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		Morris Phillips on the NCAA By Morris Phillips January 25, 2012

	Sportstalk: Morris, the Cal Bears (16-5, 6-2) are coming off a tough loss to the Washington State Cougars (11-8, 3-4) 77-75 in their last game. After a victory against the Washington Huskies (12-7, 5-2) the Bears lost a close one after winning rather handily against the Cougars. Could you give us some insight as to why these games were different? The Bears’ defense needed to step up to make the Washington trip hum. Cal played well but they’re still rounding into form. Against UW, the Bears took control by—what else—containing the paint and creating distance between themselves and UW with near perfect play early. Their shots were falling against WSU but the Bears didn’t stop the Cougs’ dribble penetration. Painful loss in that it fell apart so late in the game with the Bears seemingly in control. Being in a log jam at the top isn’t what the Bears wanted, but they will get opportunities to create distance starting Sunday against Stanford. The Bears aren’t an overpowering team so they will have some slips like they did against WSU. Sportstalk: Stanford (15-5, 5-3) is up next for the Bears. Is this a game that's going to take on a big game feeling with the Cardinal coming to Haas Pavilion? Yes, the Cardinal is deeper, bigger and tired of losing to Cal. The Bears haven’t lost a home game and don’t figure to start now. So these teams are really staring each other down in this one. Cal needs a fast start and their signature high percentage shooting to take control, but Stanford could have success playing defense and rebounding against the Bears. This one should be quite intriguing. Sportstalk: Morris, let's compare coaches here for a moment. How do you see Bears head coach Mike Montgomery coaching against his former team, and how do you see Cardinal head coach Johnny Dawkins’ strategy gearing up for this game on Sunday? Montgomery could care less about his history as Stanford’s coach. As always, the veteran coach is in the moment, only worried about his current team being prepared and playing well on Sunday. That mentality continues to serve the iconic coach, and his three plus years at Cal have been just as impressive as any similar stretch he had at Stanford. Dawkins continues to grow as does his team. The Cardinal clearly have the superior talent but Cal—thanks to Montgomery—continues to get more out of what talent they have than any local rival wearing red uniforms.