Cal Basketball: Five Questions the Bears Can Address on Their European Tour
Cal’s three-game basketball exhibition tour already has a schedule change.
The Bears were expected to open play Tuesday in Paris against the French squad Vanves GPSO.
Cal’s opponent Tuesday will instead be the Chinese National Team, which is playing games in France and expressed interest in facing the Bears. The game will tip off at 9:30 a.m. PT at Noisy-le Grand, located about 12 miles east of Paris.
The Bears take a break in front of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
Photo courtesy of Cal Athletics
Subsequently, the Bears will face Spirou Basket in Charleroi, Belgium at 11 a.m. PT on Thursday, then Leverkusen in the Germany city by the same name at 11 a.m. PT on Saturday.
Cal will play without junior wing Jalen Celestine, the club’s top returning scorer (7.5 points), who underwent offseason surgery and is still on the mend.
Otherwise, the Bears are expected to be intact, which should provide coach Mark Fox — and all of us — a glimpse of the type of team they will be this season.
Here are five questions we’re hoping will begin to be answered during this admittedly small sample size of games against opponents whose quality we can only speculate:
— Who will be the point guard?
Senior Joel Brown returns after starting 24 games a year ago and leading the team in assists. Brown is a strong defender but a reluctant shooter on a team that needs scoring. Newcomers include transfers DeJuan Clayton and Devin Askew, both point guards who could also slide to shooting guard, probably more naturally than Brown. It’s possible Fox could use all three at point, including as many two at time. We’re sure he’s eager to find out how the three fit together and with others.
— Who will provide the Bears with scoring?
Cal lost 59 percent of its scoring from a year ago, including its top three point producers: Jordan Shepherd, Andre Kelly and Grant Anticevich. There will be plenty of opportunity to score, but who is ready to step forward? Clayton is the highest-scoring transfer Cal has ever landed, having put up more than 1,500 points. But he played most of his career at Coppin State, which does not face the competition level of the Pac-12. Askew was a big-time recruit at Kentucky two years ago, then spent last season at Texas. Is he ready to settle into a program and begin to unveil the talent that earned him four-star status from the recruiting sites?
— What can we expect from Cal’s two freshmen?
ND Okafor, a 6-foot-9, 235-pound power forward, was born in Nigeria, raised in Ireland and played the past two seasons at the NBA Academy in Mexico. The coaching staff has high hopes for him but big men often need time to adjust to the speed of the college game. If he’s ready to contribute, he will fill a crucial need up front. Grant Newell is not related to Cal’s most famous former coach and it will be interesting to see what he can give the Bears as a freshman. The 6-7 forward from Chicago missed almost all of last season with back and hip injuries.
— Can the Bears be improved defensively?
This will be tough to assess after three games, but it’s always a priority for Fox and he was often disappointed with the Bears’ performance at that end of the court last season. Part of that equation is rebounding, and the Bears were a middling team on the boards last season, even before Andre Kelly took his 8.4 rebounds per game (second-best in the Pac-12) with him to Fresno State.
— Which returning player is ready to take the biggest leap?
At least until Celestine is healthy, our money is on sophomore forward Sam Alajiki, a 6-7, 220-pounder from Ireland (yes, he and Okafor know each other). Alajiki averaged just 3.1 points per game last season but provided peeks at high-end athleticism and shot 50 percent (20 for 40) from the 3-point arc. We’re also curious to see if sophomore Marsalis Roberson, a 6-6 guard from Oakland, can make a splash after missing nearly half of last season due to injury.
Cover photo of Cal guard Devin Askew by CK Hicks
Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo
