Despite a lack of height, Cal men hoping for big improvements

Give the Cal men’s basketball players this much: At least they’re confident.

“Everybody can score. Everybody can shoot. Why wouldn’t we be better than last season?” sophomore guard Darius McNeill said. “I can’t wait to show everybody.”

There’s little doubt that the Bears will improve on last season, but it remains to be seen just how much better they’ll be than a squad that lost 17 of its final 18 games and got beat by an average of 9.9 points per game.

Cal lost three key contributors from a team that went 8-24 (.250), second-worst in school history (the 1978-79 team went 6-21, .222). Leading scorer Don Coleman (14.2 points per game) transferred to South Alabama, and big men Marcus Lee and Kingsley Okoroh graduated.