by Morris Phillips

BERKELEY–Cal head coach Cunozo Martin was coached in college by Gene Keady and Martin was an assistant under Keady who was one of the great college coaches over the years and won over 900 games. Keady coached briefly at the University of San Francisco at the end of his career. Martin left Tennessee last season after his most successful season in winning two games in the NCAA Tournament.

Martin had issues at Tennessee with the administraton but he landed on his feet at Cal and he’s not a guy who’s a retread, he’s someone who’s career is on the uptick for Cal this could be quite a coup. Martin loves the Bay Area and said that he would like to make this home and the facilities at Cal have been improved so much that anybody in athletics regardless of where they’ve been and at the University of Tennessee in this particular case would not be impressed it’s a beautiful area.

Obviously you can afford to buy a home when your a major college coach and that’s not an issue and the academics and the whole set up is really nice. Obvisously Cal has had it’s issues in previous years and the last couple of years but there is no reason why that won’t necessarily continue they’ve got great people in place.

Former head coach Mike Montgomery according to talk show host Michael Duca left the cupboard well stocked. I wouldn’t say the cubboard is well stocked because Montgomery was unable to attract the highest level recruits. This team does have talent and it will win games there is returning talent with guard Jabari Bird, Tyrone Wallace, and David Kravish in the middle.

Bird, Wallace and Kravish have plenty of experience and they should be great Pac 12 players this coming season. Bird is a hard working guy I’ve seen him shoot after games and after games that didn’t go well for him last season. He would be on the floor shooting, he’s not the type of guy who would be satisfied by substandard performances.

Bird’s father played for Cal, he’s connected to the University, he’s not going anywhere, he’s not looking at the front door. He’s not the type of young man who would be deterred if he’s having some current issues on the court. He’s a hard worker and Cal expects him to have a big jump in his freshman and sophmore year.

Kravish is not going to play a lot at this particular juncture he’s probably one of the most important guys on the team in terms of what he gives to the team that he can’t anywhere else. The defense is well known and the shotblocking, Kravish is a shotblocker and and a surprising shotblocker at that. Kravish has to stay healthy if he does he’s going to have a great senior year.

Morris Phillips is filling in for Michelle Richardson this week for the NCAA Commentary and is the Cal Bears mens basketball beat writer for http://www.sportsradioservice.com

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