Mike Montgomery moved his office about 30 miles. Ended up on the other side of the San Francisco Bay. Left behind staid Palo Alto for much more earthy Berkeley. Made blue his dominant color instead of red.

Otherwise, nothing has changed for this basketball coaching icon: On the college level, he still wins wherever he goes.

Over 18 seasons, Montgomery turned a moribund Stanford program into something special. After just 15 games at California, he’s well on his way to giving the Golden Bears a complete makeover, too.

After one round of frenetic Pac-10 play, just three teams remain unbeaten. UCLA, in sweeping the Oregon schools, was no shocker. The Bruins are favored to win the conference for a fourth consecutive season. Washington played just one game, coming up with a resounding 20-point victory at Washington State, but still expended only 40 minutes of sweat for the weekend.

Cal swept the Arizona schools. Cal roughed up the Arizona schools. Cal did what?

A team that finished in ninth place in the conference the year before and then lost its best player, Ryan Anderson, to NBA early entry, has been totally re-energized under the direction of Montgomery.

With an all-junior lineup, the Golden Bears (13-2, 2-0 Pac-10) have had their point guard, Jerome Randle, flourish under the new leader; their off guard, Patrick Christopher, step up his game several notches, and their small forward, Theo Robertson, return from a lost season to a hip injury and play inspired basketball.

“We did a nice job,” Montgomery said after an 81-71 victory over Arizona State. “We held homecourt. We want to compete every night out. We’re going to take our chances. We had to see if we could compete, and I think we can if we do the things we did tonight.”

The most notable thing about Cal’s performance against the Sun Devils and in a 69-55 victory over a decent Arizona team was how physical the Golden Bears were compared to previous seasons of softness that ultimately got Ben Braun fired.

Randle outplayed Arizona State’s James Harden, who is seven inches taller, by coming up with his first double-double performance for Cal, 26 points and 10 assists, both career bests.

Montgomery, in describing his floor leader’s play against the Sun Devils as “spectacular,” protested some when it was suggested that the coach was mainly responsible for Randle’s noticeable improvement.

“I think that’s unfair to Jerome,” the coach said. “He’s a very, very good basketball player and I don’t want to take credit for his accomplishments.”

Countered Randle, “He should take some credit for having the faith in me to just go out and run the team.”

Shrugging, Montgomery said, “OK.”

The veteran coach and his inherited players are so agreeable and productive together it has to be downright unnerving for the rest of the Pac-10.

Rising team: California

The Golden Bears were 17-16 and an NIT team the year before. They won’t settle for anything less than a lot more wins and the NCAAs, because Mike Montgomery won’t let them. They’ve won seven consecutive games since getting roughed up by Missouri.

Falling team: Arizona

Envisioning a Bay Area sweep, the Wildcats (9-5, 0-2 Pac-10) instead went home empty handed, suffering 14- and 16-point setbacks to California and Stanford. All-Pac-10 forward Chase Budinger came up with just 21 points on the road swing, usually what he gets on game night. If the Arizona starters aren’t playing well, this team is in trouble, because there’s no bench.

Player of the week: Jerome Randle, G, California

The 5-foot-10 playmaker finished with a combined 40 points and 15 assists for the weekend, his 26-point outburst against Arizona State marking the eighth 20-point game for him this season. He might be the league’s most improved player.

Freshman of the week: Isaiah Thomas, G, Washington

This guy stands just 5-foot-8 but he drives the key with great courage, can hit from the perimeter and runs the team on top of all that. He came up with a team-best 19 points in the Huskies’ 68-48 victory over Washington State, this coming four days after he dropped a career-high 27 points on Morgan State.

Stats of the week

21: The cumbersome Pac-10 losing streak brought to an end by Oregon State, a stunning 62-58 winner over USC in overtime.

18: Dutchman Roeland Shaftenaar’s career-high scoring total for Oregon State, which included a last-second 3-pointer to force overtime against the Trojans.

12-for-50: Shooting rate for the normally reliable but badly slumping Chase Budinger over his past four games, which includes 2 of 17 from 3-point range.

8: Current winning streaks belonging to UCLA and Washington.

7: Washington State’s winning streak over the Huskies, which took place when the latter advanced to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16, upset UCLA three times and had Brandon Roy in their backcourt.

They said it

“It’s two words: coaching change. What else can you say? He is a good coach and is doing what he can do to put us in position to succeed.” — Oregon State reserve guard Calvin Haynes, referring to the Beavers’ new leader, Craig Robinson, also known as Barack Obama’s brother-in-law.

Key upcoming games

January 8
Stanford at Washington
The Cardinal (11-1, 1-1 Pac-10) likewise have been a pleasant surprise under new coach Johnny Dawkins, winning their first 10 before getting blown out by Arizona State and then rebounding impressively against Arizona. They’ll test the reinvigorated Huskies (10-3, 1-0), who lead the nation in rebounding margin, 11.8.

January 10
California at Washington
These teams played three times a year ago, with the Golden Bears winning two of them, while finishing eighth and ninth in the conference standings. They look like upper division teams now, with the Huskies usually unbeatable at home.

January 11
UCLA at USC
The Bruins (12-2, 2-0 Pac-10) probably catch USC (10-4, 1-1 Pac-10) at the wrong time, with the Trojans coming off an embarrassing loss at Oregon State, blowing a 15-point lead late in Corvallis, and likely willing to do anything to bounce back. USC might have the edge up front with DeMarr DeRozan and Taj Gibson, but UCLA has the better guards in Darren Collison and Jrue Holiday. 

Dan Raley has covered the Washington Huskies and the Pac-10 for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer for nearly three decades.

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