Pac 12 Preview: Cal

Pac 12 Preview: Cal

Last Season:
24-10 overall and 13-5 in Pac 12 play. In the NCAAs Cal beat Wichita State 78-66 then lost to Texas 73-70.

The Coaches:
Lindsay Gottlieb is in her 5th year as Head Coach at Cal after 3 years as Head Coach at UCSB and two years before that as the lead Assistant at Cal.
Charmin Smith with 2 degrees from Stanford returns for her 9th season at Cal and is now the Associate Head Coach.
Kai Felton is back for her 5th year at Cal. Kai has been an Assistant at Oregon, 2 years, and at USC, 5 years.
Jeff Cannon is in his 2nd year at Cal, coming from five years as an assistant at Long Beach State.



Losses:
Brittany Boyd was an outstanding player and a high draft choice into the WNBA, currently with New York. Boyd averaged 13 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists as the starting point guard for the past 4 seasons.

Reshanda Gray was the starting Center for the Bears averaging 17 points, high on the team with Boyd 2nd and 7 rebounds, second to Boyd. Gray was a high draft choice and plays for Atlanta.

Mercedes Jefflo was dismissed from the team. Jefflo averaged 10 points and started every game.

Justine Hartman was the back-up Center averaging 9 minutes and 2 points.
Brittany Shine averaged 8 minutes and 2 points.
The Bears lost their top three scorers, and three players who started all but the one game Boyd missed.



Additions:
Kristine Anigwe is a 6-4 Frosh Center. Anigwe was ranked as high as 13 out of HS and was a McD All American. She is from Arizona.
Breanna Cavanaugh is a 5-8 Frosh Guard. Cavanaugh was ranked from 66 to 100 by the four services. She is from New Jersey.

MaAne Mosley is a 5-11 Frosh Forward. Mosley is from Oakland and ranked as high as 69 and in the 100-150 range by the other services.

Asha Thomas is a 5-4 Frosh Guard. Thomas is from Oakland and ranked as high as 87 and in the 100-115 by the other services. Thomas tore her ACL but may be ready to play if not right away by the conference opener.

Chen Yue is a 6-7 Frosh Center from China. Yue is pretty much an unknown to the scouting sites, ranked just outside the top 100 by ESPN.




The Schedule:
Cal plays at Louisville, Texas A&M in Las Vegas and three homes games that could be tough, St Mary’s, Nebraska and in a neat scheduling arrangement, UCLA. The UCLA game is non-conference as the Bruins won’t visit Cal during the Pac 12 season.



The Team:
Cal lost a total of 101 starts and return a total of 69 starts, or close to half their minutes played. In points scored Cal lost 45 of 70 per game. So a new team in many respects.

Mikayla Cowling is a 6-2 Soph Forward who scored 10 points and grabbed 5 rebounds per game. Cowling shot a great 49% from the field. She will be very good.

Gabby Green is a 6-2 Guard who scored 7 points and pulled down 6 rebounds per game. Green shot just 34% from the field and 29% from three while making 37 threes. Green’s shooting must improve. Green was 2nd on the team in assists and could be the Point Guard or a Wing.

Courtney Range is a 6-3 Jr who scored 9 points and had 5 rebounds per game. With Green, Range and Cowling the Bears return three outstanding players.
Penina Davidson is a 6-3 Soph Post or Wing who can shoot the three. Last season she averaged 3 points and 1 rebound in 12 minutes per game.

KC Waters is a 6-2 Jr pst who hasn’t played much.

Cal has 5 Frosh, 3 Sophs and no Srs so a very young team, maybe the youngest in the Pac 12. Anigwe will start and almost certainly three other frosh will be in the rotation.

Predictions:
So young so very hard to predict. I think they will battle several teams for 4th-6th place.



2016 Recruiting:
Celeste West, 6-3 Post from CA, ranked 48 by Prospects Nation

Jaelyn Brown, 6-1 Wing from CA ranked 39 by Prospect Nation