CAL INTRODUCES NEW LOGO, VISUAL IDENTITY

All Athletic Uniforms Have Been Redesigned with New Look

Athletic director Sandy Barbour ushered in a new era for Cal athletics Wednesday as the university unveiled an updated visual identity for the Golden Bears, showing a set of graphics, colors and imagery that pays homage to Cal’s historic past and creates a contemporary look and feel for the future. Click here to see the full release on Calbears.com.

All 27 athletic programs will feature new lettering and numerals on their uniforms, and most of the unis also will sport a new bear logo. Cal athletics will maintain the script Cal as its primary logo. Merchandise with the new visual identity is already available to fans online at the Cal Bears Shop.

Cal Athletics worked collaboratively with the Nike design team to create the new brand identity. The core elements of the unified identity include logo, color and type usage designed for flexibility and to keep pace with the athletic department’s evolving needs.

“We have had a long history and great partnership with Cal and it has been exciting to help them achieve their goal of building longevity and consistency across their brand.” said Todd Van Horne, Nike’s Global VP and Design Director for Nike Football.

tammygu3:

So proud of these ladies!!!!

Fighters till the end!

Go Bears!

calrotaract:

April 5-6, 2013 | UC Berkeley Dance Marathon
8 PM - 8 AM, Haas Pavilion

Dance Marathon is a fundraising event to raise money for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatrics AIDS Foundation. This is a foundation that does research and helps prevent pediatrics AIDS from being transmitted.Dance Marathon, itself, is a event that goes on once a year, and it’s a 12 hour dance party! To register, it costs $19 along with fundraising $19+ more! also ALL of the money will be going to the foundation, so think of it as you’re saving lives, more importantly babies’ lives!

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April 7, 2013 | UC Berkeley Suicide Prevention Walk
11 AM - 3 PM, Begins on Sproul Plaza

You Mean More, UC Berkeley’s first mental health awareness club, is hosting the second annual UC Berkeley Suicide Prevention Walk in conjunction with AFSP’s Campus Walks program in April, and Cal Rotaract is creating a team of walkers to show support and be a huge presence during the event. We would love to have your help in raising awareness for mental health issues and supporting nation-wide suicide prevention efforts conducted by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP). 

FINAL FOUR BOUND!

Cal Vanquishes Georgia 65-62, in Overtime to Clinch Trip to New Orleans

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) - Layshia Clarendon moved directly to the front, the first to get her hands on the regional championship trophy. Rightfully so, after getting California somewhere they’ve never gone before: the Final Four.

“(Layshia) is the glue,” Cal’s Afure Jemerigbe said. “She’s always poised. She is always there.”

Clarendon scored 17 of her 25 points in the second half and overtime, and California rallied from down 10 with less than 7 minutes left to beat Georgia 65-62 in the Spokane Regional final on Monday night and advance to the national semifinals for the first time in school history.

Clarendon and the second-seeded Golden Bears became the first team from the western U.S. other than Stanford to reach the Final Four since Long Beach State in 1988. They did it with a gritty rally down the stretch and big shots by Clarendon, Jemerigbe and Talia Caldwell.

During that 25-year span, eight different programs in the West have reached the regional finals. But whether it was Long Beach State, Washington, USC, UCLA, Colorado, Utah, Arizona State or Gonzaga, they all came up one game short — sometimes at the hands of Stanford — of advancing.

California, and second-year coach Lindsay Gottlieb, finally broke the string. Gottlieb threw her arms in the air when Shacobia Barbee’s desperation half-court shot at the buzzer bounced off the backboard and wore a huge grin throughout the postgame celebration.

GORANSSON CLINCHES MATCH WITH THREE-SET WIN

March 30, 2013

LOS ANGELES -With the overall match on the line, Annie Goransson won in three sets to give 13th-ranked California a 4-3 upset of No. 4 UCLA this weekend at the Los Angeles Tennis Center. Goransson, a senior, defeated the Bruins’ Courtney Dolehide, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, on court five to complete the Golden Bears’ victory and improve Cal’s record to 11-5 (5-1 in the Pac-12). UCLA’s record is now 13-4 (4-2 Pac-12).

For the second straight match, Cal did not have the services of sophomore All-American Zsofi Susanyi, the fourth-ranked player in the nation in singles and a member of the 23rd-ranked doubles team with freshman Klara Fabikova.

The win gave Cal a split in southern California, after a 6-1 setback at No. 6 USC on Friday.

The Bears fell behind in doubles play, as the team of Fabikova and junior Alice Duranteau lost to the 43rd-ranked team of Dolehide and Pamela Montez, 8-2, on court two. But Cal bounced back, as the No. 25 team of freshman Lynn Chi and junior Anett Schutting upset UCLA’s No. 13 Robin Anderson/Skylar Morton, 8-5, on court one and then - playing together for the first time this season - the Cal duo of junior Kelly Chui and senior Tayler Davis beat Catherine Harrison/Kyle McPhillips, 8-5, on court three to clinch the doubles point.

“They had really great energy and supported each other well,” Cal head coach Amanda Augustus said of Davis and Chui. “They were able to stay at the net and take chances when they needed to at the end of the match. They needed to hang in on long points, and that allowed them to be successful. You could tell they were confident and had the energy and experience needed to complete the win. You could tell they could pull that match out.”

CAL WOMEN REACH THE ELITE EIGHT

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) - A strong second half and much better free throw shooting propelled California over LSU, sending the Bears to the round of eight for the first time in program history.

Layshia Clarendon scored 19 points to lead California to a 73-63 victory over LSU on Saturday night.

“We are in the Elite Eight, one game away from New Orleans,” Clarendon said. “This is awesome.”

In a ragged game in which neither team shot well, California made 26 of 41 free throws to stay ahead of LSU. That was significant because Cal missed eight of its last 11 free throws in its previous game against South Florida, and ended up needing overtime to win.

“We need to step up and hit our free throws,” Clarendon said. “That’s what we finally did.”

Clarendon had just two points in the first half, when the teams were tied at 26. But she scored 17 in the second half as Cal outscored the Lady Tigers 47-37 for the win.  The Bears shot over 50 percent for the half.

“We were us in the second half. We were Cal,” coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. “I’m so incredibly proud of this group.”

Gennifer Brandon had 17 points and 13 rebounds, and Brittany Boyd added 14 points for second-seeded Cal (31-3), which will play Georgia in the Spokane Regional final Monday night. Georgia beat Stanford 61-59 in Saturday’s other semifinal, so the Bears are the last Pac 12 team in the tournament.

The Golden Bears, the conference’s regular season champions, now have 31 wins which is a school record.

SHIELDS CAPTURES THIRD STRAIGHT 100 FLY TITLE

Indianapolis (March 29) -

Led by senior Tom Shields’ three-peat of the 100 fly national title and the 200 medley relay’s second place finish, the Cal men’s swimming and diving team concluded day two of the NCAA championships with 301.5 points to remain in second place, trailing only Michigan (336 points).

Shields blew the field away to become the national champion in the 100 fly for the third time (2010, 2012, 2013) with a time of 44.59. He lowered his own school record, a mark of 44.76 set at last year’s national meet, by almost two-tenths of a second. Shields’ victory in the event is the first national title for the Bears at this year’s national meet. He is now a ten-time NCAA champion, winning five individual titles and being a part of five national championship relays.

Fellow Bear and 2012 NCAA champion in the 200 IM, Marcin Tarczynski, placed fifth with a performance of 45.97. Second-place finisher Marcin Cieslak of Florida was eight-tenths of a second behind Shields in 45.35. Sean Fletcher of Michigan was third in 45.54.

Shields followed up his national title performance with a national runner-up finish in the 100 back, getting out-touched by only two-tenths of a second by David Nolan of Stanford. Nolan edged Shields, 44.99 to 45.21, for the national crown, which Shields has won two years in a row (2011, 2012). Eric Ress of Indiana was third in 45.31. Freshman Jacob Pebley, who led off the Bears’ Pac 12 champion 400 medley relay, became a collegiate individual All-American by placing seventh with a performance of 46.54.

Junior Tony Cox put in a monster swim to win the consolation final with a performance of 45.46. The mark is third best all-time in Cal history.

The first event of the night saw three relay teams swim under the American record time of 1:23.53. The 200 medley relay of Cox, senior Trevor Hoyt, Shields, and sophomore Seth Stubblefield reset the American record by four-tenths of a second to rack up the Bears’ second national runner-up title of the meet with a time of 1:23.17. The quartet were out-touched by Michigan, who set a new NCAA record with a time of 1:22.27. Arizona was third in 1:23.23.

Another Bear rewrote Cal swimming history by breaking his own school record in the 400 IM. Freshman standout Josh Prenot paced to a fourth place finish with a time of 3:40.49, bettering his old mark of 3:41.36 by almost a second. In the consolation final, sophomore Adam Hinshaw finished in second place with a 3:43.28 result, the third-best all-time performance by a Bear.

Hoyt gave a lifetime best performance of 52.35 to place sixth in the 100 breaststroke.

Sophomore Will Hamilton, powered by a big swim in the morning, was the Bears’ only swimmer at night in the 200 free. After qualifying in 16th place for the consolation final, he torched a 47.33 second-100 split on the way home, jumping six places to finish second in the race and 10th overall with a time of 1:33.89. This time enters Cal history as fifth best all-time.

The team of Shields, freshman Trent Williams, Adam Hinshaw and Hamilton gave the second best all-time performance in school history with a 6:16.04 mark in the 800 free relay to place fourth in the event. Florida took the title in 6:13.27.

After 14 events, the Bears trail points leader Michigan (336) by only 34.5 with 301.5 points.

The final day (Saturday) of competition will bring the milers and mid-distance swimmers into play, as the Bears take on the 1650 free, the 200 back, the 100 free, the 200 breast, the 200 fly and the 400 free relay. Top seeds for the Bears are as follows: Shields is seeded in second for the 200 fly, and defending champion Hamilton sits in fifth. Pebley will take on the 200 back as the fifth seed, and Prenot and Hoyt are seeded fifth and sixth respectively in the 200 breast. 

Complete Results Here

#12 BEARS UPSET #5 UNLV

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Allen Crabbe clapped his hands toward the roaring crowd. Richard Solomon shook his hips and danced. Senior reserve Robert Thurman pumped his fist lightly, just thankful for a chance to play again.

About the only difference between Haas Pavilion and HP Pavilion turned out to be 50 miles, two letters and one monumental stage in the NCAA tournament.

Buoyed by the support of a strong contingent so close to the Berkeley campus, Crabbe had 19 points and nine rebounds, Thurman scored all 12 of his points on dunks and 12th-seeded California held off fifth-seeded UNLV 64-61 in the second round Thursday.

“I don’t buy the home-court theory because there are a lot of people there that didn’t buy tickets to watch us. They bought tickets to watch basketball,” Cal coach Mike Montgomery said. “But I will buy the theory that it was really great to be close to home because we had preparation time.”

Sure seemed that way.

The Golden Bears (21-11) held the Runnin’ Rebels (25-10) without a basket for more than 11 minutes in the second half. Cal confused UNLV with 40 minutes of zone defense, which Montgomery couldn’t recall employing for such a long stretch since he was at Montana from 1977-86.

The dominant defensive stretch turned a tie game into a nine-point lead. Cal withstood a late UNLV push for its first tournament win since 2010.

The Bears will play in San Jose again Saturday against No. 3 seed Syracuse.

“That’s the most we’ve ever played zone this year,” said Crabbe, the Pac-12 Conference Player of the Year. “We took them out of their rhythm.”

The Rebels rallied to within a point in the final seconds before missed free throws and a costly inbounds pass sealed the loss.

Bryce Dejean-Jones scored 15 points and freshman NBA prospect Anthony Bennett shook off a poor start to finish with 15 points and 10 rebounds for UNLV, which beat Cal 76-75 in Berkeley on Dec. 9. Despite being the higher seed, the selection committee placed the Rebels in the heart of Cal’s alumni base in technology-rich Silicon Valley.

Rebels fans filled up about two sections, and the rest of the red-and-black faithful was sprinkled around the blue-and-gold-clad crowd. Cal’s contingent let its presence be known, roaring to its feet at every chance.

UNLV coach Dave Rice refused to use the location as an excuse. Instead, another early exit in the tournament provided enough to grumble about.

“We’re bitterly disappointed,” he said.

Justin Cobbs added 13 points and five rebounds, and Richard Solomon had 11 points and seven rebounds while playing with the kind of heart and hustle Montgomery has long preached. Cal outshot the Rebels 44 to 32 percent.

The Bears started the second half just the way they did the first — pushing the pace, swarming around in that zone defense and swishing shots with ease to go ahead 37-31 on a 3-pointer by Cobbs.

After the Rebels scored six straight, Cobbs and Crabbe carried Cal’s 8-0 spurt to go up 45-37, with both guards converting layups through traffic. Bennett made three free throws after getting fouled by Crabbe before Cobbs answered with another 3-pointer, getting a hard pat on his backside by Crabbe from the bench.

The Rebels then missed 16 shots in a row from the field until Mike Moser — who was hurt early in the first matchup — put back a rebound with 5:16 remaining. The tip ended a drought of 11:14 without a basket, and perhaps even more stunning was that Cal only led 52-46.

“I feel terrible,” Bennett said. “I wanted to go far into this tournament. Things didn’t work out for us.”

Thurman alone almost topped UNLV’s output after halftime. The senior, who had 12 points over his previous five games, had almost as many field goals (five) in the second half as the entire Rebels team (eight).

The 6-foot-10 forward finished all of his baskets for dunks and bullied Bennett — a projected lottery pick in the NBA draft — on both ends for all but the final few minutes.

“I just got really lucky because Justin and Allen really penetrated well,” said Thurman, a perfect 6 for 6 from the floor. “And I did what most big guys are supposed to do.”

By the time Thurman’s last dunk went through, all UNLV could do was prolong the game with fouls.

The Bears broke down and gave up five straight points, including a three-point play that started when Bennett outmuscled Crabbe for a layup to slice Cal’s cushion to 60-58 with 14.4 seconds remaining.

Cobbs and UNLV’s Anthony Marshall each went 1 for 2 on free throws before Marshall hit a pair to trim Cal’s lead to 62-61. The Rebels missed a chance to foul Cobbs and let precious seconds tick away before wrapping up Crabbe with 1.6 seconds remaining.

Crabbe made both shots, then Solomon intercepted a desperation inbounds pass near midcourt to seal the game for good.

Cal became the second 12th-seeded Pac-12 team to win in San Jose. Earlier in the day, conference tournament champion Oregon beat fifth-seeded Oklahoma State 68-55 in a second-round game in the Midwest Region.

“Shows you that our conference is tough,” Cobbs said. “It’s tough from top to bottom. Teams are playing well right now. So all the bad press we were getting before maybe wasn’t true.”

chrisldiaz:

Broke out this @ucberkeley gem in support of my squad. #Cal #GoldenBears for life. #GoBears #MarchMadness #UNLV #calbasketball

Allen Crabbe is the seventh Cal player to win the conference’s Player of the Year award in the last 19 years.

CRABBE WINS PAC-12 PLAYER OF THE YEAR

BERKELEY — Allen Crabbe has joined an exclusive Cal club that seems to be growing every March.

The junior guard won Pac-12 Conference Player of the Year on Monday after leading the league in scoring. He is the seventh Cal player and third in the last four years to win the conference’s most prestigious award, joining Jason Kidd (1994), Shareef Abdur-Rahim (1996), Ed Gray (1997), Sean Lampley (2001), Jerome Randle (2010) and Jorge Gutierrez (2012).

“You work so hard so to get an award like this, it’s a blessing,” Crabbe said. “I feel like everything happens for a reason. It seems like everything has fallen into place.”

While Cal started off slow this season, Crabbe made sure the program finished strong.

Crabbe averaged 18.6 points and six rebounds per game, propelling the Golden Bears (20-10, 12-6) to seven straight wins and an NCAA Tournament berth.  He is 10th on Cal’s career scoring list with 1,489 points.

“I am really happy for Allen,” Cal coach Mike Montgomery said in a statement. “He has been a mainstay in our program and has improved each year. Allen has been a guy that has been under constant pressure to carry the load offensively and has done a very good job for us. This is a reward for a lot of hard work and I think well-justified.”

Crabbe led the conference in scoring the entire season. He also ranked fifth in 3-pointers made per game (two), sixth in free-throw percentage (81 percent) and 20th in rebounds (six) per game.

The Los Angeles native scored at least 20 points in 14 games, including two 30-point performances. He had 10 points or more in all but three games. He scored a career-best 33 points in a 79-62 win over Pepperdine on Nov. 13.

California guard Justin Cobbs shoots over Oregon forward E.J. Singler in Eugene, Ore., Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013. Cobbs, who led California in scoring with 14 points, later sank a shot in the final second to give California a 48-46 win. (AP Photo/Don Ryan)

BEARS UPSET #23 DUCKS FOR SEASON SWEEP

EUGENE, Ore. — Even after an uneven performance, Justin Cobbs got his wish.

With the score tied and time running out, Cobbs drained a long jump shot with 0.7 seconds left to send California past No. 23 Oregon 48-46 on Thursday night.

The shot, which came after the Golden Bears (17-9, 9-5 Pac-12) ran nearly all of the final 26 seconds off the clock, hit nothing but net.

“Pure as the driven snow,” Cal coach Mike Montgomery said.

The shot was a bit of redemption for Cobbs, who had a team-high 14 points to go with eight rebounds and seven assists. But the junior guard also had a team-high eight turnovers.

But with the game on the line, he asked for the ball.

“Just the whole game I felt like I had a lot of mental lapses and I owed it to my team,” Cobbs said. “I’ve been working on my jump shot a lot and I knew if I got the ball in the right spot I’d be able to knock it down.”

Allen Crabbe, the Pac-12’s leading scorer, had 12 points on 5-of-12 shooting. Richard Solomon added eight points and 11 rebounds.

Arsalan Kazemi had 11 points and a season-high 18 rebounds for the Ducks (21-6, 10-4), who lost their 11th straight game to the Bears. Carlos Emory scored 13 points for Oregon, which hasn’t beaten Cal in over 5 years - since Feb. 9, 2008.

Oregon lost sole possession of first place in the Pac-12 with the loss. The Ducks have now fallen into a tie with Arizona.

Cal, meanwhile, continued its climb up the rankings with its sixth win in seven games. The Bears are now tied for second place, only one game behind the Ducks and Wildcats.

“The last game against California, I told Coach I let him down, I didn’t play my best,” said Kazemi, who had 10 points and six rebounds in a 58-54 loss to Cal three weeks ago. “And it really hurts right now sitting here and not winning this game.”

“That’s really a disappointing loss,” said Oregon coach Dana Altman, who was going for his 600th career win. “The guys played awfully hard.”  And for most of the game it did appear that hard play would pay off, and the Ducks would finally beat the Bears who have vexed them for so long - not a single player on Oregon’s team has known a win over Cal.

Oregon, which led 26-21 at halftime, was up 46-43 with 2:06 to play when Robert Thurman recorded a three-point play for Cal on a dunk and free throw to tie it.

Oregon had possession with under a minute to play but missed on two shots before Cal got the rebound and called a timeout with 26.3 seconds left.

In the huddle, Cobbs asked for the final shot.

“He wanted it, he felt it, he said, ‘Give me the ball. Give me the ball,’ ” Montgomery said. “He made that shot. It was fabulous.”

Cal trailed by 11 points in the first half but came back to tie the score 29-29 on a dunk by Thurman 4 minutes into the second half.

Oregon went back up 37-33 on a free throw and 3-pointer by E.J. Singler, but the Bears came roaring back with another 8-0 run and Cobbs hit a jumper to put them up 39-37 with 7:12 to play. It was Cal’s first lead since early in the first half.

“The Bear will not quit,” chanted the crowd of Cal fans in attendance.  And they were right.

California now leads the all-time series with Oregon, 82 wins to the Ducks 55.

calband:

Cal Band - Do the Harlem Shake!

Crabbe Named Pac-12 Player of the Week - Again

BERKELEY - California junior guard Allen Crabbe was named the Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Player of the Week for the second-straight week, the conference announced on Monday.

Crabbe, a Pac-12 Player of the Year candidate, averaged 19.5 points and 7.5 rebounds to lead Cal to a pair of victories against UCLA and USC last week.

He guided the Bears, winners of three-straight and five of their last six, with a double-double in the comeback win over the Trojans on Sunday with a game-high 23 points and a season-high 10 rebounds. Crabbe scored 14 points in the final 8:30 of the USC game to lead the Bears (16-9, 8-5 Pac-12) on a 29-14 run to re-capture the lead and seal the win. He recorded a career-best six steals against USC and had eight steals overall in the two games. The junior guard also posted a season-high five three-pointers against the Trojans. In two games against USC this season, Crabbe has totaled 50 points, 13 rebounds, seven steals and five assists.

The 23-point performance against USC was his 13th 20-point game of the season and 26th of his career.

Earlier in the week, Crabbe scored 15 first-half points as the Bears raced out to a 25-point lead over UCLA by halftime. He finished the UCLA game with 16 points, five rebounds, five assists and a pair of steals.

With 39 points in Cal’s two games this week, Crabbe moved up three spots to 11th on the school’s all-time scoring list with 1,424 career points in 90 career games.  He has also been the Pac-12’s leading scorer all season, currently in first place averaging 19.8 points per game.

The Pac-12 Player of the Week honor is the second in as many weeks and second of Crabbe’s career. It is the third time a Golden Bear has been recognized by the league this season after fellow junior guard Justin Cobbs was named the Pac-12 Player of the Week on Nov. 26, 2012.