Looking at the CAL BEARS

PAC 12 Preview:  Cal

 

Our first PAC-12 game will be with the CAL Bears on Friday, December 23 -- the last game before the (brief) holiday break.  Here's what their team looks like so far.

Last Season:  11-13 overall and 2-12 in conference play.   

The Coaches:

Charmin Smith with 2 degrees from Stanford returns for her 15th season at Cal and is now the Head Coach for her 4th year.  

Kai Felton is back for her 10th 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. 

Paul Reed is in his 2^nd year after 4 years at Washington.

Eliza Pierre is in her 2nd year after 4 years at UCSB.

Heidi Heintz is in her first year.  Heintz was an assistant at St Mary’s the past three years.  

 

Losses:  

Kelly Cole coached for one year and moved on.

Dalayah Daniels 6-4 Jr  Forward ranked # 13 out of HS.   Daniels averaged 8 points and 5 rebounds and transferred to Washington.  

Fatou Samb, 6-4 Jr Post who averaged 2 points and 2 rebounds and transferred to Rice. 

Cailyn Crocker 5-9 Grad transfer Guard who averaged 6 points.  Crocker transferred to Colorado State     

 

Additions:

Amaya Bonner, 6-0 Guard from Oakland.   Ranked # 51 and had offers from ASU, Arizona, UCLA, Utah and Washington. 

Claudia Langarita, 6-4 Post Soph transfer from USF where she averaged 10 points and 3 rebounds. 

Kemery Martin, 6-0 Sr Guard transfer from Utah where she only played 6 games with injuries last season.  As a Soph Martin averaged 11 ppg.

Peanut Tuitele, 6-1 Forward Grad Transfer from Colorado where she averaged 7 ppg.  However the year before Peanut averaged 12 points and 8 rebounds.  

Karisa Ortiz, 6-0 Guard Grad Transfer from Texas/  Mitty HS to Penn State to Texas.  Last season she sat out at Cal with injuries.  Two years ago at Texas she averaged 4 points and had a 2:1 Assists to Turnover ratio.

                                           

 

The Schedule:                 

Cal’s toughest known opponent presently is UC San Diego.  However they will play in three tournaments and from the dates 5 games.  First is in St Louis, then at LMU, finally at Cal.  At LMU they will play the host, LMU and Montana with their Assistant Jos Tinkle.  

 

The Team:

Jayda Curry, 5-6 Soph Guard averaged 18 points and 4 rebounds.

Jaden Bush, 5-11 Forward a Grad Transfer from Harvard.  Bush averaged 6 points and 5 rebounds in 12 games before being injured.   

Leilani McIntosh, 5-5 Sr Guard who averaged 7 points and 4 assists. 

Jazlen Green 5-11 Sr Guard averaged 9 points and made 49 threes at 36%.

Evelien Lutje Schipholt, 6-2 Forward from the Netherlands.  Last year she averaged 9 points and 7 rebounds.

Mia Mastrov, 5-11 Soph Guard who graduated early from HS to join the Bears. Mia averaged 2 points 

Alma Elsnitz 5-11 Jr G from Sweden who averaged 2 points in 14 games. 

Sela Heide, 6-7 Jr Post from Washington (hometown is the Twin Peaks TV show location).   Sela played only 2 games before being injured and has played little at Cal. 

Ornela Muca, 5-7 Jr Guard from Greece.  She played just 12 games.  

Michelle Onyiah, 6-3 Jr Post ranked # 35 out of HS.   She averaged 5 points and 4 rebounds.  

 

Predictions:  

Cal has four starters back however from a team that won just two league games.  They have several players back from injury who should contribute and did well adding transfers.  Curry is very good and the team is a year older, more experienced.  Do they have a chance to be top Six in the league, I’d say close and possible.   

 

2023 Recruiting:  None yet although they should have at least 3 openings and as many as 6.