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The 2012 NCAA Tournament bracket and field has been announced, and the California Golden Bears will receive a No. 12 seed in the Midwest region. Cal's first opponent will be the South Florida Bulls, and they will play on Wednesday at 6 PM PT/9 PM ET on TruTV at Dayton. If Cal wins their first matchup, they will face No. 5 Temple on Friday in Nashville.
California earned the No. 12 after sweating out a weekend on the bubble following a semifinal loss to Colorado in the Pac-12 Tournament. The Golden Bears finished second in the Pac-12 regular season, but a loss to Colorado was costly because of Washington's quarterfinal loss on Thursday. Nevertheless, the committee felt the Bears' strong overall record and Pac-12 performance was enough to put them in the field.
Here's a look at the Midwest region of the 2012 NCAA Tournament bracket:
No. 1 North Carolina vs. No. 16 Lamar/No. 16 Vermont, Friday
No. 8 Creighton vs. No. 9 Alabama, Friday
No. 5 Temple vs. No. 12 Cal/No. 12 South Florida, Friday
No. 4 Michigan vs. No. 13 Ohio, Friday
No. 2 Kansas vs. No. 15 Detroit, Friday
No. 7 St. Mary's vs. No. 10 Purdue, Friday
No. 3 Georgetown vs. No. 14 Belmont, Friday
No. 6 San Diego State vs. No. 11 NC State, Friday
For more on the Golden Bears, visit California Golden Blogs and Pacific Takes. For more coverage of California in the 2012 NCAA Tournament, visit the SB Nation Bay Area NCAA Tournament Storystream. Click here for a link to our 2012 NCAA Bracket.