The Kidd Is Back at Cal : College Basketball: Young standout and his coach, separated in age by just nine years, both know team’s ticket to the Final Four depends on defense.

BERKELEY, Calif. —  After a dazzling freshman season, Jason Kidd returns as college basketball’s most heralded point guard. After a tumultuous half-season as interim coach, Todd Bozeman begins his first full season with the Bears.

Kidd and his coach, separated in age by just nine years, both know Cal’s ticket to the Final Four depends on defense.

“We want to be one of the best defensive teams in the country,” Bozeman, 29, said. “Jason will step up and provide a lot of leadership. The guys know what it takes at this point, and they grew up a lot last year.”

Last season, the Bears went 11-2 after hot-tempered Lou Campanelli was fired, capped by their stunning upset of two-time defending champion Duke in the NCAA tournament’s second round.

Their run, which ended with a loss to Kansas in the Sweet 16, catapulted Kidd and Bozeman into the spotlight, and with four starters back from last year’s 21-9 squad, expectations are high.

Kidd is coming off a summer during which he played in Europe for Team USA, took July off to play golf and jetted down to Los Angeles for a pickup game with the NBA’s Mark Jackson and Byron Scott. He comes back rested and determined to keep playing his way--putting defense before scoring.

“That’s kind of the start of your offense,” the 6-foot-4, 205-pound Kidd said. “You need the ball to score. I thrive on getting the ball back as soon as possible. I’m the one who will be the key to whether we’ll be aggressive on defense or not.”

Kidd, whose 3.8 steals a game set an NCAA record for freshmen last season, averaged 13 points a game but shot only 29% from 3-point range.

“I didn’t pay too much attention to my offensive game” during the summer, he said. “I just shot the ball. I think I have everything I need, I just need to be consistent.

“I’m not really going to change my game. I’m always going to get everybody involved and make sure everybody knows what they’re supposed to be doing.”

There’s widespread speculation that this season will be Kidd’s last at Cal. He avoids the topic but hopes his close friendship with the Golden State Warriors’ Chris Webber, who left Michigan after his sophomore year and became the NBA’s top draft pick, will give him insight into life as a highly paid pro.

“To see what he has to go through will help me make a decision on whether I should spend more time in college,” Kidd said. “To have a source and comparison of the same age in your own backyard is definitely a positive.”

Whatever he decides, Kidd expects to thrive in his first full year under Bozeman, who opened up the Bears’ offense and allowed Kidd the freedom to create. And just like Kidd, Bozeman plans to ignore the hype about Cal and not look too far ahead.

“I think last year’s experience helped us a lot in terms of dealing with media expectations,” Bozeman said. “We went through the whole cycle.

“We came into the season with a lot of expectations. The middle of the season, all you heard was ‘The Bears were overrated.’ Then it turned around again.”

Named Cal’s permanent coach the day before the NCAA tournament began, Bozeman turned the Bears around amid criticism of Campanelli’s firing and scrutiny of his own qualifications.

Now Bozeman has his own staff of assistants--the oldest is just 35--and the same self-confidence that helped him weather last season’s pressure. Drawing on advice from the likes of Georgetown’s John Thompson and Massachusetts’ John Calipari, Bozeman will coach the same and act the same as he always has.

“I live my life through my eyes, not through the way others view it,” he said. “I don’t feel I have to prove myself to anyone.”