The most crucial matchup for Bay Area college basketball fans will be taking place this evening at 6 PM PT when the California Golden Bears get their rematch with the hated Stanford Cardinal. Cal was very close to winning a Pac-12 championship, but they came out playing frantically against Stanford on Sunday and came up short in that crucial contest.
Cal now moves from trying to win the Pac-12 to entering must-win territory. The Bears are not certain of their tournament status right now, and a third straight loss would cause all sorts of problems. Cal will have to try and contain a Stanford squad that played pretty solid basketball to overwhelm the Bears this past Sunday, and you can expect a similar performance needed to win on Thursday.
Cal or Stanford will face the Colorado or Oregon winner.
Here's the bracket information, tip-off times and TV schedules below. All times are Pacific.
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Quarterfinals: Thursday, March 8
12 p.m.: No. 1 Washington Huskies vs. No. 9 Oregon St. Beavers (Fox Sports Net)
2:30 p.m.: No. 4 Arizona Wildcats vs. No. 5 UCLA Bruins (Fox Sports Net)
6 p.m.: No. 2 Cal vs. No. 7 Stanford (Fox Sports Net)
8:30 p.m.: No. 3 Oregon Ducks vs. No. 6 Colorado Buffaloes (Fox Sports Net)
Semifinals: Friday, March 9
6 p.m. - Semifinal #1: Washington-Oregon State winner vs. Arizona-UCLA winner (Fox Sports Net)
8:30 p.m. - Semifinal #2: Cal-Stanford winner vs. Oregon-Colorado winner (Fox Sports Net)
Championship: Saturday, March 10
3 p.m. - Championship Game (CBS)
Here is the original bracket in PDF form.
To discuss the tournament and the game with Cal basketball fans, head to the California Golden Blogs. To talk about the proceedings with Stanford basketball fans, go to Rule of Tree. To discuss the Pac-12 tournament, hit up Pacific Takes.