1996–97 California Golden Bears men's basketball team

1996–97 California Golden Bears men's basketball
1996–97 California Golden Bears men's basketball
NCAA tournament, Sweet Sixteen
Conference	Pacific-10 Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 18
Record	23–9 (12–6 Pac-10)
Head coach	Ben Braun (1st season);
Assistant coach	Billy Kennedy (4th season)
Home arena	Harmon Gym
	Seasons ← 1995–96 1997–98 →

^[2] The 1996–97 California Golden Bears men's basketball team represented the University of California, Berkeley in the 1996–97 season.

1996–97 Pacific-10 Conference
men's basketball standings
	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 7 UCLA	15	–	3	.833	24	–	8	.750
No. 21 Stanford	12	–	6	.667	22	–	8	.733
California	12	–	6	.667	23	–	9	.719
USC	12	–	6	.667	17	–	11	.607
No. 15 Arizona	11	–	7	.611	25	–	9	.735
Washington	10	–	8	.556	17	–	11	.607
Oregon	8	–	10	.444	17	–	11	.607
Washington State	5	–	13	.278	13	–	17	.433
Oregon State	3	–	15	.167	7	–	20	.259
Arizona State	2	–	16	.111	10	–	20	.333

Rankings from AP Poll^[1]

Led by head coach Ben Braun, the Bears finished the regular season with a 12–6 record in the Pac-10, placing them in a tie for second. The Bears would receive an at-large bid into the NCAA tournament where they would make a run to the Sweet Sixteen. The Golden Bears defeated Princeton^[3] and Villanova^[4] before falling to North Carolina^[5] in the East Regional semifinal. The team finished the season with an overall record of 23–9. ^[6]

Roster

1996–97 California Golden Bears men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
F	4	Alfred Grigsby	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	—	Sr
G	22	Ed Gray	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	Sr	Riverside, CA
G	23	Randy Duck	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	—	Sr
F	34	Tony Gonzalez	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	235 lb (107 kg)	Jr	Huntington Beach, CA
F/C	40	Sean Marks	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	245 lb (111 kg)	Jr	Auckland, New Zealand
F	44	Michael Stewart	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	Sr	Sacramento, CA

Head coach

Ben Braun

Assistant coach(es)

Billy Kennedy (Southeastern Louisiana)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
Nov 25, 1996* ESPN		vs. Iowa Maui Invitational Tournament	W 75–59	1–0	Lahaina Civic Center Maui, Hawaii
Nov 26, 1996*		vs. No. 2 Kansas Maui Invitational Tournament	L 67–85	1–1	Lahaina Civic Center Maui, Hawaii
Nov 27, 1996*		vs. No. 17 UMass Maui Invitational Tournament	W 59–55	2–1	Lahaina Civic Center Maui, Hawaii
Nov 30, 1996*		Texas Southern	W 97–60	3–1	Harmon Gym Berkeley, California
Dec 3, 1996*		Illinois	W 89–88 ^2OT	4–1	Harmon Gym (6,578) Berkeley, California
Dec 8, 1996*		at Maryland	L 64–80	4–2	Cole Fieldhouse College Park, Maryland
Dec 9, 1996*		vs. Mississippi State	W 78–45	5–2	U.S. Airways Arena Landover, Maryland
Dec 20, 1996*		vs. Penn State	W 76–63	6–2	Continental Airlines Arena East Rutherford, New Jersey
Dec 23, 1996*		San Francisco	W 78–63	7–2	Harmon Gym Berkeley, California
Dec 28, 1996*		Howard	W 86–61	8–2	Harmon Gym Berkeley, California
Dec 29, 1996*		Cal Poly	W 77–59	9–2	Harmon Gym Berkeley, California
Jan 2, 1997		at No. 9 Arizona	L 80–81	9–3 (0–1)	McKale Center Tucson, Arizona
Jan 4, 1997		at Arizona State	L 60–64	9–4 (0–2)	ASU Activity Center Tempe, Arizona
Jan 9, 1997		USC	W 83–71	10–4 (1–2)	Harmon Gym Berkeley, California
Jan 11, 1997		UCLA	L 56–64	10–5 (1–3)	Harmon Gym Berkeley, California
Jan 16, 1997		at Oregon State	W 80–70	11–5 (2–3)	Gill Coliseum Corvallis, Oregon
Jan 18, 1997		at No. 24 Oregon	W 73–62	12–5 (3–3)	McArthur Court Eugene, Oregon
Jan 23, 1997		Washington State	W 77–75 ^2OT	13–5 (4–3)	Harmon Gym Berkeley, California
Jan 25, 1997		Washington	W 80–52	14–5 (5–3)	Harmon Gym Berkeley, California
Jan 29, 1997		No. 15 Stanford	W 70–64	15–5 (6–3)	Harmon Gym Berkeley, California
Feb 6, 1997		at UCLA	W 71–68	16–5 (7–3)	Pauley Pavilion Los Angeles, California
Feb 8, 1997		at USC	L 85–93	16–6 (7–4)	L.A. Sports Arena Los Angeles, California
Feb 13, 1997		Oregon	W 73–66	17–6 (8–4)	Harmon Gym Berkeley, California
Feb 15, 1997		Oregon State	W 90–68	18–6 (9–4)	Harmon Gym Berkeley, California
Feb 20, 1997	No. 25	at Washington	W 78–67	19–6 (10–4)	Bank of America Arena Seattle, Washington
Feb 22, 1997	No. 25	at Washington State	L 87–89	19–7 (10–5)	Friel Court Pullman, Washington
Mar 1, 1997		at No. 25 Stanford	L 63–73	19–8 (10–6)	Maples Pavilion Stanford, California
Mar 6, 1997		Arizona State	W 84–66	20–8 (11–6)	Harmon Gym Berkeley, California
Mar 8, 1997		vs. No. 12 Arizona	W 79–77^[7]	21–8 (12–6)	Cow Palace Daly City, California
NCAA Tournament
Mar 13, 1997*	(5 E)	vs. (12 E) Princeton First round	W 55–52^[3]	22–8	Lawrence Joel Coliseum Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Mar 15, 1997*	(5 E)	vs. (4 E) No. 20 Villanova Second Round	W 75–68^[4]	23–8	Lawrence Joel Coliseum Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Mar 21, 1997*	(5 E)	vs. (1 E) No. 4 North Carolina East Regional semifinal – Sweet Sixteen	L 57–63^[5]	23–9	Carrier Dome Syracuse, New York
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. E=East. All times are in Pacific.

Rankings

Team players drafted into the NBA

Round	Pick	Player	NBA Team
1	22	Ed Gray	Atlanta Hawks

References

↑ "Pacific 10 conference 1996–97 standings". Retrieved November 21, 2007.
↑ "1996-97 University of California Golden Bears Schedule and Results - College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com.
1 2 "Cal Escapes Upset-Minded Princeton". The Washington Post. March 14, 1997. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
1 2 "Villanova Falls Under California Spell, 75-68". The Los Angeles Times. March 16, 1997. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
1 2 "North Carolina and Louisville Move On". The New York Times. March 22, 1997. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
↑ "Cal Bears Basketball 1996-97". www.cs.cmu.edu.
↑ "No. 12 Arizona Falls to Cal". The Los Angeles Times. March 9, 1997. Retrieved June 6, 2021.

[1] "Pacific 10 conference 1996–97 standings". Retrieved November 21, 2007.

[2] "1996-97 University of California Golden Bears Schedule and Results - College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com.

[ncaa-princeton-3] 1 2 "Cal Escapes Upset-Minded Princeton". The Washington Post. March 14, 1997. Retrieved June 6, 2021.

[ncaa-nova-4] 1 2 "Villanova Falls Under California Spell, 75-68". The Los Angeles Times. March 16, 1997. Retrieved June 6, 2021.

[ncaa-unc-5] 1 2 "North Carolina and Louisville Move On". The New York Times. March 22, 1997. Retrieved June 6, 2021.

[6] "Cal Bears Basketball 1996-97". www.cs.cmu.edu.

[7] "No. 12 Arizona Falls to Cal". The Los Angeles Times. March 9, 1997. Retrieved June 6, 2021.

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