Montgomery still weaves the magic

Mike Montgomery spent 18 seasons at Stanford but returns Saturday to “The Farm” as the traitor coach of a sworn enemy from across the bay at Berkeley.

News of Monty’s crossover dribble has been buzzing all over Facebook.

Yeah, right.

“None of the kids on my team played against me, none of the kids on that team did I coach, so I’m just another old fogey as far as that goes,” Montgomery reflected this week.

When Montgomery last coached at Stanford, in 2004, Barack Obama wasn’t even a bumper sticker.

Old fogey, young fogey, one thing hasn’t changed -- Montgomery can coach.

OK, maybe not in the NBA, where he flopped like a flounder at Golden State, joining a prestigious list of college-to-pro failures that includes Rick Pitino, John Calipari, Tim Floyd and Lon Kruger.

But Montgomery is a richer man -- literally -- for the experience.

He has returned to California, to his base camp, to his roots. He has gone from The Tree mascot to the tree squatters and just about wrapped up Pacific 10 Conference coach-of-the year honors after . . . four games.

Why Montgomery ever left a perfect job for the pernicious pros is between him and his accountant, but he’s back from the dark side.

With most of the best kids leaving college after one year, and Billy Packer gone, all we have left are interesting coaches and March.

And if you don’t think Monty is good on a blackboard, chalk this out:

Cal is 15-2, 4-0 in conference, and off to its best start since 1959-60, the year Pete Newell’s Golden Bears finished 28-2 after a title-game loss to Ohio State.

Cal is ranked this week in the Associated Press and USA Today coaches’ polls.

Cal wasn’t supposed to be 15-2, 4-0 or ranked. Not after finishing 17-16 last year, ninth in conference and losing two palo alto players to the NBA’s first and second rounds: Ryan Anderson and DeVon Hardin.

Cal was picked to finish eighth in the Pac-10 preseason poll. The bible of basketball -- Blue Ribbon Yearbook -- noted ousted coach Ben Braun “didn’t leave behind the 1975-76 Indiana Hoosiers.”

But Braun left enough behind for Montgomery to mentor and mold.

Cal has already knocked off the team picked to finish second in the conference, Arizona State, and prevailed in the game of the year so far -- last weekend’s triple overtime win at Washington.

Montgomery has won bigger games. At the 1998 Midwest regional final in St. Louis, Stanford earned a Final Four trip by coming back from six points down with a minute left to beat Rhode Island.

But never has he been a part of a better game than last week’s 88-85 thriller, in which Cal led 1-0 and did not lead again until 15 seconds were left in the third overtime.

“Certainly in terms of the number of times that we were just given up for dead and somehow managed to get back and give ourselves a chance to win was pretty special,” Montgomery said.

The thing that has surprised Montgomery most is that the players he inherited from Braun were, small and large, not stiffs.

Montgomery starts an all-junior lineup that includes the returning backcourt of Patrick Christopher and Jerome Randle, who have been fantastic. Randle averages 19.1 points and Christopher has scored 20 or more in his last four.

Theo Robertson, a 6-foot-6 forward who sat out all of last season because of a hip injury, has returned to lead the nation in three-point shooting percentage.

And the doughnut hole in the paint caused by the loss of the 6-10 Anderson and the 6-11 Hardin has been filled with more than jelly, with 7-footer Jordan Wilkes at center and plenty of tall, if unseasoned, insiders to help.

“Maybe this is really going to be a struggle,” Montgomery told himself when he first arrived. “But the kids have turned out to be better, more resilient, more receptive, willing to do basically anything we’ve asked them to do to try to have a chance to win. Maybe that’s surprised me.”

Montgomery can’t wait to get over to Stanford on Saturday just so he can get it over with.

That’s assuming any Stanford kid even remembers who he is, or was.

“They’ll probably hesitate a second or two before they start booing,” Montgomery said. “It doesn’t make any difference. For 18 years when I was there, Cal would come in and there’s always pretty much been the same reaction. You’re not supposed to like your rivals. You try to act like you really don’t like them. And I suspect this will be no different.”

He’s with the opposite shore now, but he’s still the same old fogey.

Loose ends

North Carolina is in the last place you would have ever imagined -- last place in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Tar Heels opened conference play with a loss to Boston College, which then lost to Harvard, and then fell asleep against Wake Forest. So that puts North Carolina, a team that was all but handed the national title before the season, at 0-2 in conference heading into today’s game against Virginia. The Tar Heels have shot 36% in two ACC games and have more turnovers (32) than assists (24). Coach Roy Williams is handling it well.

“Three weeks ago when everybody was saying undefeated and 50 points better than everybody else, I thought it was a bunch of hogwash,” Williams said. “Now when we’re sitting here 0-2, I really don’t think we’re going to go 0-16 in the league either.”

North Carolina has plenty of time, and possibly three wins over Duke, to recover.

Williams says it’s going to take more than effort. “It’s not just trying hard,” he said. “A guy tries hard in a math test, adds two plus two and gets five, he still made a mistake. So we’ve got to add our brain to that part of it.”

Most everyone acknowledges the Big East is the best conference this season, with eight teams ranked in the Associated Press top 25.

Really? The Big East ranks third in the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI) conference rankings this week behind the ACC and the Big Ten. The Pac-10 is fifth. The Big Ten is No. 1 in this week’s Sagarin Ratings, followed by the ACC and the Big East. You’d have a hard time convincing Marquette, which closes the Big East regular season at Georgetown (AP No. 13), Connecticut (No. 4), at Louisville (No. 20), at Pittsburgh (No. 1), Syracuse (No. 8).

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chris.dufresne@latimes.com

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

TIMES’ TOP 25

CHRIS DUFRESNE’S RANKINGS AND COMMENTS:

Rk.; Team (Rec.); Comment

1 PITTSBURGH

16-0 Gambling update: Panthers plus 22 vs. South Florida and Steelers plus six vs. Baltimore.

2 WAKE FOREST

14-0 Beat North Carolina; what better way to start your ACC week?

3 DUKE

15-1 Rim-clanger Dookies shoot 39% and still beat Georgia Tech by 14 in Atlanta.

4 CONNECTICUT

14-1 Forward Adrien has scored double figures every game except those he hasn’t.

5 OKLAHOMA

16-1 Rankman predicts triple-triple for Blake Griffin before the season’s done.

6 NO. CAROLINA 14-2 Williams tells Wonder Co., “We’re not the greatest thing since sliced bread.”

7 UCLA

13-2 Howland is 6-2 against Floyd, which makes Floyd 2-6 against Howland.

8 GEORGETOWN

12-3 Takes break from brutal Big East by playing this weekend . . . at Duke!

9 CLEMSON

16-0 Unbeaten status at stake Saturday against Wake (just cut down Carolina) Forest

10 MICHIGAN ST. 14-2 The snow plows were working, so the game went on at Penn State.

11 SYRACUSE

16-2 Georgetown hits 12 three-pointers to beat Orangetown near downtown Washingtown.

12 LOUISVILLE

12-3 Terrence Williams was the best player on the court in OT win against Notre Dame.

13 MARQUETTE

15-2 NCAA committee says pay no attention to RPI (Rankman Percentage Index).

14 ARIZONA ST. 14-2 Seven straight losses in L.A. not counting football team vs. USC.

15 XAVIER

13-2 So good they’re going to rename the conference the Atlantic X.

16 MINNESOTA

15-1 Can’t wait to play at Wisconsin where the temperature outdoors is only minus-22.

17 TEXAS

12-4 Scribbled “45-35” on court after Monday night loss to Oklahoma in Norman.

18 BUTLER

14-1 Heads to Chicago this weekend to take two mid (major) term exams.

19 PURDUE

12-4 At Northwestern and home vs. Iowa all part of glamorous Big Ten weekend.

20 NOTRE DAME

12-4 How long can Harangody carry team until he pulls a back muscle?

21 BAYLOR

13-3 Rankman fined by coach for peeking ahead to next week’s game at Oklahoma.

22 CALIFORNIA

15-2 Monty returns to the Farm and the land of Google and honey.

23 VILLANOVA

13-3 Trying to find neutral corner after one-point, gut-punch loss to Louisville.

24 ILLINOIS

15-2Swipes Michigan’s No. 24 spot with win over Wolverines in Champaign.

25 ST. MARY’S

15-1 Rankman reminder: basketball rankings are for entertainment only.