KANSAS CITY, Mo.--Oklahoma forward Blake Griffin walked into the Sprint Center interview room.

He sat.

The sophomore, calm like a stone, addressed questions one by one. His boredom with reporters was just as evident as his hunger.

Maybe he didn't have time to hit up the media buffet. Or maybe it's just been that long since he's contextualized what an NCAA berth actually is.

A 12-time participator at the Big Dance, Cal coach Mike Montgomery certainly has, too.

"You don't want (your players) to come in with the idea that hey, this is just icing on the cake," Montgomery said. "This is the cake. This is what you play for in college basketball."

For the Bears to make it past a tough No. 10-seed in Maryland, the entire team will need to adopt its coach's mentality, which is a lot easier said then done.

As recent as a week ago, Cal didn't have "it." Against USC in the Pac-10 tourney, the Bears seemed content with already having secured a bid to the NCAAs, succumbing in the opening round to a desperate Trojans squad that eventually went on to win the title.

Cal started slow, although the team admittedly acquired a more fiery approach as the second half rolled around.

If the Bears apply a similar start, they'll find the sledding just as rough Thursday against the Terrapins, who roll into Thursday's tilt with a good bit of momentum, having knocked out North Carolina State and Wake Forest before losing to Duke by six in the ACC Tournament.

"We can't get complacent about being here," Cal point guard Jerome Randle said. "It's great being here on this stage, but we don't want to just lose a game and go home."

The Bears need to remember what got them here.

Remember the beginning of the season, when everyone wrote you off as a team that will replicate its ninth-place showing in 2008?

Now how did you end up doing six spots better?

"Well, I think it had a lot to do with pride," Randle said. "We started off with a lot of people putting us under the bus, probably saying we're going to finish eighth in our league. I think we took it a little personally and worked hard just getting here, just building our confidence a little bit."

The story remains the same this postseason.

In his bracket submitted to ESPN.com, President Barack Obama picked Maryland. The talking heads over at the Washington Post predicted that Cal won't have much of a chance against the Terps, saying so on record over video.

Homers. Or maybe it's heuristics.

Regardless, Cal-Maryland is a decently even matchup, with neither team having much of an inside game, so the Bears should feel slighted that the majority of pundits are sliding their chips over to Maryland.

"I think six-11, seven-10, and obviously eight-nine (matchups), it's pretty much somebody's judgement," Montgomery said. "They're all pretty good teams. You're going to play a team that's pretty comparable to yourself. You're going to have to play your best game."

Cal plays to its best only when its best players really, really don't feel like losing. Not that they ever do, but sometimes a team just doesn't want to lose that much more than usual.

So that's why they play the games. And it may take no longer than a handful of minutes today to recognize which Bears team comes out to play.

"We don't come here to lose," Bears guard Patrick Christopher said. "We come here to win as many games as possible, and that's the bottom line."

It's imperative, as today presents Cal with its first must-win game since arguably its win at Arizona on March 5.

The Bears haven't won since.

Tags: CAL MEN'S BASKETBALL, 2009 NCAA TOURNAMENT, MIKE MONTGOMERY