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Of all the games Cal played this year, who would have thought that their win over St. Mary's might be the difference between the bubble and solid seeding?
Currently Cal is situated as a 7th seed for the second straight week in Joe Lunardi's latest bracketology. Despite being swept by Oregon and Oregon State, no loss appears to be a bad loss in this conference.
Cal would currently be slated to face the winner of Texas vs. Monmouth from the first four in St. Louis, with the winner likely taking on Xavier. That is as friendly as a potential Sweet 16 road as you could possibly imagine for the Bears given their current situation around the 7-9 seed range.
The other thing benefitting Cal is the strength of the Pac-12. Lunardi currently projects EIGHT Pac-12 teams make the tournament, and two others (Oregon State and Arizona State) are hanging around the bubble. So even if you lose on the road in the Pac-12, almost none of these losses is going to be all that bad.
The only bad losses you can have in the Pac-12 are probably the Washington schools (UCLA got punished heavily for getting swept up in the Evergreen State) and Stanford. Cal only has to play the Washington schools on the road in what figures to be a must-win trip for the Bears to maintain their status at 7 or above.
Sweep the Trees Bears. For your own sake.
Cal lost all its votes in the AP Poll and only received nine votes in the Coaches Poll, so they will probably not return to the top 25 barring an impressive hot streak.
AP Poll
| RK | TEAM | RECORD | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kansas Jayhawks (63) | 14-1 | 1,621 |
| 2 | Oklahoma Sooners (1) | 13-1 | 1,551 |
| 3 | Maryland Terrapins | 15-1 | 1,472 |
| 4 | Michigan State Spartans (1) | 16-1 | 1,446 |
| 5 | North Carolina Tar Heels | 15-2 | 1,371 |
| 6 | Villanova Wildcats | 14-2 | 1,246 |
| 7 | Xavier Musketeers | 14-1 | 1,200 |
| 8 | Miami-Florida Hurricanes | 13-1 | 1,139 |
| 9 | Duke Blue Devils | 14-2 | 1,100 |
| 10 | SMU Mustangs | 15-0 | 1,040 |
| 11 | West Virginia Mountaineers | 14-1 | 867 |
| 12 | Providence Friars | 14-2 | 862 |
| 13 | Virginia Cavaliers | 12-3 | 818 |
| 14 | Kentucky Wildcats | 12-3 | 698 |
| 15 | Texas A&M Aggies | 13-2 | 668 |
| 16 | Iowa Hawkeyes | 12-3 | 656 |
| 17 | Iowa State Cyclones | 12-3 | 555 |
| 18 | Arizona Wildcats | 13-3 | 537 |
| 19 | South Carolina Gamecocks | 15-0 | 527 |
| 20 | Pittsburgh Panthers | 14-1 | 334 |
| 21 | Louisville Cardinals | 13-3 | 330 |
| 22 | Baylor Bears | 12-3 | 325 |
| 23 | Butler Bulldogs | 12-4 | 302 |
| 24 | Purdue Boilermakers | 14-3 | 145 |
| 25 | Gonzaga Bulldogs | 13-3 | 101 |
| Others receiving votes: USC 79, Indiana 59, UCLA 21, Utah 10, Texas Tech 10, Saint Mary's 8, Wichita St 7, Valparaiso 6, Oregon 6, Hawaii 4, St Bonaventure 1, Oregon State 1, Akron 1, Dayton 1 | |||
USA Today Coaches Poll
| RANK | TEAM | RECORD | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kansas (32) | 14-1 | 800 |
| 2 | Oklahoma | 13-1 | 743 |
| 3 | Maryland | 15-1 | 742 |
| 4 | Michigan St | 16-1 | 694 |
| 5 | North Carolina | 15-2 | 673 |
| 6 | Duke | 14-2 | 596 |
| 7 | Villanova | 14-2 | 557 |
| 8 | Xavier | 14-1 | 555 |
| 9 | Miami-Florida | 13-1 | 551 |
| 10 | West Virginia | 14-1 | 477 |
| 11 | Virginia | 12-3 | 426 |
| 12 | Providence | 14-2 | 400 |
| 13 | Kentucky | 12-3 | 393 |
| 14 | Texas A&M | 13-2 | 383 |
| 15 | South Carolina | 15-0 | 361 |
| 16 | Arizona | 13-3 | 337 |
| 17 | Pittsburgh | 14-1 | 263 |
| 18 | Iowa St. | 12-3 | 253 |
| 19 | Iowa | 12-3 | 226 |
| 20 | Louisville | 13-3 | 205 |
| 21 | Gonzaga | 13-3 | 173 |
| 22 | Baylor | 12-3 | 156 |
| 23 | Butler | 12-4 | 147 |
| 24 | Purdue | 14-3 | 122 |
| 25 | Indiana | 14-3 | 38 |
| Others Receiving Votes: Connecticut 34; Oregon 18; Southern California 16; UCLA 12; George Washington 11; California 9; Dayton 5; Houston 5; Valparaiso 5; Washington 3; Texas Tech 3; Cincinnati 2; Arkansas-Little Rock 2; Boise State 1; Hawaii 1; Utah 1; Saint Mary's 1. | |||