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Basketball: One of the last mock NCAA Tournament brackets — I promise
By Jeff Faraudo
Saturday, March 13th, 2010 at 10:29 pm in Basketball, Gameday, NCAA Tournament.
Here’s ESPN.com’s latest NCAA Tournament bracket projection, posted at 5:30 p.m. PST. It has Cal as a No. 7 and shows Washington in all CAPS, signifying it’s the automatic bid. So I am assuming, despite the fact that their records are not updated, that this may have been posted after the Pac-10 finale. But not sure about that.
In any case, those of you who are about to lose sleep (and don’t forget, spring forward tonight) over Cal’s status, worry not. The Bears are in. Period. No debate. No doubt. No problem. We don’t know their seed, destination or opponent — that’s at 3 p.m. Sunday — but they are in. OK?
Now go to sleep.
LOCAL HEROES
Wendell McKines (Richmond HS) had a quiet game — six points, seven rebounds and three assists — but New Mexico State upended Utah State 69-63 to win the WAC’s automatic bid. McKines averaged 12.3 ppg and 10.3 rpg in the three tournament games . . . And ex-Cal coach Todd Bozeman (some of you love him, many of you hate him), given a second chance at coaching, has turned Morgan Staste (27-9) into a MEAC power. The Bears are headed to the NCAAs for the second straight season and have compiled a record of 72-32 the past three seasons.
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March 14th, 2010 at 8:07 am
Jay Bilas just said he thinks Cal should be the odd team out of the tourney. He said if Florida or Illinois were in the Pac-10 they would win it easily. Digger and Hubert Davis laughed at how stupid the comment was.
I agree with Jeff – I’m not worried about us getting in and in. what’s more concerning is how much ESPN and CBS are talking the opportunity to crap on the Pac 10. it doesn’t matter if the conference bounces back next year or not – they’ll make it seem like we suck regardless of what actually happens. such hacks.
March 14th, 2010 at 8:47 am
hopefully, we’ll get in, and then take it personally. i kind of don’t care anymore, if we’re a 7,8,9 or 10 seed. if we hit our shots, play smart, tough d, and avoid dumb mistakes on offense, we can beat just about anybody. it’s all about finding and hitting open 3s. we do that, we can beat ANY team in country, and beating a 1 seed in the second round would be better for me, than winning the pac10. go bears.
March 14th, 2010 at 9:08 am
The Bears deserve at the very least a #7 seed somewhere. I think they are a 6 team and should be in the west or mid west based on their tough schedule and winning the Pac 10. But, they did not win yesterday and because of that a 7 is probably fair.
Sandy Barbour better be on top of this. The Pac 10 lobby should be out in force right now. I think ASU deserves a spot in the tourney too, even if it’s a 12 in the east. The Pac 10 is not strong this year but the top 3 teams are solid and deserve a spot in the NCAA’s.
Randle was the main reason we lost yesterday. The guy is a great shooter but when he’s off like he was vs UW he needs to take care of the ball, play defense and make things happen for his team mates on offense. It was a real close game, a little leadership from our senior point guard Pac 10 player of the year yesterday and the Bears win that game and are probably a 5 seed out west. Don’t get Randle? he’s such a good shooter and played so well recently, really thought he was past having games like yesterday. It was the big stage, CBS for a championship and he did not show up. If the team wants to go anywhere they need a lot more from their PG every time they take the court, if his shots not falling he has to do other things to help the team.
It’s crunch time, this team can make a run. They all need to start playing with the sense of urgency and leadership of Boykin.
Man, Jamal and Theo were great yesterday, but where were the rest of the Bears? It will take a team effort to make an NCAA run. I think they can do it.
Go Bears
March 14th, 2010 at 10:28 am
Bilas is ridiculous. He mentions how Cal’s RPI is meaningless and his disgust for individual RPI numbers, then spends the rest of the show talking about records vs. the RPI top 50.
They also fail to mention the absence of Robertson in many of the early games. Something the NCAA has to take under consideration.
March 14th, 2010 at 10:42 am
Definition of insanity? Expecting Randle to not have a game like yesteday. He has had them throughout his career, he has cut the junk way back, but he still does it too often. He has been an extremely good player at Cal, but he is a flawed player. His biggest flaw is decision making, and he proved that it still is his biggest falaw yesterday.
Randall and Chrsitopher are the two players this year I found most frustrating, as they were the most inconsistent of the 4 seniors who play. The thing I want the most from experienced players is consistentcy and smarts. They were both the most inconsistent this year. For all they both did this season to make it a VERY good one, they also hurt Cal the most in their losses, including yesterday. When they were off their games, they didn’t look to stop shooting and turning the ball over. They just kept shooting the shoots that weren’t falling, while you have guys who were on (Theo and Jamal).
It hurts them today when selection and seeding are being done as the committee looks at bad losses like SC and UCLA, which were inexcusable and damaging losses. It hurt them yesterday by losing a very winnable game. Yesterday was not a so-called “bad” loss as the committee defines it, but it was a bad loss as it now puts Cal in the position to even be in the discussion as to if they are worthy or not, and it will no doubt hurt their seeding and perhaps a chance to play in San Jose at a civil hour- not 9 AM PDT.
March 14th, 2010 at 10:50 am
jorge looked awful yesterday. he must have been hurt. he never looks that bad. uW showed everyone how to defend randle, and that if you put a guy over 6 feet on him, you can shut him down. we did a lousy job finding open men, and screening. msf was mostly just standing around, and KILLED the momentum, after an inspired few minutes by max. i’m a little disappointed in monty’s decision to bring in msf after we fought all the way back from 10 down, to take the lead. that was bad. uW played dirty, and the huge guy, also with a hyphenated name, it a total thug. for a team with this much senior leadership, it’s a little embarrassing that theo and boykin are the only ones who play under control when the game’s on the line.