Bear Territory Thursday: Will Cal go with small ball?

                                          (credit: bigstory.ap.org) 
     
     One of the more interesting things to speculate about the Cal Men's Basketball team is what type of lineups their head coach Cuonzo Martin will go with, especially on the front line. The most experienced front court players on this Cal team are David Kravish (6'10), Christian Behrens (6'8), and Roger Moute a Bidias (6'6), none of which are true centers. The only true centers on this Cal team are freshman Kingsley Okoroh (7'1) and sophomore center Kameron Rooks (7'0), who is redshirting the season due to a torn ACL.
 
     With Rooks not playing this season and Okoroh only a freshman, odds look very high that Cal will roll with a lot of small lineups this season. With Kravish being the only guy outside of Okoroh who is capable of playing center, what type of lineups should Cal fans expect to see?
   
     First of all, lets get the backcourt situation figured out. Tyrone Wallace, who played a lot of shooting guard last season is expected to start at point guard. As for the shooting guard position, I assume that Jordan Mathews will be the starter with Jabari Bird sliding over to the small forward position. Cuonzo Martin might go with some other looks, but I expect those three guys to be starting at those positions.
   
     With positions 1-3 established, we can now look at the front court. What makes the most sense from a practical standpoint is to start Kingsley Okoroh at center and David Kravish at power forward. If this is how things go, Christian Behrens can come off the bench to play power forward and center, and Roger Moute a Bidias can come off the bench to play a mix of small forward and power forward.
   
     However, as I implied above, with Okoroh being a freshman, Cuonzo Martin may not want to throw him to the wolves and start him. He may prefer him to come off the bench. In that case, that means David Kravish has no choice but to start at center and either Christian Behrens or Roger Moute a Bidias starts at power forward. Either way, if Kingsley comes off the bench, Cal will be playing small ball by default.  May I add that in this lineup, Jabari Bird would be playing out of his position as he is more of a natural shooting guard. The only position where Cal would have a size advantage is point guard since Tyrone Wallace stands at 6'5.
   
     There are some other possible lineups which might have to be used as well. One such possibility would be Sam Singer at point guard, Jordan Mathews at shooting guard, Tyrone Wallace at small forward, Jabari Bird at power forward, and David Kravish at center. This kind of lineup is not likely to be used much, but it could be used in spurts. Cal is a team with not a lot of size and a lot of athleticism at the wing, which is the formula for small ball: Athletic wings + small frontcourt = small ball.

     This is not to say that David Kravish cannot play big inside. He can. He blocks a lot of shots and is very active in the paint. His offensive polish inside and defensive abilities allow him to play center just fine. It's the other guys who make this lineup small.

     With that being the case, it's all the more important that David Kravish plays big inside. With Kingsley Okoroh still looking relatively raw, odds are good that Kravish will be the only legitimate threat in the post. He'll have his work cut out for him this season and he'll have to play even bigger than last season. Especially with Richard Solomon gone.

     In conclusion, Cal will struggle to dominate people in the paint. Only David Kravish can reasonably be expected to be a force in the paint. But with him likely playing a lot of center against 7-footers, it's going to be all the more important that the players playing positions 1-3 really step it up and help space the floor.

     If Tyrone Wallace is able to penetrate and attack the rim like he does, if Jordan Mathews is knocking down threes, and if Jabari Bird is capable of scoring both inside and out, then Cal's small ball lineups could thrive. If they don't do their jobs effectively, then David Kravish will likely have to put up with a lot of double teams and guys who are bigger than him at the center position.

     ---Ben Parker: follow me on twitter @nba_lord