SPOKANE, Wash. — Jaylen Brown called it “a humbling moment, truly.”
The Cal forward and Pac-12 Freshman of the Year took the heat for the Bears’ 77-66 first-round NCAA tournament loss to Hawaii on Friday.
“A lot of the blame is on me,” he said.
Certainly Brown didn’t skirt the issue after shooting 1 for 6 and scoring a season-low four points to go with seven turnovers. He fouled out with 6:22 left.
Rated as one of the nation’s elite recruits last spring, Brown said he chose Cal with a vision of doing something really big his freshman season.
“I expected us to win it all. That was my goal,” he said. “I didn’t do what it takes to help my team get over the hump.”
Instead, the Atlanta native, who this week was voted Freshman All-American by the U.S. Basketball Writers, skidded to the finish line of what is expected to be his lone college season. Brown shot just 10 for 48 and averaged just 8.2 points the final five games.
“I’ve just got to get better. Point-blank, period. Got to get better,” he said, adding that he hasn’t given any thought yet to whether he will enter the NBA draft.
Brown was called for three offensive fouls in the first half and coach Cuonzo Martin said those kinds of problems late in the season have impacted his approach.
“So now he’s thinking about it and then teams let him shoot the jump shot,” Martin said.
Rabb stopped short of echoing Brown’s expectation of winning a national title this season.
“I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. That’s what it’s about when you come to college,” said Rabb, who set a Cal freshman record with 291 rebounds.
A lot of that talent, including injured senior point guard Tyrone Wallace, will be gone. Bird, the former McDonald’s All-American from Salesian High, said “of course” he will return, along with classmates Jordan Mathews and Sam Singer.
Martin suggested the need to play seldom-used reserves Roger Moute a Bidias, Stephen Domingo and Brandon Chauca for 48 minutes impacted the Bears’ cohesiveness.
“All of a sudden, you’re playing a lot of minutes against an experienced team. That’s not an easy thing to do,” he said.
