BearTalk

Jerome Randle understands not everyone is giving his team love entering tonight’s NCAA Tournament game against Louisville.

He can live with that.

“We know what we’re up against,” Randle said of the matchup at the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena. “A lot of people are trying to trash our team, like we can’t play at this level. We’re not worried about any outsiders and what they say about California. We just have to focus on what we have to focus on.”

That would not include President Obama picking the Cardinals (20-12) of the Big East to beat the Bears (23-10).

“This ain’t the first time he hasn’t picked us,” said Randle, a fellow Chicago native of the president. “I really don’t bother me, and it don’t bother Patrick or Theo or Jamal.”

The biggest potential distraction is the absence of starting forward Omondi Amoke, suspended indefinitely for violation of team rules. The players said they are disappointed and sad for their teammate, but will not dwell on it as they take the floor against Louisville.

“Just like in life, things are going to be thrown at you,” Patrick Christopher said, “and the way you handle it, I think, defines you.”

Randle predicted there will be surprise heroes for the Bears.

“I honestly feel like we’re going to have some guys just step up and shock people,” he said.

Senior Jamal Boykin said he believes the Bears will benefit from playing a Friday game because it gave the team the chance to soak in some of the NCAA game atmosphere on TV.

“You watch the games and you realize it’s more about heart than numbers and size,” he said.

Louisville coach Rick Pitino’s team may have a size advantage, but he sees plenty about Cal that worries him.

“When you play against a team that shoots it as well as they do, defense is a premium because they’re a great offensive basketball team, and they have unbelievable range shooting the ball,” he said. “So defense wins games at tournament time, and you’ve got to make stops at the right time.

“You’ve got to play intelligent basketball, and certainly you’ve got to keep them off the foul line, especially a point guard (Randle) who leads the nation in free throw shooting.”

LOUISVILLE SCOUT: With a smaller lineup on the floor tonight, the Bears will try to help each other defensively, especially when 6-9, 260-pound forward Samardo Samuels gets the ball. Boykin will defend Samuels, but gives up more than an inch and 20 pounds and knows he can’t do it alone.

“He’s as good a guy as I’ve faced,” Boykin said.

“I feel like Samardo is going to be the key for us in this tournament,” Louisville senior PG Edgar Sosa said. “He’s our go-to guy and we go to him whenever we need two points. I feel that we’re going to make an effort to go to him even more this game just because we know that they’re going to try to double him and that just gives us a better chance to get open for jump shots.”

Perhaps, but over the past six games, Samuels has seen increased double-team tactics and has 23 turnovers and just three assists.

Pitino, asked about his team’s up-and-down play, said the Cardinals do not have a Jekyll and Hyde personality.

“I think we’re an average to good team that played in the toughest conference in basketball,” he said, alluding to how his team lost to St. John’s, but twice defeated Syracuse. 

VS. THE 2010 FIELD: Cal is 3-6 vs. teams playing in this year’s tournament (d. Murray State, d. UC Santa Barbara, d. Washington; lost to Syracuse, Ohio State, New Mexico, Kansas, Washington twice). Louisville is 6-6 vs. teams in the field (d. East Tennessee St., Morgan State, Oral Roberts, Villanova, Notre Dame, Syracuse twice; lost to UNLV, Kentucky, Villanova, Pitt, Georgetown, Marquette). 

IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT: Cal is making its 16th appearance in the tournament and has an all-time record of 18-15. The Bears won the 1959 national title and were finalists a year later. Since then, their best NCAA showings were Sweet 16 appearances in 1993 and ’97. Cal has not won an NCAA Tournament game since 2003 . . . Louisville is playing in the NCAAs for the 36th time. The Cardinal has a record of 60-37 and won NCAA titles in 1980 and ’86. Top-seeded a year ago, Louisville lost 64-52 to Michigan State in the regional finals.

MONTY, PITINO IN THE NCAA: Cal coach Mike Montgomery is making his 14th NCAA Tournament appearance. His teams are 16-13, including a Final Four appearance with Stanford in 1998. Louisville coach Rick Pitino is making his 16th tournament appearance. His teams are 38-13, with five Final Fours and national title in 1996 and ’97.

THE SERIES: Cal and Louisville are meeting for the first time.

MISCELLANY: Jerome Randle, who became Cal’s career scoring leader (1,802 points) last Saturday against Washington, currently is tied with Kevin Johnson for second on the school’s all-time assist list with 521. The school record is 546, held by Keith Smith . . . Randle also is on pace to break Cal’s single-season FT accuracy mark. He is converting 93.5 percent (130-for-139), which ranks second in Pac-10 history to UCLA’s Rod Foster, who made 95.0 percent (95-for-100) in 1981-82 . . . He currently has a streak of 34 in a row going, just two off Cal’s record . . . Patrick Christopher, with 1,681 career points, will pass Lamond Murray (1,688) for third place on Cal’s all-time chart if he scores eight points tonight.

TIPOFF: 7 p.m.
WHERE: Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena, Jacksonville, Fla.
TV: CBS
RADIO: 1550-AM

PROBABLE LINEUPS

CAL (23-10, 13-5 in Pac-10)
Starters                                 Ht   Yr   Pts   Rebs
SF Theo Robertson                    6-6   Sr.  14.1  4.7
PF Jamal Boykin                        6-8  Sr.   12.0  6.7
SG Jorge Gutierrez                    6-3  So.    5.4  3.0
SG Patrick Christopher              6-5  Sr.   16.0  5.4
PG Jerome Randle                    5-8  Sr.   18.7  4.5*

Key reserves
F Markhuri Sanders-Frison         6-7  Jr.    3.3  3.1
G Nikola Knezevic                      6-3  Sr.   2.2  0.4
C Max Zhang                            7-2  S0.   3.3  2.4

Louisville (20-12, 11-7 in Big East)
Starters                             Ht   Yr   Pts   Rebs
PF Samardo Samuels          6-9  So.   15.3   7.0
SF Jared Swopshire             6-8  So.    7.6   6.0
SG Jerry Smith                    6-2  Sr.    8.4   3.2
SG Reginald Delk                 6-5  Sr.    6.6   3.0
PG Edgar Sosa                    6-2   Sr.  13.3  4.5*

Key reserves
F/C  Terrence Jennings        6-10  So.   5.2   3.0
SG Preston Knowles             6-1   Jr.    7.3   3.1
G Kyle Kuric                       6-4   So.   4.0   2.5
* – Assists