We're No. 69! Golden Bears Edition

The Atlantic Coast Conference is in the midst of a bounce-back season in the national hoops landscape. After landing only four teams in last year’s NCAA Tournament, the lowest percentage of league representation since the tournament expanded in 1985, the conference is forecast to get eight or nine teams into this year’s 68-team field. 

Top-ranked Duke leads the way, followed by tournament “locks” Virginia, North Carolina and Louisville, as well as Clemson, N.C. State and Miami. SMU is close to solidifying an invite, which leaves Virginia Tech and Cal-Berkeley battling for a possible eighth at-large berth – or both left out, depending on results in other tournaments. 

The Golden Bears have by far the sketchier resume’, so unless they win their final two regular season games and make a deep run in the ACC Tournament, they’re likely to be among the “First Four Out” on Selection Sunday – a worthy/unworthy No. 69. Cal and Stanford and SMU came aboard the ACC two years ago in a marriage of inconvenience following the implosion of the Pac-12 and raids by the Big Ten Conference and later the Big 12. Cal and Stanford were basically set adrift, coincidentally, at the same time the ACC’s viability was in question amid realignment. Rather than see what might arise from the ashes of the Pac-12, Stanford and Cal chose a more stable, major conference path with the ACC, albeit 2,500 miles away. The new arrangement has made for some hellacious travel and challenging schedules, but everyone is copacetic – for now. 

Recent history: Cal made the NCAAs nine times in the early part of this century but hasn’t been to the tournament since 2016 and hasn’t played in postseason since 2017. The Golden Bears endured eight consecutive years of losing records until this season. Third-year coach Mark Madsen, a former Stanford star and NBA champ with the Lakers, rebuilt the program through the transfer portal and guided the Bears to their first 20-win season since 2017. Former coaches Ben Braun and Mike Montgomery regularly had the Bears in the NCAAs from the 1990s through the early 2010s. Legendary coach Pete Newell took Cal to the 1959 NCAA championship. 

Mascot/nickname profile: Golden Bears originated in 1895, when the school’s successful track team toured Midwestern and Eastern colleges. The team hung a blue banner with a golden grizzly bear, the state symbol, at meets, and the school’s teams came to be known as Golden Bears. The practice of using live bear cubs as mascots was discontinued in the 1940s, and a stuffed bear mascot named Oski was introduced. Oski the mascot was suspended for two weeks in 1990 after he threw cake at Oregon State fans, inadvertently hitting the father of Oregon State guard Gary Payton. 

Home arena: Haas Pavilion (cap. 11,858) is an on-campus arena originally opened in 1939 that underwent several renovations, most recently in the late ‘90s. It’s named for Walter Haas Jr., former president and CEO of Levi Strauss who donated $11 million toward the upgrade. 

Notable hoops alumni: Jason Kidd, Kevin Johnson, Jaylen Brown, Shareef Abdur-Rahim, Leon Powe, Lamond Murray, Tony Gonzalez (the Hall of Fame tight end played hoops at Cal in the early ‘90s). 

Current season: The Golden Bears (20-9, 8-8 ACC) are tied for eighth in the league with SMU and Florida State. Their four top scorers are all new to the program through the transfer portal, led by 6-2 junior Dai Dai Ames (16.4 ppg) from Virginia, 6-3 sophomore Justin Pippen (14.7 ppg) from Michigan, 6-8 junior John Camden (14.2 ppg) from Delaware and 6-7 senior Chris Bell (13.6 ppg) from Syracuse. They’re middle of the pack in the ACC on offense and defense and near the bottom in rebound margin. 

Reasons to believe: Limited. Twenty wins in a marquee league are notable. Respectable 6-8 record against Quad 1 and 2 opponents. Madsen has done a nice job assimilating a transfer-heavy roster. Cal is third in the conference in 3-point shooting and fourth in defending the 3. 

Reasons to fade them: Numerous. As of early March, the Bears were No. 64 in NET rankings, generally well outside the consideration zone. SMU, with whom they’re tied and recently beat head-to-head, is No. 35. Even Virginia Tech, a game back in the conference race, is No. 55. Part of the ratings discrepancy is the Bears’ dreadful non-conference strength of schedule, rated No. 328 by analytics guru Ken Pomeroy. Cal also did itself no favors last weekend with a gruesome, barely competitive loss at home to low-rated Pittsburgh. At the very least, Cal must beat Georgia Tech and Wake Forest this week to close out the regular season and find some mojo in the ACC Tournament.