Before you read about Ohio St., enjoy watching highlights of Cal's impressive win over Santa Clara. You can also watch highlights of Cal's win over St. Marys here.

You'll notice an extra 'P' in the title this week. Usually my article each week on women's basketball focuses on what happened in Cal's most recent games. But last week Cal beat two teams that they were supposed to beat. They were solid performances (particularly the defensive effort against Santa Clara), but the biggest news this week is that the Bears will be taking on undefeated, #12/14 in the nation Ohio St. in a marquee non-conference match-up. So we're going to shake things up a little bit and talk about next week instead of last week.

I don't want to overstate the importance of this one game, but a victory would mean a great deal to Cal. Waaaay back when the schedule was released I said that getting two wins out of the four games against Rutgers, Texas, Virginia and Ohio St. would be a pretty solid result. As it stands the Bears are 1-2 against their toughest non-conference opponents, all of which appear to be equally good, if not better, than anticipated to start the year. A loss to Ohio St. wouldn't be disastrous, but a win would be a huge boost to Cal's NCAA resume.

As is always the case, the Pac-10/12 schedule won't do Cal many favors when Selection Sunday rolls around. There's a reason that Stanford schedules teams like UConn and Tennessee every year - they need to prove how good they are before Pac-12 play to ensure a high seed. Cal needs to do the same, and this is their chance.

So what are Cal's chances against Ohio St.? Hit the jump and we'll break down the Buckeyes!

Continue reading this post »

When: 2:00 pm PT
TV: None
Video Stream: Cal Bears All-Access (Free)
Radio Stream: Cal Bears All-Access (Free)
Gametracker

The Bears earned a road victory over the St. Mary's Gaels on Thursday night by a score of 65-55, but they did it in an unexpected way. In the first eight game of the season Cal hit 32 three pointers - about 4 a game. Against St. Mary's, Cal hit eight 3s in the first half. The barrage of deep shots isn't going to convince me that the Bears are an above-average team from behind the arc, but it is encouraging. The Gaels played zone and packed the key in an attempt to slow down the Bears. At the very least Cal demonstrated that they will hit 3s if you leave them completely wide open, and that might be meaningful later in the year.

But for now the focus is on Santa Clara. I'll just quote myself here:

Santa Clara struggled last year, but a very veteran team that includes five seniors or juniors in the main rotation has started the year strongly at 6-2. They've started the season red-hot from the field, shooting nearly 40% from behind the arc, and as a result have been extremely efficient offensively. It will be an excellent test for Cal's defense, which has generally been quite effective.

Stat chart and gamethread after the jump. Go Bears!

Continue reading this post »

When: 7:00 pm PT
TV: None
Video Stream: St. Mary's All-Access ($)
Radio Stream: Cal Bears All-Access (Free)
Gametracker

Explanations for all stat abbreviations found below can be found here, which is where the numbers came from in the first place.

Analysis: St. Mary's forces a bunch of turnovers and gets to the free throw line a lot. Bears: Don't turn it over too much and don't foul them, and we win. Easy! I should totally be a D1 head coach!

Enjoy highlights of Cal's wins over CSU Bakersfield and UNLV, as well as the free-style skills of Brittany Boyd!

After the excitement of Rutgers, Texas and Virginia, but before Ohio St. comes to town,we’re in the lull of Cal’s non-conference schedule. It’s a stretch of games that should provide relatively drama-free victories for the Bears, and so far so good. A 30 point victory over a struggling team like Cal State Fullerton should be expected. But it was the way the Bears demolished UNLV that was the most impressive.

The final score showed a 22 point win, but the game was over very quickly. After five minutes the Bears led by 9, after ten minutes they led by 15, and after fifteen minutes they led by 22. UNLV came in with a pretty decent resume and Cal took over the game immediately without ever giving it back. Judging from the highlights above and the stat line, Reshanda Gray successfully achieved beastmode. 23 points in just 17 minutes on 8-12 shooting is pretty beastly, and right now Reshanda is leading the Bears in points/game, points/minute and shooting percentage. That's impressive, before you consider the fact that 8 players on Cal's roster have played more minutes. Right now the main flaw in Reshanda's game is foul trouble - she's just got to stay on the court!

Continue reading this post »

When: 2:30 pm PT
TV: None
Video Stream: Cal Bears All-Access (Free!)
Audio Stream: Cal Bears All-Access (Free!)
Gametracker

Cal's 30 point victory over Cal State Bakersfield puts them in the final of the 'Doubletree by Hilton Berkeley Marina Cal Classic against UNLV, who defeated Prairie View A&M, 73-60. The Rebels sport a record of 6-1, but they only have one win against a team with a winning record and lost their only game against a ranked team by 19 points.

UNLV has a balanced offense led by junior guard Kelli Thompson and senior forward Lenita Sanford. But UNLV's strength is in their four posts - Sanford, Jamie Smith, Sandrine Nzeukou and Markiell Styles. The foursome collectively average more than 30 rebounds per game and offer perhaps the toughest test for Cal's inside foursome of Brandon, Caldwell, Gray and Hartman. These are two teams that want to dominate the paint, and whichever team wins that battle will almost certainly be the team that wins.

After the jump enjoy a quick statistical breakdown and your gamethread. GO BEARS!

Continue reading this post »

Before you start, watch the above video. Great highlights from Hawaii and some very emotional locker room scenes before and after games. Then, read this interview with Reshanda Gray. A must read for Cal fans.

This team is close. Very close.

Close to what, though? Obviously, close to notching multiple big wins. A two point loss to undefeated Rutgers on the road. A one point loss to 5-1 Texas on a neutral court. An actual win over a veteran Virginia squad with a pretty good new coach that beat Tennessee.

But how close are they to maximizing talent and fulfilling expectations? That’s a harder question to answer, mostly because only a few hundred people saw how they performed in Hawaii in person. (It’s for that reason that I’m not going to review those games in any kind of depth). I’ve seen three games so far this year and listened to two others. My impressions are almost unanimously positive:

-Cal’s shooting has been above-average (16th in the nation in 2 pt. field goal percentage*)
-Cal’s defense has been solid, if unspectacular (.776 points per possession allowed, 79th in the nation*)
-Cal’s rebounding has been elite (10th in the nation in rebounding percentage*)

When you can combine efficiency stats like that it can lead to special seasons. Of course, we all know the one area that has been plaguing the Bears: Turnovers. Now, before we get too far into it, a couple points. Cal’s turnover problems may seem just a bit worse than they are in reality for two reasons:

Continue reading this post »

When: 5:00 pm PT
TV: None
Radio Stream: Cal Bears All Access (Free!)

For multiple reasons, this is an important game for the Bears. Logically, this is Cal's 3rd game against solid, potentially tournament quality opposition. The Bears have looked like a tournament team against Rutgers and Texas . . . but sport an 0-2 record in those games with two close, painful losses. Losing a 3rd would make for a slim non-conference resume unless the Bears knock off Ohio State in a few weeks at home.

Emotionally? The Bears are taking on their former coach, who presumably knows plenty about how to slow down the sophomores and juniors, and who left last year after a supremely difficult, frustrating season. Losing to Joanne Boyle would be adding insult to injury, because it would seem that she fled to a better situation.

Virginia lost to the same Texas team that Cal should have beaten by a score of 79-53 before bouncing back to beat Hawaii by 17. Virginia's strength? Winning the turnover battle. If Cal can keep it somewhat even then their rebounding prowess and inside depth will probably be enough. Cal couldn't do that against Texas. Do it tonight and they can fly home reasonably satisfied with the trip. Go Bears!

When: 2:00 pm PT
TV: None
Radio Stream: Cal Bears All Access (Free!)
Live Stats

It's another busy day in Bear land as the women's team takes on Texas at the exact same time as the men are facing Denver in Berkeley.  My solution? headphones for the women, TV for the men!  For the Cal vs. Denver open thread, click here!

The Bears dispatched Hawaii last night in a low-key game by the score of 69-54.  The most important stat, besides a W?  No Bear played more than 25 minutes, which should hopefully help the team play fresh against Texas less than 16 hours later today.

For a little info on Texas you can read CGB's preview of the Wahine Showdown.  They defeated Virginia yesterday, 79-53.  Seeing a 26 point margin is pretty intimidating, considering Virginia was coming off a win over the #3 team in the nation.  Texas beat Virginia by out rebounding them 38-20 (something we can hopefully duplicate against Virginia) and holding the Cavaliers to 18-53 (34%) from the field.  The Longhorns are ranked 24th and will be looking to move up the polls with a win today.  Go Bears!