Mike Montgomery probably didn't mean to interject, but he couldn't seem to contain his amazement.

"Holy socks!" Montgomery exclaimed as he entered Tuesday's press conference, interrupting point guard Jerome Randle. "There's a lot of folks in here."

The coach of the Cal men's basketball team was right. The media room at Haas Pavilion was about as packed as it's been all season, filled with reporters and video equipment. The weekly conference that usually has about a half-dozen attendees drew a crowd of almost 20 on this particular day.

It was a sign that the postseason has arrived.

The Bears (21-9, 13-5 in the Pac-10), who earned the top seed in the Pac-10 Tournament, clinched at least a share of the league crown by defeating Arizona State on Feb. 27 and won it outright with a 71-61 victory against Stanford on Saturday at Maples Pavilion. They play Thursday afternoon at Staples Center in Los Angeles against the winner of Wednesday night's play-in game between eighth-seeded Oregon and ninth-seeded Washington State.

Cal finished the regular season on a four-game winning streak, its first of the 2009-10 campaign, and will almost positively get a bid to the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year. It lost to Maryland in the first round of March Madness last season.

"I like going in with this group," Montgomery said. "At this stage of the game, they've proven that they've figured out how to win some games. We don't have the depth we'd like -- the injury thing has taken its toll on us -- but we can be pretty tough to beat."

Weak in the Knees

Patrick Christopher scored a team-high 23 points in the Bears' regular-season finale against Stanford, including a three-point dagger with 1:42 left in the game, but he didn't do it pain-free.

The senior shooting guard, who was named to the all-conference first team on Monday, has been battling tendonitis in his knees for several weeks.

"It takes a little bit longer to warm up," Christopher said. "Some days they feel better than others. I'm constantly getting treatment, but it could be a lot worse.

"It's not like anything where I need surgery. There's just constant pain in one area. I try to do the drills that I can without pain."

Christopher averages 16.0 points per game, scoring at least 10 points in each of the last 11 games. He grabs 5.5 rebounds per game and leads the team in steals with 51 this season.

Injury Update

Sophomore center Max Zhang, who suffered a collapsed lung in practice on Feb. 22, was on the court for contact drills on Monday.

"He should be available this weekend," Montgomery said.

Backup guard Jorge Gutierrez did not practice Monday after spraining an ankle during the second half of Saturday's game against Stanford. He and Markhuri Sanders-Frison (back) are considered day-to-day.

Quick Hits

-- Randle is primed to break the program's career scoring record, needing 33 points to pass Sean Lampley on the all-time charts. The two Chicago natives have discussed the possibility of Randle surpassing Lampley's total of 1,776 points.

"This past summer, when we were working out, he said he didn't think I would break his record," Randle said. I'm pretty sure he's a little frightened by it. It will happen. I don't know when, but it will happen.

"He said one time, 'That's all I have. You're gonna come in here and take it away from me?' I'm like, 'Hey, it wasn't gonna last forever.'"

-- Randle received a text message from former Cal coach Ben Braun on Monday after he was named Pac-10 Player of the Year. Randle played under Braun -- the current coach at Rice -- for two seasons before Montgomery officially replaced him on April 5, 2008.

"He's been reaching out the whole year," Randle said. "He doesn't have to do that. He still takes the time to check on his guys, because we are his guys."

Tags: CAL MEN'S BASKETBALL, JEROME RANDLE, PAC-10 TOURNAMENT, MIKE MONTGOMERY