2025-26 Cal Preview in ACC

  2025-26 ACC Preview:  Cal

Last Season:  25-9 overall and 12-6

Cal's Roster

The Coaches:

 Charmin Smith with 2 degrees from Stanford returns for her 18th season at Cal and is now the Head Coach for her 7th year.  

Heidi Heintz is in her 4th year.  Heintz was an assistant at St Mary’s the previous three years.  She is the Associate Head Coach.

Eliza Pierre is in her 45th year after 4 years at UCSB.

Tarvon Bryant is in his 3nd year.

Jenny Huth is in her 2nd year at Cal.  Huth has coached at Oregon State, UCLA, Florida State, Kentucky and was once the Head Coach at Northern Colorado.

Kai Felton her 13th year at Cal.  Kai has been an Assistant at Oregon, 2 years, and at USC, 5 years.  Kai is no longer an official coach but she is a Special Assistant. 

 

Losses:  3 Transfers and 5 Graduated

Natalia Ackerman, 6-1 a transfer from Cal Poly.  Ackerman averaged 2 points and 3 rebounds.  Graduated.

Kamryn Mafua, 6-2 Forward, ranked # 56 out of HS and averaged 1.6 ppg.  Transfer to Utah.

Jayda Noble, 5-11 Guard a transfer from Washington,  she averaged 2 points and 3 rebounds.  Graduated.

Zahra King, 5-10 Guard from Brooklyn.  King was ranked # 76 out of HS.  As a frosh King averaged 2 ppg.  Transfer to SMU.

Kayla Williams, 5-7 Guard a transfer from USC.  Last season Williams averaged 11ppg.  Graduated.

Ioanna Krilimi, 5-10 Guard who transferred from U of San Francisco.  Last season Ioanna averaged 14 points and made 97 threes at 37%.  Graduated.

Marta Suarez , 6-3 Forward from Spain and a transfer from Tennessee.  Last season Marta averaged 13 points and 7 rebounds.  She also made 40 threes at 31%.  Transfer to TCU.

Michelle Onyiah, 6-3 Post averaged 12 points and 7 rebounds.  Graduated.

 

Additions: 3 Transfers and 4 Frosh

Grace McCallop, 5-10 Frosh PG from KS.  

Mjracle Sheppard, 5-10 Jr Guard who transferred from LSU after a year at Mississippi State.  Last season Sheppard averaged 4 ppg.  At Mississippi State she averaged 5 ppg.

Taylor Barnes, 6-0 Frosh Wing from Texas.  She was ranked # 70.

Isis Johnson-Musah, 5-10 Frosh Guard from Detroit.

Naya Ojukwu, 6-1 Soph Forward who transferred from Morgan State.  Naya averaged 17 points and 9 rebounds.  This is her 4^th, yes, school.

Puff Morris, 5-5 Frosh Guard from SoCal.  Puff was a McD All American and ranked # 22.

Sakima Walker, 6-5 Grad Student Post who transferred from South Carolina where she averaged 2 ppg.   This is Walker’s 4^th school.

 

 The Schedule:

The non-conference schedule includes Missouri, USC, Vanderbilt in France and Auburn. 

                                        

The Team: 

Lulu Laditan-Twidale 5-10 Jr Guard from Australia who averaged 13 ppg.

Anastasia Drosouni, 5-11 Jr Guard From Greece who averaged 1 ppg.      

Claudia Langarita, 6-4 Grad Student Post who was out last season.

 Gabrielle Abigor, 6-3 Soph Post averaged 2 points and 2 rebounds.

Lola Donez, 5-11 Soph Guard who averaged 1 ppg.  

Gisella Maul, 5-11 Jr Guard transfer who averaged 1 ppg.

 

Predictions:    

Cal returns only one player who saw much time although the one, Twidale, is very good.   They do have a very good frosh in Morris. However the loses to graduation of four starters is going to be hard to overcome. 

 

2026 Recruiting:  

Ruby Perkins, 5-9 Guard from Australia.  

 

 

2025-26 Preview of Boston College

 

Preview:   Boston College - Roster

Last Season:  Boston College was  16-18 and  6-12 in league play.

 

The Coaches:

Joanna Bernabei-McNamee is the Head Coach now in her 8^th season as Head Coach.   She is 64-53 is her last 4 seasons at Boston College.  She averaged 9.5 assist per game one season when she played for West Liberty University.

Sean Ehlbeck is in his 4th season as an assistant.

Clint Williams is in his 1^st year 

John Marcum is in his first season

Kristina Baugh is in her first season.

 

Losses (6 transfers out, 3 graduates):

Assistant Coach  Denesha Stallworth who Previously coached at UCSB and played for Cal before transferring to Kentucky.

T’yana Todd averaged 13 ppg.  Transferred to Ohio State.  

Teya Sisberry averaged 12 ppg and 7 rebounds.  Transfer to Texas.

Andrea Daley averaged 8 ppg and 6 rebounds.  Graduated.

Dontavia Waggoner averaged 13 ppg   Graduated.

Kaylah Ivey Averaged 6 ppg.  Transfer to Rutgers.

Nene Ndiaye, averaged 4 points and 2 rebounds. Transfer to Rutgers.

Tatum Greene, averaged 4 ppg.  Transfer to Florida State

Kennedi Jackson, averaged 4 ppg.  Graduated.

Savannah Samuel, averaged 6 ppg.  Transfer to Georgia Tech.

That’s 70 points per game gone.

 

Additions (10 new players):

    Freshmen:

Amirah Anderson 5-11 Frosh Guard form VA, ranked # 75.

Kennedy Hall 6-3 Frosh Forward from MD a 4 star recruit.

Jocelyne Grier, 5-8 Frosh Guard.

    Transfers (7 players):

Erin Houpt, 5-6 Redshirt Sr transfer from San Diego State where she averaged 5 ppg.

Lily Carmony, 5-11 Soph Guard transfer from Butler where she averaged 6 ppg.

Kaia Henderson, 5-6 Redshirt Jr Guard transfer from Ohio State where she played in 26 games as a Frosh and Soph then redshirted last season.

Emma PoPinto, 5-4 Grad Student Guard who was a Lacrosse player until now.

Kayla Rolph, 6-2 Sr Forward transfer from William and Mary where she averaged 7 points and 4 rebounds.

Kiera Edmonds, 6-2 Redshirt Soph transfer from Houston and before that Wagner.  At Wagner she averaged 10 points and 8 rebounds. 

Teionni McDaniel, 5-9 Grad Student Guard transfer from Georgetown of Kentucky.  She averaged 14 ppg last season at small Georgetown. 

 

The Schedule:  

UConn and Harvard are the highlights.

 

The Team: 

Athena Tomlinson is a 5-5 Soph Guard from Fresno.  She was ranked # 65 in the nation.  Tomlinson averaged 2 ppg.

Ava McGee, 5-10 Sr Guard who didn’t play last season.

 

Predictions:          

Can only go up, however not much in the way of incoming players to make up for those who transferred out.

 

2026 Recruiting:  

Eunicia Salgado, 6-1 Forward from Toronto. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Preview: Wake Forest Demon Deacons

Preview:   Wake Forest Demon Deacons

WBB Website

January 15 Update:  

The Demon Deacons are 7-9 overall and 0-5 in conference.  Best games were a 76-81 loss in overtime to a solid 12-5 Louisville team, and their last road game losing 56-61 to the 12-4 Virginia Tech.  Minutes are distributed with 9 players averaging 18.8 minutes per game or more.  

Scoring is also distributed with their top scorer, #21 Elise Williams, averaging 10.9 ppg and their 5th highest scorer averaging 8.2 ppg.  Their team averages 61.5 ppg and opponents are being held to 59.9 ppg.   

Last Season:   7-25 and 2 –16 in league play

Started this season 6-3 playing a weak schedule. 5 players are averaging about 10 ppg, led by Rylie Theuerkauf, a 5-9 Soph Guard, at 10.1 ppg

The Coaches:  

Megan Gebbia is the Head Coach and in her 3^rd year.  History of recent Wake Forest: 17 wins in Gebbia’s first season 2022-23 tied for the most wins since 2011-12.

Nikki Flores is in her 3^rd year.

Millette Green is in her 3^rd year.

Emily Stallings is in her 3^rd year.

 

Losses:  

Kaia Harrison scored 9 ppg.

Alexandria Scruggs scored 7 ppg.

Kate Deeble scored 6 ppg. 

 

 Additions:

Aurora Sorbye, 5-9 Frosh Guard

Kennedy Moore, 6-2 Frosh Forward.

Tamia Jones, 5-8 Grad Student Guard transfer from SMU.  Jones averaged 9 points and 4 assists.  Thus far Jones is averaged 10 ppg.

Emily Johns, 6-1 Grad Student Forward transfer from American where she averaged 12 ppg.

 

Schedule:      

St Johns plus Villanova who they lost to 64-56.

 

The Team:

Alyssa Andrews, 6-0 Sr Wing who averaged 3 points and 4 rebounds.

Makaela Quimby, 5-9 Soph Guard who played little however ranked top 30 out of HS by Blue Star.

Raegyn Conley, 6-0 SR Wing who averaged 5 ppg.

Malaya Cowles, 6-3 Redshirt JR Forward who averaged 8 points and 4 rebounds.

Rylie Theuerkauf, 5-9 Soph Guard who averaged 4 ppg.   Thus far she is averaging 10 ppg.

Elise Williams, 5-9 SR Guard who averaged 13 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists.

Madisyn Jordan, 6-1 Soph Wing averaged 4 ppg.

DeMeara Hinds, 6-2 Redshirt SR Forward who averaged 6 points and 6 rebounds.

 

Prediction: 

Wake Forest will struggle. 

 

2025 Recruiting:  

Milan Brown, 5-9 Combo Guard

Caitlyn Jones, 5-8 Point Guard

Opal Bird 6-3 Forward from Australia           

Grace Galbavy, 6-0 Forward

 

  

Preview: Virginia Tech Hokies

 

Preview:   Virginia Tech Hokies

WBB Website

Last Season:   25-8 and 14 –4 in league play

 Feb 19 Update:

Virginia Tech is 16-9 on the season and 7-7 in conference play. Their net ranking is #46 vs Stanford's #48 net ranking.  Their conference losses are a road game to #9 Duke,  home losses to Florida State, Virginia and #1 Notre Dame, and a road loss to #14 NC State.  Their last game was a 72-67 road loss to #12 ranked North Carolina.    

Below is a 5 minute highlight video of that game against North Carolina

Virginia Tech has balance scoring led by four starters who average between 11.8 and 14.4 ppg, while their 5th starter averages 9.7 ppg. Their leading rebounder, #4 Rose Micheaux averages 8 mpg followed by #10 Carys Baker with 6.4 rpg.

The team is scoring 75.5 ppg while holding opponents to 68.2 ppg.  They are dangerous from 3-point range averaging 37.7%, with 5 players hitting between 38% and 52% of their 3 pointers.

 Stanford's road game against Virginia Tech may come down to who shoots better from three point range.  Given their similar net rankings it should be a fairly close game that would be a great road win for Stanford.  Having a healthy Nunu back could be a game changer.

Click on image to enlarge

The Coaches:  Megan Duffy is the Head Coach in her first season.  She was the Head Coach at Marquette for 5 years and played at Notre Dame.

Itoro Coleman is the Associate Head Coach in her first season after coaching at North Carolina.

Sharnee Zoll-Norman is in her first year after several seasons at Penn State.

Jen Hoover is in her first season.  Hoover was for 10 years the Head Coach at Wake Forest and before that an assistant at Cal for several years.

 

Losses:

Head Coach Kenny Brooks moved to Kentucky as the Head Coach.

Clara Strack, 6’5, C, Fr. (4.5 ppg, 4.1 rpg) → Kentucky

Georgia Amoore, 5’6, G, Sr. (18.8 ppg, 6.8 apg) → Kentucky

Elizabeth Kitley who averaged 23 points and 11 rebounds.

Cayra King who averaged 7 ppg.

 

Additions:

Leila Wells, 5-9 Frosh Guard

Myah Haxelton, 6-4 Frosh Forward/Post

Ramiya White, 6-5 Frosh Post

Kayl Petersen, 6-0 Frosh Wing

Lani White, 5-11 JR Guard transfer from Utah

 

Schedule:

Iowa who they lost to 52-71.  Rutgers who they beat 91-80.  Michigan and Georgia.

 

The Team:

Carleigh Wenzel, 6-0 Redshirt Soph Guard who averaged 4 ppg.  Weenzel is averaging 14 ppg thus far.

Mackenzie Nelson, 5-8 Redshirt Soph Guard who sat out last season.  Nelson was ranked # 65 out of HS.

Rose Micheaux, 6-2 SR Forward who averaged 4 points and 3 rebounds.  However at Minnesota as Soph she averaged 9 points and 6 rebounds.  Micheaux is averaging 14 ppg and 9 rebounds thus far.  

Carys Baker, 6-2 Soph Forward who averaged 3 ppg.

Matilta Ekh, 6-0 SR Wing who averaged 10 ppg and made 78 threes at 40%.

Samyha Suffren, 5-8 Soph Guard who averaged 7 minutes per game. 

 

Prediction:

Losing 53 points hurts, but new successful coach in Duffy.  The returning players averaged just 21 ppg.   It’s certainly a rebuilding year.  

 

2025 Recruiting:  

Kate Sears 5-9 Point Guard, ranked # 87

Amani Jenkins, 6-2 Post, ranked # 81

Aniya Trent, 6-3 Wing

 

Preview: Virginia Cavaliers

Preview:   Virginia Cavaliers

WBB Website

Last Season:   16-16 and 7 –11 in league play

Feb 23 Update: 

Virginia is 13-14 overall and 5-10 in conference play.  This fairly young team is better than their record.  They lost  their last home game to Cal 70-76.  Cal video game highlights are shown below. 

Their best losses have been at home against 3 strong teams: 55-60 to #11 Duke, 68-73 to #13 NC State and 65-69 to a very tough Louisville team.

Their best player is Kimora Johnson, a 5'7" sophomore guard averaging 27.8 ppg hitting 37.9% on threes.  She leads the team in assists and steals.  6'4" senior Latasha Lattimore will be tough to handle inside - she averages 14.2 ppg and 8.4 rpm. 

Virginia is a deep team with 7 players averaging 24 minutes per game or more.

It will take our best effort to win this one on the road.

Virginia Season Stats

 6:00 Virginia vs Cal highlights

The Coaches:

Amaka Agugua-Hamilton is the Head Coach and in her 3^rd year after Head Coach at Missouri State for 3 years and before that Assistant at Michigan State.

CJ Jones is in his 3^rd year. 

Tori Jankoska is in her 3^rd year.

Alysiah Bond is in her 3^rd year.

 

Losses:

Camryn Taylor averaged 15 points and 6 rebounds.

London Clarkson averaged 6 points and 4 rebounds.

Sam Brunelle averaged 6 points.  

Kaydan Lawson, 6′, G, Sr. (2.1 ppg) → Seton Hall

Cady Pauley, 5’11, G, Soph. (2.9 ppg) → Missouri State

Alexia Smith, 5’8, G, Sr. (4.1 ppg, 3.8 rpg) → Oklahoma State

Mir McLean, 5’11, G, Sr. (12.2 ppg, 9.6 rpg) → Maryland

 

Additions:

Rylee Grays, 6-4 Soph Post transfer from North Carolina where she played just 5 games.

Hawa Doumbouya, 6-7 Soph Post who transferred from Maryland where she played little.

Casey Valenti-Paea, 5-9 Grad Student Guard transfer from Long Beach State and before that 3 years at Buffalo.  Last season at LBS she averaged 9 ppg.

Kamryn Kitchen, 5-9 Frosh Guard

Payton Dunbar, 5-11 Frosh Guard

Breona Hurd, 6-2 Frosh Forward.  Hurd had averaged 13 ppg after the first 5 games. 

Latasha Lattimore, 6-4 SR Post who transferred from Miami where she averaged 5 points and 4 rebounds.  Lattimore played at Texas prior to Miami.  

 

Schedule:   Oklahoma who they lost to 95-51.  They also play Auburn and Washington State. 

 

Team:

Paris Clark 5-8 JR Guard who transferred from Arizona a year ago.  Last season at Virginia Clark averaged 10 points and 4 rebounds.

Jillian Brown, 5-10 SR guard who is out for the year after averaging 5 ppg last season. 

Yonya Vaughn, 5-8 JR Guard who averaged 3 ppg.

Edessa Noyan, 6-3 Soph Forward from Sweden.  Last season Noyan averaged 3 points and 3 rebounds. 

Kymora Johnson, 5-7 Soph Guard who averaged 15 points and 5 assists and was 2^nd team All ACC.  Johnson has averaged 18 ppg after the first 5 games. 

Taylor Lauterbach, 6-7 Grad Student Post who averaged 1 point and 2 rebounds.  

 

Prediction:

They lost 48 points from last season players so a rebuilding year for Virginia

 

2025 Recruiting:  

Gabby White, 5-10 Guard from NC.

  

Preview: Syracuse Orange

 

Preview:   Syracuse Orange

WBB Website

Last Season:   24-8 and 13-5 in league play

Syracuse has started the season 2-2

Feb 12 update:

Syracuse is 10-13 on the season and is 4-8 in conference play.  Their net ranking is 81 while Stanford is 41 so at home Stanford is the favorite.  Syracuse is 6-7 at home, 3-5 on the road and 1-1 at neutral sites.  They are coming off two road wins over Virginia Tech (93-87) and Wake Forest (62-50).  The Virginia Tech win was perhaps their best win of the season, and a 67-74 loss to #14 NC State in late January was their best loss.

The season stats below shows that the minutes played is spread as 13 players average playing more than 11 minutes per game.  Georgia Woodley is their leading scorer with 15 ppg while only hitting 35.5% of her shots.  Kyra Wood provides inside scoring with 12 ppg with a 53.9% FG percentage.  Wood is their leading rebounder with 7.3 per game.  Sophie Burrows averages 11.6 ppg and she leads the team in 3-pts made with 50 while hitting at a 38.9% clip.

Syracuse averages 71.5 ppg while opponents are averaging 71.4 ppg.  This is a very winnable game that likely will be a close game.

Click on image to enlarge

The Coaches:  

Felisha Legette-Jack is in her 3^rd year as the Head Coach.  Legette-Jack has been a Head Coach for 22 years.

Kristen Sharkey is in her 3^rd year as Associate Head Coach.   Sharkey has played or coached with Legette-Jack for the play 10 years.

Khyreed Carter is in his 3^rd year at Syracuse.

Ty Evans is in his first year.

 

Losses: 

Dyaisha Fair who averaged 22 ppg and 115 threes just over half of the team total.

Alaina Rice who averaged 10 points and 5 rebounds. 

Marilena Triantafilly, 6’5, C, Fr. (0.8 ppg) → Saint Louis

Kennedi Perkins, 5’6, G, Soph. (2.6 ppg) → Marquette

Cheyenne McEvans, 5’9, G, Sr. (2.8 ppg) → Florida A&M

Alyssa Latham, 6’2, F, Fr. (8.6 ppg, 7 rpg) → Tennessee

 

Additions:

Keira Scott, 6-1 Frosh Forward

Shy Hawkins, 6-2 Frosh Wing

Madeline Potts, 6-0 Frosh Guard from Australia.

Olivia Schmitt, 5-5 Frosh Guard                  

 

Schedule:

Maryland, Texas A&M and Missouri are the highlights. 

 

The Team:

Sophie Burrows, 6-2 Soph Wing who averaged 4 points and 3 rebounds. 

Dominique Camp, 5-8 Grad Student Guard who missed last season at Syracuse with injuries.  However the season before she averaged 10 points and 4 assists at Akron.

Lexie McNabb, 5-7 JR Guard who averaged 1 ppg.

Journey Thompson, 6-3 JR Forward.

Georgia Woolley, 6-0 SR Guard who averaged 14 points and 5 rebounds.  In the first 4 games this season Woolley is averaging 16 ppg.   

Angelica Velez, 5-7 Soph Guard

Izabel Varejao, 6-4 Grad Student Post who averaged 5 points and 3 rebounds.

Saniaa Wilson, 6-0 SR Forward who averaged 5 points and 4 rebounds.

Kyra Wood, 6-3 SR Forward who averaged 6 points and 7 rebounds.   In the first 4 games of this season Wood is averaging 13 ppg thus far.

 

Prediction: Preseason ranked 11th in ACC out of 18 teams 

2025 Recruiting:  

Jasmyn Cooper, 6-1 Wing from MA. Ranked # 48.

Camdyn Nelson, 5-8 Point Guard from CT

Justus Fitzgerald, 6-1 Wing from GA

 

Preview: SMU Mustangs

  

Preview:   SMU Mustangs

WBB Website

Last Season:   14-16 and 8-10 in league play.  SMU is new to the ACC.    

Dec 21 UPDATE: SMU is 8-5 this season with wins coming against  easiest teams and losses to ASU, Minnesota, Missouri, Florida State and Old Dominion.  Best road loss against a good Florida State team 85-93 and best win over Texas Tech.  Team is 6-1 at home and 1-3 on the road and 1-1 on neutral site.  

Nia Robertson is averaging 20.1 ppg, Chantae Embry 12.6 ppg, and Jessica Peterson is a force with 10.8 ppg and 12.2 rebounds per game.

The Coaches:  

Toyelle Wilson is the Head Coach in her 4^th season.

Deneed Parker is the Associate Head Coach in her 2^nd season however in years before she spent 21 years at SMU as an assistant.  

Danielle Edwards is in her 5th year.

Anthony Anderson is in his 3^rd year.

Alex Furr is in her 2^nd year.

Losses:   

Reagan Bradley who averaged 9 ppg.

Tiara Young who averaged 17 points and 5 rebounds. 

Jiya Perry, 5’10, G, Soph. (3.1 ppg) → Delaware

Maya Chandler, 5’7, G, Sr. (5 ppg) transfer

Tamia Jones, 5’8, G, Sr. (9 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 4.1 apg) transfer

Amirah Abdur-Rahim, 6’3, F, Sr. (11.3 ppg, 6.4 rpg) to Texas A&M

Plus two who didn’t play much transferred 

 

Additions:

Nya Robertson a 5-7 JR Guard transfer from George Washington where she averaged 16 ppg.   In her first game this current season she scored 21 points. Roberston scored 29 points in Game # 2.

Kayanna Cox, 5-10 Frosh Guard who was outstandimg in basketball, volleyball and Track & Field in HS. 

Zanai Jones, Sr Guard a transfer from Villanova where she averaged 6 ppg.   

Kaysia Woods, 6-0 SR Wing transfer from Xavier where she averaged 7 ppg.

Sandra Magolico, 6-2 SR  Forward transfer from ASU where she averaged 1 ppg.

Nicole Rodriguez, 5-8 Grad Student Guard transfer from Loyola Marymount where she averaged 10 ppg.

Kylie Marshall, 5-11 Soph Guard transfer from Texas A&M where she averaged 4 minutes per game.  

Brianna McLeod, 6-3 JR Post transfer from Colorado where she averaged one ppg. 

 

Schedule:

ASU, Minnesota, Missouri, and Texas Tech are the highlights.

 

The Team: 

TK Pitts, 6-1 JR Wing who averaged 6 points and 4 rebounds. 

Ella Brow, 5-8 Soph Guard who missed last season with injuries.  As a Frosh at SMU she averaged 4 ppg.

Donavia Hall, 5-10 JR Guard who averaged 1 ppg.

Chantae Embry, 6-1 Forward who averaged 12 points and 5 rebounds.

Jessica Peterson, 6-2 SR Post who missed last season with injuries.  The season before she averaged 5 points and 5 rebounds.   In her first game this season she had 16 points and 11 rebounds.

 

 

Prediction:

Lost to Old Dominion Saturday.  Preseason ranked is 16 in the ACC

 

2025 Recruiting:  

Sania Richardson, 5-5 PG from Oklahoma.

Alba Caballero, from Spain.

Mireia Jurado, 6-0 Guard from Spain