Cal WBB Earn 8 seed, will play Mississippi St. at 2:30 PT on Saturday

If the Bears win, an emotionally fraught game against Lindsay Gottlieb and the USC Trojans await

The Selection Committee has spoken, and they have handed Cal the path that basically all of the experts predicted. Here’s where Cal has been placed within their regional:

USC is the 4th overall seed, which would imply that Cal is the best of the 8 seeds. Cal will face 9 seed Mississippi State on Saturday at 2:30 PM, pacific time. MSU went 21-11 (7-9) in SEC play. Cal would play a hypothetical 2nd round game on Monday, which would almost certainly be against 1 seed USC.

USC, of course, is coached by Lindsay Gottlieb, who coached for nine years in Berkeley and left behind a complex legacy. Those years saw Cal reach heights never seen in program history, and also ended with an unbalanced roster that plunged Cal into four years of deep, painful rebuilding.

We’ll have more breakdowns of Cal’s first round matchup and their tournament path generally. Meanwhile, please enjoy Cal’s reaction to seeing their name announced, including perhaps a very honest reaction from Kayla Williams when she learned that she might have to face her former team in the 2nd round:

Go Bears!