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Steve Victory JOURNAL – Season Wrap 2028-29
The season goes pretty much like the State game for Victory’s Berkeley boys. Cal is competitive, but sometimes fades at the end of games.
Final record: 15-17 overall, 9-12 against Pac-10 teams. No post-season, but Cal was close – winning two games in the conference tournament. The Bears nearly won three but fell to fourth-seeded Oregon in overtime in the semis.
Victory’s first win as Cal’s coach comes in game number three. After losing to State and then Maryland, the Bears win at Tulane 81-77.
Other good wins come against:
• #9 Oklahoma 87-78 a few nights later
• Washington (CRI 61) on the road by a 72-71 score early in the Pac-10 season
• #21 Arizona 74-73
• Arizona State (CRI 69) on the road by a 75-73 score
“Good” losses, if there is such a thing, come against:
• Duke on the road, 84-82 in OT
• UCLA, 65-64 at home
• Five other Pac-10 games by 6 points or less…
The biggest victory comes against the worst team in college basketball, Navy. The Bears murder the poor Middies 119-47. Victory remembers what it was like to be a 320 CRI team but shows no mercy here. Seven players reach double figures in scoring, including subs Larry Jordan (19 points) and Louis Sykes (13). Cal leads 63-28 at halftime. PG Josh Archey leads all with 21 points.
Cal comes alive in the tournament, beating ninth-seeded Oregon 91-77 (Archey 26 points, walk-on Glosier with 9) and then top-seeded Arizona 80-69 (Larry Jordan scores 19 points, while Frederick and Lekivicius net 13 and 12 respectively).
The Pac-10 tourney is full of upsets. Washington, a sixth seed, wins it.
Over in ACC country, State and Maryland duke it out (no pun intended) for supremacy all season. The Sheriff-led Pack wins the regular season title but the Terps trip State in the ACC tournament championship game. Both get high seeds for the NCT.
State has the last laugh over the Terps, though, reaching the Final Four of the NCT for the fourth time in five years – going as the champions of the West Region. Victory attends every NCSU game, finally and somewhat begrudgingly OK that his little bro is getting more of the spotlight than him. (He does pout sometimes…)
The first Final Four semifinal pits NCT rivals State and Illinois. The winner faces either UConn or Arizona, which obviously recovered from its early exit from the Pac-10 tournament.
Unfortunately, the weekend belongs to the Fighting Illini. Coach Harris Rowell’s boys edge the Pack 70-69 (heartbreaking!!) and then rout Arizona 87-61. The Illini get their second NCT title in three years. Victory and Wilt are not pleased… Some questionable calls seemed to decide the semifinal contest… But State still finished 31-8 – much better than Victory’s Cal squad… That has Victory redoubling his efforts to do much better next season, hopefully getting State back on the schedule for a rematch…
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