murray state @ cal news notes

[shawn555]

Murray State men's preview | Kennedy knows Racers overdue

By Michael Grant ? mgrant@courier-journal.com ? November 8, 2009



No.2 isn't good enough at Murray State.

Coach Billy Kennedy has proved he can guide the Racers to good seasons but not great ones.

A program that prides itself on having the greatest basketball tradition in the Ohio Valley Conference hasn't sniffed a championship in a while. Murray State has finished second in the regular season in all three of Kennedy's years and hasn't reached the OVC Tournament final. That's three straight years without an NCAA Tournament appearance.

That's an eternity at Murray. The NCAA drought is the Racers' longest since they failed to make the tournament from 1970-87.
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This season they're the OVC co-favorites along with Morehead State. But they were favored last year, too. As usual, Kennedy said the pressure isn't getting to him, but he admitted to a feeling of urgency.

All of the current players except Tony Easley are his recruits. Senior forward Danero Thomas, junior guard Isacc Miles and sophomore forward Ivan Aska were All-OVC selections. The talent is there to (finally) win the league.

?I don't think there is any more pressure this year than there was my first year,? Kennedy said. ?The expectations here are to win every year. They have had a lot of success. They have a great tradition. There is pressure there. If anything, there is a sense of urgency by our coaching staff and by our team. We've got guys that have been in the program. ... This is our best chance to win it since I've been here.?

Four returning starters and 10 lettermen make a good foundation. Thomas (12.5 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 1.5 spg) is a versatile perimeter player. Aska (10.3 ppg, 5.8 rpg) was the OVC Freshman of the Year. Miles was seventh in the conference in assists (3.8) and averaged 10.6 points.

Murray also should be deeper in the backcourt. Last season it lost Jewuan Long to a knee injury and replacement Donte Poole to a broken collarbone. Liberty transfer B.J. Jenkins (9.9 ppg, 4.4 rpg in 2007-08) ought to fortify an offense that was eighth in the league at 68.4 points per game.

?One of the reasons we signed Jenkins is that we wanted to bring in a guard who could score,? Kennedy said. ?He's going to help us. Donte Poole, who had some double-figure games, has gotten better. ? I think we're going to be better all the way around because we have better players.?

Defense hasn't been an issue. The Racers gave up the fewest points in the OVC (63.2), were third in field-goal percentage allowed (.432) and were second in rebounding margin (plus-3.1).

?We feel like we're deeper, more talented and more experienced,? Kennedy said. ?That should lead to making up the difference, we hope, between second and first.?

 

[shawn555]

murray state game notes
https://admin.xosn.com/fls/6700//MBB Game Notes/09-10/11-9-09bbgamenotes09-10-Cal.pdf?DB_OEM_ID=6700


cal game notes
http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/cal/sports/m-baskbl/auto_pdf/118wrel.pdf

 

[IE]

Cal Bears basketball team faces solid Murray State in season opener


A Cal basketball season that comes with more expectations and promise than any this decade opens tonight, not with a glamorous trip to Madison Square Garden but against an opponent with a modest profile and solid resume.

"We've got a lot of land mines on our schedule. It's unlikely we'll make it through all of them," Cal coach Mike Montgomery said. "I'm not talking about the North Carolinas and Kansas. I'm talking about the other guys."

He was talking about a visit by Murray State tonight, then Detroit on Wednesday, in the opening games of the Coaches vs. Cancer tournament that will take the 13th-ranked Golden Bears to New York City a week from now.

Tipoff tonight is at 8 at Haas Pavilion.

Before facing Syracuse at the Garden on Nov. 19, then possibly defending national champion North Carolina the next night, the Bears will be challenged by the Racers, who return four starters from a 19-victory team picked as a co-favorite to win the Ohio Valley Conference.

Cal, the Pac-10 favorite with four starters of its own back from a 22-11 squad, cannot afford to take the Racers lightly.

"They're one of those dangerous teams that people don't know about out here," Montgomery said. "They've got really good athletes, they really know how to play, and they're very confident. So it's a little bit scary."

"If you look ahead, you're just setting yourself up for an upset," senior point guard Jerome Randle said. "We have to get past
these two games, then worry about Syracuse."

Murray State, coached by one-time Cal aide Billy Kennedy, won't be easy.

Led by senior Danero Thomas, a preseason All-OVC pick and the leader of a three-guard alignment, the Racers attack off the dribble more than they shoot the 3-pointer.

"They're real good off the point of attack, which is a concern for us," Montgomery said.

The Bears will play tonight without junior power forward Harper Kamp, who continues to rehab his surgically repaired knee. Sophomore guard Jorge Gutierrez is expected to play after twisting his ankle Thursday in the Bears' exhibition win over Chico State.

 

[IE]

Cal Bears could be contenders, but college basketball isn't what it used to be



THOUGH LOFTY national prognostications have placed the bar for Cal basketball at a height never seen during the Ben Braun years, it would be unfair to place full blame on the man who spent 12 years coaching the Golden Bears.

It's not Braun's fault that college basketball talent is not as rich or deep as it once was.

Truth is the national perception of the 2009-10 Bears says much more about the state of college hoops than it says about this particular team. Insofar as they return every key member of last season's 22-9 club, the Bears are positioned to benefit from the new standard. Specifically, they are better because gifted juniors Jerome Randle and Patrick Christopher are now gifted seniors.

Practically every college basketball observer between the Pacific and the Atlantic considers these Bears a preseason top-15 team and, moreover, the preseason favorite to win the Pac-10 title.

"We've got a lot of people back and we had a decent season last year, surprised some people," coach Mike Montgomery says. "Generally speaking, I hope (the prognosticators) are right, that it works out that way."

The upshot is Randle and Christopher being handed a set of expectations not seen at Cal since Jason Kidd and Lamond Murray were running the fast break in 1993-94.

Yet Randle and Christopher do not project to the kind of NBA lottery status afforded Kidd, who was drafted second overall in 1994 by Dallas, and
Murray, who went five picks later to the Los Angeles Clippers.

Kidd and Murray, however, failed to meet expectations at Cal. The 1993-94 Bears were preseason favorites to win the conference; they finished tied for second. They were ranked No. 6 in the preseason and that was easily their highest all season. The biggest disappointment was that those Bears under coach Todd Bozeman were bounced out in the first round of the tournament.

Given this bit of history, what has been laid at the feet of Randle and Christopher ? as well as Montgomery ? is at least as much blessing as burden.

"I think we can manage," says Christopher, a 6-foot-5 wing.

"It's a lot of pressure on us," Randle, the 5-9 point guard, says. "I think we're ready for the challenge."

Christopher and Randle have an opportunity to win a conference title, something not done by any of Cal's stars in 41 years of Pac-8/Pac-10 hoops. They also have a chance to establish Cal as a consistent contender in the current landscape, in which the game's best tend to flee after one season.

This turnover has diluted talent, placing an increased premium on effort, which is a prerequisite if Cal is to fulfill its potential. It would compensate for the absence of an impact post man and a general lack of size. It's the only way for the Bears to stay at or near the top of the Pac-10.

And that brings us to backup guard Jorge Gutierrez, the 6-3 human floor burn. Though Christopher and Randle lead by skill and know-how, though Theo Robertson can shoot with the best of them and Jamal Boykin brings the intensity, Gutierrez can set the tone with relentless pluck and hustle.

So much so that Randle, when asked to visualize the results if everyone on the team matched Jorge's desire, responded by saying they'd "probably have a national championship."

An exaggeration, no doubt. For now the Bears will settle for continued separation from the upscale mediocrity of Braun's term. Though he brought a measure of stability to the program after inheriting significant talent and an ethical mess left behind by Bozeman, Braun's Pac-10 record was 110-106.

Montgomery, by contrast, had a 213-111 conference record at Stanford and was 11-7 in his first season at Cal.

So Randle's bold statement carries weight. Cal's biggest problems last season were its difficultly maintaining a high effort level and its failure to handle success. The Bears got precisely what they deserved, a first-round ouster in the NCAA Tournament.

As they open the season tonight at Haas Pavilion against Murray State, there is the promise of so much more. The Pac-10 media have picked the Bears to win the conference. They were ranked as high as No. 8 and no lower than 20th in the various preseason polls.

It's not because they're overrun with talent. It's because college basketball's floor has been lowered appreciably. Somebody is going to take advantage. Why not Cal?