Turning the Page on the NCAA Tourney: Who Might Cal Face in the NIT?

It’s time for Cal fans to face the music and concede the Bears, despite their best season in a decade, won’t get the call they hoped for on Selection Sunday.

Coach Mark Madsen’s team, at 21-11 with a No. 68 NET computer ranking, will have to wait another year for the NCAA tournament.

So it’s time to consider who the Bears might draw in the National Invitation Tournament.

There are still lots of teams out there competing for a spot in the 68-team NCAA field. Many of those who don’t make the cut will be among the 32 chosen for the NIT. Some schools, including possibly Cal, could opt for the College Basketball Crown tournament in Las Vegas, an event in which players are paid, baaed on their team's success.

The College Basketbal Invitational (CBI) will not be held this year, the Gazelle Group announced on Thursday.

Here’s our breakdown of teams that could be matched against the Bears:

The simplest matchup: Stanford. Both the Bears and the Cardinal went to the ACC tournament hoping to do enough to get NCAA consideration. Both came up short. The Cardinal (20-12, 9-9 ACC) finished stronger than Cal, winning four in a row before a 64-63 last-second loss to Pitt. The Bears won both regular-season matchups.

Two WCC teams in play: The West Coast Conference is expected to land three teams -- Gonzaga, Saint Mary's and Santa Clara -- in the NCAAs. Pacific (18-15, 8-10) and San Francisco (17-16, 8-10) may get a look by the NIT. Oregon State, which finished fourth in the WCC and lost in the tournament semifinals, announced a couple weeks ago that long-time coach Wayne Tinkle would not be back, and on Thursday the Beavers hired Michgan assistant and former UC Santa Barbara player Justin Joyner.

The Mountain West traffic jam: Six MW teams with at least 20 victories were playing today in the conference quarterfinals, but only regular-season champ Utah State (26-6), with its No. 29 NET rankings and 11-5 record in Quad 1 and 2 games, has a realistic shot at an at-large bid. ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi has the Aggies as a No. 8 seed before their 80-60 rout of UNLV on Thursday, victory that inches them closer to the NCAAs. Others who might be considered for the NIT if they don’t win the conference title include San Diego State (20-10), New Mexico (22-9), Colorado State (21-11, with 9 wins in its past 10 games), Nevada (21-11) and Grand Canyon (20-11).

Available blue blood: Indiana ain’t what it was under Bobby Knight, but the Hoosiers (18-14, 9-11) have wins over Purdue and UCLA. Led by All-Big Ten second-team guard Lamar Wilkinson (20.9 points), Indiana went 7-0 to start the season but were 1-6 down the stretch, including a 13-point loss to Northwestern in its Big Ten tournament debut.

Maybe a football school: Texas (18-14) lost 76-66 to Ole Miss in its SEC tournament opener on Wednesday, its third straight defeat, its fifth in six games. By going 9-9 in the SEC, the Longhorns have built a sturdy NET ranking of 43.

Non-Big West champion: UC Irvine (22-10, 15-5) and Hawaii (22-8, 14-6) finished 1-2 in the Big West but neither has a top-100 NET ranking. If either fails to win the automatic bid, they become a NIT possibility. Veteran UCI coach Russ Turner led the Anteaters to a 32-7 season a year ago which, included an 85-84 overtime loss to Chattanooga in the NIT final. A Cal-Hawaii matchup would bookend the Bears’ football meeting with the Rainbow Warriors at the Hawaii Bowl in December.

Won’t be USC: The Trojans (18-14, 7-13 Big Ten) began the season 8-0 and 12-1. But coach Eric Musselman dismissed leading scorer Chad Baker-Mazara from the team two weeks ago as the Trojans were on their way to dropping their final eight games. USC is expected to turn down any postseason invite.

Shouldn’t be Missouri: Former Cal guard Dennis Gates, in his fourth season as head coach of the Tigers (20-12, 10-8), could not coax Missouri past Kentucky on Thursday in their second-round SEC tournament game. The Wildcats won 78-72, but Lunardi has the Tigers as a No. 8 seed and their resume includes wins over Florida, Vanderbilt, Tennessee and Kentucky.

Better not be Miami-Ohio: The Redhawks’ question for perfection ended after a 31-0 start Thursday with a surprising 87-83 loss to UMass in their MAC quarterfinal game. Yes, they haven’t even played in a Quad 1 game, much less win one. Their NET is 54, strength of schedule is 340th, which is abysmal. Lunardi has them among his last four teams in the field, but he has them in. And they do belong.

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