by Michael Duca

BERKELEY–One thing that former Cal head coach Mike Montgomery did before he left Cal was he kept the cupboard well stocked and when new head coach Cunozo Martin took over he had a great class of players to use for this season. He had a lot of high basketball I.Q.guys and he got those well trained players and he always needed high I.Q. guys becuase to work out those complicated plays that take place in Division one games in the NCAA you need the players will the quick learn and knowledge.

When Martin came in the team was certainly not in rebuilding mode and there was none of that firing of the last coach because he couldn’t figure out which end was the front door of the bus. That’s really the ideal situation to come in, Montgomery isn’t quite a quote end quote “legend” like a former UCLA head coach John Wooden or former head coach at University of North Caroliina Dean Smith.

Montgomery was the winningest head coach of the Pac 12 and during his retirement he was approaching Wooden’s total victory. He’s got a pretty solid background and when Martin comes in and follows someone like that you don’t have to do better you just have to do well enough.

One of the frustrating things about watching college basketball is that the players are only there for a few years and even though their there to graduate their there for only four years and maybe they play for three. You never see their full development but you see so much development going from a kid playing high school basketball and always the star of your team, or the leader of your school district or your area.

You get to a high level college program like the Pac 12 and suddenly you are a small fish in a big pond full of big frogs. Watching the kids adjust going from “I’m the man to I’m not even sure I know the man” and going through the whole development process with a new coach and the style of the game being so much faster. Now you have to become a complementary piece stand up component that the offense goes through.

It’s always fun watching these kids develop and Bears guard Tyrone Wallace did a whole lot of maturing and developing last season he is going to be a very steady piece for Cal this year and coach Martin. What makes this year exciting is that the players get to learn a new coach in Martin. They will be learning his style and figuring out how this team is going to play.

Montgomery’s teams played completely under his control, they played defense first and if everything went right they would have the outlet pass in front to run the wings and run the floor a little bit. It’s not clear what style Martin is going to have. You really can’t tell anything from two exhibition games what you do there is just get a look at all your players.

Cal plays the 2K Classic against Alcorn State at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley on Friday November 14th at 7:00PM. Morris Phillips will have complete game coverage.

Michael Duca does Golden Bears commentary each week for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

photo credit: google images