Saturday, January 24, 2009

You're looking for someone to pull his pants up and go get a stop

Good quote from Cal coach Mike Montgomery after a 6-10 Oregon State team beat the 15-3 Bears at Berkeley:

"If you're not going to defend key players in critical situations and you're not going to hit key shots at critical times, you're going to put yourselves in jeopardy. You look around, and you're looking for leadership. You're looking for someone to pull his pants up, pull his socks up, flatten his nose out and go get the ball, go take a charge, go get a stop.

[As a side note, I was at the OSU-Cal game at Haas Pavilion and thought OSU's Coach Robinson did a good job of coaching for 40 minutes of play. His team played hard and, even when they trailed, they played as if they could win. Give OSU's assistants credit for preparing their guys, as Coach Robinson was in D.C. for the inauguration and missed a practice leading up to the game. OSU's 1-3-1 defense was excellent, as was their execution of the Princeton offense. OSU's Roeland Schaftenaar (6-11, 240) had 22 points and stretched the Cal defense by connecting on all four of his three-pointers.

As for Cal, the Bears lead the nation in 3-point shooting and now need to establish an inside game to complement the perimeter play or create more off the dribble to score more points in the paint.] Cal Player of note , Jerome Randle 5 of 10 from 3 point land and 8 assist .