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If Anyone Can Dethrone Arizona In The Pac-12, It’s Cal

By Michael Whitlow

March 12, 2015; Las Vegas, NV, USA; California Golden Bears head coach Cuonzo Martin instructs against the Arizona Wildcats during the first half in the quarterfinal round of the Pac-12 Conference tournament at MGM Grand Garden Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
March 12, 2015; Las Vegas, NV, USA; California Golden Bears head coach Cuonzo Martin instructs against the Arizona Wildcats during the first half in the quarterfinal round of the Pac-12 Conference tournament at MGM Grand Garden Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports /
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Sean Miller arrived in Tuscon, AZ to take over the Arizona program before the 2009-10 season, after a stretch at Xavier where he won 71.9 percent of his games and took the Musketeers to the Sweet Sixteen twice in five seasons as head coach.

What has Miller done since arriving in the Pac-12? Oh, just three 30+ win seasons, three Pac-12 regular season titles, a Pac-12 tournament title last season, three Elite Eight appearances and coaching 10+ NBAers in the process. That’s a fairly decent resume if I do say so myself.

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Miller seemingly keeps reloading his roster each season after losing a bulk of his talent from the previous year. Although Arizona will be really good again this season, there’s a new kid on the block in the Pac-12, and his name is Cuonzo Martin.

Martin’s strange move to leave Tennessee for Cal after three seasons last year was a bold move, but after seeing his recruiting class for this upcoming season, it may have been the right one.

According to Rivals.com’s recruiting class rankings for 2015, Cal was ranked No. 7 on their board (Arizona: No. 3), and prospects like Ivan Rabb (6’9″, 220, Oakland, CA) and Jaylen Brown (6’7″, 200, Marietta, GA) are the reason why Martin could not only dethrone Miller as the king of the Pac-12 Conference this season, but could have the Bears playing deep into March in just his second season at the helm.

Now granted, Miller and the Wildcats return punishing big man Caleb Tarczewski, Parker Jackson-Cartwright and Gabe York, while bringing into three five-star recruits — Allonzo Trier, Ray Smith and Justin Simon — to round out a big-time recruiting class for Miller once again.

There’s no denying the array of talent that Miller brings in every year dwarfs most schools in the country. Outside of Kentucky (and more recently, Duke), no other school consistently brings in prospects like Miller and his staff do every year.

So, how can the Bears possibly take down the Wildcats?

Coaching

Cuonzo Martin is one of the most respected coaches in college basketball today. Even with a roster that was filled with players that weren’t “his guys”, Cal still won 18 games last season and won their opener of the Pac-12 tourney against Washington State.

Martin knew that heading into his second year that he had to set the tone for his new program, and that’s exactly what he did. Recruiting and getting Ivan Rabb to stay in the state of California was big, but pulling Jaylen Brown out of SEC country in Georgia was even bigger. Outside of Skal Labissere at Kentucky and Ben Simmons of LSU, there may not be a hotter NBA prospect than Brown.

Further more, when Martin comes to your school, you can expect improvement with each passing season.

  • Missouri State (2008-11): First year – 11-20, last year – 26-9
  • Tennessee (2011-14): First year – 19-15 (NIT), last year – 24-13 (Sweet 16)
  • Cal (14-present): First year – 18-15, ???

Roster

Along with Rabb and Brown leading the new blood for Cal, the Golden Bears return three of their four leading scorers from last season, led by Tyrone Wallace (17.1 PPG).

Wallace made the Pac-12’s All-Conference First Team last season, and along with backcourt mate Jordan Mathews, the Bears enjoyed some nice stretches last season, including a 10-1 start, with a win over Syracuse in New York.

Not only does Cal have the fresh new talent from the recruiting trail, they have experience returning that could make them a dangerous team in the Pac-12 this season.

Outlook

Most experts and analysts are going to pick Arizona to win the Pac-12 out of respect for what they’ve done in recent years under Sean Miller, and for what they could be with another slam-dunk recruiting class coming into Tuscon.

But, don’t be surprised if a few go against the grain and have Cal atop their conference projections this season. They’re a hot pick, and quite frankly, they’ve earned the right to be. You would think people would learn to not doubt Cuonzo Martin after his days in West Lafayette with Glenn “Big Dog” Robinson and the Purdue Boilermakers of the 1990s.

Expectations will be high for Cal this season, but when you look at the potential of this current roster, to say the Bears couldn’t dethrone the mighty Wildcats isn’t completely outside of the box. It’s a legit possibility.

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