For all the talk about Cal and the start of the Pac-12 season at today's UA news conference, Kadeem Allen may have stolen the show when he shared this:
He saw his three-month-old daughter, Genesis, for the first time during his holiday break trip home to Wilmington, N.C. He wasn't able to return home for her birth and, while he had seen her on FaceTime, this was different.
Much different.
"Being here the first three months, I didnโt really know what it really was until I got home," Allen said. "I held her and looked into her eyes. It was just like, `Yeah, itโs the real thing now.' "
Allen comes from a family of 15 children, and said he has lots of nieces and nephews, but again this was different.
Not surprisingly, he had trouble leaving after the short break. Allen said he called UA coach Sean Miller on Christmas Eve to tell him he might need another day but returned as scheduled on Christmas morning, since the Wildcats began practicing that evening.
"Held a couple of tears back," Allen said. "But it was just a good feeling. I was just happy to be with her and be able to hold her."
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Miller indicated today that Parker Jackson-Cartwright make some sort of appearance this weekend, even if to just to provide a rotation of "7.5" players by logging a few minutes here and there.
But Miller said he wasn't sure yet if Jackson-Cartwright would be able to, and wanted to see how he reacted today and Thursday. Jackson-Cartwright practiced in limited form on Monday and Tuesday, and Wednesday he was exactly four weeks removed from the high ankle sprain he suffered against Texas Southern.
For all the attention the offense of Charlie Moore and Ivan Rabb is getting at Cal, Miller said it "starts with defense" with the Bears.
"They're a physical, tough-minded, well-coached, disciplined team," Miller said. "They take great pride in defense. They take great pride in rebounding, getting stops. They play a very physical, rugged man-to-man defense."
Cal has the nation's fifth-most efficient defense, allowing just 89.9 points per 100 possessions, according to kenpom.com. Opponents have averaged just 59.3 points against the Bears, shooting an average of 36.6 percent.
Asked what surprises him about the Pac-12 so far, Miller raved about both UCLA and USC.
Of UCLA, Miller said:
"They're competing for the top prize, the national championship, a Final Four berth, certainly a one or a two seed, whatever it's going to end up being and that's to their credit. The freshmen that they've added are sensational players and we knew that based on watching those guys in high school. But also they have a great blend of returners who have improved, who have been through the Pac-12 and been through seasons. They're all-conference players in their own right: Bryce Alford, (Isaac) Hamilton, (Aaron) Holiday, those gys are all very good."
About USC, Miller referenced early (and undrafted) departures Nikola Jovanovich and Julian Jacobs when he said:
"I think they both would have been first-team all-conference players this year. To see those talented players leave undrafted and then watch them go undefeated, I think that's a great testament to (coach) Andy Enfield and his staff.
The L.A. schools have done a great job. They're 26-0. They bring a lot of quality to this year's Pac-12. They represented our conference extremely well."
