What this blogger hates about NCAA Selection Sunday is what this blogger likes about it: that when your team’s in, it’s a great God-sent day, and when your team’s out, you wish you’d gone to Church to pray for it to get in.
On this Sunday, the expectation was that all three mighty Pac-12 teams would find their way into the NCAA Tournament. Colorado was the Pac-12 Tournament winner. Washington was the Pac-12 Champion. Cal has the best record in the Pac-12, and the highest RPI ranking.
But, when all of the so-called wise-heads got together, only one of the three Pac-12 teams was selected, and that was the one that sealed an automatic bid: Colorado. Shockingly, Cal is sorta-in and Washington is out of it.
So it’s a cheer of hurray! Whaa?! for our sturdy Golden Bear as it marches out of its lair and on to play the University Of South Florida (USF) in what is called a “play-in” game. In other words, the team who wins the contest is in the NCAA and gets a right to play Temple.
If you think about it, that places Temple at a disadvantage, because The Owls really don’t know who they have to play, Cal or USF, and do not have enough time to practice specifically for that team. Cal plays USF on Wednesday, then plays Temple on Friday.
Of course, Cal and USF have to play each other first, then the winner has only one full day of practice for Temple. So, one could say it’s really an even affair for all teams.
Lukewarm Twitter Reaction To Cal News
The Twitter reaction to the Cal NCAA Selection Sunday news was lukewarm. Here’s a sample of the tweets:
Gil Keith-Agaran @GilKAOGG
@ScottReissCSN #Calbears play-in game suggests Golden Bears one of last to make it in- not such a lock after semi-final loss in conf tourneyJoshua Rodriguez @sayjayrod
Just looked at #NCAA bracket—looks like #CalBears go up against #SouthFlorida this Wed. If #Cal win, they got a difficult #Temple team next.Ryan Fritzberg @Ryan_polarbear
@JCobbs1 yessir! All you guys needed was a chance to get in, you got it, now go and shock the world! #CalBears #marchmadness
GO BEARS!
In case you’re wondering why the homerisms for Cal, this blogger’s a Cal Grad (MCP ’87), who sat on the Cal Alumni Association’s Board of Directors from 1998 to 2001, then the Awards’ Committee from 2001 to 2003.