Cal Men’s Basketball picked to finish 10th in Pac-12

The California Golden Bears Men’s Basketball program had a couple of down years, that’s putting it nicely. However, the program took a big stride forward under first-year head coach Mark Fox a season ago.

After two eight-win seasons under Wyking Jones, Fox led the Bears to a 14-18 record including 12 wins at home and a conference record that almost equaled the season win totals from the two seasons prior.

Despite a 7-11 conference record, the Cal Bears men’s basketball program was pegged to finish just 10th in the conference again this season by the experts at CBS Sports.

After consecutive eight-win seasons that featured a combined five Pac-12 victories, the Bears took a big step forward in Mark Fox’s first season as coach. The progression of Matt Bradley had a lot to do with that. The 6-4 guard averaged 17.5 points per game during a standout sophomore season while proving to be an effective volume shooter. With front court starters Grant Anticevich and Andre Kelly back and graduate transfer 3-point specialists Makale Foreman and Ryan Betley in the mix, there’s a chance this team could improve again. If nothing else, the Bears should be fun to watch offensively as Bradley seeks to elevate his draft status during what could be a prolific junior season.

A main reason for optimism is the aforementioned-transfer player in Foreman as well as incoming freshman Monty Bowser, who was a top-115 overall recruit this past recruiting circuit.

CBS Sports also picked the coach, player and freshman of the year, spotting the first two to the Arizona State Sun Devils, and highly-touted incoming USC freshman Evan Mobley as the top pick for freshman.

The Cal Bears are scheduled to take the hard court in December as the Pac-12 and national basketball schedules are still being aligned.