BearTalk

Cal’s win over Arizona State boosted the Bears three spots to No. 21, according to RealTimeRPI.com. I believe that’s the Bears’ highest computer ranking of the season.

They remain 0-4 against top-50 RPI teams — No. 1 Kansas, No. 3 Syracuse, No. 7 New Mexico and No. 29 Ohio State. But they are now 5-2 against teams ranked No. 51 to 100, with wins over No. 54 ASU (twice), and No. 69 Murray State, along with splits vs. No. 56 Washington and No. 90 Arizona.

ESPN.com’s Joe Lunardi must have a twisted sense of humor. Lunardi has Cal seeded No. 10 and playing No. 7 Maryland at Oklahoma City in his latest NCAA Tournament projections. You’ll remember it was the Terps who ended Cal’s season last year with an 84-79 ouster at the NCAAs in Kansas City, Mo.

The winner of the Cal-Maryland game would face either Kansas State or North Texas in the second round.

Lunardi has Saint Mary’s College as one of his “last four in” for the second straight week, projecting the Gaels as a No. 12 to face Temple in Spokane, Wash.  MONDAY NIGHT UPDATE: After UConn’s victory over West Virginia, Lunardi posted an updated bracket that squeezes the Gaels out of the field. For now, anyway, he projects them as his first team out.

Lunardi has Kansas, Kentucky, Syracuse and Purdue as his No. 1 seeds.

Here is ESPN.com’s full projected bracket.

Jerry Palm on CollegeRPI.com projects Cal as a No. 13 to face Vanderbilt at Spokane, with the winner to play Michigan State or Marquette in the second round. Click here to access Palm’s bracket, then click on bracket in the left-hand pull-down box.

THE COMPUTERS: NCAASports.com has Cal at No. 23 while the Sagarin computer ratings list the Bears at No. 35.

THE POLLS: No Pac-10 teams in either of the top-25 polls. Are we surprised?

Cal’s two wins last week have prompted ESPN.com’s Joe Lunardi to boost the Bears up to a No. 8 seeding in this week’s NCAA Tournament bracket projection.

Lunardi has the Bears facing No. 9 UTEP in Milwaukee with a second-round matchup vs. Kentucky looming.

Cal remains the only Pac-10 team to earn a spot in ESPN.com’s projected bracket.

Saint Mary’s is one of Lunardi’s “last four in,” a No. 12 seed facing Temple in Spokane, Wash.

Syracuse retains one of the four No. 1 seeds despite its loss Sunday to Louisville. The other No. 1 seeds are Kansas, Kentucky and Villanova.

Here’s a link to Lunardi’s latest bracket projection.

Jerry Palm of CollegeRPI.com isn’t quite as generous in his bracket, awarding the Bears a No. 12 seed, and projecting them to face Pitt in Spokane. That would set up a potential second-round game with home-town favorite Gonzaga.

COMPUTER RATINGS: Cal is No. 24 in today’s CollegeRPI.com computer ratings. The rest of the Pac-10: 52. Washington; 64. ASU; 84.  USC; 86. Arizona; 119. WSU; 134. UCLA; 158. Oregon; 164. Stanford; 185. OSU. Saint Mary’s is No. 44.

The Bears also are No. 24 in the official NCAA version of the RPI.

Cal is No. 31 in the latest Sagarin computer ratings.

TOP-25 POLLS: Still no Pac-10 team in either of AP writers top-25 or the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll, although Cal did garner six votes from the coaches. Here are both polls.

Joe Lunardi, ESPN.com’s resident “bracketologist,” has just one Pac-10 in his projected NCAA Tournament field this week — and it’s Cal.

Lunardi has the Bears as a No. 10 seed, playing No. 7 UNLV at Milwaukee, with the winner facing either No. 2 Michigan State or Sam Houston in the second round.

Saint Mary’s is a No. 9 seed, matched against No. 8 Cornell at Providence, R.I., with the winner advancing to play either Villanova or Stony Brook.

The top seeds, according to Lunardi, will be Kansas, Syracuse, Kentucky and Villanova.

THE COMPUTER POLLS: Cal checks in at No. 26 in today’s official NCAA RPI computer poll, down two spots from a week ago. Three teams that have beaten the Bears — Kansas, Syracuse and New Mexico — are in the top 10. Bad news for Saint Mary’s, which walloped Santa Clara and USF, but dropped 10 spots from No. 35 to 45.

The rest of the Pac-10 in the RPI: 55. Washington; 67. Arizona; 77. ASU; 80. USC; 106. WSU; 136. UCLA; 146. Oregon; 155. Stanford. 195. OSU.

Cal is No. 35 in the Sagarin computer poll, with Saint Mary’s at No. 32. The rest of the Pac-10: 52. Washington; 53. ASU; 73. USC; 76. Arizona; 94. WSU; 114. Oregon; 117. Stanford; 125. UCLA; 151. OSU.

TOP-25 POLLS: You won’t be real surprised to learn there are still no Pac-10 teams ranked in either the AP writers poll or the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll. You can click here to view both of them. Kansas is No. 1 in both, with Syracuse No. 2 according to AP, Kentucky No. 2 in the coaches poll.

The Golden Bears (15-8) are No. 26 in today’s RealTimeRPI.com computer ratings — the highest-rated team with as many as eight defeats.

The reason? Their No. 4 strength-of-schedule.

Here’s how some of the teams that Cal played prior to the Pac-10 have fared:

– Kansas is 22-1, ranked No. 1 in the RPI, and unbeaten and alone in first place in the Big 12.

– Syracuse is 23-1, ranked No. 2 in the RPI and in first place in the Big East.

– New Mexico is 21-3, ranked No. 10 in the RPI and tied for first in the Mountain West Conference.

– Ohio State is 18-6, No. 35 in the RPI and tied for second in the Big Ten.

– Murray State is 22-3 overall and first in the Ohio Valley Conference at 13-0.

– Pacific is in first place in the Big West at 8-2.

– UC Santa Barbara is second in the Big West, one-half game back at 8-3.

The Pac-10 standings are a mess and the Golden Bears’ confidence has to be turned inside out after a 66-63 loss at USC, but the computer still gives Cal an edge over the rest of the conference.

Whether that gives the Bears a realistic path to the NCAA Tournament is entirely up to them.

RealtimeRPI.com had Cal rated No. 25 nationally entering Thursday, and the Bears slipped just two spots to No. 27 after their collapse at the Galen Center. The Bears benefit from a No. 4 strength-of-schedule, which gives them a higher RPI rating than any team in the nation with eight defeats.

A closer look shows Cal is 0-4 against RPI teams in the top-50, and just 3-8 vs. the top-100.

Still, no one else in the Pac-10 is among the top-50.

Arizona, which remains tied for first with Cal, ASU and UCLA after losing at Washington, is next at No. 57.

Washington, which is tied with USC for fifth place at 5-5, is No. 60.

Arizona State, which won at WSU to climb into the four-way tie for first, is No. 76.

USC is No. 85.

And UCLA, perhaps the league’s hottest team with four wins in its past five games, is No. 123 — one spot behind San Jose State.

The RPI, just one of many criteria the NCAA Tournament selection committee employs, will only work in the Bears’ favor if they turn things around and can string together some victories.

But the computer rankings bode very badly for the rest of the Pac-10, which is doing all it can to achieve the unthinkable and become a one-bid league to the NCAAs for the first time since 1977-78 — 32 years ago!

Arizona’s victory over Cal on Sunday earned the Pac-10 a second NCAA Tournament entry, according to ESPN.com’s Joe Lunardi in his weekly “Bracketology” projections. (This is a correction of an earlier post where I reported Cal collected the Pac-10′s only bid in Lunardi’s bracket).

Lunardi gives the Bears a No. 8 seed and matches them against Cornell of the Ivy League in a first-round game at Providence, R.I. The winner likely would face top-seeded Villanova, which is projected to play Stony Brook. The winner of that game would face the winner of the matchup between No. 4 Tennessee and New Mexico State.

Jerry Palm’s bracket on CollegeRPI.com has Cal at No. 12, matched against No. 5 Baylor in a first-round game at Spokane, Wash. The winner of that game would meet the Gonzaga-Siena winner in front of a partisan Gonzaga crowd.

(Saint Mary’s is into both projected fields, a No. 10 vs. Florida State at Buffalo, according to Lunardi, and a No. 12 against Tennessee in Spokane, in Palm’s mock bracket).

COMPUTER RATINGS: Cal’s 76-72 loss Sunday at Arizona cost them about five spots in the RPI computer, where Monday morning the Bears were rated No. 24, according to CollegeRPI.com. The rest of the Pac-10: 53. Arizona; 64. UW; 87. ASU; 89. USC; 100. WSU; 126. UCLA; 139. Stanford; 140. Oregon; 202. OSU.

Cal’s non-conference opponents continue to fare well in the RPI, with Kansas and Syracuse now 1-2, New Mexico 12th and Ohio State 33rd. The problem the Bears face, of course, is that the highest-rated team they have beaten is No. 87 ASU, although they also own wins over four other top-100 teams, including No. 92 Murray State and No. 95 Pacific.

Amazingly, defending national champion North Carolina has an RPI rating of just No. 76, landing the Tar Heels in the midst of NIT territory. UNC is 2-5 in the month of January, with three of those losses at home.

In the Sagarin computer, Cal checks in at No. 31. The rest of the Pac-10: 59. ASU; 63. UW; 74. Arizona; 78. USC; 96. WSU; 110. Oregon; 111. Stanford; 120. UCLA; 166. OSU.

TOP-25 POLLS: No surprise, but no Pac-10 teams appear in either the AP Top-25 of the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll. No Pac-10 school even got a vote in the AP poll, while Cal drew two votes from the coaches. Here’s a link to both polls.

Cal remains the highest-rated Pac-10 team in both computer polls, although to be fair this achievement doesn’t exactly rate up there with the school boasting 20 Nobel Laureates.

– CollegeRPI.com: Cal is No. 26, thanks to its strength-of-schedule ranking of No. 3. The rest of the Pac-10: 60. Arizona, 63. USC, 75. Washington, 81. ASU, 97. WSU, 120. Stanford, 133. UCLA, 159. Oregon, 202. OSU. The RPI top 5: 1. Syracuse, 2. Kansas, 3. Duke, 4, Villanova, 5. West Virginia. Also: 35. Saint Mary’s.

– Sagarin ratings: The Bears are No. 34. The rest of the Pac-10: 53. ASU, 59. USC, 78. Washington, 81. ASU, 87. WSU, 105. Stanford, 121. Oregon, 128. UCLA, 174. OSU. The Sagarin top 5: 1. Kansas, 2. Syracuse, 3. Duke, 4. Texas, 5. Villanova. Also: 32. Saint Mary’s.

– AP Top-25: No Pac-10 team for the third straight week. Cal got two votes — the only mention of a team from the Pac-10. The AP top 5: 1. Kentucky, 2. Kansas, 3. Villanova, 4. Syracuse, 5. Michigan State. Click here for the AP and ESPN/USA Today rankings.

– ESPN/USA Today Top-25: Again, no sign of the Pac-10, with the Bears getting two votes among the also rans. The ESPN/USA Today top 5: 1. Kentucky, 2. Kansas, 3. Villanova, 4. Syracuse, 5. Michigan State.

– NCAA Bracketology projections on ESPN.com: Joe Lunardi has Cal seeded No. 9, facing No. 8 Missouri in Milwaukee, with the winner taking on Kentucky. ASU secures a No. 12 seed as Lunardi’s last team in the field. Saint Mary’s is a No. 10, according to his projections, and would play New Mexico in Milwaukee. (The Bay Area takes Milwaukee by storm). Lunardi’s No. 1 seeds: Kentucky, Kansas, Syracuse, Villanova. Here’s Lunardi’s full bracket projection.

For the second straight week — and perhaps not the last one — the Pac-10 is nowhere in the two major national top-25 polls. Although at least this week, first-place Arizona State earned three votes in the Associated Press poll, good for 43rd place.

Yes, the top Pac-10 team garnered fewer votes than Cornell, William & Mary or Rhode Island in the AP poll.

Here are the AP and ESPN/USA Today top-25 polls.

THE SAGARIN RATINGS: Cal remains the top-ranked Pac-10 club in the Sagarin computer ratings, albeir just No. 33.

The rest of the Pac-10: 37. ASU; 61. USC; 68. Washington; 87. Arizona; 88. WSU; 111. Oregon; 131. Stanford; 160. UCLA; 164. OSU.

COLLEGERPI.COM: The RPI ratings have Cal at No. 25, thanks in large part to a No. 2 strength-of-schedule ranking.

The rest of the Pac-10: 55. USC; 58. Washington; 60. ASU; 69. Arizona; 97. WSU; 140. Stanford; 155. Oregon; 166. UCLA; 195. OSU.

Ronald Reagan was president, a U.S. postage stamp cost 22 cents, Tiger Woods was 11 years old and current Golden State Warriors assistant coach Keith Smart still was practicing the game-winning shot he would take for Indiana that year in the NCAA title game.

It was Feb. 24, 1987 — the last time until today that the Pac-10 did not have a men’s basketball team ranked in the AP Top-25 poll.

Amazingly — deservedly? — no Pac-10 team even got a vote for inclusion this week.

The conference also was shut out of the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll.

The top five in both sets of rankings: 1. Texas; 2. Kentucky; 3. Kansas; 4. Villanova; 5. Syracuse.

THE SAGARIN RATINGS: Cal is the top-ranked team in the Sagarin computer at No. 40. (Saint Mary’s is No. 22).

The rest of the Pac-10: 54. ASU; 68. USC; 76. UW; 88. WSU; 90. Oregon; 98. Arizona; 115. Stanford; 149. UCLA; 173. OSU.

The Sagarin’s top five: 1. Texas; 2. Kansas; 3. Duke; 4. Syracuse; 5. Purdue.

THE RPI RATINGS: According to CollegeRPI.com, Cal is No. 32, tops among Pac-10 schools. (Saint Mary’s is No. 36).

The rest of the Pac-10: 51. USC; 64. UW; 72. Arizona; 84. WSU; 88. ASU; 121. Stanford; 132. Oregon; 174. UCLA; 206. OSU.

The RPI top five: 1. West Virginia; 2. Duke; 3. Temple; 4. Syracuse; 5. Purdue.