The Art of Passing Can Translate to Winning For Cal Basketball

We saw something in Cal’s game against North Carolina State on Wednesday night we may not have seen this year.

The Golden Bears opened the game with assists on nine of their first 10 baskets and finished with 16 assists on 27 field goals, their second-highest total of the season (trailing 18 vs. Missouri).

This breakout performance in a 74-62 victory came four days after the Bears dished just four assists, their sixth game of six assists or fewer this season. Saturday’s performance in a home defeat to a sub-.500 Syracuse team, had coach Mark Madsen fuming. Turns out the players were angry, too, and those emotions were shared at a players-only meeting on Saturday and a longer team gathering before practice on Monday.

Even after Wednesday’s game, Cal ranks 344th nationally out of 355 teams at 10.5 assists per game. And that’s not the lowest average in program history.

The 2019-20 Cal team posted a program-low 9.2 assists per game, including just three in a loss to Stanford. The 2022-23 squad managed just 9.6 per outing. And the 2017-18 team is next at 9.8.

What those three had in common, of course, is the teams were dreadful. None worse than the ’23 squad, was was 3-29 and led to coach Mark Fox’s dismissal.

There are plenty of factors that determine a team’s success or lack thereof— defense, rebounding, turnovers, chemistry, coaching. In terms of assists, offensive efficiency and pace of play impact the numbers.

As the charts below indicate, posting good assist numbers does not guarantee winning. Two of the program’s top-10 assist seasons came in years the Bears had losing records.

(Note: The 1993 and ’94 teams, ranked Nos. 2 and 3 on the list below, had the advantage of Jason Kidd at point guard. Kidd averaged 7.7 assists his freshman season, then 9.1 as a sophomore before heading to the NBA).

Meanwhile, the Bears had 20-win seasons in two of their 10 worst assists seasons.

But here’s the bottom line: None of the bottom-10 assist seasons ended with Cal earning a bid to the NCAA tournament.

This team has no realistic shot at qualifying for the NCAAs. A NET computer ranking of 124 won’t get them a sniff from the selection committee as an at-large entry.

That leaves securing the ACC’s automatic bid as the only pathway to March Madness. And that may require beating No. 2 Duke in the conference tournament. Good luck with that.

More realistic goals for this team include winning twice more to top last season’s total of 13 victories and finishing with a winning record for the first time since the 2016-17 campaign. That would show progress from a young team with just two seniors in the rotation.

Madsen, his players and Cal fans won’t be satisfied until the Bears return to the NCAAs. There’s a lot of work to be done, but sharing the basketball and bringing up those assist numbers should be among the items on their checklist.

MOST ASSISTS PER GAME - Past 40 seasons

(With win-loss record in parenthesis)

1988-89 (20-13): 18.5

1993-94 (22-8): 17.6

1992-93 (21-9): 17.1

1989-90 (22-10): 16.8

1990-91 (13-15): 16.8

1994-95 (13-14): 16.5

2000-01 (20-11): 16.4

1996-97 (23-9): 16.3

1985-86 (19-10): 16.1

1991-92 (10-18): 16.0

FEWEST ASSISTS PER GAME - Past 40 seasons

2019-20 (14-18): 9.2

2022-23 (3-29): 9.6

2017-18 (8-24): 9.8

2024-25 (12-11): 10.5

2021-22 (12-20): 10.7

1997-98 (12-15): 11.9

2020-21 (9-20): 11.9

2016-17 (21-13): 12.0

2014-15 (18-15): 12.5

1998-99 (22-11): 12.7