Oski the Bear was pleasantly surprised with Cal getting payback on UNLV. Photo Credit: Bob Stanton-USA TODAY Sports

Thursday’s PAC-12 results from day one –

Midwest Region: HP Pavilion/San Jose, California
12 Oregon Ducks (27-8) 68 v. 5 Oklahoma State Cowboys (24-9/Big XII) 55

Recap – The “underseeded” Ducks controlled the action all game, keeping the ‘Pokes playing from behind for 40 minutes. Damyean Dotson led Oregon with 17 points while Arsalan Kazemi had 11 points, grabbed 17 points with two assists. Dana Altman got another win as a 12 seed after leading 12 Creighton to an OT win over 5 Florida in 2002. Next up for Oregon is Saint Louis on Saturday.

West Region: EnergySolutions Arena/Salt Lake City, Utah
11 Belmont Bruins (26-7/Ohio Valley) 64 v. 6 Arizona Wildcats (26-7) 81

Recap – Arizona built a 12-point lead at half against Belmont and held on in the second half outscoring the Bruins 49-44. Mark Lyons provided a team high 23 points with three other Wildcat starters scoring 12 points.  Next up for Arizona will be Harvard on Saturday.

East Region: HP Pavilion/San Jose, California
12 California Golden Bears (21-11) 64 v. 5 UNLV Running Rebels (25-10/MWC) 61

Recap – Life’s all about second chances and the Bears took advantage of suck opportunity. Earlier in the season Mike Montgomery’s team lost by a point to UNLV at Haas Pavilion but flipped the script in front of a most “pro-Bears” crowd in San Jose. Allen Crabbe scored 19, grabbed nine rebounds and had four assists, Justin Cobbs provided 13 points in the win. Next up for Cal is Syracuse on Saturday.

Friday’s NCAA games involving PAC-12 teams –

East Region: Frank Erwin Center/Austin, Texas/Gametime Friday March 22 at 1:40 pm on TNT
10 Colorado Buffaloes (21-11) v. 7 Illinois Fighting Illini (22-12/B1G)

South Region: Frank Erwin Center/Austin, Texas/Gametime Friday March 22 at 6:57 pm on TruTV
11 Minnesota Golden Gophers (20-12/B1G) v. 6 UCLA Bruins (25-9)

Oregon Ducks This Week:

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Feb, 21, 2013; Eugene, OR, USA; California Golden Bears guard Justin Cobbs (1) shoots and make the final shot against the Oregon Ducks 48-46 California Golden Bears at Matthew Knight Arena. Mandatory Credit: Scott Olmos-USA TODAY Sports

Dana Altman’s team was unable to finish off the Bears as Cal Junior Justin Cobbs hit the game winning shot with just under a second to go for the 48-46 victory as Altman’s was going for his 600th win his coaching career in his 100th game as Oregon head coach. He has yet to beat the Cal Bears with the Ducks who now have won 11 in a row.

“That’s really a disappointing loss. The guys played awfully hard, but you got to hit some shots. We had     some open looks and didn’t knock them down.”  Head Coach Dana Altman on the game

Three point shooting wasn’t either teams strong suit Thursday night. The long shots were not falling for either team. Both teams combined were 3-21 from beyond the line and Oregon only had two. The Ducks did take a 26-21 lead into halftime led by Arsalan Kazemi with a monster jam just before the break.

Oregon shot a season low 26.7 percent for the game, (16-58). The Ducks made 12-20 free throws.

One of the brighter spots on the night was Arsalan Kazemi, with 11 points and a season high 18 rebounds. Junior Johnathan Loyd, in for the injured Dominic Artis, had a career high 5 steals.

Pac 12 Player of the Week and the Conference’s leading scorer Allen Crabbe had 12 points on 5-12 shooting.

“Just the whole game I felt like I had a lot of mental lapses and I owed it to my team. I’ve been working on my jump shot a lot and I knew if I got the ball in the right spot I’d be able to knock it down.” Cal Junior Justin Cobbs on the game winning shot

Oregon(21-6, 10-4 Pac 12) is now tied with Arizona(22-4, 10-4 Pac 12) at the top of the Pac 12 Standings.

The Ducks look to bounce back and split this homestand with the Stanford Cardinal(16-11, 7-7) on Saturday night(5pm, Pac 12 Network).

Oregon Ducks This Week:

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Despite not making it to the conference tournament finals after finishing third in the Pac-12, the Golden Bears still were selected into the NCAA Tournament as a #12 seed. However, they had to play #12 seed South Florida in the first round of a tournament. California lost to South Florida 65-54.

Two players that will not be playing with Cal this season are Jose Gutierrez and Harper Kamp. Gutierrez averaged 13.0 points per game, 5.3 rebounds per game, and 4.1 assists per game while Harper averaged 11.6 points per game and 5.2 rebounds per game last season.

Nov 6, 2012; Berkeley, CA, USA; California Golden Bears guard Allen Crabbe (23) pushes the ball up the floor during the second half against the San Francisco State Gators at Haas Pavilion. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-US PRESSWIRE

However, two returning players that will be key this season are Allen Crabbe and Justin Cobbs. Crabbe was selected to the first team All-Pac-12 and the second team NABC All-District IX. Last season, he averaged 15.2 points per game (led team), 5.7 rebounds per game, and 2.1 assists per game.

Cobbs was a Pac-12 honorable mention selection last year. He earned starting role in eighth game of season. He also led the team in assists and was ranked third in the Pac-12 in assists with 5.0 assists per game. He also averaged 12.6 points per game.

This season the California Golden Bears were selected third in the Pac-12 Preseason Polls. Technically, they finished third last year even though they had the same record as second place Oregon( Ducks held the tie breaker). Cal has advanced to the postseason all four seasons under head coach Mike Montgomery and reached the NCAA Tournament last season for the third time in the past four years.

This should be another successful season for the California Golden Bears. The main reason for this is going to be because of the attitude in which the team is going to possess this season. This year the team unveiled its slogan for the season which is “Berkeley.Represent.”

The slogan reaches back into the team’s history and culture, but also shows a sense of unity. This Cal team is going to be playing with an entire city on their back. Because of that, the team will show a little more pride in their games. They will finish in the Top 3 at the end of the regular season and should make the NCAA Tournament again.

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