game is on. They also don’t show up to every game, which is why they’re not in the top tier. As these teams continue to recover, the conference is going to steadily go back to its position atop the others minus maybe the ACC in the greater scheme of things.

by mrjpark on Apr 1, 2011 6:14 PM PDT up reply actions

?

For the first time since Joe Ayoob battled Nate Longshore for the position, Cal doesn’t have a true front-runner for the job.

I don’t think there was a true front-runner for the position in 2008 either. Riley and Longshore competed for the position. Riley won the starting job for the opener, but the starter yo-yo’d back and forth after that.

Yes, I am an Old Blue. Now get off my lawn.

by Ohio Bear on Mar 31, 2011 5:07 PM PDT reply actions

This is just a impression, but I think most people (me included) thought that a healthy Longshore would be a lock.

Am I known as Cugel the Clever for nothing?

by Cugel on Mar 31, 2011 9:07 PM PDT up reply actions

Closed Practices For Spring

Really? What the hell could be that secret?

I would understand if we were winning BCS bowls and routinely in the NC picture, but we went 5-7 last year and have been in pretty weak bowls the couple of years before that. The closed practices haven’t really paid dividends, IMH to the O.

Lighten up, Francis. I mean, Tedford.

by KikiRevenge on Apr 1, 2011 7:14 AM PDT reply actions

You don’t know that closed practices aren’t benefitting the team. It could be said that we might have lost more games had it not been for closed practices.

www.californiagoldenblogs.com

by HydroTech on Apr 1, 2011 8:29 AM PDT up reply actions

yea

If teams saw in practice that we would hand the ball off to vereen 80% of the time and the other 20% throw bubble screens, we could’ve been 0-12!!!

by ucsdgoldenbear on Apr 1, 2011 8:37 AM PDT up reply actions

nah

I dont think UC Davis still would have stopped us. So 1-11 !!

by JustBear on Apr 1, 2011 9:12 AM PDT up reply actions

lol

"We lose to Stanford in many sports, but if you want to make a Cal team quit, bring a weapon."
--Coach Clark

by carp on Apr 1, 2011 1:29 PM PDT up reply actions

If that were the case, then we really do suck.

by KikiRevenge on Apr 1, 2011 3:48 PM PDT up reply actions

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