by Morris Phillips & Michael Duca

BERKELEY–Cal Bears forward Dwight Tarwater who missed 15-19 three point opportunities and got the buzzer beater against UCLA on Saturday night at Haas Pavilion before he sunk the game winner with a defender in his face for the 64-62 nail biter to help Cal win their fourth straight. Tarwater shot it as soon as he caught it it was just NBA style catch and shoot and with the defender closing in on him he just sunk it.

There was 17 seconds left in the game when that happened and Cal got another defensive stop and a steal to close the game out. That’s three in a row at the buzzer for Cal after losing six in a row and the club is now on a four game win streak. This just shows that this team is still engaged in their season and what their coaching staff is telling them.

Things are falling into place as much as they can for the Bears this season obviously their going to have to rip off some wins here in order to do anything in near what they’ve done in previous seasons in NCAA or NIT type stuff. They are still in sixth or seventh place in the Pac 12. The lead does not look too favorable at this point that the Pac 12 will not have more than three representatives in the NCAA Tournament.

This all under consideration with Stanford losing on Thursday to UCLA and kind of damaging their hopes as the third team. Here’s what’s going on with Cal they got this momentum, guard Jabari Bird is back healthy and all of the signs that we hear the rumors the under currents that Cal is ready to make a splash in terms of signing some recruits that may or may not include Ivan Rabb from Oakland.

According a source from the Pac 12 TV Network Cal head coach Cuonzo Martin that Martin is the type of guy like former Cal head coach Todd Bozeman or even former head coach Lou Campanelli who in the past were able to go out and find nationally rated recruits. Cal obviously doesn’t want Martin to get into the same kind of recruiting problem that Bozeman got into. In terms of what’s going on in the program a lot of stuff looks good for Cal’s recruiting future and the future looks bright.

Tarwater’s role will be expanded and right now he’s playing about 20 minutes a game in five of the last four games he’s got five starts under his belt at Cal. He’s an undersized forward and who had bought into what the team is doing defensively and he really helps them there. Right now it doesn’t look like the Bears want him to play more than that and remember he’s only here for this year and they have two players that are behind him that have a bright future at Cal those two players being center Kingley Okoroh and forward Roger Moute a Bidias.

Morris Phillips and Michael Duca cover Cal basketball and do commentary each week on http://www.sportsradioservice.com. Listen to Morris’ Cal commentary below