Cal Men's Basketball Firmly On Tournament Bubble As They Start Florida Road Trip
The California Golden Bears are currently projected as one of the last teams out, but is their trajectory on the right path?
The California Golden Bears sit at 15-5 with just over a month to March, meaning it’s time to take a look at the team’s prospects for the tournament.
After two straight Quad 1 wins against North Carolina and Stanford, Cal is very close to building an NCAA Tournament level resume.
For those unfamiliar with quadrants, they are the determinators for who gets into the tournament:
Quadrant 1: Home games vs. RPI teams ranked in the top 30; neutral games vs. 1-50; away games vs. 1-75.
Quadrant 2: Home vs. 31-75 teams; neutral vs. 51-100; away vs. 76-135.
Quadrant 3: Home vs. 76-160 teams; neutral vs. 101-200; away vs. 136-240.
Quadrant 4: Home vs. 161-plus teams; neutral vs. 201-plus; away vs. 241-plus.
Up-to-date Quad rankings have Cal sitting at 55 in NET. The good news is Cal has no bad losses up to this point. The bad news is that they only have three high-quality wins after a fairly pedestrian non-conference schedule.
Looking at the bracketologists:
Bracket Matrix aggregates most brackets, and has Cal as the third team out
So there is work to do. Cal will have two more Quad 1 chances against Miami this weekend, and to end the season at Wake Forest, but both games are on the road. The Bears can shore up their resume with Quad 2 opportunities, starting tonight at Florida State and home against top-25 Clemson next weekend.
Join us later this afternoon to discuss Cal vs. Florida State!
Mark Madsen has taken a giant leap this year in his coaching acumen. Let’s finish strong!!
I think our roster may be a bit too thin down the stretch to make it. But it's a HUGE step that we're even on the bubble.
That being said, we play the games for a reason! Let's do it!