Under 3rd-year coach Lewis Preston, they're hoping to build off of a 2014 season where they showed an 100% increase in number of wins...all the way to 6-25. The Owls do return all five starters and have added Memphis transfer Damien Wilson on the wing.
Senior point guard Delbert Love has been named to the pre-season Atlantic Sun all-conference team, and junior center Willy Kouassi is projected as the defensive player of the year.
As befitting their record, the Owls were all sorts of awful on both sides of the court last year. They turned the ball over on a near national-worst 23.8% of the time and allowed offensive rebounds at a 34.8%.
If there's one bright spot, Love is a dangerous three-point shooter as are his wings, Coleman and Morena. Good thing Cal _never_ lets an opposing player go off from deep.
Probable Starters:
Delbert Love, G
Orlando Coleman, G/F
Yonel Brown, G
Willy Kouassi, C
Bernard Morena, F
Keys:
1) Assert dominance
The Owls should not be able to hang with us and we need to dissuade them of that notion early and often. As will be the theme all year, we need to see our Bears crash the boards. There should be plenty of opportunities for transition baskets, so we'll want to tighten up our execution on the break.
2) Win the battle at point
Whether it's Singer or Wallace, we need to show that we can match-up against the other team's star player. Love dominates the ball, so it'll be tough to stop him from getting his points. However, we need to avoid losing him on the perimeter and be stingy about giving him anything easy.
Tip-off: Sun, November 16, 5pm
TV: Pac-12 Bay Area