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Cal basketball schedule released; Bears to host two tournaments
The Cal men’s basketball 2001-2002 schedule was released on Friday, highlighted by the Bears hosting two tournaments at Haas Pavilion.
Ben Braun’s squad will open the year by hosting the Black Coaches Association Classic on Nov. 15-16. The first round games pit the Bears against Princeton and St. Joseph’s against Eastern Washington.
Cal will stay at home through November, as Santa Clara and New Mexico will both pay a visit to Berkeley. The Bears’ first road game will be against South Florida on Dec. 1. Other non-conference foes include Fresno State, which knocked Cal out of the NCAA Tournament in March, St. Louis and Mount St. Mary’s.
The ninth annual Golden Bear Classic will be held Dec. 28-29, with Cal taking on Harvard in the first round. The other first-round game will be Penn State against Coppin State.
Due to the reinstatement of the Pac-10 Conference Tournament at the end of the regular season, the Bears’ two conference matchups with archrival Stanford will be back-to-back, kicking off the league season for both teams. The Cardinal will host the first game on Jan. 4, with the return date at Haas Pavilion slated for Jan. 6.
The Pac-10 Tournament will take place March 7-9 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Tickets for the 2001-02 will go on sale in the fall. Fans can either click on the tickets icon at www.calbears.com or call 1-800-GO-BEARS.
The Bears will have to cope with the loss of senior star and leader Sean Lampley next season, as well as the exit of center Nick Vander Laan, who transferred out of the program. But Braun has brought in one of the best-regarded recruiting classes in the nation for 2001, with center Jamal Sampson, forward Erik Bond and wingman Julian Sensley all considered blue-chip athletes.
