Cal's Game at Syracuse Begins Sprint to ACC Finish Line

The sprint to the finish line is about to begin for the Cal basketball team, which faces Syracuse on the road for the first time ever today (Wednesday). Tipoff is 4 p.m. on ESPNU.

The Bears (17-7, 5-6 ACC) have just seven regular-season games left before the start of the ACC tournament, March 10-14 at Charlotte, NC. NCAA Selection Sunday is just 32 days away.

Cal sits on the NCAA tournament bubble, at No. 57 in the NET rankings and can do itself significant good with wins at Syracuse (13-11, 4-7) and Saturday at Boston College (9-14, 2-8).

The Bears are tied with Virginia Tech (16-8, 5-6) for ninth in the 18-team ACC standings, one game behind SMU (17-7, 6-5), the only team remaining on the Bears’ schedule with a winning conference record. The Mustangs will visit Cal on Feb. 25.

In fact, the seven teams Cal will play prior to the ACC tournament have a combined conference win-loss record of 22-53.

ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi, who slotted the Bears as his third team out of the bracket, called Cal’s upcoming schedule “get-able.” He is impressed by the Bears’ body of work, which includes wins over UCLA, North Carolina and Miami, and without a defeat to team with a NET ranking above 95.

“They have wins. I think they’re over-achieving,” said Lunardi, who credits coach Mark Madsen with having done a good job. “I think it’s force of will on his part.”

Besides the Bears’ pursuit of their first NCAA bid in 10 years, they are jockeying for a favorable spot in the ACC tournament. The top nine finishers in the regular season earn a first-round bye advancing to the second round on March 11.

LEE DORT REMAINS OUT: Although Madsen said Monday that Lee Dort was making progress, the senior center will miss his fifth consecutive game due to injury. Dort averages 7.7 rebounds, ninth-best in the ACC, and contributes 8.3 points per game.

Guard Nolan Dorsey is listed on the ACC availability report as probable and forward Sammy Yeanay, a transfer from Grand Canyon who hasn’t played this season while rehabbing a year-old injury, is rated as questionable.

BLUE & GOLD VS. ORANGE HISTORY: The Bears are 1-4 all-time vs. the Orange, but never have played them on the Syracuse campus. Syracuse has averaged 16,921 fans for its 14 games this season at the JMA Wireless Dome.

Cal fans will remember the facility when it was called the Carrier Dome. The Bears played there at the 1997 Sweet 16, a 63-57 loss to North Carolina in front of a crowd of 30,617 — the largest ever to watch a Cal basketball game.

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