Cal Looks Like a No. 7 or 8 Seed in Women's NCAA Tournament

Cal heads into this week’s ACC women’s basketball tournament in Greensboro, North Carolina, with a berth in the NCAA tournament virtually locked up. The Bears’ mission now is to win a few games in the conference tournament to improve their seeding.

The Golden Bears (24-7, 12-6 ACC) are one of eight or nine ACC teams that seem headed for the NCAA tournament, and Cal looks like it would be a No. 7 or 8 seed if the 68-team field were selected today.

ESPN’s latest Bracketology by Charlie Crème, which was posted on Monday, has Cal as a No. 8 seed, the same seeding given to the Golden Bears at the Her Hoop Stats website, also posted Monday.

The Athletic’s NCAA tournament projections posted on Friday has Cal pegged as a No. 7 seed and that was before the Bears defeated Miami 82-63 on Sunday. Beating the Hurricanes probably didn’t boost the Bears’ seeding, because Miami is just 14-15 with a NET ranking of 85.

Cal’s NET ranking is 38 as of March 3, and the Bears can improve that and its NCAA tournament seeding with a strong showing this week.

As the No. 7 seed in the ACC tournament, Cal has a first-round bye and would play its first game on Thursday against the winner of Wednesday's first-round game between No. 10 seed Virginia (16-14, 8-10 ACC) and No. 15 seed Pitt (13-18, 5-13 ACC). Cal beat both those teams during the regular season, knocking off Virginia 76-70 in Charlottesville, Virginia, on February 20, and defeating Pitt 84-53 in Berkeley on February 2.

If Cal gets past that opening game, it would face second-seeded Norte Dame in the quarterfinals. on Friday The Irish, who are ranked sixth in this week’s AP poll, are still in the running for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, but they lost two of their final three regular-season games. Notre Dame beat Cal by 39 points (91-52) when the teams met in South Bend, Indiana, on February 9, so the Bears would need to be much better this time to have a chance.

Cal is unranked in this week's AP top-25 and beating Notre Dame might improve the Bears’ NCAA tournament seeding, although a loss to the Irish probably would not hurt Cal.

Cal might have preferred to be the No. 8 seed, because the Bears’ quarterfinal opponent would have been top-seeded North Carolina State, a team Cal beat 78-71 back on January 9 in Berkeley.

Here’s a look at how three sites project the seeding of ACC teams in the NCAA tournament:

ESPN (Charlie Crème, posted March 3)

ACC teams in -- 8

Notre Dame – No. 2 seed

North Carolina State – No. 2 seed

Duke – No. 3 seed

North Carolina – No. 4 seed

Florida State – No. 6 seed

Louisville – No. 7 seed

Cal – No. 8 seed

Georgia Tech – No. 9 seed

Virginia Tech – First Four Out

Her Hoop Stats (Megan Gauder, posted March 3)

ACC Teams In – 9

Notre Dame – No. 2 seed

North Carolina State – No. 2 seed

Duke – No. 3 seed

North Carolina – No. 4 seed

Florida State – No. 6 seed

Louisville – No. 7 seed

Cal – No. 8 seed

Georgia Tech – No. 9 seed

Virginia Tech – No. 11 seed

The Athletic (Mark Schindler, posted February 28)

ACC Teams In – 9

Notre Dame – No. 2 seed

North Carolina State – No. 2 seed

Duke – No. 3 seed

North Carolina – No. 3 seed

Florida State – No. 6 seed

Cal – No. 7 seed

Louisville – No. 8 seed

Georgia Tech – No. 8 seed

Virginia Tech – No. 11 seed.