By MATT BROWN
STATS Editor

Murray State (0-0) at California (0-0), 11:00 p.m. EDT

Last season, California reached its first NCAA tournament in
three years. In 2009-10, coach Mike Montgomery's team appears
primed to make a run even deeper into March.

Armed with four returning starters and their highest preseason
ranking since Jason Kidd manned the point in Berkeley, the No.
13 Golden Bears open the new season Monday night with a home
matchup against Murray State as part of the 2K Sports Classic
benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer.

Cal finished 22-11 and tied for third in the Pac-10 in 2008-09,
earning an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament before falling
84-71 to Maryland in the first round. Four of the starters are
back from that club, including the senior backcourt combination
of Jerome Randle and Patrick Christopher - both first-team
All-Pac-10 selections last season. As a result, the Golden Bears
have been picked for the first time since 1993-94 to win the
conference, and have garnered their highest preseason ranking
since that same year.

Montgomery likes his team, but is quick to downplay the
preseason accolades.

"They're never right, those things are based on formulas," he
said. "We've got a lot of people back, and we had a decent
season last year, surprised some people. Generally speaking, I
hope they're right - that it works out that way."

Randle (18.3 points per game in 2008-09) and Christopher (14.5)
are both on the Naismith Trophy watch list, and Randle is listed
as a candidate for the Wooden Award. Randle made a team-high 82
3-point field goals last season and Christopher added 48 for a
Golden Bears team that led the nation with a 42.7 shooting
percentage from beyond the arc - also the best in school
history.

While the perimeter game will almost certainly be a strength
again, the interior is more of a question mark.

"We've got some issues inside right now that we haven't solved,"
said Montgomery, whose tallest starters - senior Jamal Boykin
and junior college transfer Markhuri Sanders-Frison - are both
6-foot-8. "We're not very big for one thing. We've got to
establish an inside game somehow, then we're going to work
really hard defensively to be effective."

The Golden Bears' first test will be the Racers, who may be
little-known but are unlikely to be pushovers. Murray State was
selected as a preseason co-favorite along with Morehead State to
win the Ohio Valley Conference, and has two wins in five
meetings with Pac-10 opponents. The Racers have never faced Cal.

"They've got really good athletes," Montgomery said. "They
really know how to play and they're very confident, so it's a
little bit scary from the standpoint of not many people have
heard about Murray State, but their team is very capable."

Murray State finished 19-12 in 2008-09, and returns the three
top scorers from that club - senior forward Danero Thomas (12.5
ppg), junior guard Isacc Miles (10.6), and 6-foot-7 Ivan Aska
(10.3), the reigning OVC Freshman of the Year.

Racers coach Billy Kennedy was an assistant with the Golden
Bears from 1993-97, during which he coached both Kidd and former
Cal standout Shareef Abdur-Rahim. Abdur-Rahim's brother Amir is
now an assistant under Kennedy.