Sunday and the several days proceeding it were not good for Cal, not just because of the disappointing loss, with ramifications in the NET, ACC seeding, and potential NCAA tournament, but because some of the teams that Cal lost to also dropped in the NET. The away loss to Stanford dropped from Quad 1 to Quad 2 as Stanford went down to 46 (45 is the cutoff); Missouri, in the midst of a horrible stretch, went down from 69 to 86 in about 2 weeks, meaning that the Quad 2 loss is now Quad 3; and Harvard continues to drift away from having that win move up to Quad 2. Thank goodness Notre Dame is hanging in at #25, the cutoff for Quad 1 home wins.
Sure do wish that Taylor would be back for Clemson, but the coach's projection was 3/1 at the earliest.
If Cal can sweep Clemson and SMU, and Stanford do the same, it would put Cal and Clemson both at 10-8, giving Cal the tiebreaker. And if Notre Dame can lose at home to Syracuse and away at Louisville (both are good possibilities), ND would also end at 10-8, and again Cal would have the tiebreaker. So, if all these wishes come true, Cal would finish 8th, have a 1st round ACC bye, then play Clemson again as a 2nd round match up.
