After 6 OTs in 2 games, Cal aims to maintain ‘rhythm’ vs. Stanford

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Cal is getting plenty of action late in its first season in the Atlantic Coast Conference.Now the Bears go into the second round of the ACC tournament, and there’s something familiar waiting – the Stanford Cardinal.Cal (14-18), the No. 15 seed, will meet seventh-seeded Stanford (19-12) on Wednesday night.The Bears needed two overtimes to overcome No. 10 seed Virginia Tech 82-73 in Tuesday’s first round.Combined with Saturday’s four-overtime loss at Notre Dame in the regular-season finale, that’s a lot of basketball in a short period of time.”That’s six overtimes in the last two games, and our guys, they just never stopped fighting,” Cal coach Mark Madsen said.There could be a benefit for the Bears — at least that’s the way Madsen is framing it.”Our guys are in rhythm. They might be a little tired, but our guys are in basketball rhythm,” he said. “So we’re in a great place to continue to make every effort to have great momentum going forward.”The Bears have a challenge in front of them. Stanford swept Cal in two games during the regular season, by scores of 89-81 in December and 66-61 in February.Stanford’s Maxime Raynaud is an All-ACC first-team selection with averages of 20.1 points and 10.9 rebounds per game. His 23 double-doubles lead the country.

Playlist