Cal Basketball: The 10 Best Players the Bears Have Faced in the NCAA Tournament

Pete Newell's Teams Were Undefeated vs. Oscar Robertson and Jerry West

The NCAA tournament gets under way Thursday after a year off and new storylines and star players will emerge.

Cal has not been part of the event since 2016 but the Bears have a history in the NCAA tournament that includes consecutive Final Four appearances and a national championship in 1959.

Through 18 appearances in the tournament, Cal has squared off against some of the game’s greatest players. Here are 10 best the Bears have faced in March Madness (with the year or years they played Cal in parenthesis):

1. OSCAR ROBERTSON, Cincinnati (1959-60)

College credentials: Averaged 33.8 points and 15.2 rebounds for his 3-year varsity career and held the collegiate record-holder with 2,973 points for a decade until Pete Maravich broke it. Led the Beacats to the Final Four as a junior and senior.

Versus Cal: The Bears did what few teams achieved — held the Big O in check. In his other eight career NCAA tournament games, Robertson averaged 35.9 points, including 56 against Arkansas as a sophomore and 43 against Kansas the game before facing the Bears in the 1960 Final Four. In two national semifinal losses to Cal, Robertson averaged a mere-mortal 18.5 points on 9-for-32 shooting.

Beyond college: Robertson won a gold medal at the Rome Olympics in 1960 while playing for Cal’s Pete Newell then went on to a Hall of Fame career in the NBA during which he virtually invented the term triple-double while averaging 25.7 points, 7.5 rebounds and 9.5 assists over 14 seasons.

Jerry West and Oscar Robertson / Photo courtesy of West Virginia Athletics

2. JERRY WEST, West Virginia (1959)

College credentials: He was known as Zeke from Cabin Creek, but West was one of college basketball’s best ever. He averaged 24.8 points and 13.3 rebounds over three varsity seasons and led the Mountaineers to three NCAA tournaments.

Versus Cal: The Bears had just survived Robertson when they faced West in the national championship game. He scored 28 points but Cal won 71-70 at Louisville to bring home its only NCAA title. In seven other NCAA games his junior and senior seasons, West scored 33.9 points per game.

Beyond college: West paired with Robertson on the gold-medal winning 1960 Olympic team before embarking on a 14-year Hall of Fame career in the NBA during which he averaged 27.0 points and four times topped 30 per game.

3. ELGIN BAYLOR, Seattle (1958)

College credentials: Seattle hasn’t played in the NCAA tournament in 50 years, but in the 1950s and 1960s the Redhawks (then called the Chieftains), made it 11 times. In 1958, Baylor powered the team to the national championship game before losing to Kentucky. He averaged 31.2 points in his two seasons at Seattle.

Versus Cal: The Bears took Seattle to overtime in the West Regional final but couldn’t handle Baylor, who scored 26 points in a 66-62 victory.

Beyond college: One of the NBA’s first above-the-rim players, Baylor averaged 27.4 points an 13.5 rebounds in his career but there’s no telling how much greater still he could have been without chronic knee issues.

John Havlicek, left, faces the Warriors' Joe Ellis / Photo by Jeff Faraudo

4. JOHN HAVLICEK, Ohio State (1960)

College credentials: Havlicek improved each of his three seasons with the Buckeyes, averaging 17.0 points and 9.7 rebounds as a senior in 1962. Ohio State was good enough to reach the Final Four all three seasons, but lost to Cincinnati in the title game in 1961 and ’62.

Versus Cal: As a sophomore, Havlicek contributed 12 points as one of five starters who scored double figures as the Buckeyes shocked the top-ranked, defending champion and heavily favored Bears 75-55 in the title game at the Cow Palace.

Beyond college: Initially the sixth man on powerhouse Celtics teams, Havlicek blossomed into a star. He was a 13-time All-Star who averaged 20.8 points for his career, helping Boston win eight NBA titles.

Vince Carter / Photo by Dale Zanine, USA Today

5. VINCE CARTER, North Carolina (1997)

College credentials: Carter and the Tar Heels made it two Final Fours in 1997 and ’98, and he twice scored 21 points in the national semifinals but UNC lost both times. He averaged 12.7 points over three college seasons but his best days were definitely ahead of him.

Versus Cal: Carter scored a modest 14 points but the Heels were too much for coach Ben Braun’s first Cal team, winning 63-57 in the Sweet 16 at the Syracuse Carrier Dome.

Beyond college: Nicknamed Half Man/Half Amazing, Carter played 22 seasons for eight clubs in the NBA, retiring after last season after making seven All-Star games and scoring more than 25,000 points in his career.

Bob Kurland, center, and coach Henry Iba / Photo courtesy of Oklahoma State Athletics

6. BOB KURLAND, Oklahoma A&M (1946)

College credentials: Basketball’s first great big man, Kurland was the only member of the 1943 A&M team that was not called up for active duty in World War II because at just under 7 feet he was too tall to fit into military uniforms. He once scored 58 points in a game and was so dominant defensively the NCAA instituted a goaltending rule in 1945.

Versus Cal: Kurland scored 29 points to almost single-handedly outscore the Bears in the Aggies 52-35 win in the West Regional final. Over three tournament games, he produced more than half of his team’s points as A&M defended its national title.

Beyond college: Kurland chose not to play in the fledgling NBA but he led the U.S. to gold medals at the 1948 and ’52 Olympics.

Jerry Lucas / Photo courtesy of Ohio State Athletics

7. JERRY LUCAS, Ohio State (1960)

College credentials: A far more productive college player than his Ohio State classmate Havlicek, Lucas averaged 26.2 points and 16.4 rebounds as a sophomore in 1960. He was a three-time Big Ten Player of the Year and twice was voted the nation’s top player.

Versus Cal: Lucas scored a team-high 16 points and the Buckeyes shot 84 percent in the first half to build an 18-point lead in the national championship gam against the best defensive team in the country. Ohio State beat the defending NCAA champs 75-55.

Beyond college: Lucas won a gold medal on Pete Newell’s 1960 Olympic team and later played 11 seasons in the NBA, averaging 17.0 points and 15.6 rebounds. He was a seven-time All-Star and joins his old teammate Havlicek in the Hall of Fame.

Grant Hill scores over Jason Kidd / Photo courtesy of Duke Athletics

8. GRANT HILL, Duke (1993)

College credentials: A two-time national champion and a two-time All-American, Hill was a four-year starting small forward at Duke and scored nearly 2,000 career points.

Versus Cal: In the second round of the Midwest Regional, Hill had 18 points (teammate Bobby Hurley, now the coach at Arizona State, scored 32) along with seven rebounds and eight steals. But Cal upset the two-time defending national champs 82-77 as Jason Kidd had 11 points, 14 assists, eight rebounds and four steals.

Beyond college: Hill and Kidd shared 1995 Rookie of the Year honors and the trajectory of Hill’s career suggested he might have ranked higher on this list. He averaged 16.7 points for his career and was a seven-time All-Star in an NBA career that was ravaged by injuries.

Antawn Jamison / Photo courtesy of North Carolina Athletics

9. ANTAWN JAMISON, North Carolina (1997)

College credentials: Jamison averaged 19.0 points and 9.9 rebounds in his three college seasons, winning the Naismith National Player of the Year award in 1998.

Versus Cal: In the Sweet 16 round, Jamison scored a game-high 21 points as the Tar Heels scored a 63-57 victory to advance toward an eventual Final Four appearance.

Beyond college: Jamison played 16 NBA seasons, the first five with the Warriors, for whom he scored 51 points in consecutive games in his third season. He played in two All-Star Games and scored more than 20,000 points.

Tom Meschery / Photo courtesy of Saint Mary's College Athletics

10. TOM MESCHERY, Saint Mary’s (1959)

College credentials: A Russian immigrant, Meschery led Saint Mary’s to its first-ever NCAA tournament appearance his sophomore season of 1959. Two years later, he was the West Coast Conference Player of the Year and a first-team All-American.

Versus Cal: Overmatched by a powerful Cal team on its way to a national championship, Meschery was held to four points on 2-for-9 shooting in the Gaels’ 66-45 loss in the second round of the NCAAs.

Beyond college: The seventh pick of the 1961 NBA draft, Meschery averaged 12.7 points and 8.6 rebounds in a 10-year pro career, played in the 1963 All-Star game and eventually had his jersey No. 14 retired by the Warriors.

Cover photo of Oscar Robertson by Ronald Overdahl, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo