Great news
Syd’Quan Thompson can now sleep at night - Robert Meachem is bolting for the NFL.
You all know what this means, right? 2007 national champions!
Landmark Win at Maples
Last night’s victory at Maples was an historic win for Cal Basketball. Huge. Monumental. Landmark. You can’t end 13 years of losing on your archrival’s home court and not attach such significant adjectives to it. What Ubaka and Co. managed to accomplish last night hasn’t been done since I was in elementary school. Leon Powe never managed it. Neither did Shareef Abdur-Rahim or Jamaal Sampson, NBA players both, or Sean Lampley, the Bear’s all-time leading scorer. No, you have to go back to the days of Jason Kidd to find a Cal team that left the Farm victorious. Pretty heady stuff.
Still, I’m guessing a lot of you didn’t notice. You were probably busy watching the Sugar Bowl, or doing your laundry, or whatever, and I’m not sure I can blame you. Every time this team starts to show some promise, they take a step backwards. Win a tournament in Alaska, lose a tournament on their home court. For a lot of fans who’d been struggling to care about this team, the Hardin injury was the last straw. Some people have given up on this year. Some have given up on Braun altogether. I am not one of those people, but I’m ever the optimist Cal fan. I see lots of talent on this team, even if they lack size, and think they can still make something of this year.
However, let’s take last night’s win in perspective. Where is this team now? 10-5, 2-1 in a surprisingly deep Pac-10. They’ve got a 2 game winning streak going, both on the road, but to probably 2 of the 4 worst teams in the Pac-10. This win at Maples is not so much a sign of the Bears’ rise as a sign of how far the Cardinal has fallen since Monty left. Still, there’s plenty of season left. Sure, there’s no inside game, but the Bears finally have the kind of shooters who could survive on the outside, as well as ball handlers who know how to create. Hold serve at home and steal a few on the road, which I think this team could do, and you could suddenly be looking at another 20-win season. Of course, the Bears could just as easily get blown out by the Washington schools at home next week and tank the season, as they did a couple years ago. All I know is, I’m not ready to give up on these Bears.
Every time I think I’m out, they keep pulling me back in.
