College Basketball | California hires Montgomery

California is hiring the greatest coach from its century-old rival.

Mike Montgomery, whose Stanford teams once beat the Golden Bears 10 times in a row, will resume his college-coaching career in Berkeley, where Cal players reacted favorably to the news.

"I remember back to his Stanford teams being No. 1 in the nation at times," said Cal junior-to-be Theo Robertson. "He brings an expectation and excitement level of a winning tradition.

"I'm looking forward to being part of that."

Guard Nican Robinson said, "Under the Mike Montgomery system, I see nothing but success."

Montgomery, 61, is to be introduced at a news conference today. He went 393-167 in 18 seasons at Stanford and has been out of coaching since a two-season stint with the NBA Golden State Warriors ended in 2006.

"Mike Montgomery is one of the best coaches in the history of the Pac-10," Washington coach Lorenzo Romar said.

Cal fired coach Ben Braun last week.

Other candidates known to have gone through the interview process this week were Randy Bennett of Saint Mary's, Mark Fox of Nevada and Denver Nuggets assistant Mike Dunlap.

Notes

• Indiana guard Eric Gordon is expected to declare for the NBA draft. The Big Ten freshman of the year has set up a Monday news conference. Some analysts have predicted Gordon will be among the first 10 players drafted.

Gordon led the Big Ten in scoring with a 20.9 average and is the first Hoosiers freshman to average more than 20 points.

• Former UNLV coach Bill Bayno, 46, has been hired as Loyola Marymount's coach. He will leave his position as an assistant coach for the Portland Trail Blazers.

Bayno was 95-65 at UNLV.

Rodney Tention resigned as Loyola's coach last month.

• Host Tulsa beat Bradley 70-64 in the deciding game of the best-of-three College Basketball Invitational championship series.

Ben Uzoh led the Golden Hurricane (25-14) with 17 points. Theron Wilson scored 17 points for Bradley (21-17).

• Duke's DeMarcus Nelson scored 21 points to help the National team beat the American team 106-100 in the National Association of Basketball Coaches All-Star Game in San Antonio. Nelson was selected the game's most valuable player.