Men's Basketball Earns NIT Bid, Women Earn WBIT Invitation
Two games in Haas Pavilion this week to cheer on The Golden Bears
The Cal Men’s Basketball program snagged a 2-seed in the NIT Tournament and will host the University of Illinois-Chicago on Wednesday evening, with an 8pm tipoff on ESPN+.
The UIC Flames finished with a 19-15 record and fifth place finish in the Missouri Valley Conference. It is the Flames’ first postseason appearance since a CIT runner-up finish in 2017-18. If Cal wins on Wednesday, they will host the winner of the Colorado State/Saint Joseph’s matchup. The Albuquerque bracket also features #1 seed New Mexico and #4 seed Utah Valley, Mark Madsen’s former team.
Coach Charmin Smith’s Golden Bears nabbed a #3 seed in the Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament and will host the Santa Clara Broncos on Thursday. Santa Clara finished with a 24-9 record and third place finish in the WCC. The Broncos’ 13 conference wins are tied for most in program history. They were most recently in the WBIT following the 2024-25 season.
Game time has not yet been announced for the Thursday game. If Cal wins, they will face the winner of the #2 seeded Kansas State/Georgia Tech matchup.
Let’s all turn out at Haas this week and cheer on the Bears!
Sad we fell a little short of the Big Dances. But both teams had good seasons and deserve these high tournament seeds. Go Bears!
Good draw for the Bears. Hopefully the players see this as a great opportunity to get tournament experience. Don’t understand why teams like Virginia Tech outright rejected the NIT. Even if you have some players injured, let your Freshman / Sophomores or bench players get some experience. They can use that as an audition for next year on your team or tape to transfer out. Seems too whiny to say, “It’s NCAA or bust for us”.