BearTalk

The Bears’ quarterfinal round NIT game, if they get there, apparently will be played Tuesday at Berkeley. Cal tells me they haven’t gotten definitive word from NIT officials, but that Colorado was told it would play Tuesday.

The NIT official bracket is not updated with schedule information on the quarterfinals, except that there are two slots for games on Tuesday, and one of them is slotted for a 9 p.m. EDT tipoff on ESPN. That’s 6 p.m. here, and that’s the one I think you can count on for the Bears.

That is, if . . .

Tickets for the 2011 CBE Classic at Kansas City Mo., featuring Cal, Missouri, Notre Dame and Georgia, will go on sale Wednesday at 8 a.m. PST.

The event will be played Nov. 21 and 22 at the Sprint Center.

Tickets will be available through Ticketmaster at  800-745-3000 or at www.ticketmaster.com.

Pairings for the CBE Clasasic have not been announced.

Cal will participate in the CBE Classic in Kansas City, Mo., next Nov. 21-22 as part of a three-day celebration honoring eight inductees into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame.

Missouri, Georgia and Notre Dame also are scheduled to play at the Sprint Center. Matchups haven’t been announced.

The Hall of Fame ceremonies, involving Chris Mullin, Bob Knight, Ralph Sampson and James Worthy, among others, will be held on Nov. 20.

Cal’s regular-season home finale against Stanford on March 5 will tip off at 4 p.m. and be carried on CSNCA.

The game will be the Bears’ last before the Pac-10 Tournament at the Staples Center, beginning on March 9, and will serve as Senior Day, with center Markhuri Sanders-Frison being honored in a pre-game ceremony.

With Jonathan taking some well-deserved vacation, here’s some news you will want:

Cal will play a non-conference football game Sept. 17 at AT&T Park against Presbyterian College, an NCAA Football Championship Subdivision team from Clinton, S.C.

The Golden Bears have not announced the game yet, but Presbyterian posted it on its website.

The Blue Hose were 2-9 last season, including 1-5 in the Big South Conference. They played two games against Football Bowl Championship teams last season, losing 53-13 at Wake Forest and 58-21 at Clemson.

“Cal will be a great trip for us. Coach (Jeff) Tedford is doing great things out there and it’ll be a fun game and a great experience for our guys,” Presbyterian coach Harold Nichols said on gobluehose.com.

Cal, which will play its home games in San Francisco next season while Memorial Stadium undergoes renovation, still has a Sept. 10 opening on its non-conference schedule.

The Pac-10 Conference has announced the schedule model for basketball beginning next season when the league expands to the Pac-12.

The regular-season conference schedule will continue to be 18 games, with teams guaranteed home-and-home games each season against their natural rival. Teams will play home-and-home against six other teams each season and single games against the other four. That portion of the schedule will rotate every two years.

California’s single-play opponents for 2011-12 and 2012-13 will be Washington, Washington State, Arizona and Arizona State. Next season, the
Golden Bears will play Washington and Washington State on the road, with Arizona and Arizona State visiting Haas Pavilion. The year, the sites of those matchups will flip-flop.

Cal and Stanford will continue to be travel partners.

Here’s the link to the Pac-10 website with next season’s schedule and the 10-year rotation model at the bottom.

Cal announced its basketball schedule, complete with starting times and TV info. You can find it here. About time, right?. Don’t blame Cal. TV sets most of the times, and is rarely in a rush to do so.

Also, a reminder that the Bears will stage a free open practice Wednesday at Haas Pavilion from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Yes, that coincides roughly with the first three innings of Game 1 in the World Series . . . what are you going to do?

Seriously, what are you going to do? Get your first in-person glimpse of the young Bears or watch the Giants begin their quest for their first World Championship since arriving in S.F. in 1958? Share your thoughts.

The Pac-10 announced starting times for basketball games that will be produced by FSN. Cal games involved will be carried by CSNBA or CSNCA.

Here they are:

– Dec. 4: Cal at Iowa State, 11 a.m.

– Dec. 22: Kansas at Cal, 8 p.m.

– Jan. 6: Cal at Arizona, 7:30 p.m.

– Jan. 8: Cal at Arizona State, 11:30 a.m.

– Jan. 16: Washington at Cal, 7 p.m.

– Jan. 27: Oregon State at Cal, 8 p.m.

– Feb. 20: UCLA at Cal, 7 p.m.

I was out of town when the Bears announced their schedule, so I thought I’d take a quick, early look at how the non-conference games shape up.

Here goes:

– Nov. 16 vs. Cal State Northridge: The Matadors were 11-21 last season and return senior forward Lenny Daniel (11.7 ppg, 7.8 rpg) along with McClymonds HS grad Vinnie McGhee, a junior guard and one-time Big Sky Freshman of the Year at Sac State. Should be a painless debut for Cal’s freshmen-laden squad.

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Check out our stories this morning on the Pac-10′s difficult task of determining divisional alignment when expansion arrives. The stakes are high in football, where two divisions are necessary for the league to stage a championship game. Divisions may not be necessary in basketballl and other sports, but scheduling will be just as difficult.

Pac-10 athletic directors and commissioner Larry Scott will gather in Los Angeles on Friday to begin the process.