1996–97 California Golden Bears men's basketball team

1996–97 California Golden Bears men's basketball
1996–97 California Golden Bears men's basketball
NCAA tournament, Sweet Sixteen
Conference	Pacific-10 Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 18
Record	23–9 (12–6 Pac-10)
Head coach	Ben Braun (1st season);
Home arena	Harmon Gym
	Seasons ← 1995–96 1997–98 →

1996–97 Pacific-10 Conference
men's basketball standings
	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 7 UCLA	15	–	3	.833	24	–	8	.750
No. 21 Stanford	12	–	6	.667	22	–	8	.733
California	12	–	6	.667	23	–	9	.719
USC	12	–	6	.667	17	–	11	.607
No. 15 Arizona	11	–	7	.611	25	–	9	.735
Washington	10	–	8	.556	17	–	11	.607
Oregon	8	–	10	.444	17	–	11	.607
Washington State	5	–	13	.278	13	–	17	.433
Oregon State	3	–	15	.167	7	–	20	.259
Arizona State	2	–	16	.111	10	–	20	.333

Rankings from AP Poll^[1]

^[2] The 1996–97 California Golden Bears men's basketball team represented the University of California, Berkeley in the 1996–97 season.

Led by head coach Ben Braun, the Bears finished the regular season with a 12–6 record in the Pac-10, placing them in a tie for second. The Bears would receive an at-large bid into the NCAA tournament where they would make a run to the Sweet Sixteen. The Golden Bears defeated Princeton^[3] and Villanova^[4] before falling to North Carolina^[5] in the East Regional semifinal. The team finished the season with an overall record of 23–9. ^[6]

Roster

1996–97 California Golden Bears men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown
F	4	Alfred Grigsby	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	—	Sr
G	22	Ed Gray	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	Sr	Riverside, CA
G	23	Randy Duck	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	—	Sr
F	34	Tony Gonzalez	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	235 lb (107 kg)	Jr	Huntington Beach, CA
F/C	40	Sean Marks	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	245 lb (111 kg)	Jr	Auckland, New Zealand
F	44	Michael Stewart	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	Sr	Sacramento, CA

Head coach

Ben Braun

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular season
Nov 25, 1996* ESPN		vs. Iowa Maui Invitational Tournament	W 75–59	1–0	Lahaina Civic Center Maui, Hawaii
Nov 26, 1996*		vs. No. 2 Kansas Maui Invitational Tournament	L 67–85	1–1	Lahaina Civic Center Maui, Hawaii
Nov 27, 1996*		vs. No. 17 UMass Maui Invitational Tournament	W 59–55	2–1	Lahaina Civic Center Maui, Hawaii
Nov 30, 1996*		Texas Southern	W 97–60	3–1	Harmon Gym Berkeley, California
Dec 3, 1996*		Illinois	W 89–88 ^2OT	4–1	Harmon Gym (6,578) Berkeley, California
Dec 8, 1996*		at Maryland	L 64–80	4–2	Cole Fieldhouse College Park, Maryland
Dec 9, 1996*		vs. Mississippi State	W 78–45	5–2	U.S. Airways Arena Landover, Maryland
Dec 20, 1996*		vs. Penn State	W 76–63	6–2	Continental Airlines Arena East Rutherford, New Jersey
Dec 23, 1996*		San Francisco	W 78–63	7–2	Harmon Gym Berkeley, California
Dec 28, 1996*		Howard	W 86–61	8–2	Harmon Gym Berkeley, California
Dec 29, 1996*		Cal Poly	W 77–59	9–2	Harmon Gym Berkeley, California
Jan 2, 1997		at No. 9 Arizona	L 80–81	9–3 (0–1)	McKale Center Tucson, Arizona
Jan 4, 1997		at Arizona State	L 60–64	9–4 (0–2)	ASU Activity Center Tempe, Arizona
Jan 9, 1997		USC	W 83–71	10–4 (1–2)	Harmon Gym Berkeley, California
Jan 11, 1997		UCLA	L 56–64	10–5 (1–3)	Harmon Gym Berkeley, California
Jan 16, 1997		at Oregon State	W 80–70	11–5 (2–3)	Gill Coliseum Corvallis, Oregon
Jan 18, 1997		at No. 24 Oregon	W 73–62	12–5 (3–3)	McArthur Court Eugene, Oregon
Jan 23, 1997		Washington State	W 77–75 ^2OT	13–5 (4–3)	Harmon Gym Berkeley, California
Jan 25, 1997		Washington	W 80–52	14–5 (5–3)	Harmon Gym Berkeley, California
Jan 29, 1997		No. 15 Stanford	W 70–64	15–5 (6–3)	Harmon Gym Berkeley, California
Feb 6, 1997		at UCLA	W 71–68	16–5 (7–3)	Pauley Pavilion Los Angeles, California
Feb 8, 1997		at USC	L 85–93	16–6 (7–4)	L.A. Sports Arena Los Angeles, California
Feb 13, 1997		Oregon	W 73–66	17–6 (8–4)	Harmon Gym Berkeley, California
Feb 15, 1997		Oregon State	W 90–68	18–6 (9–4)	Harmon Gym Berkeley, California
Feb 20, 1997	No. 25	at Washington	W 78–67	19–6 (10–4)	Bank of America Arena Seattle, Washington
Feb 22, 1997	No. 25	at Washington State	L 87–89	19–7 (10–5)	Friel Court Pullman, Washington
Mar 1, 1997		at No. 25 Stanford	L 63–73	19–8 (10–6)	Maples Pavilion Stanford, California
Mar 6, 1997		Arizona State	W 84–66	20–8 (11–6)	Harmon Gym Berkeley, California
Mar 8, 1997		vs. No. 12 Arizona	W 79–77^[7]	21–8 (12–6)	Cow Palace Daly City, California
NCAA Tournament
Mar 13, 1997*	(5 E)	vs. (12 E) Princeton First round	W 55–52^[3]	22–8	Lawrence Joel Coliseum Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Mar 15, 1997*	(5 E)	vs. (4 E) No. 20 Villanova Second Round	W 75–68^[4]	23–8	Lawrence Joel Coliseum Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Mar 21, 1997*	(5 E)	vs. (1 E) No. 4 North Carolina East Regional semifinal – Sweet Sixteen	L 57–63^[5]	23–9	Carrier Dome Syracuse, New York
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. E=East. All times are in Pacific.

Rankings

Team players drafted into the NBA

Round	Pick	Player	NBA Team
1	22	Ed Gray	Atlanta Hawks

References

^ "Pacific 10 conference 1996–97 standings". Retrieved November 21, 2007.
^ "1996-97 University of California Golden Bears Schedule and Results - College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com.
^ ^a ^b "Cal Escapes Upset-Minded Princeton". The Washington Post. March 14, 1997. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
^ ^a ^b "Villanova Falls Under California Spell, 75-68". The Los Angeles Times. March 16, 1997. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
^ ^a ^b "North Carolina and Louisville Move On". The New York Times. March 22, 1997. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
^ "Cal Bears Basketball 1996-97". www.cs.cmu.edu.
^ "No. 12 Arizona Falls to Cal". The Los Angeles Times. March 9, 1997. Retrieved June 6, 2021.

[1] "Pacific 10 conference 1996–97 standings". Retrieved November 21, 2007.

[2] "1996-97 University of California Golden Bears Schedule and Results - College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com". College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com.

[ncaa-princeton-3] "Cal Escapes Upset-Minded Princeton". The Washington Post. March 14, 1997. Retrieved June 6, 2021.

[ncaa-nova-4] "Villanova Falls Under California Spell, 75-68". The Los Angeles Times. March 16, 1997. Retrieved June 6, 2021.

[ncaa-unc-5] "North Carolina and Louisville Move On". The New York Times. March 22, 1997. Retrieved June 6, 2021.

[6] "Cal Bears Basketball 1996-97". www.cs.cmu.edu.

[7] "No. 12 Arizona Falls to Cal". The Los Angeles Times. March 9, 1997. Retrieved June 6, 2021.

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v t e California Golden Bears men's basketball
Venues	Original Harmon Gym (1907–1933) Oakland Civic Auditorium (alternate, 1914–1933) Oakland Coliseum-Arena (1997–1999) Haas Pavilion (1933–1997, 1999–present)
Culture & lore	The Bench Oski "Fight for California" "Big C"
People	Head coaches NBA players Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Premo-Poretta national championship in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics; NCAA championship in bolded italics