There goes season one.

Last spring, Mike Montgomery was brought in to return the Cal men's basketball team to relevance. With a 20-win season and an NCAA tourney "run," he did just that-at least in the Pac-10.

The Bears didn't win at the Big Dance, into which the team sort of backpedaled to begin with. Following the 84-71 loss to Maryland, there may have been whispers that the result was reminiscent of the past, confirming the notion that Montgomery-coached teams don't fare as well in the postseason as they do in wintertime.

Take it easy.

In his first year-which wasn't even a full calendar year-at the helm, Montgomery delivered. He led Cal to the promised land. What the Bears did once they got there is another issue, but the truth is a lot of teams fare better in the regular season than in March. It's just algebra.

What's perhaps more remarkable than Cal's turnaround is how quickly reference points adjust in today's age of the "Internets."

The Tournament is a crapshoot. A crapshoot of matchups, a crapshoot of hot-or-cold and a crapshoot of motivational whim. Sure, the Bears couldn't have asked for a more evenly-matched team than the Terrapins, who didn't feature much down low, either.

But the Pac-10 was no ACC this year; hell, the Pac-10 wasn't even the Pac-10.

The point is, the Bears are quite all right. True, they won't challenge for the national title anytime soon, and Cal may struggle with the same issues tomorrow as it did yesteryear-a thin frontcourt, a thin bench and inconsistent efforts on defense.

But what's not hopeful about a roster that may staff four senior starters? Patrick Christopher, Jerome Randle, Theo Robertson and Jamal Boykin will all share one last hurrah that will be very, very fun to follow.

Christopher will have the summer to sit on his 4-of-14 shooting night in the final game of the 2008-09 season.

Randle could be scary if his game takes another leap that's half as wide as the one it took from a year ago.

Robertson-recent surgery notwithstanding-is as proven as a commodity gets. His bread-and-butter game will be back, and who knows, perhaps the old man (rising fifth-year senior) still has a trick or two up his sleeve.

And I believe the over-and-under for the number of 15-footers Boykin will shoot in an empty gym will be set at around 9,000. I'd take the over.

You get the gist of it. The theme is improvement, and while the Bears won't undergo a transformation in personnel, there's a vision for nearly every player by which they could become bigger contributors.

Freshman Jorge Gutierrez will be a savage. With all due respect, his passion is unmatched in the locker room, and I don't think anyone doubts how the combo guard will be spending his time this summer:

Developing a Randle-esque floater to complement his ability to slash at least halfway to the rim. Developing confidence in his jumper to be the type of player about whom opponents say, "OK, if this guy starts going off, we really don't stand much of a chance."

And perhaps most importantly, developing the ball-handling skills to play the one, which safeguards the Bears' future at the position while adding an entirely different dimension to the offense today: allowing Randle to play off the ball-more than a guilty pleasure for the 5-foot-10 dynamo.

DJ Seeley and Amondi Omoke are wild cards, and so is Harper Kamp's knee. If Gutierrez is a safe, long-term Treasury bond that is all but certain to produce steady growth, the above are call options-if seen viable, they'll be exercised, and if not, they'll sit.

And ... I may have lost you with that.

The point is, in a down market, Cal is on its way up.

Tags: CAL MEN'S BASKETBALL