Cal Men's Basketball: Undefeated!

What are the things that encourage you about the Bears so far?

Avinash: Justin Cobbs and Allen Crabbe, who are undoubtedly the best backcourt in the Pac-12. We have a clear floor general in Cobbs, and he runs things so smoothly when he's on the floor. He's our most efficient scorer, and has made the pull-up two-point jumper with such frequency that I just shrug off the ones he misses. There are still some rough edges, but he's definitely emerged as our leader on the court.

Crabbe has expanded his game. Instead of relying mainly on his three point shot, he's able to penetrate and get buckets with the dribble drive (mostly with the floater, but occasionally with the pull-up). And he's starting to get to the line with great regularity. Very encouraged with their start to the season.

ragnarok: Encouraging is 6-0, with 4 of those wins away from Haas. True, on paper Cal should out-talent every team we've faced so far, but perhaps UCLA and definitely UW should be able to say that as well. Moreover, winning 4 road/neutral games is certainly encouraging.

Vincent S: We haven't lost! And like ragnarok says, we're pretty good away from Haas. We're capable of playing amazing defense for stretches at a time. We have two scorers that have the ability to take over the game.

TwistNHook: BACK-COURT! BACK-COURT! Kreklow. BACK-COURT!

LeonPowe: It seems like Justin Cobbs has taken a huge step into his talent - and is along with Crabbe at least a co-best player on the team. I am super comfortable with Cobbs as the guy at the end of the game and Crabbe as the sniper/point machine.

What are the things that worry you about the Bears so far?

Avinash: Same thing that always worries me. What's our bench going to give us?

Tyrone Wallace is already wowing me, but if Kreklow stays injured he's pretty much a starter coming off the bench (he already is averaging about is many minutes than Brandon Smith). After that, we have Thurman (who occasionally has a decent game), and after that...man.

Christian Behrens has the frame to really produce off-the-ball or someone who can crash the boards and get buckets. Khalil Johnson has a nice skillset, but seems to be a year away from fully grasping the offense. As for Bak Bak, I just hope when he touches the basketball, it doesn't explode in his grasp.

ragnarok: I worry about our short rotation, which might be shorter for a while if Kreklow is out for an extended run. The Bears under Monty seem to live and die with around a 7-man rotation, and while I can't argue with the guys Monty chose to leave on the bench, I was hoping that by his 5th year in Berkeley he could have build a roster where he could safely run 9-10 guys out there that wouldn't cost us a chance to win the game. Last year we had a talented team with 2 very good seniors, but our short rotation really contributed to the Bears' fade down the stretch.

Vincent S: Depth, depth, depth. We seemingly have 3 playable bigs. If any one of them receives an injury or gets into foul trouble, our rotation is compromised. We have 5 capable guards, one of whom is already injured. We're halfway into nonconference and we already play Cobbs and Crabbe 95% of the second half every game. I don't know how we keep winning games, but we somehow do.

TwistNHook: FRONT-COUNT! FRONT-COURT! Kreklow's health. FRONT-COURT! FRONT-COURT!

LeonPowe: Depth, and lack of real strong advanced development for the bigs.

Injury update!

Ricky Kreklow news. He appears to be out for Wisconsin:

Sophomore guard Ricky Kreklow, who missed all three games in the DirecTV Classic last week in Anaheim after feeling pain in his surgically repaired right foot, showed no structural damage in X-rays.

Still, Kreklow is listed as doubtful to play Sunday when the Bears (6-0) visit Wisconsin (4-2).

Update from Moraga Bear:

Actually, they did an x-ray but no mri.

There's no structural damage just inflamation and scar tissue issues.

The goal is a return for UNLV on the 9th but they won't rush him if he doesn't seem ready yet.