# 2009–10 California Golden Bears men's basketball team

The 2009–10 California Golden Bears men's basketball team represented the University of California, Berkeley in the 2009–10 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. This was head coach Mike Montgomery's second season at California. The Golden Bears played their home games at Haas Pavilion and participate in the Pacific-10 Conference. The Golden Bears finished the season 24–11, 13–5 in Pac-10 play to win the regular season conference championship, their first regular season title since the 1959–60 season. They lost to Washington in the finals of the Pac-10 tournament. They received an at–large bid to the 2010 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, earning an 8 seed in the South Region. They defeated 9 seed Louisville in the first round before falling to 1 seed and AP #3 Duke in the second round. The Blue Devils went on to claim their fourth national title.

## Pre-season

In the Pac-10 preseason poll, released October 29 in Los Angeles, California during the Pac-10 media days California was selected to finish 1st in the conference.

## Roster

| # | Name | Height | Weight (lbs.) | Position | Class | Hometown | Previous Team(s) |
| 0 | Nigel Carter | 6'4" | 205 | G | So. | Los Angeles, CA, U.S. | Dorsey HS |
| 1 | D. J. Seeley | 6'4" | 195 | G | So. | Stockton, CA, U.S. | Modesto Christian HS |
| 2 | Jorge Gutierrez | 6'3" | 195 | G | So. | Chihuahua, Mexico | Findlay Prep |
| 3 | Jerome Randle | 5'10" | 172 | G | Sr. | Chicago, IL, U.S. | Hales Franciscan HS |
| 10 | Jamal Boykin | 6'8" | 240 | F | Sr. | Los Angeles, CA, U.S. | Fairfax High School HS Duke |
| 12 | Brandon Smith | 5'11" | 185 | G | Fr. | San Ramon, CA, U.S. | De La Salle HS |
| 13 | Nikola Knezevic | 6'3" | 190 | G | Sr. | Belgrade, Serbia | Fifth Economy School |
| 14 | Max Zhang | 7'3" | 240 | C | So. | Yantai, Shandong China | No. 4 Yantai HS |
| 15 | Bak Bak | 6'9" | 210 | F | Fr. | Sun Valley, CA, U.S. | Village Christian HS |
| 21 | Omondi Amoke | 6'7" | 225 | F | So. | Oxnard, CA, U.S. | Oxnard |
| 23 | Patrick Christopher | 6'5" | 220 | G | Sr. | Compton, CA, U.S. | Dominguez HS |
| 24 | Theo Robertson | 6'6" | 230 | F | Sr. | Pittsburg, CA, U.S. | De La Salle HS |
| 32 | Robert Thurman | 6'10" | 245 | F | So. | North Edwards, CA, U.S. | Desert HS Norwich |
| 43 | Harper Kamp | 6'8" | 250 | F | Jr. | Mesa, AZ, U.S. | Mountain View HS |
| 45 | Markhuri Sanders-Frison | 6'7" | 275 | C | Jr. | Portland, OR, U.S. | Jefferson HS South Plains |

### Coaching staff

| Name | Position | Year at Cal | Alma Mater (Year) |
| Mike Montgomery | Head Coach | 2nd | Colorado State (1976) |
| Jay John | Assistant Coach | 2nd | Arizona (1981) |
| Travis DeCuire | Assistant Coach | 2nd | Montana (1994) |
| Gregg Gottlieb | Assistant Coach | 3rd | UCLA (1995) |
| John Montgomery | Director of Basketball Operations | 2nd | Loyola Marymount (2007) |

## Schedule and results

Source
* All times are Pacific
| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| 11/5/2009* 7:30pm | No. 13 | Chico State | W 84–47 | | Haas Pavilion (7,453) Berkeley, CA |
| Regular season ||||||
| 11/9/2009* 8:00pm, ESPNU | No. 13 | Murray State Coaches Vs. Cancer Classic | W 75–70 | 1–0 | Haas Pavilion (7,603) Berkeley, CA |
| 11/11/2009* 8:00pm, ESPNU | No. 13 | Detroit Coaches Vs. Cancer Classic | W 95–61 | 2–0 | Haas Pavilion (7,541) Berkeley, CA |
| 11/19/2009* 4:00pm, ESPN2 | No. 13 | vs. Syracuse Coaches Vs. Cancer Classic | L 73–95 | 2–1 | Madison Square Garden (NA) New York, NY |
| 11/20/2009* 2:00pm, ESPN2 | No. 13 | vs. No. 15 Ohio State Coaches Vs. Cancer Classic | L 70–76 | 2–2 | Madison Square Garden (15,552) New York, NY |
| 11/24/2009* 7:30pm | | Jacksonville | W 79–47 | 3–2 | Haas Pavilion (9,672) Berkeley, CA |
| 11/29/2009* 2:00pm, CSNC | | Princeton | W 81–60 | 4–2 | Haas Pavilion (8,919) Berkeley, CA |
| 12/2/2009* 6:00pm, CBSCS | | at New Mexico | L 78–86 | 4–3 | The Pit (13,549) Albuquerque, NM |
| 12/5/2009* 8:00pm, ESPNU | | Iowa State Big 12/Pac-10 Hardwood Series | W 82–63 | 5–3 | Haas Pavilion (9,845) Berkeley, CA |
| 12/9/2009* 7:00pm, Big West TV | | at Pacific | W 79–53 | 6–3 | Stockton Arena (8,704) Stockton, CA |
| 12/22/2009* 6:00pm, ESPN2 | | at No. 1 Kansas | L 69–84 | 6–4 | Allen Fieldhouse (16,300) Lawrence, KS |
| 12/28/2009* 7:30pm | | Utah Valley Colliers International Golden Bear Classic | W 85–51 | 7–4 | Haas Pavilion (8,450) Berkeley, CA |
| 12/29/2009 7:30pm, CSNC | | UC Santa Barbara Colliers International Golden Bear Classic | W 87–66 | 8–4 | Haas Pavilion (9,052) Berkeley, CA |
| 1/2/2010 4:00pm, CSNC | | Stanford | W 92–66 | 9–4 (1–0) | Haas Pavilion (10,758) Berkeley, CA |
| 1/6/2010 7:30pm, FSN/CSNBA | | UCLA | L 75–76 $^{OT}$ | 9–5 (1–1) | Haas Pavilion (10,005) Berkeley, CA |
| 1/9/2010 7:30pm, FSN/CSNBA | | USC | W 67–59 | 10–5 (2–1) | Haas Pavilion (9,930) Berkeley, CA |
| 1/14/2010 7:00pm | | at Washington State | W 93–88 | 11–5 (3–1) | Beasley Coliseum (8,277) Pullman, WA |
| 1/16/2010 11:30am, CSNBA | | at Washington | L 69–84 | 11–6 (3–2) | Bank of America Arena (9,897) Seattle, WA |
| 1/21/2010 7:30pm, CSNBA | | Oregon | W 89–57 | 12–6 (4–2) | Haas Pavilion (8,535) Berkeley, CA |
| 1/23/2010 11:00am, CBS | | Oregon State | W 65–61 | 13–6 (5–2) | Haas Pavilion (8,666) Berkeley, CA |
| 1/26/2010 5:30pm, CSNC | | at Arizona State | W 78–70 | 14–6 (6–2) | Wells Fargo Arena (8,416) Tempe, AZ |
| 1/31/2010 12:30pm, FSN/CSNBA | | at Arizona | L 72–76 | 14–7 (6–3) | McKale Center (14,629) Tucson, AZ |
| 2/4/2010 7:30pm | | at USC | L 63–66 | 14–8 (6–4) | Galen Center (7,412) Los Angeles, CA |
| 2/6/2010 1:00pm, CBS | | at UCLA | W 72–58 | 15–8 (7–4) | Pauley Pavilion (10,450) Los Angeles, CA |
| 2/11/2010 6:00pm, ESPN2 | | Washington | W 93–81 | 16–8 (8–4) | Haas Pavilion (9,839) Berkeley, CA |
| 2/13/2010 1:00pm, FSN/CSNBA | | Washington State | W 86–70 | 17–8 (9–4) | Haas Pavilion (9,536) Berkeley, CA |
| 2/18/2010 7:30pm, FSN/CSNBA | | at Oregon State | L 64–80 | 17–9 (9–5) | Gill Coliseum (6,609) Corvallis, OR |
| 2/20/2010 3:00pm, CSNC | | at Oregon | W 64–49 | 18–9 (10–5) | McArthur Court (8,099) Eugene, OR |
| 2/25/2010 6:00pm, ESPN2 | | Arizona | W 95–71 | 19–9 (11–5) | Haas Pavilion ( 10,545) Berkeley, CA |
| 2/27/2010 12:00pm | | Arizona State | W 62–46 | 20–9 (12–5) | Haas Pavilion (11,877) Berkeley, CA |
| 3/6/2010 3:00pm | | at Stanford | W 71–61 | 21–9 (13–5) | Maples Pavilion (7,329) Stanford, CA |
| 2010 Pacific-10 Conference men's basketball tournament ||||||
| 3/11/2010 2:30pm, FSN | (1) | vs. (8) Oregon Quarterfinals | W 90–74 | 22–9 | Staples Center (12,125) Los Angeles, CA |
| 3/12/2010 6:00pm, FSN | (1) | vs. (5) UCLA Semifinals | W 85–72 | 23–9 | Staples Center (NA) Los Angeles, CA |
| 3/13/2010 3:15pm, CBS | (1) | vs. (3) Washington Finals | L 75–79 | 23–10 | Staples Center (15,851) Los Angeles, CA |
| NCAA tournament ||||||
| March 19 6:45pm, CBS | (8) | vs. (9) Louisville First Round | W 77–62 | 24–10 | Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena (12,251) Jacksonville, FL |
| March 21 2:15 pm, CBS | (8) | vs. (1) No. 3 Duke Second Round | L 53–68 | 24–11 | Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena (12,547) Jacksonville, FL |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. ||||||