BearTalk

The Bears have released their TV schedule with game times for Pac-10 play, although not every game time has been determined.

The biggest news is Cal will play a series of midday Pac-10 games on Saturdays, including home games on Jan. 23 against Oregon State (11 a.m.) and Feb. 6 against UCLA (1 p.m.). CBS will televise both of those.

Here is Cal’s official news release on the subject as well as its updated schedule with game times that have been settled.

The Gazelle Group, which sponsors the Coaches vs. Cancer tournament, has announced game times for its early-round schedule. Cal’s home games on Monday, Nov. 9 against Murray State and Wednesday, Nov. 11 against Detroit both will be played at 8 p.m.

Here’s the full schedule (times are EST): 

The Dec. 22 non-conference game between California and Kansas at Allen
Field House in Lawrence, Kan., will be televised on ESPN2 and will tip off a 6 p.m. PST.

Kansas is expected to enter the season ranked No. 1 in the nation, and the Golden Bears haven’t beaten the Jayhawks since a 65-62 victory in Kansas City, Mo., during the 1954-55 season. KU leads the series 14-3.

Cal will face Syracuse in the semifinals of the 2009 2K Sports Coaches vs. Cancer event at New York City’s Madison Square Garden, with the chance to perhaps take on defending NCAA champion North Carolina in the title game.

The Gazelle Group, which organizes the Coaches vs. Cancer tournament, announced the pairings today for the Thursday, Nov. 19 semifinals. The Golden Bears (22-11) will face the Orange (28-10) in the 4 p.m. PST game, with UNC (34-4) battling Ohio State (22-11) in the late game.

The consolation and championship games will be played on Friday, Nov. 20.

This will be Cal’s first-ever meeting with Syracuse, which returns to Madison Square Garden for the first time since last year’s Big East Tournament, where it beat Connecticut in a six-overtime quarterfinal game. The Bears’ most recent appearance at MSG came in 1999, when they beat Clemson 61-60 to win the postseason NIT.

Cal opens its season with home games in the Coaches vs. Cancer event on Monday, Nov. 9 against Murray State, then Wednesday, Nov. 11 vs. Detroit. The Bears will advance to the semifinals in New York regardless of the results of the opening-round games.

Tickets for games at Madison Square Garden can be purchased at Ticketmaster.com or by calling 212 307-7171.

The ESPN Game Day crew won’t be returning to Berkeley this season, despite a great show last year. But here’s the schedule, released this week by ESPN. It includes a first-ever visit to Washington on Feb. 20, when the Huskies will take on UCLA.

The eight-week series will explore five first-time sites and will include a women’s game for the first time. The program features two one-hour shows each Saturday, at 8 a.m. PT and at 5 p.m., originating from the site of the 6 p.m. game.

Date    Site    Game (All 6 p.m. PT on ESPN unless otherwise noted)

Cal has announced first-round matchups for its Dec. 28-29 Golden Bear Classic, and the Bears will open on the Monday night vs. Utah Valley. The Wolverines were 17-11 last year against a soft independent schedule, but return without their two leading scorers, including senior guard Ryan Toolson, who averaged 23.8 points and scored 63 in a win over Chicago State.

UC Santa Barbara (16-15) and Furman (6-24) will meet in the other opening-round game. Times have yet to be set.

And, yes, I’m back from vacation, so we’ll begin to mix in some basketball posts with Jonathan’s football camp updates.

If you’ve marked your calendars with dates for the upcoming Cal basketball schedule, here’s hoping you did it in pencil.

There are nine changes to the Pac-10 portion of the Bears’ schedule, most of them prompted by TV considerations. In spite of that, we still do not have game times. TV will let us know when they’re good and ready.

Here’s the new schedule, which includes changes to the second weekend of Pac-10 play, at home against the Los Angeles schools. The Bears are now playing UCLA on Wednesday, Jan. 6, rather than Saturday, Jan. 9, avoiding a conflict with the BCS national championship football game on Thursday, Jan. 7. The USC game has been shifted from Thursday to Saturday.

The games the following weekend in Washington have been flip-flopped, with Cal visiting Washington State on Thursday, Jan. 14 and taking on Washington in a rematch of last year’s triple-overtime thriller on Saturday, Jan. 16.

The Arizona road game has been pushed back one day to Sunday, Jan. 31.

One week later, the opponents on the trip to L.A. have swapped spots, with the Bears visiting USC on Thursday, Feb. 4, then UCLA on Saturday, Feb. 6.

Finally, the Washington schools will swap spots on their visit to the Bay Area, with Washington coming to Haas on Thursday, Feb. 11, and WSU in town on Saturday, Feb. 13.

   Coach Mike Montgomery has fashioned a non-conference schedule that could feature matchups against the past two NCAA champions.

   It’s an appropriately difficult schedule for a team that has designs on winning the Pac-10 Conference title.

   The Golden Bears will take on 2008 national champ and likely pre-season No. 1 Kansas at Lawrence, Kan., on Dec. 22.

   Prior to that, Cal travels to New York City’s Madison Square Garden for the semifinals and finals of the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic on Nov. 19 and 20. The possible opponents there — and matchups are not yet set — are defending national champ North Carolina, along with Syracuse and Ohio State.

   The four teams gathering in NYC have combined for eight national titles, 109 trips to the NCAA Tournament and the four coaches have totaled more than 2,100 victories.

   Key Pac-10 home dates include a conference opener on Jan. 2 against Stanford, a visit by UCLA on Jan. 9, and a potentially crucial matchup on Feb. 13 vs. Washington, which is expected to duel Cal for the conference title.

   Here’s the full schedule along with a team-by-team breakdown of the Bears’ possible non-conference opponents: No game times have been set.

   – Thursday, Nov. 5: vs. Chico State (exhibition). The Bears will tune up against the Division II Wildcats, who were just 8-19 a year ago.

   – Monday, Nov. 9: vs. Murray State. Cal opens play in the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic at home against the Racers, who were 19-12 a year ago, including 13-5 in the Ohio Valley Conference. Three double-digit scorers return, led by 6-4 senior forward Danero Thomas, who averaged 12.5 ppg and had 30 against  Austin Peay. Likely outcome: Win.

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The Golden Bears still have not released their 2009-10 schedule, but we now know they will face Kansas in Lawrence, Kan., on Tuesday, Dec. 22. It’s been known for months that Cal would play at famed Allen Fieldhouse, but the date was confirmed by the release this week of KU’s non-conference schedule.

(Note to Cal fans considering a trip to Kansas in December: In 25 years of covering college basketball, Allen Fieldhouse is easily the coolest venue I’ve ever visited. A gorgeous, traditional Midwest fieldhouse, sophisticated hoops fans who spontaneously and in perfect unison belt out the more-than-century-old  ”Rock Chalk Jayhawk” chant, and an ominous tribute to the legendary coach for whom the building is named — the large banner hanging from the rafters that warns: Pay Heed All Who Enter: Beware of the Phog).

Kansas, led by returning stars Sherron Collins (18.9 ppg) and Cole Aldrich (14.9 ppg, 11.1 rpg)  and an excellent recruiting class, figures to enter the 2009-10 season as the nation’s No. 1 team.  The Jayhwawks, 2008 national champions, were ousted from the NCAA Tournament in the regional semifinals last season, finishing 27-8.

Cal, with four starters back from an NCAA team, likely will enter the season in the Top-25.

The Bears are 3-14 all-time vs. Kansas, losing 69-56 at Kansas City in 2005-06 in the schools’ most recent meeting. Two of the Bears’ three victories vs. KU came at the Oakland Auditorium during the 1928-29 season. Cal’s most recent victory over the Jayhawks was a 65-62 win at Kansas City on Dec. 29, 1955.

Cal has not played at Allen Fieldhouse since the 1993-94 campaign when Jason Kidd and Lamond Murray led the ninth-ranked Bears against the No. 6 Jayhawks. Kansas won 76-56.

Cal will play Iowa State at Haas Pavilion on Saturday, Dec. 5 as part of the third Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series.

Here’s the full schedule for the series. Game times and TV information will be announced  at a later date.

The Golden Bears and Cyclones have met just three times, with Iowa State holding a 2-1 series edge. That includes a 75-64 Iowa State victory in the 1996 NCAA tournament opener.

Iowa State was just 15-17 a year ago, finishing 10th in the Big 12 with a 4-12 record. But the Cyclones return 6-foot-10, 230-pound junior-to-be Craig Brackins, who averaged 20.2 points and 9.5 rebounds, and scored 42 points against Kansas.

Speaking of the Jayhawks, they figure to be ranked No. 1 headed into next season after big man Cole Aldrich and point guard Sherron Collins both announced they will be back. KU also picked up one of the nation’s top 10 recruiting prospects, when 6-6 wing Xavier Henry opted for Lawrence, rather than following coach John Calipari from Memphis to Kentucky.

Cal has not announced its full schedule for next season, but the Bears reportedly are playing a non-conference game against Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse.