Kravish and the Bears Ready to Tip-off Cuonzo Martin era at Cal

SAN FRANCISCO – The Cuonzo Martin era at California is just over a week away from making its debut when the Golden Bears host Cal State East Bay in a free exhibition for fans at Haas Pavilion on Friday, Oct. 31 at 7 p.m.

Ask senior David Kravish, however, and the Cuonzo Martin era began in mid-April, just days after the program’s 16th head men’s basketball coach was introduced in Berkeley.  

“Coach Martin and the rest of the coaches have a great mentality and have us working really hard,” Kravish said. “I think we are really benefiting from all the work we have done in the off-season with Coach [Nicodemus] Christopher and in the pre-season with the coaches.”

One thing Kravish noticed right away is the coaches are right there with the team in the weight room doing a lot of the workouts as well.

“Coach Martin is right there doing the workouts with us,” Kravish explained. “If he holds himself to the same standards he expects us to reach, it serves as motivation for all of us.”

Kravish has put on more than 40 pounds since he first stepped on the court as a college freshman in November of 2011 and now weighs 240 pounds to go along with his 6-10 frame.

Kravish is the lone fourth-year senior for the Bears, who also added graduate transfer Dwight Tarwater from Cornell to the 2014-15 roster. He has started 88-straight games for the Bears, dating back to his freshman season, and enters his fourth year in Berkeley with 177 career blocks, just 30 shy of the Michael Stewart’s record of 207 from 1994-97.    

The senior, who averaged 11.4 ppg. and 7.7 rpg. as a junior, is one of three returning starters from last year’s 21-win team, along with junior guard Tyrone Wallace and sophomore guard Jabari Bird. Wallace was the team’s third-leading scorer (11.4 ppg.), who also led the team in steals (44) and three-point field goals (43) a year ago. Bird averaged 8.3 ppg., including 16.7 ppg. in Cal’s three postseason games, making 12 starts as a freshman last season. 

Kravish and the rest of the Golden Bears look to extend one of the winningest stretches in school history. Cal is the only team to finish in the top-four of the conference standings each of the last six seasons and the team’s 69 league victories during this stretch make it the third-winningest program in the Pac-12 during this period.

“David has done a great job so far in his role as a leader,” Martin said. “He is a very intelligent young man, but he also works hard. He is a guy that has been in big games, understands how to play, and works extremely hard all the time. Guys respect that. He is battle-tested and he backs everything up with his work ethic.”

The senior was the Golden Bears’ representative at Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Media Day at the Pac-12 Networks Studios in San Francisco on Thursday.

The media picked Cal to finish seventh in the Pac-12 in their pre-season poll released Thursday morning, with Arizona atop the standings, Utah second, Colorado third, UCLA fourth, Stanford fifth and Washington sixth. Oregon (eighth), Arizona State (ninth), USC (10th), Washington State (11th) and Oregon State (12th) rounded out the conference’s pre-season media poll.    

Bringing a track record of success that includes a conference Coach of the Year honor and postseason berths each of the past five seasons, Martin begins his first season as head coach of the Golden Bears. He guided Tennessee the past three years, including a spot in the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 last season, and prior to that served as the head coach at Missouri State for three years. In his first six seasons, Martin owned a 124-82 career record. He has directed his teams to a greater win total than the previous year at each of his coaching stops.