All posts by gaels360

Now that’s efficient

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Dane Pineau: 7-7; Evan Fitzner: 7-8; Jock Landale: 5-8; Calvin Hermanson: 4-6; Stefan Gonzalez: 2-3; Kyle Clark: 1-1.

That is not a fantasy basketball box score, it is the actual statistical breakdown of key Gael shooting in the team’s 81-59 defeat of Santa Clara Wednesday night in Broncoland. Overall, the Gaels made 31-49 shots for a tidy 63.3%, which will do nothing to disturb their no. 1 national offensive rating.

Ironically, Emmett Naar, the nation’s leader in three-point accuracy, missed five of six three-point attempts, dropping from 70% to 63% for the season. Naar compensated with eight assists, and back court mate Joe Rahon added seven, helping the Gaels amass 22 assists on 31 made baskets. At over 2:1, the Gaels’ assist-to-turnover record is also tops in the nation.

Number one in field goal accuracy and assist-to-turnover ratio, plus boasting the nation’s top three-point shooter, it is no wonder the Gaels score high on offensive efficiency: the amount of scoring per possession. There is a chart for that also, and the team sitting at no. 1 with a 1.269 points-per-possession mark is the little school in Moraga.  Number two is Louisville, number three is Indiana, number five is Michigan — you get the idea. These Gaels are efficient.

But still…

Apparently unimpressed with all this efficiency, Kerry Keating’s team didn’t fall down in awe. Santa Clara trailed by only four at the half, 35-31, and by the same margin, 44-40, with 14:50 to go. At that point, Naar perhaps became annoyed with the Broncos’ persistence and led an 8-0 run that settled the matter: he first executed a perfect pick-and-roll with Pineau, stole the ball from Santa Clara ace Jared Brownridge, made his only three of the night off the ensuing transition, capitalized on a Pineau block to drop a dime on Rahon for another three, then gave a sigh of relief as the score went to 52-40. The Broncos never got closer than nine points from that point on.

Santa Clara has had a roller-coaster season already, and may continue to experience ups and downs as it deals with injuries to key players. Promising sophomore Evan Wardlow is currently out hurt and forward Jarvis Pugh just returned against the Gaels. Burly forward Matt Hubbard, whom the Broncos need to back up the tenacious Nate Kratch on the front line, went down just five minutes into the Gaels’ game when he banged his tender right ankle (hurt previously) on a teammate’s foot during a pile-up in the paint.

But there is hope in Pruneland. Freshman KJ Feagin, replacing jitterbug scoring threat Brandon Clark alongside the reliable Brownridge, looks to be a solid addition, maybe better suited to the Broncos’ offense than Clark. Clark was an electric scorer, but dribbled too much and kept the ball out of Brownridge’s hands. Feagin seems content to serve as a complement to Brownridge, and that will prove more valuable in the long run.

Feagin is not just a passer, as he matched Brownridge’s 15 points — held down by a typical bulldog defensive effort by the Gaels’ Rahon — with 13 of his own. Add 10 points on 4-6 shooting by another freshman, Matt Hauser, and Keating has some punch in his back court. Waiting to acclimate himself is USC transfer Brendyn Taylor, who will be another Bronco to contend with.

Around the WCC

There were some surprises in the first week of WCC competition, none bigger than Portland. The Pilots, coming off a humdrum pre-conference performance, held court against both Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount to join Saint Mary’s and Gonzaga atop the standings at 2-0.

To say that Pepperdine under-performed on the road in the opening week is putting it mildly. Coming off a five-game winning streak that included a 79-59 pasting of the Ragin’ Cajuns of Louisiana, the Waves crashed on the shores of Spokane and Portland, losing to Gonzaga 99-73 and to Portland 87-79. Pepperdine hopes to get back in the WCC hunt through a three-game home stand against Loyola, Pacific and Saint Mary’s.

BYU, a contender for a top-four finish in the WCC, played in a tournament in Hawaii instead of the WCC’s opening week, so it and its  travel partner San Diego must wait for their conference debuts next week. BYU’s Chase Fischer enjoyed his own luau in the Cougar’s second tournament game, racking up 41 points to lead his team to a 96-66 win over New Mexico. That followed a humbling 85-82 OT loss to a rebuilding Harvard squad (4-6), so BYU continues to give off mixed signals heading into conference play.

Gaels’ schedule

The Gaels will be the first to test BYU in WCC play as they host the Cougars on New Year’s Eve. Saint Mary’s will warm up for BYU — and perhaps get a chance to pad already-impressive statistics — by hosting lowly Utah Valley on Monday, Dec. 28. How lowly is Utah Valley?

They’re 5-8, with an 85-54 loss to BYU, an 81-55 loss to Utah State and, most concerning to them, a 68-54 loss to Southern Utah, whom the Gaels slaughtered by 56 points. Undaunted, the Wolverines from Orem, UT ventured into Louisville’s back yard last night to endure a 102-77 thrashing. They will be game but perhaps shell-shocked when they arrive in Moraga.

 

Dons don’t do it

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Emmett Naar missed a free throw with 3:18 to go in the first half of the Gaels’ 74-52 defeat of San Francisco Monday night in Moraga.

That constitutes news, since it was the only thing he missed during an exquisite half of college basketball. Naar’s first-half line — 13 points, 6 assists, a steal, a few rebounds — doesn’t adequately reflect what the angelic-looking Aussie did to the Dons.

Some highlights: Naar began the scoring by going over the top of the Dons’ defense with a pass to Dane Pineau that Pineau converted for a lay-up; on the ensuing Dons’ possession, he stole the ball from Dons’ postman Dant’e Reynolds, setting up a pick and pop to Evan Fitzner, who  buried a trey; a little later, Naar dropped off a beautiful pass to Joe Rahon for another lay-up.

Then he got serious. Naar, who entered the game leading all U.S. college players with a 69.4% three-point average, sank his first three-pointer of the night at the 15:35 mark, followed with another two minutes later and nailed a third with 9:42 to go. In between, he went over the top again, this time to Jock  Landale and Landale easily converted.

On the possession after his third trey, Naar rifled a pass to Landale behind the back of the hapless Dons’ defender for another easy lay-up.

“Great court recognition on that play,” noted Comcast TV announcer Barry Tompkins. “The ball traveled 60 feet without ever touching the floor.”

Naar finished off the half with a driving lay-up as the shot clock ran down at the 4:38 mark, worked a give-and-go with Pineau for a lay-up 30 seconds later and ended things by dropping an artful dime on Pineau for a lay-up to make it 43-28 Gaels.

Naar didn’t sit out the second half but he didn’t score again either, settling for another two assists to make his total eight. He did miss his only three-point attempt of the night, giving him a 3-4 game and raising his season mark to an even 70%.

Emmett Naar serves as an extension of Gaels coach Randy Bennett on the floor. Photo courtesy of Tod Fierner.

Of course, the other Gael players contributed significantly to the beat-down of the Dons. Fitzner finished the night with a game-high 20 points on 6-11 shooting, and Rahon ended with 14 points, five assists and no turnovers. Rahon also had primary responsibility for stopping Dons’ leading scorer Devin Watson, who entered the game averaging more than 18 PPG.

By doggedly refusing to allow Watson to penetrate the lane, Rahon helped hold him to a 2-12 night and eight points. Multiple Gaels ganged up on Watson’s back court mate Tim Derksen to hold him to a miserable 1-13 evening. Thus, the Dons’ back court, which had been contributing heavily to their overall offense, totaled only 10 points out of 52.

Looking ahead

It looks to be a long season for the Dons, who have virtually no half-court game unless Watson breaks down the defense and penetrates the lane. When the Gaels prevented that, the Dons resorted to sprinting down court whenever they got their hands on the ball, with frantic coach Rex Walters running alongside exhorting them onward. Walters knew their only chance was to get down court before the Gaels set up on defense, but that tactic was only marginally successful.

With no consistent three-point shooting (7-21 for the night) and no height, Walters’ options are extremely limited with his current squad. Saint Mary’s, who will not be mistaken for Kentucky by anyone, blocked eight San Francisco shots.

On Wednesday, the Gaels take to the road for only the second time this season, heading to Santa Clara to face a Broncos squad that may be even less threatening than San Francisco. They follow with a laugher against Utah Valley (they lost to Southern Utah, whom the Gaels beat by a smooth 56 points last week) on Dec. 28, then end the year with their first real conference competition — a New Year’s Eve date with BYU in Moraga.

Naar and Rahon made a statement about powerful WCC back courts with their dominance over the Dons’ Watson and Derksen. Naar, in fact, may be emerging as the best guard in the league, and he is helping push his teammates to a position of challenging Gonzaga for league supremacy.

Stay tuned.

On to the WCC

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The Gaels, having finished their pre-conference schedule at 8-1 following a 92-36 rout of Southern Utah, can now look forward to the competition that will determine their NCAA tournament participation (if any) — the West Coast Conference race. Many WCC teams have an additional game this weekend, so records cited may be slightly off as they reflect action only through Thursday, Dec. 18.

The buzz around the WCC this fall has been the stumbles of prohibitive pre-season favorite Gonzaga. At 7-3, with two home losses and a near-catastrophic home squeaker against Montana (W61-58), the Zags seem vulnerable. Their situation is not helped by back ailments suffered by four-year post stalwart Przemek Karnowski, whose future is unclear.

Contrasted with the Zags’ troubles has been the surprising success of Randy Bennett’s Gaels, whom WCC coaches selected to finish fourth this season. There was good  reason, on paper, to downgrade the Gaels, principally the graduation of their entire starting five and a dearth of upper- classmen on the roster: no seniors, two juniors and a bunch of freshmen and sophomores.

When his fellow coaches compounded the hurt of picking his team to finish fourth by including no Gaels on the pre-season all-conference team, Bennett was philosophical. “They (the current team) haven’t done anything to distinguish themselves, so it’s not surprising,” he said.

Then he added, “But I do think we have a number of players who could prove themselves worthy of all-conference consideration.” Indeed.

Unknowns shining through

Those previously-unknown Gaels have vaulted Saint Mary’s to the top of the WCC in team scoring — 82 ppg vs. 81 ppg for BYU — and near the top of several national statistical categories. Notably, the Gaels rank 2nd nationally in three-point percentage at 47% and 19th in assist-to-turnover ratio at 10.1.

Individually, Gael shooting guard Emmett Naar leads all NCAA Division I players with a 69.4% three-point average (25 of 36). Substitute guard Stefan Gonzalez — one of those freshmen whom the WCC coaches didn’t know — ranks 28th in three-point shooting at 51.3%.

Gonzalez, for whom the phrase “comes off the bench shooting” was invented, actually has more three-point attempts than Naar — 39 to 36 — but has made five fewer. He has done this while averaging only a few minutes per game, as Bennett has proved consistently reluctant to bench his starting guard duo for any long period.

A good reason for that is the work of Naar’s back court mate, Joe Rahon, who is no. 7 in the country in assists per game, 7.1. If your point guard is among the nation’s leaders in assists and your two-guard is leading the nation in three-point shooting, a guy like Gonzalez has to take advantage of what opportunities he gets.

Balancing the offensive statistics nicely has been the Gaels’ stingy defense, which ranks 10th nationally by limiting opponents to 58.7 points per game. That big bulge between points scored — 82 — and points allowed — 59 — provides a whopping scoring differential of 23 points per game.

Forecasting the conference race

The Zags are down and the Gaels are up, so it’s clear sailing for Saint Mary’s into the NCAA tournament, right? If only it were that easy. Actually, the struggle between Saint Mary’s and Gonzaga for WCC supremacy is only one of several intriguing currents flowing through the WCC narrative.

Foremost is a huge asterisk next to the Zags’ purported downturn. With all its struggles, Gonzaga still boasts one of the conference’s signature wins, 72-70 over Connecticut, and its two home losses were to nationally-ranked Arizona and surging Pac-12 challenger UCLA.

And the Zags still field the nation’s toughest two-man front court in Domantas Sabonis (15.4 PPG) and Kyle Wiltjer (20.3 PPG). Indeed, Karnowski’s injury has cleared the field for Sabonis, who previously backed up Karnowski, to get more playing time. Since the Zags have a more-than-capable backup to Sabonis in 7-1 redshirt sophomore Ryan Edwards, they have not felt the loss of Karnowski, and I don’t think they will. He comes back or he doesn’t, they still dominate the front court.

The Zags’ problem is in the back court, where Josh Perkins, Eric McClellan and Silas Melson have fallen far short of their predecessors Kevin Pangos, Gary Bell, Jr. and Byron Wesley. Gonzaga coach Mark Few signaled impatience with his starters by giving redshirt freshman Bryan Alberts his first start in a laugher (86-50) over DII St. Martin’s earlier this week. Alberts responded with a 14-point effort, so Melson’s minutes might be in doubt.

This back court hiccup makes a potential Gonzaga-Saint Mary’s showdown even more interesting. The Gaels’ one-two punch of Rahon probing defenses and Naar bombing from three-point land is the best in the WCC. The San Francisco tandem of Devin Watson and Tim Derksen is scoring more, but Rahon-Naar is more deadly.

The rest of the story

Another perennial WCC power, BYU, has suffered somewhat the same problem as Gonzaga — replacing a back-court legend. Whereas Gonzaga’s was a three-headed legend, BYU’s consisted of one person, Tyler Haws. The prolific-scoring Haws not only consistently dropped in 20 or more points every time out, but also greased Dave Rose’s smooth-running offense. Rose has not replaced that efficiency this year, and BYU has stumbled somewhat to a 6-3 record with no road wins.

As with Gonzaga, there is caution needed before dismissing BYU. The losses were to Long Beach State (66-65), Utah (83-75) and Colorado 92-83), all strong teams playing at home. BYU’s strength is still in its back court, as freshman Nick (Sucker Punch) Emery has stepped into Haws’ shoes, and is joined by triple-double machine Kyle Collinsworth and reliable three-point ace Chase Fischer. Moving into the front court for BYU is Utah State transfer Kyle Davis, joined by ex-footballer Corbin Kaufusi, who is developing into a 6-10 menace in the paint.

BYU’s current freshman phenom is Zac Seljaas, a 6-7 guard who was Utah’s Player of the Year at Bountiful High last year, averaging 25.4 PPG. Seljaas dropped 18 on Colorado, and will undoubtedly cause heartburn for many WCC coaches this year.

Marty Wilson’s Pepperdine Waves, given the burden of topping Saint Mary’s by WCC coaches, have recently shown signs of accepting the challenge. The Waves have moved to 6-4 by winning four games in a row, over Montana (69-63), CSU Northridge, Long Beach State (77-75) and Ball State (72-63). Note the Waves handled Montana more easily than did Gonzaga and beat the Long Beach State squad that topped BYU (although at home).

Most of the Waves, principally forwards Stacy Davis and Lamond Murray, Jr., are well-known to WCC rivals, but Pepperdine may have the conference’s best bet for Newcomer of the Year in Kameron Edwards.

The wild card in this year’s conference race is Loyola Marymount. Tough-minded coach Mike Dunlap blew up the Lions’ roster for the second year in a row, and may have settled on a crew he has confidence in. The problem for WCC opponents is getting a fix on Dunlap’s charges, all of whom are brand new to the league.

A few JC transfers and a few true freshmen have carried the Lions to a 6-4 record, which includes narrow losses to Oregon State (79-70) and Boise State (67-66) on the road. Among the more colorfully-named Lions are 6-7 forward Adom Jacko, pronounced “Autumn” (no kidding), and Munis Tutu. Guards Steven Haney, who scored 26 points in a win over Cal State Fullerton, and Brandon Brown, player of the year in JC ranks last year at Phoenix College, will soon be making themselves known.

That leaves five teams at the bottom of the heap to prove themselves worthy of conference race consideration. Neither San Francisco, Santa Clara, Portland, San Diego nor Pacific have shown signs of that possibility, however.

And the winner is

Sorting through the pre-season competition  leads to the following prediction for the top half of the league:

  1. (tie Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s (16-2)
  2. Pepperdine (14-4)
  3. BYU (13-5)
  4. LMU (12-6)

I have Saint Mary’s splitting with Gonzaga, winning at home on Jan. 21 and losing in Spokane on Feb. 20. The Zags and Gaels will be the top seeds in the WCC tourney and will advance to the title game on March 8 in Las Vegas. The Gaels win it 85-79 and receive the automatic NCAA bid, while the Zags receive an at-large bid and get a higher tournament seeding (5) than the Gaels (7).

Pepperdine and BYU go to the NIT, while LMU gets its feet wet in post-season competition by playing in the CBI or comparable tournament.

(Note: I know if two teams tie for first place the next team actually finishes 3rd, but tell that to the WordPress software.)

Cal Poly RIP

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There’s no need to kick a good team when it’s down, and Cal Poly is a good  team — or at least was thinking of itself as a good team before entering McKeon Pavilion Monday night.

The Mustangs opened the season at UNLV and at UCLA — and nearly won both games. They erased a 13-point second-half deficit against UNLV and a 15-point deficit against UCLA to put themselves into a position to win. Just before coming to Moraga, Cal Poly handily beat Fresno State, 77-65, even though Fresno was standing at 6-2 with losses only to Oregon in Eugene and Arizona in Tucson. So, Cal Poly was a team with a good resume and an opportunity to cause some damage following the Gaels’ unfortunate loss to Cal on Saturday.

And the Gaels slaughtered them. Again, no need to pile on, but some statistics reflect the lopsidedness of the Saint Mary’s bounce-back win.

Stats such as the Gaels’ 19 three-pointers. That was not only a Saint Mary’s record, but was positively Golden State Warriors-like.

Stats such as 28 assists on 35 made baskets, with only 8 turnovers.

Stats such as a 60.3% field goal percentage, exceeded by a 61.3% three-point percentage.

Total domination from beginning to end, which was a neat 30-point beat-down (93-63) that made the Vegas boys’ 8.5-point spread look laughable.

Team character

It’s beginning to look as if this team doesn’t fit any stereotypes or fall into any categories that might have enveloped past Gael teams — playing down to lesser opponents, for instance. They are determinedly resolute and have their eyes firmly on the prize, whatever that may be.

Like other Randy Bennett teams, they also play with purpose, purpose that goes beyond winning. For instance, was it just coincidence that Calvin Hermanson, who could legitimately be criticized for under-performing against Cal-Berkeley, was on fire from the opening tip? Hermanson dropped 5 of 10 three-pointers en route to a personal game high of 23 points, and was primarily responsible for giving his teammates an 11-2 lead in the opening minutes — nine of those 11 points were his on three-for-three long-range shooting.

Hermanson told reporters afterwards that Bennett did, indeed, talk to him post-Berkeley, and summarized the advice as “stay aggressive.” He added that he realizes he can be a difference-maker for the Gaels with his offense, and that thought probably didn’t spring unassisted from his psyche.

Calvin Hermanson shook off a sub-par performance against Cal-Berkeley to score a career-high 23 points against Cal Poly. Photo courtesy of Tod Fierner.

Emmett Naar also starred after going 1-6 in Berkeley. He elevated his three-point percentage back into the 60% range by sinking 4-5 three-pointers, and chipped in 11 assists along the way. Just for good measure, Stefan Gonzalez, also a non-factor against Cal, made five of seven three-pointers to tie Hermanson for long-range honors.

On the flip side, Joe Rahon, who dominated the game against Cal, did not take a shot until midway through the second half. At that point, sensing a temporary lull in the Gaels’ offense, he dropped in back-to-back three pointers to get the fun started again. He finished the night with one more three-pointer and added eight assists, cementing the position of Rahon and Naar as the most deadly back court in the WCC.

Ex-Zag contribution

Did one of the Cal Poly players look familiar? Luke Miekle, the 6-9 forward who refused to roll over and play dead against the Gaels, was originally a Gonzaga recruit out of Tacoma. After arriving in 2013, he quickly sensed the beginning of a juggernaut in Spokane and removed himself from competing against the likes of Kyle Wiltjer and Domantas Sabonis.

He seems to have found a comfortable home at Cal Poly, and compiled an impressive stat line against the Gaels: 5-8 from the field and 7-8 from the free throw line for 18 points in 22 minutes. He also touched UCLA for 18, so can be expected to help the Mustangs make inroads in the Big West against favorites UC Irvine and Long Beach State.

Next time: An in-depth look at the WCC heading into conference play that begins on Dec. 21 against San Francisco.

In the lair of the bear

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In the end, two players  from Catholic schools in the East Bay led Cal past Saint Mary’s, a Catholic school in the East Bay, 63-59, on Saturday in Berkeley.

If God is, indeed, a Gael as the web site http://www.godisagael.com proclaims, He could not have been happy with Jabari Bird, the 6-5 guard out of Salesian High School in Richmond, CA, who made the heart-breaking three-pointer with 15.2 seconds left that brought Cal from one down, 59-58, to two up, 61-59.

Nor would he have smiled upon Ivan Rabb, the 6-11 forward from Oakland’s Bishop O’Dowd High School, who tormented Saint Mary’s all day long with 15 points, 11 rebounds and four blocked shots.

But Cal fans, 10,000+ of whom packed Haas Pavilion, were certainly pleased with the duo that led the Bears to a white-knuckle win they desperately needed. After sleep-walking through three lackluster wins over lackluster competition — Seattle, Wyoming and Incarnate Word — Cal re-established its credibility as a Top 20 team by holding off a furious Saint Mary’s second-half comeback.

Down by 11 at the half, 37-26, the Gaels roared back behind three three-pointers from Evan Fitzner in the first five minutes of the second half. A steal by Joe Rahon led to a three-pointer by Emmett Naar that put the Gaels ahead 45-44 with 11:48 left.  The Gaels nursed that lead for the next five minutes, eventually extending it to five points, 49-44, on a drive into the lane by Fitzner.

The lead see-sawed for the next several minutes until Dane Pineau, playing the game of his life — 10 points, 15 rebounds — soared above Rabb’s outstretched hands to sink a baby hook and put the Gaels up again, 57-56, with 2:22 left. Cal responded with a bucket to go up one, then the game settled into the hands of the Gaels’ supreme point guard, Joe Rahon.

Rahon dominated the ball and the game almost to the end. Coming off a high-ball screen that proved extremely effective for the Gaels in the second half, he juked Rabb on a layup that put the Gaels up 59-58 at the 1:37 mark. After a Cal miss, Rahon again brought the ball up-court, slowly, as if he had all the time in the world, looking for that high-ball screen. He settled for a jumper this time, missed it, but Pineau pulled down a crucial rebound that kept the ball in the Gaels’ possession as the clock ticked down to under 40 seconds.

Walton takes notice

It seemed at that moment as if the Gaels were destined to win. Rahon’s dominance moved Pac-12 Network commentator Bill Walton — who, in his ADHD-like rambling throughout the afternoon had alternated between discussing the game and subjects such as Hawaiian literature and Australian wildlife — to notice that something special was happening on the court.

“Every aspect of Joe Rahon’s game has been superb,” the former UCLA and NBA great noted.

Rahon assumed his position at the top of the key, dribbling, dribbling, looking for another opportunity to exploit Rabb. He made his move, but this  time Rabb  foiled him with a block — and perhaps a foul. Game photos revealed that Rabb not only hit Rahon’s shooting hand, but also ruffled the net. The possibility of awarding Saint Mary’s a basket on a basket-interference call and a foul shot to boot hung in the air for a millisecond. But the refs, who had called a Rabb foul on a Rahon drive at the 8:31 mark, would not bail out the Gaels this time.

Still the score remained 59-58 in the Gaels’ favor as Cal regrouped for a last attempt with 22.6 seconds left. Logic would dictate an effort to find Rabb on the low block, but Cal had other ideas. Point guard and team leader Tyrone Wallace, whom the Gaels had contained fairly well (seven points on 2-12 shooting), made a feint into the paint and the Gaels’ Kyle Clark, guarding Bird on the wing, fell for it, leaving Bird for a second to help out on Wallace. Wallace fired a pass out to Bird and he drained a three with Clark desperately trying to close out on him.

There were still 15.2 seconds left, and again Rahon came up court, looking to challenge Rabb in the paint one more time. The gods turned against Rahon at that point, however, as he was stripped of the ball, precipitating a wild scramble. The Gaels seemed to get a reprieve, however, as Rahon was fouled by Wallace with 1.7 seconds left.

Gael fans, emotionally drained only seconds earlier by Bird’s dagger, saw a promising outcome: Rahon would sink both ends of a one-and-one, sending the game into overtime. But Rahon, for all his brilliance, was not sharp in his free-throw shooting Saturday, making only one of three. He clanked the first attempt, Cal rebounded and only two more Cal foul shots in the waning tenths of a second were left of the story.

 

Who’s the favorite here?

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When news broke back in September that Saint Mary’s and California would meet in Berkeley on Dec. 12 for the first time in 11 years, the narrative immediately took on a David vs. Goliath cast: Cal was loaded, Saint Mary’s was bereft, no wonder the Bears chose this year for the game, etc., etc.

Cal has a solid back court anchored by 6-5 senior point guard Tyrone Wallace, a first-team all-Pac 12 selection last year based on his 17.1 PPG average. The only question sports fans have about Wallace is why he has taken so long to join the NBA.

Wallace is flanked by 6-6 junior Jabari Bird (10.5 PPG) and 6-4 junior Jordan Matthews (13.6 PPG). That’s height, experience and scoring power (40+ PPG), just in the back court. Matthews, WCC fans might know, is the son of former USF coach Phil Matthews.

The twin cherries atop this Coach’s Delight were nationally-ranked forwards Ivan Rabb, the 6-11 local product who seemingly spent his entire career at Oakland’s Bishop O’Dowd High School weighing which major power he would join, and Houston phenom Jaylen Brown, a 6-7 powerhouse who was considered one of the top two or three best high school players in America.

Cuonzo breaks ranks

Cal coach Cuonzo Martin could be forgiven for abandoning the caution exhibited by his predecessors beginning with the fiery Lou Campenelli, who took exception to the Gaels beating the Bears 61-51 in February, 1988 in Moraga. “Never again,” Campenelli swore about making the 15-minute trip from Berkeley to the Saint Mary’s campus, although, buttressed by the recruitment of Jason Kidd, he acquiesced to a 94-77 Cal romp at Oracle Arena in 1993. That turned out to be Campenelli’s last year at Cal, as his athletic director boss caught an earful of a typical Campenelli tongue-lashing following a Bear loss and fired him with 10 games left on the schedule.

The “never in Moraga” dictum has held up since Campenelli left. The Gaels and Bears did meet in Berkeley in November of 2004 in the Coaches vs. Cancer Tournament, with Saint Mary’s winning 61-52. That Gael team went on to win an at-large berth to the NCAA tournament behind its own back court Golden Duo of Paul Marigny and E.J. Rowland, although Marigny didn’t play against Cal because of an academic suspension.

So, David vs. Goliath in a rematch. Is this a valid perspective from which to view the game?

Two things have gone wrong to muddy the waters: Cal has been underwhelming in its eight games so far this year (6-2), and the Gaels have been surprisingly good (6-0). It’s not just Cal’s losses to San Diego State and Richmond in the Las Vegas Invitational Tournament, it’s the near loss to a middling Wyoming team in Laramie (W78-72 in OT) and the even-more-unsettling struggle against a poor Seattle squad (W66-52) in Berkeley.

The early-season stumbles even caught the attention of Cal’s public relations arm at the San Francisco Chronicle sports page, prompting a story about freshman Brown’s “learning curve,” i.e. learning not to turn over the ball. In those lackluster efforts against Wyoming and Seattle, Brown went 3-8 with two turnovers and no assists before fouling out against Wyoming, and 3-13 with four fouls and two turnovers against Seattle.

Cal is no longer ranked in either of the national college polls, the AP’s sportswriters’ poll or the USA Today/ESPN coaches’ poll. You could say Saint Mary’s is actually ranked above Cal by the coaches, as it received 11 votes in their latest poll and Cal received only 4. That geek-infused entity known as the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI), lists the Gaels as no. 20 in the country and Cal as no. 125. The Bears can take solace in Ken Pomeroy’s even geekier rankings, placing 52nd nationwide to 72nd for the Gaels. The final arbiters, Las Vegas odds makers, haven’t posted a line on the game yet.

The match-ups

Breaking down the game, Saint Mary’s, on paper, fares pretty well against Cal’s gold-plated front court. With Dane Pineau and Jock Landale switching off against Rabb, and Evan Fitzner and Kyle Clark taking turns on Brown, Saint Mary’s may have a slight edge. Given that group’s stellar performance against vaulted bigs at Stanford, Cal St. Bakersfield and UC Irvine, it is probably not shaking in its boots over Cal.

The photo above, courtesy of GoldenBearSports, Inc., shows what the Gael front line will face in the person of 6-11 Cal forward Ivan Rabb.

The back court could be another matter. The Gael guards, Joe Rahon and Emmett Narr, buttressed by Stefan Gonzalez off the bench, have been everything coach Randy Bennett could have envisioned. Rahon is rock-steady, and has proven brilliant at dissecting defenses and directing the offense to take advantage of deficiencies. Rahon scores or doesn’t score as the occasion requires, but his passing has been consistently excellent. After facing the Cameron Crazies at Duke and other hostile ACC crowds in his two years at Boston College, he is unlikely to be rattled by the atmosphere at Haas Pavilion.

Naar may be the easiest guard in DI hoops to underestimate. Maybe it’s his altar boy looks or his deliberate pace, but he never seems capable of the carnage he has wrought so far this year. Every time he shoots he gives the impression it’s the last thing he wants to do, but the shots fall with amazing regularity. His handle has been flawless this season, and combined with Rahon’s presents a tough deterrent to pressing defenses. Bottom line with these two: 83 assists to 23 turnovers.

But they haven’t faced guards with the height and quickness of Cal’s. A guess  would put Rahon on Wallace, since he has consistently guarded the opposition’s toughest player, and Naar on Matthews, leaving small forward Calvin Hermanson to cover Bird. Hermanson, at 6-6, is the only one of those three without a height disadvantage, but he has not gone up against anyone with Bird’s quickness. If the Gaels falter against Cal, it will probably be in the back court, with Wallace the most likely to inflict the most damage.

It could be that magical element, the intangibles, that decide this one. Cal has under-achieved this season, Saint Mary’s has over-achieved. The Gaels’ coach, Bennett, has an experience and wiliness edge on Cal’s Martin, and Saint Mary’s has more to gain from a win than Cal. My guess is the Gaels win it.

 

 

6-0: What does it mean?

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As the number of undefeated DI college teams continues to shrink, the Gaels’ 6-0 mark will start receiving deeper scrutiny. Most of the big shot analysts will probably wait until after the Saint Mary’s-Cal game next Saturday (Dec. 12) to give a proper assessment, but why wait for them?

Competition: Not great, not so bad. Three of the Gael opponents were given a chance  at winning or competing strongly in their respective conferences: Manhattan (MAAC), which seems a stretch based on what the Jaspers displayed in Moraga; Cal St. Bakersfield in the WAC, which seems legit; and UC Irvine, picked, rightly I think, to win the Big West.

Another, UC Davis, will be a solid Big West competitor, and Stanford is a Pac 12 school with a roster stuffed with 4-and-5-star recruits. San Francisco State does not need to be categorized other than “cannon fodder.”

That’s not a bad out-of-conference slate, and the Cal game will raise it to good.

Performance: One doesn’t want to use the term “spectacular” injudiciously, but the Gaels have been pretty close. The confidence in facing Stanford, the execution in dispatching Bakersfield and the unflappability in dealing with Irvine and its 7-6 monster Mamadou Ndiaye were the highlights.

The Gaels’ national scoring ranking might fall after scoring only 70 points against Irvine, but their stellar field goal (55%) and three-point percentages (44%) will hold up pretty well. They lost the rebounding battle to Irvine (32-30), but that was the only time in six contests and I don’t see any other 7-6 centers on their schedule.

Overall, having faced both zone and man-to-man defenses, strong front courts (Stanford, Bakersfield, Irvine) and quick back courts (Irvine), the Gaels have proven resourceful and efficient. Still to come is a road contest, of course, and that will be their biggest challenge so far. All those beautiful three-pointers may not fall in Haas as they have in McKeon, and the Gaels will have to deal with that if it happens.

Standouts: Where to begin? Probably with the back court of Joe Rahon and Emmett Naar, which has been a thing of beauty. Their stats — 16.5 PPG and 6.1 APG for Naar, 11.3 PPG and 7.6 APG for Rahon — are nice, but don’t tell the whole story. Their combined assist-to-turnover ratio (83 to 23)  is nearly 4-to-1, which speaks volumes.

The Gaels’ two-headed monster in the post — Dane Pineau and Jock Landale — is providing 23 points and 12 rebounds a game. Pineau had a breakout effort against Irvine (14 and 8 in 23 minutes), and sank two three-pointers for the first time in his Gael career. If Pineau’s confidence holds up, and the pick-and-pop with him far outside the key becomes a regular staple of the Gael offense, things will open up down low for the Gael forwards.

The two  biggest surprises for the Gaels have been true freshmen Kyle Clark and Stefan Gonzalez. Clark is Mr. Versatility for his ability to sub effectively either for Calvin Hermanson at the 3 or Evan Fitzner at the 4. He has the height (6-7) and quickness to defend either position, and his three-point shot — now up to 45% with 9.2 PPG — is outstanding on a team  of outstanding three-point shooters.

Kyle Clark, shown in the photo by the Gaels’ Tod Fierner, is no tyke, but his 6-7 frame is dwarfed by the massive body of Mamadou Ndiaye of UC Irvine.

Gonzalez has the bearing of someone who just woke up and found himself as a savvy veteran on a good college team. There seemingly has been no adjustment period from lighting it up in Pocatello, ID (Player of the Year) to lighting it up in McKeon. Told his three-point percentage is 52%, most Gael fans would doubt he has missed that many.

Fitzner Funk: Okay, one downer in a young season, and it’s one I think will fade quickly from memory. After shining brightly in a 16-point performance against Bakersfield, Fitzner, the 6-10 redshirt freshman from San Diego, has fizzled in consecutive games against Davis and Irvine. Fizzled as in 0-2 from the field in 7 minutes against Davis and 0-4, plus two missed free throws, in 14 minutes against Irvine.

That’s a lot of goose eggs for a shooter as talented as Fitzner, and his quick benching in both games tells me his errors in the eye of coach Bennett have more to do with defensive positioning than shooting. Bennett knows that shooters have to shoot, and wouldn’t sit someone down for a couple of missed jump shots. A week off to work on his defense and confidence should have Fitzner back in the saddle for the Cal showdown.

Next up: What about those Bears?

 

Gaels vs. the UC system

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The Saint Mary’s basketball season has unfolded as if designed by a fitness instructor: ease into action, gradually increase the effort, achieve peak activity, taper off.

Thus the season began with a DII opponent, San Francisco State, followed by a recognized DI competitor (Manhattan) and peaked with a game against Stanford. A tapering-off period ensued with a week off following the Stanford win, culminating in last Sunday’s rout of Cal State Bakersfield.

“Take a deep breath now,” you can almost hear the instructor saying, “We’ve got some big ones coming.”

Indeed, over the next eight-day activity period (Dec. 4-12), the Gaels will undertake a stepladder assault on three outposts of the University of California system: UC Davis on Friday (4th), UC Irvine on Sunday (6th) and then the Big Kahuna, UC-Berkeley on Dec. 12 (Saturday). The Cal game in Berkeley will mark Saint Mary’s first foray outside McKeon Pavilion.

Tapering-off will be observed then, courtesy of Cal Poly and Southern Utah at home, before the conference season begins against San Francisco on Dec. 21.

The first rung

UC Davis probably doesn’t see itself as a rung in anybody’s ladder. The Aggies achieved a program breakthrough last season, winning their first Big West Conference regular-season title. A disappointing loss to Hawaii in the Big West Tournament relegated Davis to the NIT, where it lost in the first round to eventual champion Stanford. Still, for a program recently advanced to DI status, 2014-15 was a milestone.

Under widely-respected coach Jim Les, who took Bradley to the Sweet 16 during his tenure there, Davis figures to battle Irvine for the Big West  crown again this season. It has to overcome the graduation of sensational three-point shooter Corey Hawkins, who led the nation by shooting nearly 50% from distance while scoring 20.9 PPG, but has a strong nucleus returning.

Chief among them is junior post man Neal Monson, a 6-10 rebounding machine who was named the Big West sixth man of the year last season. He is older, having completed a two-year mission following graduation from high school in Utah, and used to playing in a successful system. He was an honorable mention All-American junior college star for Salt Lake City Community College before transferring to Davis.

Monson is joined in the frontcourt by 6-6 senior Josh Fox, averaging 16 PPG and 12 RPG so far this season. Bay Area fans may remember Fox from his days at Sacred Heart Cathedral in San Francisco. Monson and Fox will provide a good challenge to the Gaels’ three-headed frontcourt contingent of Evan Fitzner, Dane Pineau and Jock Landale.

After revenging an earlier loss in Sacramento, Davis moved to 4-2 on the season with a home victory over Sacramento State Wednesday night. Don’t scoff at Sac State, as it already has victories over Arizona State and the WCC’s Pacific Tigers. The  Aggies’ other loss was to North Dakota State, and they have wins over the WCC’s Portland and the Gaels’ Dec. 28 opponent, Utah Valley.

Putting the “big” in Big West

Ladder two is the formidable UC Irvine Anteaters, anchored by 7-6 Mamadou Ndiaye. Irvine took the Big West tourney championship and NCAA bid that Davis coveted last year, and almost survived some typical mid-major seeding bias that pitted them against fourth-seeded Louisville in the opening round. They lost a squeaker (57-55) to Louisville, but whetted their appetite for greater success this year.

Sunday’s game will be a rematch of a classic from last season, which the Gaels won 72-69 behind 28 points from Brad Waldow. Waldow battled Ndiaye and his 7-2 backup Ioannis Dimakoupoulos heroically in that game, capping his effort with two free throws that gave the Gaels the lead with seconds left. The free throws came after a fifth foul by Ndiaye, who notched 14 points in just 15 minutes of action.

In addition to its bigs, Irvine has the excellent guard tandem of Alex Young and Luke Nelson back, along with super-sub Mike Best, a 6-10 senior from San Rafael who is averaging 10.1 PPG. The Anteaters are 5-2, with wins over the WCC’s Loyola Marymount, UC San Diego, University of Central Florida and Boston College.

The Gaels hope that their careful pacing will withstand the Davis-Irvine challenge and put them in position to challenge the Cal  Bears in Berkeley on the 12th. Take a deep breath now.

Next: Looking closely at the Bears.

Making sense of Bakersfield

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One way of discussing the Gaels’ 94-59 mauling of Cal State Bakersfield is to appear cavalier and remark, “Well, it was better than practice.”

The gist of that comment is that 40 minutes racing up and down the McKeon court against a DI opponent is more beneficial than several hours of practice. Indeed, even Gael Coach Randy Bennett seemed to agree when I ran into him in a Lafayette restaurant following the game.

“Well, it was better than practice,”  was my ice-breaker as coach and Mrs. Coach enjoyed their dinner. Bennett responded positively, saying “Yeah, the guys were getting antsy” after a week of practice following last Sunday’s win over Stanford.

But there is another way in which it was better than practice. Seldom does a team shoot 61.4% (35-57) in practice; even more seldom does a team shoot 50% (11-22) on threes, out-rebound an opponent 42-26 and record 22 assists on those 35 made baskets. That would be quite a day at practice, and it was quite an evening against Bakersfield.

In moving to 4-0, the Gaels are now scoring 85.3 points per game compared to their opponents’ 59.8. That’s a roughly 25-point-per-game differential. Their three-point accuracy is 43% on an average of 10.8 made threes per game. And that’s after dead-eye Emmett Naar let his teammates down by making only one of three of his three-point attempts against Bakersfield, lowering his percentage on the season to 64% (from 68%).

Naar compensated somewhat by displaying his mastery of the Manu Ginobli look-away layup, sneaking into the paint to torment the ‘Runners several times on the way to a game-high 17 points.

Right behind Naar was redshirt freshman Even Fitzner, who totaled 16 points on 6-9 shooting, including 3-5 three-pointers. Fitzner, alternating between center and power forward, also grabbed nine rebounds, high for the team. Gael fans better get used to having Fitzner lead in those categories, as he could easily become the team’s leading scorer and rebounder. At 12 PPG he ranks second behind Naar (18.5) at present, and his 5.5 RPG trails only Dane Pineau’s 7.5.

As Gael photographer Tod Fierner’s photo indicates, Fitzner is elbowing his way into Saint Mary’s prominence.

Fitzner exhibited his versatility right off the bat against  Bakersfield, posting up the ‘Runners’ power forward less than a minute into the game. On the Gaels’ next possession, he sank a three from the top of the key and followed up shortly thereafter with a driving layup in the lane. Three more three-pointers  spaced throughout the game rounded off his night.

Gael fans think quickly of Daniel Kickert when watching the 6-10 Fitzner effortlessly sink three-pointer after three-pointer (6-12 so far this season). It’s a good comparison, as the two have similar games, but Fitzner is quicker and is a better ball handler than Kickert, who became the Gaels’ all-time leading scorer until Matthew Dellavedova eclipsed him. Fitzner might be a better rebounder, too — he is quick off the ground and quick with his hands to grab balls before the opposition gets to them.

Rest of the story

You may have noticed, as the scores scroll by beneath ESPN telecasts, that the rest of the WCC isn’t faring so well in the out-of-conference portion of the season. You noticed correctly. Apart from Saint Mary’s, Gonzaga and BYU — which are a combined 12-2 — the rest have struggled to 17-29 through games of Nov. 29. Here’s a quick rundown.

Gonzaga (4-1). Wins over cupcakes Northern Arizona and Mt. St. Mary’s, plus an awful Washington Huskies team and Connecticut, and a loss to good-but-not-great Texas A&M. Josh Perkins has a way  to go to remove memories of — and longing for — Kevin Pangos.

BYU (4-1). The Cougars have played seven games, but only count five of them. The wins over patsies include Arizona Christian, Alaska and Utah Valley, while the loss was a 66-65 nail-biter against Long Beach State. They face a  big test Wednesday against Utah. Watch out for freshman Nick Emery, starting to shake off the dust from his two-year mission.

San Francisco (4-2). The win total may be surprising, but the competition has been underwhelming (University of Illinois-Chicago, UC Riverside, Delaware State). Losses to Fresno State and UC Santa Barbara. Devin Watson emerging as an all-conference-caliber point guard, Tim Derksen playing well alongside him.

Loyola Marymount (4-2). Another surprise, but, again, weak competition. Wins over Cal State Dominguez Hills, Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Northridge and Southeast Missouri State. Definitely doing well against teams with “State” in their name. Losses to UC Irvine and Colorado State.

Pepperdine (3-4). Not the fast start expected from a team touted as a  challenger to SMC and BYU for superiority beneath Gonzaga. Losses to Fresno State, UCLA, Murray State and Drake, wins over Duquesne and Montana (plus, shudder, San Diego Christian). Boast newcomer of the year candidate in freshman forward Kameron Edwards.

Portland (3-4). The Pilots include a win over the Oregon Institute of Technology to boost their total to three (also, Abilene Christian and Alcorn State), but have lost to UC Davis, Colorado, Colorado State and Southern Illinois among known institutions.

Pacific (1-5). Things are going badly when your only win is against Carroll College. Losses to Arizona, Cal State Fullerton, Eastern Washington, Sacramento State and Nevada, although they took the Wolfpack to double overtime.

San Diego (1-5). Lamont Smith’s Toreros finally notched a win last weekend over Drexel, which is down this year, following losses to USC, Western Michigan, Cal State Fullerton, Loyola-Chicago and San Jose State. Smith lost his most-prized Texas recruit before the season began when Ryan Woolridge said adios, and is left with only three other guards from the Lone Star State.

Santa Clara (1-7). Surely the most confounding 1-7 team in America is this Bronco squad of Kerry Keating’s. How can a team that struggled to score 33 points against Denver (L55-33) take Arizona to overtime before losing 75-73 (hint: Arizona is overrated), and then beat the ACC’s Boston College by a convincing 62-45? Does Keating only coach on Tuesdays and Thursdays? How does one team achieve such remarkable inconsistency?

Next time: Taking on the UC system.

 

 

 

Gaels take first whack at the WAC

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The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is the war-torn village of college basketball — shell-shocked, cratered and stripped of resources. One of the biggest losers in the recent spate of conference realignments aimed at maximizing football revenue, the WAC has had to stretch the concept of “western” to include Missouri, Texas and Chicago just to scrape up eight teams.

Notwithstanding this downgrade, Saint Mary’s includes three WAC teams in its out-of-conference schedule this season. The first opponent, Cal State Bakersfield, rolls into Moraga on Sunday afternoon, while Utah Valley is scheduled for Dec. 28, and Grand Canyon on March 1, 2016.

Bakersfield is a frequent Gael opponent in the pre-conference season, including time before the Roadrunners completed their transition to D1 status in 2010. The Gaels stand at 5-1 overall against Bakersfield, having won the last four contests. That single loss doesn’t look too bad compared with Cal Berkeley’s embarrassing 55-52 upset at the hands (or feet) of the Roadrunners last December.

They can beat people, and have won three of four so far in 2015, albeit with two of those wins coming over NAIA entrant San Diego Christian and DII competitor Fresno Pacific. Against DI teams, they are 1-1, beating Idaho (picked 8th in the Big Sky Conference) 68-45 and losing to Wyoming (also a predicted 8th-place finisher, but in the Mountain West Conference) by 68-64. The Roadrunners insist they were denied a chance to tie or beat Wyoming by a phantom charging call in the waning seconds.

Doing most of the damage for Bakersfield is a pair of seniors, each of whom was picked to the pre-season all-conference team. Aly Ahmed, a first-team choice, is a rugged 6-9, 250-lb. post player from Alexandria, Egypt. He was the Roadrunners’ top scorer and rebounder last year, with 14 PPG and 7 RPG.

His journey to Bakersfield was epic, and included stops at a Houston, TX prep school, Texas Southern University and Midland Community College. He ran afoul of NCAA regulations (surprise, surprise) and had to sit out a year before joining Bakersfield in 2013. If he looks older than most players on the floor, he is at 23. Some of the Gael rookies might be excused for seeking fatherly advice from Ahmed.

The other mainstay for Bakersfield is senior forward Kevin Mays, who may remind Gael fans of a junior Rob Jones as he throws his 6-4, 220-lb. body around the paint. A second-team all-conference selection, Mays pulled down 12.2 RPG last year. Although he can’t match Ahmed’s journey, Mays hails from Queens, NY, and attended two community  colleges before landing in Bakersfield. It’s not the destination, it’s the journey.

Also doing some damage for the Roadrunners is 6-4 shooting guard Damiyne Durham, who made 5-10 three-point attempts against Idaho. Bakersfield coach Rod Barnes has been experimenting with several other guards and has bemoaned his team’s lack of depth. They can be considered a work in progress at this point in the season.

It doesn’t take a Bobby Knight to note that the Gaels’  biggest challenge will be to take Bakersfield seriously and continue their brilliant execution. Overconfidence has not usually been a  problem for Randy Bennett teams, and Bennett will have a  full week since dismantling Stanford last Sunday to drill into his players’ minds that “On any given day…”

Naar watch: Entering the Stanford game shooting 10-15 on three-point attempts, Gael guard Emmett Naar managed to lift that gaudy 67% by one point by sinking 3-4 of his threes against the Cardinal. There aren’t too many 68% three-point shooters in college hoops.