It would seem that the stakes are low for today's final regular-season contest vs. Arizona State. Cal will finish no higher nor lower than 3rd in the Pac-10, and will be the 3rd seed in next week's Pac-10 tournament regardless of the results of today's action. Moreover, the Bears are firmly in the NCAA tournament field of 65, and the most they're playing for is minor shifts in seeding; if the Bears win out and win the Pac-10 tournament, I could see them getting a #5 seed, while I don't think losing their next two games would drop them any lower than a #8 seed. You'd like to get up into the 5-6 range to have a good shot at the Sweet 16, but beyond that, there really isn't much to play for.
And really, today's matchup is pretty much a no-lose situation for the Bears, as they play on the road against the #21 team in the country. Win, and it's a nice feather in their NCAA résumé cap (and sweeps of UW, UA, and ASU will all look good in the selection room), while a loss...well, the Bears aren't expected to win this one, and they won't be punished for failing to do so.
In their first matchup, James Harden scored 26 points to lead the Sun Devils, but he needed 22 shots to get there, going just 2-7 from beyond the arc. Meanwhile, the Bears were very efficient from long range, shooting 9-17 from three and 29-50 overall. If the Sun Devils can't cool down the Bears shooters more than the WIldcats could on Thursday night, Cal could be looking at it's first ever season sweep of the Arizona schools.
Your game information:
California Golden Bears (22-8, 11-6) at Arizona State Sun Devils (21-8, 10-7)
Saturday, March 7, 11 a.m. PT, Wells Fargo Arena
Radio: KYOU (1550 AM) TV: CBS
JustinTV streams the game. As does ChannelSurfing. Really, though, c'mon people. The game is on freakin' CBS. You shouldn't need to stream it online if you're *anywhere* near a television [Edit: on the West Coast -- I just realized that this is a split national broadcast].