Cal Basketball: Bears' Progress Evident - Competitive in 19 of 26 Games
There are a lot of ways to measure a team’s competitiveness, and as we head into the stretch run of Cal’s first season under coach Mark Madsen it’s worth looking at how the Bears have fared in this area.
For the purposes of this discussion, we’re going to define a competitive game performance as either a victory, or a defeat by a margin five points or fewer or in overtime.
And by using that metric, Cal scores higher in our competitive ratings than in any of the previous six seasons.
Following Saturday night’s 82-80 victory at Washington — won on a 3-pointer from Jalen Celestine with 4 seconds left — the Bears have a win-loss ledger of 11-15. They are within reach of equaling or perhaps exceeding the program’s highest win total since 2017.
But measuring how competitive they’ve been also includes the number of close games they’ve played. The Bears have engaged in 14 games settled by a margin of five points or fewer or in overtime.
Cal lost five of the first six of those, but the Bears are 5-3 in the past eight.
Bottom line: 11 victories plus 8 defeats in close games means the Bears have been competitive in 19 of their 26 games.
No doubt, those eight losses by five points or fewer or in OT are a sense of frustration for Cal’s players and coaches. Flip the outcome in just half of them and the team’s 11-15 record becomes 15-11.
Maybe these baby steps are part of the process of turning around a program that had reached historical rock bottom.
The Bears have lost by more than 10 points just three times — twice to Arizona (projected to be a No 1 seed in the NCAA tournament) and Thursday at Washington State.
A year ago, Cal lost 17 times by 10 points or more.
Those 19 competitive games in 2023-24 are more than the Bears delivered in any of the past six seasons, and they still have a minimum of six games to play.
Here’s a look at how this season compares to the previous six, with win-loss record in parenthesis:
2024 (11-15): lost 8 games by 5 points or fewer/OT and won 11 = 19 competitive games
2023 (3-29): lost 6 games by 5 points or fewer/OT and won 3 = 9 games
2022 (12-20): lost 4 games by 5 points or fewer/OT and won 12 = 16
2021 (9-20): lost 5 games by 5 points or fewer/OT and won 9 = 14
2020 (14-18): lost 3 games by 5 points or fewer/OT and won 14 = 17
2019 (8-23): lost 4 games by 5 points or fewer/OT and won 8 = 12
2018 (8-24): lost 3 games by 5 points or fewer/OT and won 8 = 11
Cover photo of Jalen Celestine watching his 3-pointer vs. Washington by Joe Nicholson, USA Today
Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo
