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Cal held off Washington and earned a rematch against UCLA.

Key Shot

By Andy Katz
ESPN.com

LOS ANGELES -- Cal is going to the NCAA tournament only if the Bears win the Pac-10 tournament this week. But playing regular-season champ and top-seeded UCLA on Thursday in the quarterfinals isn't about a much-needed win for a bubble team.

Nope, this is nothing more than the Golden Bears' shot to take down UCLA after feeling that a win was taken from them on Saturday.

"We've got nothing to lose," said Cal super sophomore Ryan Anderson. "We've got to get to the championship game for a chance at a bid. We're ready to go for this one."

At issue were two non-calls. Anderson said he was fouled in the final seconds but no call was made as the ball went out of bounds off him. Then, UCLA's Josh Shipp hit a game-winning bucket that went over the corner of the backboard, which could have been interpreted as a violation of the rule that prevents shots from going over any portion of the backboard.

But, later Saturday night, the Pac-10 released the bracket for this week's tournament. And the Bears realized they could get another shot at UCLA, the regular-season champs.

Cal practiced at 6:30 a.m. Monday, and Anderson said the Bears were as ready for an opponent as they have been all season.

"I felt bad because we deserved to win," said Cal coach Ben Braun, although he admitted that the Bears did missed a few offensive rebounds that could have made the difference in that UCLA loss.

Still, to set up Thursday's rematch, Cal had to beat Washington first, which the Bears did with an 84-81 victory Wednesday night in a No. 8 vs. No. 9 matchup (Cal is No. 9).

Braun said the Bears were suffering through a hangover from the UCLA game in the first half Wednesday, slumbering along to a two-point deficit to the Huskies, who were playing without their leading scorer and star forward Jon Brockman (injured left foot).

Cal woke up in the second half, and Anderson's 3-pointer with 41 seconds left gave the Bears an 82-78 cushion. Cal senior center DeVon Hardin was available against Washington (eight rebounds and seven points) and will have him against UCLA after he missed Saturday's game against the Bruins with a hip flexor.

The Bears beat UCLA last year in the Pac-10 quarterfinals. So history is on their side. But now there is revenge, too.

"We know we can go out and compete with those guys," Cal sophomore point guard Jerome Randle said. "It's a blessing to play those guys again. We were shooting for UCLA. A lot of people were putting us down and saying we can't win this tournament. But we have faith that we can do it."

Atlantic 10

By Heather Dinich
ESPN.com

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Rhode Island, a team that was once ranked No. 22 in the country and seemed destined to dance in March for the first time since 1999, is now officially going nowhere.

Within a four-day span, the Rams ended their season with back-to-back losses to Charlotte, the latter being both more dramatic and final.

With 0.3 seconds left in Wednesday's game, reserve guard Michael Gerrity made both of his free throws for Charlotte's first lead of the game and a 75-73 win in the first round of the Atlantic 10 tournament. Charlotte (19-12) remains unbeaten in March and will try to keep it that way when it faces No. 3-seeded Massachusetts at 9 p.m. Thursday.

"I didn't want to lose, and I felt the whole game I got pretty good shots," said senior guard Leemire Goldwire, whose consecutive 3-pointers closed the gap to 72-71 with 1:12 remaining. "It just so happened the last three shots, they were really good looks and I capitalized on them."

And Charlotte coach Bobby Lutz capitalized on the moment to make public his unhappiness with Goldwire's spot on the conference's third team. It's not the first complaint, as a few days earlier, Xavier senior Stanley Burrell called the league "pathetic" for not voting any of the first-place Musketeers to the first team. (Remember, it's the coaches who vote, not the media).

"I'm not going to lie to you," Lutz said. "[Goldwire]'s better than that. There are other good players in this league, but he's better than third team all-league, and he showed it today, just like he's shown it his whole career."

Goldwire finished with a team-high 23 points, six assists and four rebounds against Rhode Island. He might not have made the first team, but at least he and the 49ers are still playing.

That's embarrassing

By Dana O'Neil
ESPN.com

NEW YORK -- Told that Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese vowed to take action for what he termed "embarrassing" behavior at the conclusion of the regular-season game between Rutgers and Seton Hall, Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez went Sergeant Schultz straight out of "Hogan's Heroes."

"I know nothing about it," said Gonzalez on Wednesday, though he lacked the German accent belonging to Colonel Klink's blind-eye turning assistant.

He may soon.

On Sunday, Gonzalez lambasted the officiating crew and raced onto the court following Rutgers' 64-61 win over the Pirates, convinced that J.R. Inman's winning 3-pointer needed to be rechecked.

Gonzalez also complained after he received a technical foul, arguing that Rutgers coach Fred Hill deserved one as well for leaving the coaching box. That little exchange led to a fairly ugly verbal spat between the two rival coaches.

Tranghese on Tuesday said that the Big East Conference would announce what action would be taken in the next two weeks.

"It's embarrassing for the conference; it's embarrassing for the schools," the commissioner said. "It's not going to happen again."

But after his team was eliminated from the Big East tournament by Marquette on Wednesday night, Gonzalez insisted no one had contacted him regarding any form of punishment and he did not know about Tranghese's remarks.

"We played Marquette tonight; regular season is over," Gonzalez said. "We came here to be in the Big East tournament, so I'm not sure what you're referring to."

After several reporters tried to relay Tranghese's comments to him, Gonzalez reaffirmed his ignorance on the subject.

"I don't know anything about it," he said. "I have nothing to say. No comment."