It speaks well for freshman Allen Crabbe that after scoring 13 points in the final 3:20, his first thought during the post-game interview was about his team, not himself. "I just want to say I’m proud of my team because we didn’t give up. We didn’t show any weaknesses. We believed we could make a last run and we did," he said.
"It was very exciting. It sucks to lose, but we fought hard."
The game was a learning experience for the promising freshman. If he can score 13 in three minutes while playing aggressively, and if he averages 32 minutes per game, then I'm looking forward to his 138-point performance against USC on Saturday.
"It was a learning experience for me," Crabbe said. "In the end, I just said that I have to be aggressive if we're going to make those runs. I need to help my team, and I did all that I could. I just need to start earlier, try to get to the basket and kick it to open people. They did a good job defending me, coming off the screens. I would come on a curl and they would bring up a big, but I felt like I was getting intimidated. I was doing what I was doing earlier in the season: not being aggressive enough. It sucks that I started doing all the aggressiveness late, but I just have to learn from this and learn that I have to be aggressive for 40 minutes."
After the jump Boyle's team bounces back from an unpleasant weekend, Cam Jordan heads to the Senior Bowl, and Wilner releases his pre-pre-preseason Pac-12 predictions.
Basketball
- After a miserable weekend in Washington, the women's team bounced back with an 82-71 win over USC.
- Joanne Boyle was pleased with the performance, especially since UCLA comes to town on Saturday.
- Faraudo's 20 Questions guest this week is Allen Crabbe. Crabbe clearly has a good head on his shoulders (though his remark that Toy Story 3 was 2010's worst movie is absurd).
- Faraudo follows the up-and-down loss to UCLA.
- Ted Miller puts together an offseason to-do list for Pac-12 teams. Not surprisingly, Cal has a lot of work to do on offense.
- Cameron Jordan has accepted an invitation to the senior bowl.
- Wilner comments on the team's staff changes and solid recruiting class.
- Cal has made no official announcement, but here's another report that Coach Michalczik is coming back.
- Wilner projects a fourth-place finish for Cal next year...in the North Division.