After reeling off four straight wins to begin the 2015-16 season, California endured its first setbacks of the season in last week’s Las Vegas Classic. First came a 14-point loss to San Diego State, which had fallen at home to Arkansas-Little Rock the previous week. (To be fair, Little Rock is currently 5-0, and has also taken down Tulsa on the road.) The day after beating the Bears, the Aztecs were unceremoniously thumped by West Virginia. In its second game in Vegas, Cal lost by four points to Richmond, which already has a win at Wake Forest and returns four starters from last season: one of whom, senior forward Terry Allen, went off for 34 points and 13 rebounds against the Bears. All of which is to say, through a rather convoluted lede, that the non-conference portion of the season is in full swing. Crazy stuff happens as teams begin to take shape. There’s no need for Cal fans to panic after watching their team’s perfect 4-0 record dwindle to a more pedestrian 4-2 in the face of tougher competition.
Sam Singer (#2) might not be one of the more heralded players on Cal’s squad, but he is one of the most important. (Cal Athletics)
Take that game against Richmond. The Bears’ two standout freshmen, Jaylen Brown and Ivan Rabb, led the team in points (27) and rebounds (seven), respectively, continuing their strong starts to the season. They are the two gemstones that head coach Cuonzo Martin has embedded into the program he’s building in Berkeley — one that seems poised to become a West Coast powerhouse for years to come. The new blood blends well with the core that Mike Montgomery, Martin’s predecessor, assembled before retiring at the close of the 2013-14 season. In addition to being one of the best minds in the game, ‘Monty’, as he’s commonly known, brought in the likes of Tyrone Wallace, Jabari Bird and Jordan Mathews, all of whom start for Cal this season.
Back to that fan perspective for a moment: What could provide reason for worry is Cal’s depth — or more pertinently, the decided lack thereof. Against Richmond, Martin used only eight players, and of his three reserves, junior Sam Singer (10 points in 22 minutes) was the only notable contributor. Ah, Singer. Here was another of those final Monty recruits. A heralded three out of Ransom Everglades High in Florida (see: high-scoring variety), Singer played key minutes for Cal as a freshman and continued his strong form as a sophomore. The career-bests he accrued last season always seemed to come against Cal’s toughest opponents. Fifteen points against that Tyler Harvey-led, eventual NCAA Tourney-bound Eastern Washington team; eight assists vs. #23 Syracuse; five rebounds against #6 Wisconsin.
Under Martin, Singer is one of his first players off the bench, and the top minutes-getter among the non-starters (19.7 MPG through six games). One of the best passers on the team, Singer packs a punch in other areas, too (4.2 PPG; 2.3 RPG). It would have been interesting to see how Singer would have been used under Montgomery, perhaps tapping back into his high-scoring prep form, becoming the type of lead guard so prevalent for Monty’s teams at Stanford. (See: Chris Hernandez, Julius Barnes and Arthur Lee, to name a few).
What Singer will be for this season’s Cal team is an utterly essential piece off the bench. Wallace is one of the best in the West off the bounce, and in Mathews and Bird, Martin has two very good options on the wing. What Singer does when he gets in is to bring all the pieces together — talented freshmen included. And for a Cal team with extremely high ambitions this season before Rabb and Brown alight for greener pastures, that skill set will come very handy.