Cal Athletic Director Sandy Barbour made perhaps the most popular move of her tenure today when she announced the firing of Ben Braun, who leaves Berkeley after 12 seasons of modest success. Braun's overall record and accomplishments are certainly not embarrassing, but his teams -- particularly the recent ones -- had a knack for underachieving and failing in crunch time.A solid recruiter, Braun went 219-154 and led the Golden Bears to five NCAA appearances (including a Sweet Sixteen in 1997, his first season) and an NIT Championship, so it's impossible to say that he was a complete failure as coach. However, his teams rarely outperformed expectations, which could be seen throughout this season. Cal had two probable NBA first-rounders in Ryan Anderson and DeVon Hardin and a wealth of offensive talent, but the Bears finished 17-16, went a poor 6-12 in an admittedly tough Pac-10, and lost to Ohio State in the second round of the NIT. Cal rarely looked interested in playing defense and dropped several games in the closing moments.
Analysis of possible replacements after the jump.
Today at 5 pm is the deadline for underclassmen to withdraw their name from the NBA draft. Some seem to be taking it right down to the wire. Either because they like the drama or they honestly don't know.
