NBA-level talent or senior leadership?
If the former is more important, Cal should live up to its No. 4 seeding today and beat 13 seed Hawaii.
The Golden Bears’ freshman forwards — Jaylen Brown and Ivan Rabb — are one-and-done type players whom scouts have predicted to be lottery draft picks when they go pro. They’ve more or less lived up to their billing.
But if you put more value on the latter, the idea of experience, watch out for the Rainbow Warriors.
This was going to feature a matchup of senior point guards in Cal’s Tyrone Wallace and UH’s Roderick Bobbitt. But at practice Wednesday, for the second time this season Wallace broke a bone (a different one) in his right hand.
Starting in January, Wallace missed five Pac-12 games. Cal won three of them (hosting Arizona State, Arizona and Stanford). The Bears lost the other two, which were at Utah and Colorado.
It’s not like Cal can’t function without Wallace. But it has lost its leading scorer, assist man and steals producer. He’s also the only starter on either team with significant experience in this tournament; as a freshman, Wallace scored 12 points in Cal’s last NCAA game, a 68-60 loss to Syracuse 2013.
Also, Wallace was coming off a 26-point game in the Bears’ 82-78 loss to Utah in the semifinals of the Pac-12 tournament championship.
Make no mistake, Wallace is a loss. And Bobbitt may be just the guy to take advantage of it.
He didn’t lead the nation in steals this season like he did last year. But Bobbitt still averaged 2.2 thefts per game, good for 13th nationally, and broke the school career record.
Junior Sam Singer will start at point in place of Wallace, as he did during the previous injury. While his assist and turnover averages per 40 minutes (about 5.5 and 2.7) are similar to those of Wallace, the question is if he can endure the constant pressure from Bobbitt and his backcourt mate Quincy Smith.
Singer won’t have to do it all himself, but this is not the game and not the opponent to be without your most experienced ball-handler.
After the news of Wallace’s injury, Cal dropped from a 7-point Vegas favorite to 41⁄2 or 5.
Of course, if Hawaii wins the point-guard battle that doesn’t mean it wins the game. UH also has to do everything else it did right in the 27 games it won this season.
The Rainbows must rebound consistently while keeping Cal’s talented freshmen from driving to the basket and off the offensive boards. Stefan Jankovic, and others, must stay out of foul trouble. They have to get to the line, and make the shots. They must hit 3-pointers, but within the context of their inside-out attack.
Still, point guard is the most important game-within-the-game and backcourt play is usually where upsets are born at the NCAA Tournament. Look at what Makai Mason of Yale and Josh Hagins of Arkansas Little Rock did Thursday for their 12th-seeded teams against fifth-seeded Baylor and Purdue.
Regardless of underdog or favorite status, there’s no substitute for a savvy senior point like Hagins or Indiana’s Yogi Farrell. Today, Hawaii has its guy available and Cal does not, and that gives the Rainbow Warriors a great opportunity to win and advance at the NCAA Tournament for the first time ever.
Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at Hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quickreads
