BearTalk

I hear periodically from Cal fans wondering if Nyan Boateng, a wide receiver on the football team who also was an accomplished basketball player in high school in Florida, might join the team.

This being Big Game week, it seemed an appropriate time to ask coach Mike Montgomery about it.

In a word, he said, “No.”

“This is our basketball team. We’re not looking for any St. Bernard’s,” Montgomery said. “We’re fine. I think he came out last year for three or four practices and it didn’t work out. We’ve got a group of guys who are really working hard and we’ve got to establish our own identity.

“Now, if there happened to be a 6-9 football player that played (basketball), we’d take a look at that.”

Boateng is 6-2.

Montgomery noted the football team will be playing in a bowl game in late December, and Boateng wouldn’t be available until after that, anyway.

“Try and explain to me,” he said, “how a guy who comes out in January is going to be better than a guy who’s been here for 2 1/2 months.”