Bears buck Bronc's in lopsided affair

November 21, 2:07 PMCal Bears ExaminerRob Calonge

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California's Theo Robertson regains
possession on the floor in front of
Texas Pan American's Nick Weiermiller
during the first half of an NCAA college
basketball game Thursday, Nov. 20, 2008,
in Berkeley, Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

Should I take a moment to gloat?  Actually, may I?  Alright, so picking the Bears to beat the University of Texas-Pan American Broncos isn't anything to gloat about, but I was close on the score.  The Cal Bears prediction was an 88-57 whooping by the Bears, but in reality the score ended up being 85-58.  So before I get all Nostradamus on you, I'll stop the gloat and get back to business.

Four Bears scored in double figures and Cal's defense hassled the Broncos into 21 turnovers and had nine steals on the way to the opening game win in the 2008 Global Sports Classic.

Jamal Boykin scored a career and team high 18 points on 8-9 (2-2 free throws) shooting to lead Cal.  Theo Robertson (10 pts), Jerome Randle (10 pts), and Patrick Christopher (12 pts) were the other Bears that scored in double-digits.

UTPA's Emanuel Jones led all scorers with 21 points, but the only other Bronco to score in double figures was Nathan Hawkins with 10.

Cal is unbeaten in the Mike Montgomery era at 3-0, and continue to improve under his tutelidge.  As has been the case since he took over, he's stressed fundamentals and defense and he's beginning to see the fruits of that effort.  The Bears had seven players record steals and two players record blocks for a team total of three.  Coming into last night's game, the Bears had only recorded six steals and two blocks, both of which they outdid against the Broncos.

Montgomery agrees that the Bears are moving in the right direction.  When asked where he thinks the team is after their first few games he stated:

There's so much to be done, but you see signs of things that you like. This is the third game in five nights so we haven't really practiced. There was some slippage in execution, but again, we do shoot the ball. If you don't guard some of our guys, they're going to shoot it in.

UTPA head coach, Tom Schuberth, has a different perspective, of course, but that may be why he is even more complimentary than Montgomery is letting on.  When asked of his impression of the 2008-09 Cal team he said:

I think Cal could be a special team. This is their fourth game where they've shot over 60 percent, so it's not like it's a fluke. They're just great shooters and they're unselfish and they've got a lot of weapons. They turned up the heat and give them credit. I knew they were a great offensive team - they've done this the last three games that I've watched on tape - but when you can't stop people, you lose your confidence.

Maybe the Bears are somewhere between the perspectives of both coaches in terms of how good they are or could be, but for now, they are undefeated and riding high.  While the game against the Broncos or the next game against NC A&T doesn't have any bearing on the tourney as to who they'll play next, when they meet up with a strong UNLV team they should start to get answers as to how good they are now.

One guy that's impressing opposing coaches so far is Jerome Randle.  To go with his 10 points, he also created offense with his seven assists and prevented it with two steals, and all of this was done in only 24 minutes.

Who I was impressed with was Randle, who's averaging almost 25 a game, comes in and you could tell his mission tonight was to get the other guys involved, and he was fabulous. I don't know if they could have shot the ball any better if there was no defense out there.
- Schuberth on a particular Bear that impressed him.

The Bears next face North Carolina A&T on Monday night at 7:30pm in Berkeley.