You could call it a drought.

The No. 10 Cal women's basketball program hasn't won at the NCAA Tournament since the start of Bill Clinton's tenure in the Oval Office-its last victory came in the first round against Kansas on March 17, 1993.

Beavis and Butt-Head had just debuted on MTV, Janet Reno had just been sworn in as the first female Attorney General of the United States and it was a mere five days before Intel introduced the first Pentium processor.

But turn and face the strange, as changes could be under way. The three-seed Bears appear mighty capable of reversing the program's luck in the postseason, beginning tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. against No. 14-seeded San Diego at Maples Pavilion in Stanford, Calif.

"We left (the regular season and the Pac-10 tournament) with a losing streak," guard Alexis Gray-Lawson said. "In the regular season we lost to Washington, and we just lost to Stanford. So, we'd rather, if we're gonna go out, we're gonna go out in style, and we're gonna, you know, win. That's what we plan on doing."

Though the school's rough stretch in the past decade and a half is hardly reflected in today's lineup, Cal (26-6) has plenty of recent history to revisit for motivation. All of the starting five but guards Natasha Vital and Lauren Greif have twice tasted defeat in the opening round of the Big Dance.

In 2006, then-first-year coach Joanne Boyle led the Bears to an NCAA appearance as a No. 10-seed. Cal conceded a 16-point lead deep in the second half and wound up with a 78-68 loss despite the efforts of then-freshmen Ashley Walker (21 points), Devanei Hampton (16) and Gray-Lawson (17).

The Bears returned to the Tourney in 2007, but fell to their knees once again in the first round against Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish raced out to a 14-4 run following tipoff and escaped with a 62-59 win despite some clutch shooting by Greif, who sank three straight at the stripe in the final seven seconds.

"I think the experience from being in the tournament the last two years and understanding you're only guaranteed 40 minutes of basketball and you have to make most of it to advance, staying healthy and staying in routine, it just helps you move forward," Boyle said.

Having won 10 of their last 12 games, the Toreros (19-12) mainly feature a seven-man look-like the Bears-and are fronted by 6-foot-5 center Amber Sprague.

The redshirt junior has been a stat-sheet stuffer, averaging 15.5 points, 8.8 rebounds, 2.4 blocks and 1.4 steals.

Still, the team boasts balance above anything else, with four starters scoring in double-digits and forward Morgan Henderson-arguably the team's only real three-point threat-posting 9.5 points a night.

Despite the statistics, however, San Diego-which punched its trip to the Big Dance by winning the West Coast Conference tournament on its home court-was mostly an unknown at the time Cal discovered them as its first-round opponent.

"They're in the WCC, I have a friend on the team and that's about all (I know)," Greif said at Monday's selection show.

Since then, the Bears have had a good five days to scheme against another squad that is arguably its own school's historical best.

If it does advance, Cal will have just a day or two to look ahead to the next opponent, which will be determined by the same-day 11 a.m. showdown between George Washington (25-6) and Auburn (20-11) at Maples Pavilion.

Tags: NCAA TOURNAMENT