ANAHEIM, CALIF. >> When the pairing was revealed, a wide grin spread over the face of Hawaii assistant John Montgomery.

In that, he was far from unique among the Rainbow Warriors coaches and players. A roar went up among the Big West champions when UH was introduced as an NCAA Tournament 13 seed playing fourth-seeded California in the first round on Friday in Spokane, Wash.

But there was special meaning behind the smiles and claps of Montgomery, who spent several years on staff with the Golden Bears, and worked in Berkeley as recently as two seasons ago.

“I have a lot of people close to Cal. You know, I spent six years there (three as a full assistant) so it means a lot to me,” said Montgomery, who left when his father, Mike, retired as head coach. “Those guys are really good kids. So, just seeing those guys, and more and more texts from everybody saying congratulations and good luck, it’s cool. But once you get over that, it’s down to business and they’re just like any other team. We gotta do our best to prepare for them and I want to beat them.”

In what seemed like just a few delirious hours after its 64-60 win over Long Beach State in the Big West title game Saturday night at the Honda Center, UH (27-5) was back across the street at JT Schmid’s restaurant, watching CBS’ selection show on a big screen with friends and family.

The sleep-deprived ’Bows reacted with optimism — both that they can pull off the first NCAA win in the program’s fifth all-time appearance, and also for some fan support at the reasonably close 14,000-seat Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena. Spokane was the westernmost of eight first-round sites.

“Unbelievable. The emotions, it’s all surreal,” forward Stefan Jankovic said of the school’s first NCAA appearance in 14 years. “I repeated it probably 100 times yesterday to Niko (Filipovich) and Big Stef (Jovanovic), guys, we’re Big West champs. Hey, we’re going to the tournament. Now we find out we’re playing Cal. It’s all coming together and it’s not done now.”

Now begins several days of scout preparation, more time than is usually available for breaking down a single opponent. UH’s coaches will pore over film, scouring for concealed weaknesses.

The same goes for Cal (23-10), the Pac-12’s third-place outfit. The teams have met 13 times — the Bears taking 12 — but more than half took place in the 1950s. The last meeting was in 2006, a 16-point Cal win in the Great Alaska Shootout.

“I’ve watched them here and there during the season,” Bears coach Cuonzo Martin told Cal athletics media of Hawaii. “I know they won their conference tournament. Very talented team. I know their big guy (Jankovic) is probably their best player. He was at Missouri when I was at Tennessee. He’s 6-11, can put the ball on the floor, can make shots from the perimeter, so I know he’s very talented but I can’t tell you about each individual guy.”

Cal is considered one of the most talented squads in the 68-team field. The Golden Bears boast two freshmen McDonald’s All-Americans — Jaylen Brown and Ivan Rabb — and are balanced by several impactful upperclassmen to comprise a strong five-man nucleus.

“During the course of the season, you spend so much time watching yourselves and watching the teams you play,” UH head coach Eran Ganot said. “When you get a chance, you see most of the West Coast schools and the national schools. Obviously Cal’s both. The Pac-12 has been terrific this year. Cuonzo Martin’s always done a great job. They’re very talented and they’re very well balanced.”

The Pac-12 was considered one of the strongest Division I conferences this season. It tied for the most NCAA bids awarded, with seven. The NCAA rates Cal’s schedule 33rd-toughest, with 14 wins over top-100 RPI teams. That’s compared to a schedule strength of 268 for UH and seven top-100 victories.

Cal, ranked No. 24 in the latest Associated Press poll, reached its conference semifinals, where it lost in overtime to Utah.

“I’ve seen them a little bit,” said point guard Roderick Bobbitt, who grew up south of the Berkeley campus, in Oakland. “They’re pretty good. They got some real good guys. I feel like we match up well with them.”

Sai Tummala, UH’s graduate transfer from Pac-12 school Arizona State, remembers the Bears well. They now boast the Pac-12’s best defense in scoring (67.0) and field-goal percentage allowed (39.3).

“They’re really talented. Different team than when we played them last year, but they still got some of the guys there,” Tummala said. “They’re a good team, they play hard, they play up and down, they play fast. We gotta be ready to go.”

After the selection show, UH spent the rest of Sunday recovering from the three-games-in-three-days league tournament. It plans to travel north to eastern Washington on Tuesday night.

UH’s athletic department plans to announce ticket availability for fans at hawaiiathletics.com.

Athletic director David Matlin is optimistic for a strong turnout of both mainland transplants and Hawaii travelers, a la UH’s couple thousand fans at the BWC title game.

“I’m already getting text messages of people trying to figure out the tickets, and we’re trying to figure out how many we get access to,” Matlin said. “Hawaii represents well. There’s a lot of people in the Washington area, the Seattle area. They can get over there. I think a lot of people will come from Hawaii, too.”