Is Cal Basketball a Thing Now?
Cal is 6-6 in Pac-12 games, just 2½ games out of first place heading into Thursday’s action with a Saturday afternoon home game against UCLA coming up.
Several things have become apparent:
Cal basketball is a thing -- perhaps
Back on October 11, Mark Madsen made this wild proclamation: “We are going to fill up Haas Pavilion. We are going to fill up Haas Pavilion. I’m not saying it’s going to happen in 24 hours or overnight, but we will fill up Haas Pavilion.”
He was wrong about one thing: It did happen virtually overnight.
Four months ago we chuckled at Madsen’s over-the-top optimism.
But Cal drew over 8,700 for the win over Stanford when Cal had a 7-12 record, then had a crowd of 11,801 against USC on Wednesday, Cal's first sellout in seven years.
And remember, Cal averaged 2,155 in home attendance last season and its biggest crowd was 3,648.
The question now is whether Cal can draw another full house for Saturday’s 2:30 p.m. game against UCLA. Yes, it’s UCLA, and, yes, the Bruins are playing as well as anyone in the conference. But will people show up for a Saturday afternoon college basketball game when there are so many appealing things to do on the weekend in the Bay Area?
When Jason Kidd was playing, nothing kept people away from Cal basketball games.
Was Wednesday’s crowd a product of momentary excitement, or is Cal basketball a thing again?
Mark Madsen is a thing
Those who knew Madsen as a player are not surprised by his childlike enthusiasm, but it is still interesting to watch him engage the crowd with his pure unbridled joy.
Players feel it too.
Somehow I can't picture Mark Fox acting like that.
Right now, Madsen is probably running neck-and-neck with Washington State’s Kyle Smith and Arizona’s Tommy Lloyd for Pac-12 coach of the year. Remember, Cal was picked to finish 11th in the Pac-12 in the preseason media poll.
Cal has spent more money on promoting the basketball team this season, and the talent, style and success of this season’s team is far more appealing than what the Bears presented last season.
But Cal's biggest promotional weapon is Madsen’s personality.
Close games are the rule
Cal has played 17 games this season decided by single-digit margins. That is the most such games by any team in the country.
The Bears are just 7-10 in those games, but they have won their last three.
More to the point, Cal has played 10 games decided by three points or fewer or in overtime. The Bears lost the first seven of those games, but won the last three.
As Jaylon Tyson notes in the video atop this story, the Bears are figuring out how to win close games.
“In all honesty we shouldn’t be 6-6,” Tyson said after Wednesday’s win. “We really shouldn’t be 6-6, because games like this, we didn’t know how to close them. We’re finally learning how to close games.”
Big leads or big deficits mean nothing
The fact that Cal blew a 16-point, second-half lead against USC on Wednesday, forcing overtime, should not come as a surprise. No lead is safe. No deficit is insurmountable.
This season:
---Cal led Montana State by 14 points with 15 minutes left, and lost.
---Cal led Tulane by 11 points with 12 minutes to go, and lost.
---Cal led UC San Diego by 26 points in the first half and by 16 with 16;37 left in the second half, and lost the lead before rallying to win.
---Cal led Arizona State by 16 points with 16 minutes left, and lost.
---Cal led Oregon by 18 points in the first half and lost by eight points.
---Cal led USC by 16 points with 17:54 left, but USC forced overtime before Cal survived 83-77.
But:
---Cal trailed Colorado by 20 points in the first half and by 19 with 17 minutes left, and won.
---Cal trailed Stanford by 10 points with less than 16 minutes remaining, and won.
---Cal trailed San Diego State by 12 points with nine minutes left, but forced overtime before losing.
---Cal trailed Butler by 11 points with 6:54 remaining, but forced double overtime before losing.
The Bears can look unstoppable for long spans, but can look lost at other times, as they did in the second half Wednesday.
Jalen Cone can be spectacular – at times
When Jalen Cone is hot from long range, he’s really hot. When he’s not, well . . .
He went 7-for-37 (18.9%) on three-pointers over four consecutive games against Montana State, UTEP, Tulane and San Diego State, then, in the next two games, against Santa Clara and Butler, he made 14 three-point shots.
Cone went 3-for-19 from distance in consecutive games against Stanford and Arizona, but in the next two games against Arizona State and USC, he went 8-for-12 from long range. And he made some tough three-pointers against USC on Wednesday:
And when he is feeling it, distance doesn’t seem to matter:
Jaylon Tyson might be the best player in the Pac-12
Cal may not finish high enough in the standings for Jaylon Tyson to win Pac-12 player of the year honors, but he may be the best.
Tyson has scored in double figures in every game this season, is averaging 20.2 points, usually does his best work in the second half, has reached double figures in rebounds each of the past three games, is a threat from long range (4-for-5 on three-points vs. USC), can create his own shot, is almost impossible to stop off the dribble, and can be spectacular at times, as this play from Wednesday shows:
Aimaq can board
Fardaws Aimaq is not much of a jumper and frequently gets close-range shots blocked.
But the man can rebound.
He had 20 boards on Wednesday, and it was the eighth time he has had 14 rebounds or more in a game. The 6-foot-11 Aimaq averages 11.0 rebounds a game, seventh-best in the country.
Cal demonstrates how quickly a program can be turned around
The transfer portal is like a magic wand. Presto, you have competitive basketball team.
None of Cal's five starters played a single game for the Golden Bears last season.
None of Cal's top four scorers from last season is on this season's roster, but the Bears are averaging 75.6 points per game this season compared with 58.3 points last season.
Depth is an issue
Aimaq played 43 minutes Wednesday, Tyson and Cone each played 39 and Keonte Kennedy and Jalen Celestine each played 37.
Typically, the only contributor off the bench is Grant Newell, although freshman Rodney Brown Jr. has been helpful at times too. But that’s it. It’s hard to win in the Pac-12 with six players.
Will the Bears wear down when March rolls around?
Cover photo of Mark Madsen by Robert Edwards, USA TODAY Sports
Follow Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53
Find Cal Sports Report on Facebook by going to https://www.facebook.com/si.calsportsreport