Bear Territory Tuesday: Despite the great recruiting class, Tyrone Wallace is still the leader of Cal

     There is no doubting that the additions of Jaylen Brown and Ivan Rabb have made Cal a contender for the national championship. My last few blog posts have made that very clear. But what cannot be lost in all of this is that Tyrone Wallace, who announced that he would be returning for his senior season, is still the leader of this Cal team.

     Wallace had a chance to leave for the NBA in this year's draft, but he decided to return for his senior season to complete his degree and lead Cal deep in the NCAA tournament. If Tyrone Wallace had opted to leave for the NBA, Cal would still be a dangerous team, but I'm not sure they would be a threat to win the national championship.

     What makes Cal a threat to win the national championship is the combination of their great recruiting class, depth, and veteran leadership provided by Tyrone Wallace, who averaged 17.1 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 4.0 assists per game in his junior season. It was a bit of an adjustment for Wallace to be the leader last season after he had Justin Cobbs and Richard Solomon to look to, but thankfully senior power forward David Kravish helped to take some of the pressure off as he made the transition.

      Wallace has been well prepared to take on this role and he seems eager to take it on. He knows that when the game is on the line everybody will be looking at him to either take the shot or create a play for somebody else. Such is the job of the point guard, especially when the point guard is a senior.

     Just so I'm clear, I don't mean to imply that he won't have anybody else to help him in crunch time. As projected lottery picks in the 2016 NBA draft, Jaylen Brown and Ivan Rabb also need to be expected to step up in the clutch as do juniors Jabari Bird and Jordan Mathews. But all the same, it needs to be understood that this is Tyrone Wallace's team.

     There's more to leadership than just hitting big shots. Leadership is about coaching up your teammates, giving them encouragement and confidence when things get tough, etc. The only guy on this team who has the authority to do those things is Tyrone Wallace and that is what makes him the leader. He'll have to be the guy who makes sure everybody else understands their job and stays calm when they take on elite teams like Arizona, Utah, and Virginia. Having this kind of leadership will serve Cal well as they try to make history and win the school its first national championship in basketball since 1959.

---Ben Parker: follow me on twitter @nba_lord for NBA and Cal basketball news