Cal Men's Basketball Prepares for Postseason

A look at the UIC Flames before the Wednesday NIT first round matchup

Photo courtesy Don Collier

In this day and age of college basketball, not going to the NCAA Tournament effectively can end a season. You see opt outs, portal announcements and the deck chairs being rearranged for the next season.

For this year’s California Golden Bears, there's a certain sense of excitement per Head Coach Mark Madsen. In comments to the press on Monday, Madsen reiterated that there’s a certain level of glee that comes with playing postseason games in March, and that while it did sting to close the regular season out with some losses, that it’s still meaningful progress to get back to the postseason.

“I think it’s the first postseason in close to 10 years, and so that can be celebrated. That needs to be celebrated…..Our guys love basketball and they love to compete...to have the chance to play meaningful games at this point in the season is something that we’re all grateful for.”

Moreover, Coach Madsen offered that those losses from Pitt through FSU to close out that portion of the season were their own entities, and that its not necessarily fair to pack those games into a single narrative. While the Pitt loss showed a lack of energy from the beginning, the FSU loss was primarily due to lack of execution. Coach Madsen took the blame for the losses. This week, Madsen implemented early morning practices and individualized film sessions and drills in preparation for their Wednesday NIT matchup.

Given how fickle things can be, Madsen was confident that this will be a runway for the program to continue to ascend, and that there are resources for Justin Pippen and Dai Dai Ames to remain in the blue and gold.

However, the here and now is Wednesday night’s matchup against the Missouri Valley Conference’s University of Illinois-Chicago. The UIC Flames finished with a 19-15 overall record, 12-8 in the MVC. They lost to eventual champion Northern Iowa in the quarterfinals of the MVC postseason tournament.

Cal is currently favored by 4.5 points. On first glance, this seems low. But the UIC Flames had a solid season that can best be characterized as ‘taking care of business’ for a mid-major program. UIC finished with a #110 NET ranking, in the same region Cal finished last year. The Flames did not play any Power 5 schools. Their best win was at Northern Iowa, #72 in NET ranking and counted as a Quad 1 win. Their worst loss was at home to #316 Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Overall, UIC went 4-7 in Quad 1/2 matchups, 13-8 in Quad 3/4 games.

The one thing UIC does extremely well; offensive rebounding. The Flames average 13 offensive rebounds per game, 33rd ranked nationally. Of Cal’s opponents this year, only Virginia collected more offensive rebounds. UIC’s rebounding rate drives their highly efficient offensive numbers. The Flames ranked in the top 60 for overall efficiency and second chance points. For as good as their offensive rebounding is, the Flames do not show the same acumen on the defensive end, averaging just under 24 rebounds per game, 261st nationally.

The Flames are led by PG Elijah Crawford. Crawford is a former Top 100 prospect who played limited minutes for BYU last year before transferring to UIC. Crawford averages 14 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds per game, while taking care of the ball and committing less than 2 turnovers per game. He is joined in the backcourt by Andy Johnson and Ahmad Henderson, both averaging over 11 points per game.

In short, The Flames are a solid team who do not hurt themselves. The 4.5 point line still seems low, but not to an extreme degree. This game may play out like Cal’s matchup against Pacific in December. A quote from that recap that comes to mind; “Pacific only hit 33% of their [first half] shots (11-of-33), but collected 13 offensive rebounds and converted that into 7 second chance points.” Cal never trailed but Pacific hung around all 40 minutes before Cal closed out the 6-point victory.

Tipoff is 8pm on Wednesday. The game will be televised on ESPN2, but I suggest you come early, grab a Top and Kielbasa from Top Dog, and root for the Bears in person.