Cal WBB at Oregon: Preview & Gamethread

When: 6:00
TV: None
Stream: Pac-12.com

Warning: you're getting Stanford/Oregon State on your TV, which means you will be stuck listening to Oregon's broadcast with Terry Jonz on the call.

The Bears begin their final week of regular season play in Oregon, against an up and down Duck team. And no more does up-and-down describe Oregon stylistically. Kelly Graves has slowed Oregon down from breakneck to perhaps just a bit faster than average. No, Oregon's season has been up and down. It started ugly, with a 2-3 start that included losses to American and Central Michigan. It got better, with a 5-1 run to end non-con play, then much worse when the Ducks started Pac-12 play 1-7.

Oregon responded with a 4-1 stretch with an upset win over Wazzu and a sweep of the LA schools, but they have lost three straight since then and seem likely to finish conference play with a 5 game losing streak with the Bay Area schools looming.

I don't have the time for a proper preview, but Oregon is obviously all about Jillian Alleyne, still averaging an absurd 17 points and 15 rebounds in relative obscurity. It will be interesting if she will finally be on a winning team next year as a senior.

Alleyne gets her points and rebounds win or lose, so the key to stopping Oregon is to stop everybody else. That means Junior Lexi Petersen and freshman Lexi Bando, amongst others. Oregon will usually play 8 or 9 deep.

This is a must win for Cal if the Bears want to host NCAA tournament games, and a win would set up a fun game against the Beavers this weekend. Go Bears!