BearTalk

In our ongoing Q&A series with a Cal player, today we visit with . . .

OMONDI AMOKE
Year: Sophomore
Position: Forward
Height: 6-7
Hometown: Oxnard

Your five-man Dream Team, including yourself in the lineup: I’m going to play myself at the 3. I’ll go with Shaq at center. Tim Duncan at the 4 — he’s a winner. MJ at the 2 and Magic at the point.

Age when you first dunked: I was 13 years old. I used to play on a little club team called All-Star Rebels. We practiced at the Boys and Girls Club. We’d see who could hang on the rim, and one day we were all messing around, trying to dunk and I actually went up and threw one down. I didn’t exactly smash it down. It was a little rim-rattler. But everybody was going crazy.

How tall you really are, if the doctor measured you barefoot: 6-5 1/2

How many pairs of basketball shoes you own: Probably 10

Coolest place you’ve been to play basketball: Probably the trip to New York.  MSG — Madison Square Garden — it’s the mecca of basketball. If you’re playing there, you feel like you’ve got to bring your `A’ game.

Place you’ve never been that you’d love to visit: I want to go to Kenya. My dad’s from there. There’s a lot of culture and tradition. Half my family still lives there.

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Here’s my story from this morning’s editions explaining why Cal is better positioned to win the Pac-10 title than any other team headed into the final four weeks of the regular season.

And from the Seattle Times, Washington gropes to find ways to alter its road (mis)fortunes.

By the way, coach Mike Montgomery said Tuesday that Jorge Gutierrez will start again vs. Washington, giving the Bears an additional ball-handler.

When he was done fielding questions about Thursday’s game against Washington, Cal coach Mike Montgomery gave some expansive answers during his Tuesday press conference on questions dealing with possibly expanding the Pac-10 Conference, altering the Pac-10’s TV package and Thursday-Saturday schedule, and expanding the NCAA Tournament field from 65 teams.

Here’s what he had to say:

How do you feel about possible Pac-10 expansion and do you think the league’s presidents would even consider it?

“I think in today’s economic climate, the presidents have to be open to a lot of things. I don’t know when all that’s going to change or if it’s going to change, but I think that in hiring Larry Scott (as Pac-10 commissioner), the primary thought process was we need to expand our television revenue, take more advantage of some of the things out there that others have taken advantage of that we’ve been kind of in the dark ages about as far as revenues.

“In order to do that, if adding teams allows us to do that, adds markets, adds the opportunity to sell packages, then I think the presidents have to look at that. For a long time, I think the Pac-10 was pretty comfortable where they are — and they still may well be, and in many ways should be. It’s a great conference, and we’ve had academics as part of the mission statement for the league. But the times, they are a-changin’, as my good friend Dylan said.

“And you’re going to have to stay on top of things. If you’re going to go out and try to make the money and sell packages to TV that are going to help everybody revenue-wise, then you’re maybe going to have to make some changes.”

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In case you need a brief break from the barrage of football recruiting information — and it sounds like it’s been pretty much all good for Cal today — here’s a report from the L.A. Times on UCLA, which is gaining momentum as it’s getting healthy. Cal visits the Bruins on Saturday.

I talked briefly this afternoon with Cal center Markhuri Sanders-Frison in the hallways of Haas Pavilion and he said he expects to travel with the team this week to Los Angeles. Coach Mike Montgomery, however, said it’s uncertain whether the 6-foot-7 junior will be able to play against USC on Thursday or UCLA on Saturday.

Sanders-Frison has missed three of the past six games — including both in Arizona last weekend — with a back problem. He told me besides back spasms, he has a bulging disk. He has been on the floor a total of 31 minutes over the past six games, contributing nine points. Earlier, he missed a game with the flu.

Montgomery said the problem for Sanders-Frison and sophomore guard Jorge Gutierrez (knee) is that both would benefit from practice time, to improve their stamina and timing, but both also need rest to let their injuries heal.

Cal’s roster casualty count:

  — Markhuri Sanders-Frison: Missed 4 games (back/flu)

  — Jorge Gutierrez: 5 games (knee)  

  — Theo Robertson: 6 games (foot)

  — D.J. Seeley: 1 game (death in the family)

  — Harper Kamp: 21 games (knee)

It’s Monday — time again to try making sense of this jumble . . .

– By Sunday night, at the halfway point of the Pac-10 schedule, Cal could find itself at 7-2 and at least two games ahead of the herd, or 5-4 and as far down as fifth place. More likely, somewhere between those two extremes.

– You can make the argument that the three Pac-10 teams with the best showing last week were Arizona, UCLA and Stanford . . . historically speaking, the Pac-10’s usual suspects. Among them, the Wildcats seem most likely to keep it going, with two home games this weekend.

– Still winless in six games played outside the city limits, Washington may be reaching the point where its best hope of reaching the NCAA Tournament is to petition that the Pac-10 tournament be moved to Seattle.

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Various odds ‘n ends on the day before the start of the Pac-10 season . . .

– My Pac-10 preview from this morning’s editions — first time I can remember picking the Bears to win it.

 – My Bay Area News Group colleague Jon Wilner’s picks from the San Jose Merecury News.

– Vic Tafur’s Pac-10 predictions from the SF Chron.

– And Percy Allen’s picks in the Seattle Times.

– My game story on Cal’s win over UC Santa Barbara in the championship game of the Golden Bear Classic.

– A blog item by Doug Haller of the Arizona Republic on the upcoming 10-year anniversary of Hayward HS’s Eddie House scoring 61 points for ASU against Cal. A remarkable game.

– Finally, a belated Happy Birthday to Cal sophomore Jorge Gutierrez, who turned 21 on Sunday. On the same subject, today is one of the best days of the year for sports birthdays. Try this Big 3: Sandy Koufax (74 years old), Tiger Woods (34 years old and getting older fast) and LeBron James (25 years old — the guy looked 25 when he was 18).

Busy day today as I visited both Utah and Cal’s practices. The biggest development is that there seems to be a real possibility that cornerback Syd’Quan Thompson won’t play Wednesday. Thompson missed another practice today — the last of the season for the Bears — and afterward defensive coordinator Bob Gregory said “I don’t know” when asked if Thompson will play.

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By the time I arrived in San Diego today, the Bears had already taken their team trip to the San Diego Zoo. Players and coaches weren’t required to attend, but by all accounts it was a well-attended event. Linebacker Mike Mohamed, who grew up two hours in Brawley, has been to the zoo before but still said he “had a blast.” Wide receiver Jeremy Ross said he attended, but fellow receiver Marvin Jones caught up on some sleep instead. Jeff Tedford also passed. “You’ve seen one elephant, you’ve seen them all,” he joked.

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• Columnist Gary Peterson says Jahvid Best should turn pro.
• Cal is part of a Pac-10/Mountain West bowl rivalry.
• Cal coach Jeff Tedford is obviously a believer in the Utes.
• Another look at the feel-good story of Utah safety Robert Johnson.
• Cal will have to contend with an impressive left tackle from Utah.