Cal Men's Basketball Has Room for Seconds, Polishes off Danish 95-78

by Kodiak on Aug 21, 2011 7:54 AM PDT in California Golden Bears Men's Basketball

For the weekend re-match against the Danish national team, the Golden Bears would have to get it done without starting big men Harper Kamp (knee) and Richard Solomon. (eye) Although both players could probably have made a go of it for a regular season game, it was a great experience for the youngsters to step up. Starters Robert Thurman and David Kravish did not disappoint going for 17 and 14 and 7, respectively. After a relatively slow start that saw the Bears establish a slim 26-24, 1st quarter lead, they steadily pulled away. It was 50-44 at half, 71-61 after three, and then the young Bears blew it open in the 4th to close with a thirteen point margin. It's unknown how much playing time the younger players will get once Monty shortens his rotation towards the regular season. However, it's great to see that many of them might be ready to contribute sooner rather than later. In particular, Robert Thurman has had a really strong trip and looks to challenge Bak Bak to be the 1st big off the bench this year. We really appreciate assistant Coach John Montgomery's willingness to update us via his twitter account, @JohnMontyCal. And, a special shout-out to adminstrative assistant, Jenna Hall, for her in-game tweets. After the jump, the actual live tweets and the rest of the stats.

Cal vs Danish national team about to get underway...Go Bears!

Starting 5- Robert Thurman, David Kravish, Allen Crabbe, Jorge Gutierrez and Justin Cobbs

Score after first quarter- Cal 26 Danish 24

Halftime score- Cal 50 Danish 44

Second half starting 5- Robert Thurman, David Kravish, Allen Crabbe, Jorge Gutierrez and Justin Cobbs

Score after 3rd quarter- Cal 71 Danish 61

Final score- Cal 95 Danish 78...Go Bears!

Final stats - Thurman 17, Kravish 14 & 7 rebs, Crabbe 13, Powers 10, Gutierrez 9, Cobbs 8 & 8 assts , Smith 7, Behrens 6, Murray 5, Rossi 3

Kamp and Solomon DNP

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Comments

Was i nightmaring somewhere that Jorge was not gonna come back for his senior year and instead play in Spain? Confused.

Fire Starkey. You... complete me.

by since1997 on Aug 21, 2011 9:32 AM PDT reply actions

Your Comment

Your comment here is the first that I heard of it.

Obviously it did not happen.

by Jimes-boy on Aug 21, 2011 2:45 PM PDT up reply actions

’Haven’t heard anything about that, since.

Old Toothwrangler

by Kodiak on Aug 21, 2011 7:15 PM PDT up reply actions

It seems doubly unlikely with all of the marginal NBA talent right now hunting for jobs. I love Jorge, but he’s not as good as some of the guys on the margins of the NBA who are looking for jobs overseas right now.

by LeonPowe on Aug 21, 2011 7:26 PM PDT up reply actions

that was

an april fool’s joke i did. double fooled you!

by ondal on Aug 21, 2011 7:34 PM PDT reply actions

My guess...

… is that Montgomery told his team these last couple of games to dump the ball into the post and try and get Thurman and Kravish some developmental time. Excellent decision! Everyone knows we are thin in the post and the best way to fill that need is to get those guys LOTS of experience. We didn’t need Jorge taking lots of shots!

2nd, now that Jorge is back in the starting lineup, I see that it’s Cobbs alongside him, not Smith. So, I’m guessing that means that Smith may have lost his starting job.

3rd, Emerson is completely MIA. If he doesn’t have an injury, then it appears he is buried in the depth chart, behind Powers and a (shooting) struggling Rossi. ….Oh, whoops. I see he got 5 points. Sorry.

4th: Predicted rotation after this tour:
1: Cobbs
2: Jorge
3: Crabbe
4: Kamp
5: Solomon
*Smith subs for either at the 1 or 2
*Thurman subs for either 4 or 5. Or, can Bak reclaim his slot ahead of Thurman?

Fighting for the 3rd sub slot are many (in this order): Bak (or Thurman), Powers, Kravish, Emerson, Rossi, Behrens.

I don’t see Monty using more than 3 subs much. He’s kept a really short bench in recent seasons.

by concordtom on Aug 21, 2011 7:41 PM PDT reply actions

He’s kept a really short bench because the bench WAS short. I think we might see it extend to nine-ten this year if he has nine-ten worthy of major PT.

by Avinash Kunnath on Aug 21, 2011 7:44 PM PDT up reply actions

Right.
But I’d say there are not 9 or 10 that are going to merit much PT.
There’s a pretty big drop off in talent fairly quickly. Maybe folks improve and surprise, but at this point, that’s wishful thinking.

At any rate, we are all cheering and enjoying whatever they produce. The process alone is lots of fun. Go Bears!

by concordtom on Aug 21, 2011 7:50 PM PDT up reply actions

jorge played in game 4 and smith started. cobbs started game 5. i think monty is saying the pg spot is still up for grabs

by ondal on Aug 21, 2011 8:34 PM PDT up reply actions

Agreed, with Reservations

Smith has always had his share of detractors, but fortunately he has only to please Montgomery. Why is Cobbs in the starting lineup more telling than Kravish in the starting lineup of this game? And has not Thurman started more than once on this trip?

I am not sure that one can even assume that the starting position at the point is up for grabs. It may be, but pretty early to draw conclusions based on starting and/or playing time on this trip.

by Jimes-boy on Aug 21, 2011 8:49 PM PDT up reply actions

Easy. Cobbs starting says a ton more than kravish bc Monty had smith and Jorge available but did not have either solo or kamp play at all.

I would have made the same comment about Thurman if both kamp and solo were injury free and Thurman started in front of them. It would be a sign that he had leap frogged.

Well, wait a minute…

No, I wouldn’t have. Thurman was available to play in the rotation all last season and showed where he fit. To the contrary, cobbs is new and we haven’t been able to see where he fits. Until now. Maybe.

I understand that a big part of this tour is simply to get experience and that Monty would use his lineups and playing time to get different kids experience.

by concordtom on Aug 22, 2011 9:44 AM PDT via mobile up reply actions

I would also like to say that I was very much impressed with smith’s improvement last season. His shooting perecentage from the floor and stripe improved marketly. And he was solid enough all around that I would no longer consider myself a detractor. I will still say there is a ceiling but that’s different than being a fearful and frustrated fan with every smith miss or turnover. Now, there an expectation that good things will happen when the ball is in his hand

by concordtom on Aug 22, 2011 9:55 AM PDT via mobile up reply actions

Glad to Hear It, CT!

You have mastered step 1, CT, in not being among Smith’s most egregious detractors.

However, what’s with “there is a ceiling” ?

As if there is not with every creature that has lived! Cobbs has no ceiling? Jorge? Crabbe? LeBron?

by Jimes-boy on Aug 22, 2011 10:45 AM PDT up reply actions

Ha ha ha

Funny, I was going to add nearly that exact line – that there is a ceiling with EVERYONE. But I figured that was obvious and I didn’t need to do so.
Even Michael Jordan had his ceiling, right? He couldn’t post up Olajuwon, for instance.

No, what I really meant, and I’m glad you pointed it out, Jimes, is that Brandon doesn’t live outside, but in a house. So, there’s a ceiling, see?

(Sorry, trying to be like Twist N Hook.)

by concordtom on Aug 22, 2011 4:56 PM PDT up reply actions

Good point. It is open. But who started game 4? If Jorge didn’t start, I would think bc of injury, so that doesn’t say as much as the game 5 lineup.
But yes, I understand this is reading tea leaves, it’s fluid, experimental, and outside speculation.

by concordtom on Aug 22, 2011 9:11 AM PDT via mobile up reply actions

Tea Leaves

And, of course, reading them is fun. What else to do in the dog days of August?

by Jimes-boy on Aug 22, 2011 9:38 AM PDT up reply actions

Exactly!
Just waiting for the season to start!

by concordtom on Aug 22, 2011 9:56 AM PDT via mobile up reply actions

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