Cal earns 7 seed, will face Stanford in first round of Pac-12 tournament
The path for the California Golden Bears to make the NCAA Tournament will require winning four games in four nights.
The final Pac-12 tournament is of definite interest to Cal basketball fans. Although the odds are long—four wins or out—the Bears will definitely go down fighting this week.
The California Golden Bears wrapped up their Pac-12 campaign with three road losses in a row, capped by a defeat to Stanford that dropped them to 9-11 in conference play. The Bears tied for 6th-8th in the conference with Utah and Washington. Utah earned the #6 seed due to having the best win percentage against the other tied teams, going 2-1 against UW and Cal (UW 2-2, Cal 1-2). Cal earned the #7 seed over UW due to having a win over #3 seed Colorado, while UW went 0-2 against the Buffaloes.
The Bears will play the 10th seeded Stanford Cardinal on Wednesday at 6pm. If the Bears win, they’ll play the #2 seed Washington State Cougars on Thursday.
Cal and Stanford split their season series, with each team winning on their home court. In Stanford’s win this past week, Cal committed 17 turnovers. That is their highest turnover total since committing 18 turnovers in a 2OT loss to Butler in December. In order to advance in the tournament, Cal will need to take better care of the ball.
Cal’s fade down the stretch makes it unlikely that the Bears will have enough in the tank to pull off four in a row to get to the NCAA Tournament, but the Bears have managed to beat ten out of the twelve teams in this conference. Bad matchup from Arizona aside, Cal should feel confident they can come in and give anyone a fight.
Cal basketball schedule this week
Wednesday: Cal vs. Stanford, Pac-12 Tournament first round, 6pm Pacific, PAC-12 Network.
Thursday: If Cal wins on Wednesday, they play [OPPONENT] in the Pac-12 Tournament quarterfinal, 6pm Pacific, PAC-12 Network.
Friday: If Cal wins on Thursday, they play one of ASU, Colorado or Utah in the Pac-12 Tournament semifinal, 7:30pm Pacific, FOX Sports 1.
Saturday: If Cal wins on Friday, they end up Pac-12 tournament final, 6 PM Pacific, 9 PM Eastern, on FOX.
Just wish I could watch it without adding another pay channel. So glad that the Pac
12 channel will be a thing of the past.
The great Wooden teams of the late 60s early 70s all used the backboard on shots from the side (underneath to 15-20 feet). Amaq etc could learn something there. So many shots just don’t go down.