BearTalk

In advance of showing off new uniforms on April 10, Cal football has put together this video tease, feature former Golden Bears basketball star Jason Kidd.

Check it out here: http://www.calbears.com/ot/unifythebears.html

Cal’s Allen Crabbe was named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) District 20 all-star team.

Also chosen to the District 20 team — which merely consists of the Pac-12 schools – were UCLA’ s Shabazz Muhammad, Arizona State’s Jahii Carson, and Arizona’s Mark Lyons and Solomon Hill.

Second-team District 20 picks were Stanford’s Dwight Powell, Colorado’s Spence Dinwiddie, Oregon’s E.J. Singler, Arizona State’s Carrick Felix, Washington State’s Brock Motum and Washington’s C.J. Wilcox.

(No Andre Roberson of Colorado?)

Former Cal backup D.J. Seeley of Fullerton State was chosen to the District 9 second team. Saint Mary’s Matthew Dellavedova and Gonzaga’s Kelly Olynyk highlighted the District 9 first team.

Ex-Cal running back great Marshawn Lynch injected a surprise lift for the approximately 5,000 fans who checked out the Bears’ spring game on Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium.

Lynch, now with the Seattle Seahawks, scored a 22-yard “touchdown” before the current Bears got down to showing what they’ve worked on the past four weeks.

Click here for Carl Steward’s report.

Following Friday’s final spring practice, coach Sonny Dykes said the Bears will play strictly offense vs. defense in Saturday’s 4 p.m. spring game at Memorial Stadium.

Because of a series of injuries — few of them serious — the Bears don’t have enough players available to split into two full squads for the spring game.

So the offense will square off against the defense, with the defense scoring points for stops, forcing turnovers, etc.

The event, which will be shown live on the Pac-12 Networks, precedes Cal’s NCAA tournament basketball game against Syracuse at HP Pavilion. Tipoff for the basketball game is expected at about 6:40 p.m. on TBS.

Despite the schedule conflict for many fans, Dykes is pleased for coach Mike Montgomery’s squad.

“I’m happy that they’re playing,” he said. “I’m looking forward to going home and watching them get to the Sweet 16.”

Dykes said he plans to share the quarterback reps among the three leading candidates for the starting job — Zach Kline, Jared Goff and Austin Hinder.

As to when he and his staff might settle on a No. 1, Dykes said, “We want it to happen as quickly as possible, but we’re not going to force it.”

Admission to the spring game is free.

Every Pac-12 spring football game will be aired by the Pac-12 Networks, beginning with Cal’s game on Saturday at 4 p.m.

New coach Sonny Dykes’ first spring game at Memorial Stadium is open to fans and admission is free.

On the Pac-12 Networks, play-by-play voice Rich Cellini has the call with analyst Glenn Parker in the booth and Mike Yam reporting from the sidelines.

Here is the Networks’ promo piece on Cal: http://video.pac-12.com/get-closer-cal

Pac-12 Networks channel information in the greater Bay Area:

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Cal coach Lindsay Gottlieb, who directed the Bears to a 28-3 record, a Pac-12 regular-season co-championship and a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament, is among four finalists for the Naismith Women’s Coach of the Year award.

Gottlieb joins Baylor’s Kim Mulkey, Notre Dame’s Muffet McGraw and Dayton’s Jim Jabir as the four finalists for the honor. The winner will be announced at the Women’s Final Four in New Orleans.

Cal opens NCAA tournament play Saturday against No. 15 seed Fresno State at United Spirit Arena in Lubbock, Texas. Tipoff is scheduled for 1:20 p.m. (PT). The game will be shown on ESPN2.

Highlights from Sonny Dykes’ post-practice interview on Wednesday:

– Dykes said he’s been pleased with the defense this spring, despite injury issues and the fact that they’ve used a fairly vanilla approach, with little blitzing.

“I think we have a chance to have a good football team. Our defense is really going to determine how good our year is. That’s the way it always is,” he said. “If you want to win a championship, you;re going to win it by being a good defense.

“Offense is nice when you score points, but if you want to be a championship program, you’re going to have to play good defense.”

– After what he called a “sluggish” practice on Monday, Dykes said the Bears were sharper. “I thought we were really good today,” he said. “I thought our tempo was good, I thought our focus was good.”

– Redshirt freshman defensive back Damariay Drew is out with what Dykes described as a stress fracture in his upper leg. “Nothing serious,” he said. “Sounds much worse than it is. It’s not a bad injury.” Dykes said Drew will be shelved for about a month.

– The coaching staff still is working out details for Saturday’s spring game. There will be a game (it’s being broadcast on the Pac-12 Networks), but Dykes said he anticipates using some kind of a modified scoring system due to injuries limiting the depth of his squad. “We’ve got basically two healthy running backs. We’re one-deep in the secondary,” he said. “We’re trying to keep our players healthy. We don’t want to have any serious things happen to us on Saturday.”

– At this point, Dykes anticipates dividing quarterback reps equally on Saturday.

– Players who could return from spring injuries to play Saturday include LB David Wilkerson and RB Darren Ervin.

– An update on OT Bill Tyndall, who was scheduled to have surgery Wednesday to repair a broken ankle: “Bill’s probably going to be four months minimum … five months before contact. I think he’ll be back by the time we go to camp in August.”

– Walk-on quarterback Brendan Keeney has left the team.

– Dykes said he plans to take his family to HP Pavilion on Thursday night for Cal’s NCAA tournament game against UNLV. “We were at the first UNLV game. Hopefully, we’ll get a better last 5 or 6 seconds than we did last time,” he said, alluding to Cal’s last-second 76-75 loss.

Nothing is settled, but for perhaps the first time on Monday coach Sonny Dykes suggested a leader in the quarterback battle.

“Looks a little bit like Zach Kline is starting to get a little bit more settled in,” Dykes said of the redshirt freshman from San Ramon Valley High. “I’ve seen him kind of make a move here over the last two practices.”

Kline, freshman Jared Goff and junior Austin Hinder have battled throughout the spring and shared reps. Cal has two more practices — Wednesday and Friday — before closing down for the off-season with its spring game Saturday at Memorial Stadium, beginning at 4 p.m.

Asked if he has any clarity on the quarterback picture, Dykes initially said, “I’m liking what I’m seeing from all of them.”

Then he singled out Kline.

“His reads are happening a little faster, seems like he’s a little more accurate on his mid-range throws than he was,” Dykes said. “I saw some of that in the scrimmage Saturday and it carried over to practice today.

“I think he’s improved and getting better and better. It’s good to see that.”

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Cal senior Bill Tyndall, penciled in as the starting right offensive tackle, will undergo surgery Wednesday after breaking his left ankle Saturday during a scrimmage.

Tyndall will be out about four months, coach Sonny Dykes said.

Dykes said the Bears likely will used as many as four different players at the position through Saturday, when workouts end with the spring game. “We’re going to experiment a little bit and move some guys around and see how they respond this week,” Dykes said.

The Bears’ 12th of 15 spring workouts wasn’t their best, Dykes.

“I thought we were sluggish,” he said. “Didn’t have the same bounce we’ve been having. Look like they were a little worn out. We’re a little bit beat up.”

Nineteen players sat out practice Monday due to health issues.

“The good thing was we were able to come out and have a functional practice and get better and look good in some ways.”