BearTalk

Cal’s NCAA tournament game Saturday against Syracuse will begin at approximately 6:40 p.m. and will be aired on TBS. That should be good news for all of you who don’t get truTV (I don’t either).

Syracuse crushed Montana 81-34 on Thursday night, improving to 27-9.

Pac-12 schools went 3-0 on Thursday, with Oregon and Arizona also winning.

Two more Pac-12 teams play Friday:

   — No. 10 Colorado vs. No. 7 Illinois at 1:40 p.m. on TNT

   — No. 6 UCLA vs. No. 10 Minnesota at 7:57 p.m. on . . . truTV.

Click here for my game story and here to read Mark Purdy’s column on Robert Thurman.

FINAL SCORE: Cal 64, UNLV 61. The Bears (21-11) survive a flurry of missed free throws in the final 4o seconds to advance to Saturday’s game against either Syracuse or Montana. Cal was just 4 for 12 from the FT line in the final 40 seconds. Crabbe scored 19 points, Thurman had 12 on six dunks.

3:33 2nd H: Cal leads 56-50. Thurman with 12 points on six dunks.

8:46 2nd H: UNLV has missed its last 11 FGAs and doesn’t have  a basket since 16:28. But Cal offense also stalling — it’s 48-43 Bears.

11:26 2nd H: Cal leads 48-40 after 3-pointer by Cobbs. Crabbe picked up his third PF with 13:40 left on a touch foul vs. Bennett, shooting a 3-pointer. Crabbe sat and Bennett made all three FTs. Cal staying in zone throughout and UNLV either passive or quick-shooting.

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Asked if he’s confident his team — occasionally a quarter low in the motivation department — will have be emotionally prepared for Thursday’s NCAA game against UNLV, coach Mike Montgomery said, “If you don’t have a sense of urgency coming into this, then you’re in the wrong business.”

Monty said he’s reminded his players that unlike during the regular season, when they have a Saturday game after a Thursday game, nothing is promised in the NCAAs.

“Now you’re earning the right to play again,” he said. “These kids have watched NCAA basketball for years and have watched the One Shining Moment and watched people cut down nets and see people be heroes because of a shot made.

“That’s something that motivates kids. If not, then we’re going to be in trouble, then there’s no excuse for it, then you don’t have a heart.

“And that’s a big part of what any team has. If you have a heart and want to compete, this is a great stage to do it on.”

Does anyone in Las Vegas expect UNLV star freshman Anthony Bennett to return to school next season?

“Not too many sane people,” teammate Mike Moser said on the eve of the Runnin’ Rebels’ NCAA tournament game against Cal at HP Pavilion.

Bennett, a 6-foot-8, 240-pound forward and the Mountain West Conference Freshman of the Year, is a considered a consensus top-10 pick in the NBA draft.

So, he’s gone after this season?

“Oh definitely,” Moser said. “Anthony, he’s been great this season, playing like every game is his last. He’s one of the most mature freshmen I’ve ever played with.”

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Cal sophomore Ricky Kreklow can barely believe he’ll play in an NCAA tournament game on Thursday against UNLV.

The transfer from Missouri has endured a season sabotaged by surgery on his right foot the first week of October. Three times since, he suffered setbacks.

“You kind of go from accepting the fact that you’re looking ahead to next year,” Kreklow said, “to the point where it was healed enough there really wasn’t any risk to injuring it again.”

Expected to be a starting guard this season, Kreklow instead has played a total of 118 minutes spread over seven games — two in November, two in December, one in January and now the Bears’ past two games.

“I feel badly for Rick,” Cal coach Mike Montgomery said Wednesday. “He’s a tough kid, which is something we don’t necessarily have. He’s not anywhere close to where he would have been.”

Click here for the rest of my story.

For years, Marcus Smart has heard the comparisons.

Oregon coach Dana Altman, whose Ducks played both teams this season, said Thursday’s NCAA tournament game between Cal and UNLV still is likely to be decided by the star players.

Both teams are improved, Altman said, but Cal’s Allen Crabbe and Justin Cobbs and Runnin’ Rebels star freshman Anthony Bennett are the difference-makers.

“Crabbe and Cobbs are tremendous competitors and awfully good,” Altman said Wednesday during news conference before Thursday’s games at HP Pavilion. “Getting those guys under control is essential to beating them.”

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TIPOFF: 4:27 p.m. Thursday at HP Pavilion in San Jose. TV/Radio: truTV/910-AM.

When push came to shove this season, a Cal basketball team without much innate aggression learned to give as much as it takes.

Rediscovering their physical side after back-to-back defeats will be critical when the Golden Bears open NCAA Tournament play Thursday afternoon against UNLV at HP Pavilion.

“We have to be the aggressor from the beginning,” sophomore forward David Kravish said. “That’s how we went on the run that got us to this point. Whether they were bigger, faster or could shoot better than us, we kept them moving backward while we kept moving forward.”

The lesson of aggression was not easily absorbed by the Bears (20-11), who lost 76-75 at home to the Runnin’ Rebels (25-9) on Dec. 9 in Berkeley when Quintrell Thomas converted an airball into the game-winning putback.

Strong and fast, UNLV will test Cal with defensive pressure and aggressive offensive rebounding. The Rebels boast 250 steals and 197 blocked shots and will work hard to impose their will.

“I don’t think we have physical kids by nature,” Cal coach Mike Montgomery said. “It’s hard for them to change the way they are naturally.”

Click here for the rest of this story.

ABOUT THE RUNNIN’ REBELS: UNLV is 23rd in the RPI computer ratings, thanks partly to playing in the top-ranked Mountain West Conference, partly thanks to a nonconference record that includes a 76-75 win at Cal and losses to Oregon and North Carolina. … UNLV will have two players available for Cal who had no impact in the first meeting. Junior F Mike Moser played just 5 minutes on Dec. 9 before dislocating his elbow. Khem Birch, a transfer from Pitt, wasn’t yet eligible. He recently was named MWC Defensive Player of the Year. Along with all-MWC first-team pick and conference freshman of the year Anthony Bennett, and 6-9 senior F Quintrell Thomas, who had the game-winning putback vs. Cal last time, the Rebels will challenge Cal with a physical and athletic frontcourt. The Rebels have two dangerous shooters in freshman Katin Reinhardt and sophomore Bryce DeJean-Jones, and senior PG Anthony Marshall has more than 1,200 points, 500 rebounds and 500 assists in his career.

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Here are five players to watch Thursday in NCAA tournament games at HP Pavilion:

– ANTHONY BENNETT, UNLV: Projected as an NBA draft lottery pick, the 6-8, 240-pound freshman forward averages 16.1 points and 8.1 rebounds, including a 25-point, 13-rebound performance in the Runnin’ Rebels’ 76-75 win at Cal on Dec. 9. He was the Mountain West Freshman of the Year and earned a spot on the five-man all-league team after posting 13 games of 20 points or more.

– MICHAEL CARTER-WILLIAMS, Syracuse: A 6-6 sophomore point guard, Williams was third in the NCAA averaging 7.7 assists per game. Voted the Big East Conference’s most improved player and a second-team all-conference selection, Williams also averaged 12.0 points and 4.8 rebounds. He had 27 double-figure scoring games and 11 outings with double-digit assists, including 16 in one game.

 – ALLEN CRABBE, Cal:  A 6-6 junior guard, Crabbe was Player of the Year in the Pac-12 after averaging a league-best 18.7 points to go with 6.0 rebounds per game. Crabbe had 15 games of at least 20 points, including a signature 31-point effort in Cal’s win at Arizona, in which he made 12 of 15 shots.

– KAREEM JAMAR, Montana: The Grizzles’ 6-2 junior wing was the Big Sky Conference Player of the Year and a two-time conference tournament MVP. He had 39 points in two games for Montana last weekend in the Big Sky tourney and has averaged 18.7 points the past seven games. For the year, he contributes 14.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.1 assists.

– MARCUS SMART, Oklahoma State: One of the nation’s most difficult matchups, Smart is a 6-4, 225-pound freshman bull of a point guard who earned Big 12 Conference Player of the Year honors. NBAdraft.net projects him as the No. 2 pick in the 2013 draft. Smart is a stat sheet filler, averaging 15.5 points, 5.7 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 2.9 steals. He had 10 20-point games and 12 games with at least four steals.

As Cal’s point guard but also the team’s No. 2 scorer, Justin Cobbs says he finally is starting to find his balance.

“The coaches have given me a lot of confidence to just go out and play,” Cobbs said. “I feel like a totally different player — no stress, no thinking, just playing basketball. My whole focus is at the end of the game, hopefully we have the most points.”

The Golden Bears (20-11) take on UNLV (25-9) in the NCAA tournament game Thursday at HP Pavilion. It’s a rematch of a Dec. 9 game in Berkeley in which the Runnin’ Rebels had one more point at the end in a 76-75 victory.

Both teams are different three months later, and the difference in Cobbs is he better understands his role as combination scorer/facilitator for the Cal offense. He’s put behind him a difficult midseason stretch.

The strangest game was Jan. 12 at home against Washington State, when Cobbs played 40 minutes and attempted a total of two shots.

“I guess I was a little confused in that role,” Cobbs said of his combo guard status. “It was just me being unselfish and wanting the other guys involved. Sometimes your team needs you to do certain things.”

One of the things the Bears need from Cobbs is scoring.

Click here to read the rest of my story.

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Columnist Mark Purdy says Cal coach Mike Montgomery is just as “geeked” for this year’s NCAA tournament as he was for his first at Stanford 24 years ago.