Cal handles Arizona State to remain in first place in Pac-10

If there’s one team that could earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament in the abysmal Pac-10 this season, it’s the California Golden Bears.

But the way they’re playing, they won’t need one; they’ll earn the conference’s automic bid. They’re clearly the league’s best team.

Cal proved that fact once again on Thursday night, visiting Arizona State and coming away with a 78-70 win over the Sun Devils in a game they dominated before almost giving away late.

Jamal Boykin’s career-high 25 points and 10 rebounds paced the Golden Bears, who sit atop the conference standings with a 6-2 record and are 14-6 overall. They led by 16 points in the second half before seeing the lead cut to 1 with three minutes remaining, but a 3-pointer by Jorge Gutierrez ended the Sun Devils’ rally for good.

Cal, which found itself ranked as high as 12th in the preseason, stumbled out of the gates but has found its form of late. And while it was fashionable to criticize this team early on, the fact remains that this team really has no bad losses. The six teams who beat the Golden Bears: Syracuse, Ohio State, New Mexico, Kansas, UCLA, and Washington. All of those teams with the exception of UCLA have been ranked this season, and all but UCLA and Washington still are.

The next three games will be telling, though. Cal hits the road for three consecutive road games. First is a Sunday showdown with Arizona, with first place in the conference on the line (the Wildcats are one game back). Then, the Golden Bears make a trip to Los Angeles to face USC and UCLA.

Friday, January 29, 2010 at 9:48 am by Raj Sethi

Best set for NFL

California Golden Bears star running back Jahvid Best has already announced that he will forgo his senior year and will enter the NFL Draft.

Best was one of the top players in the country this year and is expected to be a first round draft pick, so declaring for the NFL Draft seems like the smart move here.

Meanwhile, the Golden Bears understand the decision but can’t be too happy that they are losing their most explosive offensive player.

Best said that it was not an easy decision and that he took a lot of advice in from a lot of different people. In the end, he said it was simply an opportunity that he couldn’t pass up.

He said it ended up being a gut feeling that made his decision, and he just felt that it was time to make the jump to the NFL and that he will be successful in the league.

Monday, January 4, 2010 at 6:51 pm by steve