Bear Territory Tuesday: Changes are made to the 2015-16 Cal men's basketball roster

     During the past week, three changes were made to the Cal men's basketball roster: Tyson Jolly got moved to the class of 2016, Davon Dillard flipped to Oklahoma State, and two-star small forward Roman Davis from Windward School in Los Angeles committed to the team. Both Dillard flipping to Oklahoma State and Jolly moving to the class of 2016 are related to academic issues. Dillard didn't have the grades for Cal and it appears as though Jolly doesn't either, but he's attending a prep school in hopes of sorting out some academic issues so that he can join the Golden Bears in 2016. It should be noted that in the case of Tyson Jolly, he is technically "committed" to join the team in 2016, so it is possible that things don't work out with him, either.

     What does this all mean for the 2015-16 Cal men's basketball team? It means that they aren't going to be as deep as we initially thought, but they still project to be really dangerous. The comforting news for Cal is that so long as they have Ivan Rabb, Jaylen Brown, Tyrone Wallace, Jabari Bird, and Jordan Mathews, they will be a force to be reckoned with in the Pac-12.

     What Davon Dillard and Tyson Jolly were expected to bring was energy off the bench and depth at the wing position. Depth is a good thing, but if I can be honest, I felt like Cal had too much depth concentrated at one position. With Tyrone Wallace, Jabari Bird, Jaylen Brown, Jordan Mathews, Davon Dillard, Tyson Jolly, Stephen Domingo, and Roger Moute a Bidias all capable of playing the shooting guard or small forward positions, it looked like Cuonzo Martin had his hands full finding playing time for all of those guys. Now, Wallace is the starting point guard, so that helps, but everybody else would have been competing for minutes that couldn't be properly allocated.

     With Dillard off to Oklahoma State and Jolly not coming over until 2016 (hopefully), suddenly it appears as though Cuonzo Martin will be able to have a more cohesive and consistent 9-10 man rotation. While it would certainly be nice to have Dillard and Jolly for extra depth, the reality of the situation is that there really aren't that many minutes to go around. If you think minutes are precious in the NBA game, where the game lasts for 48 minutes, minutes are even more precious in the college game which lasts for just 40 minutes. I'm sure that in a way, Cuonzo Martin is relieved to have a more clear picture of who is going to be in his rotation and who isn't.

     Here is the rotation that I expect Cuonzo Martin to use in the 2015-16 season: Tyrone Wallace  starting at point guard; Jabari Bird starting at shooting guard; Jaylen Brown starting at small forward; Ivan Rabb starting at power forward; Kingsley Okoroh starting at center; Jordan Mathews off the bench as a reserve shooting guard; Sam Singer off the bench as a reserve point guard and shooting guard; Stephen Domingo off the bench as a reserve shooting guard and small forward; and Kameron Rooks off the bench as a reserve center.

     If Cuonzo Martin is sticking to a nine-man rotation as he said he would do when I heard him speak at Walnut Creek, that is likely the nine-man rotation he rolls with. Guys 10-11 will be Brandon Chauca at reserve point guard and Roger Moute a Bidias at small forward. The 12th spot will either be small forward Roman Davis, shooting guard Nick Hamilton, forward Cole Welle, or guard Nick Kerr (son of Steve Kerr) with the other three being reserves.

So there you have it. That is is the projected 15 man roster for the 2015-16 season. The other two players who may or may not be with the program are point guard Brenden Glapion and center Xavier Valdes. Glapion actually got some minutes last season while Valdes was a walk on who sat out the season due to a hamstring injury. I have heard that Glapion likely won't get a scholarship for next season, but I haven't heard anything to confirm this.

     As for Xavier Valdes, I've heard absolutely nothing on his status, but I assume he is gone, too. Interestingly enough, when asked about Xavier Valdes' status with the team in Walnut Creek, all that Cuonzo Martin said was "Xavier was on the team last season. He sat out with a hamstring injury, but he was on the team". Interpret that answer however you'd like.

    These should be the final changes to the Cal men's basketball roster. I don't foresee any other changes coming to the roster with the exception of Brenden Glapion and Xavier Valdes joining the team as extra reserves.

     Now, I talked about both Dillard and Jolly, but I haven't really addressed Roman Davis. I don't know much about him other than that he is from Los Angeles. Thankfully, CalBears.com has more info on him:

BERKELEY – California head men’s basketball coach Cuonzo Martin announced the signing of Los Angeles area standout Roman Davis on Friday. The 6-7, 200-pound small forward will enroll at the University this summer.

“I want to welcome Roman to the family,” Martin said. “His athleticism and toughness will allow him to do a lot of things in our program.  Defensively, I think he has the capability to guard all five positions. He comes from one of the finest academic high schools in California.  We are excited he chose to be a Golden Bear.”

Davis played scholastically at the Windward School in Los Angeles, Calif., where he averaged 9.7 points, 9.2 rebounds, and 1.6 blocks per game as a senior this past year for the Wildcats. The small forward appeared in 27 games to help guide Windward to a 22-11 overall record. Davis record the game-winning bucket in the final seconds in back-to-back games for the Wildcats this past January. He posted seven blocks in a game during Windward’s Division 5AA playoff run in February.

Davis was selected to the 2015 Division 5AA All-California Interscholastic Federation Boys Basketball Team, as voted by the Southern California Interscholastic Basketball Coaches Association.

He competed for the Earl Watson Elite on the AAU circuit.

 In conclusion, these changes made to the 2015-16 Cal men's basketball roster shouldn't really affect the long-term goals of this team or make us think any less of them. They still are in a great position to make a deep run in the NCAA tournament and should be favorites or co-favorites with Arizona to win the Pac-12. I'm confident that the guys filling in for Jolly and Dillard off the bench will be able to do just fine in their place. Contrary to what some are saying, Cal still has plenty of depth and versatility.

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

Bear Territory Tuesday: Will a shorter shot clock help Cal?

     The NCAA shot clock for men's basketball has been shortened from 35 to 30 seconds, which will create higher scoring games and a faster pace of play. As one who likes the slower pace of college basketball as a fun contrast to the faster paced NBA game, I'm not entirely happy with this rule change. However, I do think that this rule change works to the benefit of the Cal men's basketball team, which obviously makes me like it a lot better.

    The reason I like this rule change for Cal is simple:  Cal is designed to play a faster tempo game. With only two true centers on the entire roster (Kingsley Okoroh and Kameron Rooks) and a lot of shooting guards and small forwards, Cal will use a lot of small lineups this season. This means that they will have to play a faster paced tempo in order to be successful.

     There were times last season when Cal slowed it down too much and didn't use their speed and athleticism to their advantage. At times, they were too dependent on running a certain set of plays as opposed to using the flow of the game to their advantage. With the additions of Ivan Rabb, Jaylen Brown, Tyson Jolly, and Davon Dillard, and the losses of David Kravish, Dwight Tarwater, and Christian Behrens, Cal is an even smaller and quicker team than last season. As a result, they'll have to be even more aggressive in transition and really use their quickness and athleticism to their advantage.

     In order for this to really work, Cal will have to really play stingy defense and force a fair amount of turnovers. Thankfully, Cal has Tyson Jolly to help do just that. Earlier this year at Walnut Creek, I met with some of the Cal basketball coaches at a meet and greet with fans. They talked about the incoming freshmen and what they could bring to the team.

     When talking about Tyson Jolly, assistant coach Yanni Hufnagel said "He's an absolute pit bull. He can guard multiple positions 1, 2, and 3." Jolly is raw offensively, but defensively he should be ready to make an impact right away. He's like Tony Allen, whose defense really makes the Memphis Grizzlies go.

     This isn't to say that the other players on Cal won't be able to play good defense. Tyrone Wallace, Sam Singer, Ivan Rabb, Jaylen Brown, and Kingsley Okoroh should all be able to play really good defense as well. It's just that with Jolly he's more one dimensional and that's ok. If there is anything Cal would want a guy to be more one dimensional in, it would be defense and hustle. Cal will have plenty of guys to score the ball, so it really will be ok if Tyson Jolly is just out there making plays on defense and helping other guys get easy shots.

     In conclusion, if Cal is going to play to the best of their ability, they will have to play at a faster pace than other teams. With the shot clock being reduced to 30 seconds, Cal will be forced to play at a faster pace, which is exactly what they should be trying to do anyways. While it is true that all teams will be playing faster, not every team will want to play a faster tempo. But for Cal, the faster tempo really suits their player personnel. This rule change is truly a blessing. Go Bears!

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