COLLEGE BASKETBALL / NCAA MEN’S TOURNAMENT : California’s Dreaming Is Green Bay’s Reality : West Regional: Fifth-seeded Bears are stunned by Wisconsin school, 61-57. Cal’s two stars must now decide whether to turn pro.

OK, now you can ask if they’ll turn pro.

Cal Coach Todd Bozeman, bristling at speculation that his two stars, Jason Kidd and Lamond Murray, were about to leave, forbade questions about their futures, which proceeded to arrive sooner than he had planned.

Something called Wisconsin Green Bay stunned the West’s fifth-seeded team in the opening round of the NCAA tournament Thursday, 61-57. Unless Kidd and Murray upset expectations and stay, it will have been a brief golden era for the Bears.

If that was their farewell, Cal’s Gold Dust twins went out in a hail of bricks.

Kidd, everyone’s point guard of the ‘90s, went four for 17 with six turnovers.

“I’m taking the blame for this,” he said. “It was really my fault.”

Murray, an ace jump shooter, went six for 21.

“The minute I found out we were seeded against Wisconsin Green Bay, every person I called said the same thing,” Bozeman said.

“They said, ‘Oh man . . . ‘ “

He can say that again, and no doubt will.

The boys from the land that vowels forgot, or distributed unevenly, had UWGB on their uniforms and names such as Grzesk and Nordgaard. Their pep band wore cheese heads. Their program was 100% free of the speculation that so tortured Bozeman. The only way a Phoenix player--Wisconsin Green Bay’s nickname is the Phoenix--is ever going to get into a lottery is to go to a store and buy a ticket.

Nevertheless, UWGB is tournament hell, Coach Dick Bennett’s revenge on the more talented, playing a sticky, sagging man-to-man defense they call their “Pack-man,” inviting opponents to beat them from outside.

Boldly, the Bears took them up on it.

Of their first 10 shots, eight were three-pointers. All missed, by which time UWGB had taken a 16-2 lead.

Why did Bozeman let it continue so long?

“I didn’t want my guys afraid of Wisconsin Green Bay,” he said. “I wanted them to come out, be relaxed, play our game.

“Our guys can shoot. I didn’t want them to come out and not shoot.”

UWGB led in the second half, 47-29, but the Bears’ press began grinding the Phoenix down. However, injuries had left the Bears with seven scholarship players and Ogden is at an elevation of 4,280 feet. Cal players sucked oxygen during timeouts.

It was 57-57 when Kidd drove the right baseline, jumped in the air looking for a teammate--a fundamental mistake he often makes and overcomes--and tried to force a pass to Murray in the lane. UWGB’s Eric LeDuc, an awkward 6-foot-7 forward, intercepted it, fell and, as Cal players tried to tie him up, called time to save possession.

UWGB’s 6-6 center, Jeff Nordgaard, then made a 15-footer on the baseline with 0:33 left and it was 59-57.

Bozeman set up his last play.

“I put Jason and Lamond on the same side, the two guys who got us here,” he said. “Either they were going to take us on or we weren’t going.”

Kidd, open at 18 feet, missed. UWGB rebounded, was fouled and converted.

See you . . . wherever?

The tightly wound Bozeman, who cried when he was eliminated last year, was dry-eyed but bitter. He said he was proud of his players for weathering “the injuries, the speculation . . . the negative press . . . trying to break us up.”

Kidd was playful, insisting he was coming back--”at this point.”

Murray was noncommittal.

“Right now, it’s just a feeling, you can’t believe you lost the game,” Murray said. “Right now, it feels like it’s not over.”

Said Kidd, “I’m realistic. It’s over.”

For Openers

WEST REGIONAL

Hawaii’s fairy tale ends in the first round at the hands of fourth-seeded Syracuse, 92-78. C8

SOUTHEAST REGIONAL

Freshman center Tim Duncan grows up in a hurry to lead Wake Forest past College of Charleston, 68-58. C8

EAST REGIONAL

Connecticut gags but doesn’t choke, taking control in the second half to eliminate 15th-seeded Rider, 64-46. C8