No. 4 South – California Golden Bears (Overall: 25-6, Conf: 15-3)
Team Strengths:
California entered the season with a load of much-ballyhooed group of freshmen comprised of Jaylen Brown, Ivan Rabb, and Jabari Bird.
It took some time before these young guns finally got it together with the Golden Bears losing five of their first nine conference games. But once they did, California became one of the hottest teams in the nation by going 9-1 the rest of the way. Credit that success to the Bears’ defense that has allowed the fourth lowest opponents’ effective field goal percentage (43.6%).
California’s offense, meanwhile, features lots of talented players who can create their own shots with the aforementioned freshmen along with Tyrone Wallace, regarded prior the season as one of the best guards.
The lack of experience of some of California’s top players is definitely a disadvantage especially if they come across a team like Kansas, which boasts of March Madness-hardened upperclassmen. For all the talent of Brown and company, the Golden Browns may succumb once pressure sets in. One tangible weakness of California, though, is its poor shooting performance at the free throw line. The Bears are converting just 65.7% of their shots from the charity stripe.
