Bentpawn

1:1 Conversation with Cal Women's Basketball Coach Charmin Smith "This is a special team that deserves to be watched."

In which Coach Charmin Smith and I talk about Cal Women's Basketball, challenges both on and off the court for the coming season, her and the team's interaction with the WNBA Valkyries, and her favorite food spots near campus. @wgoldenstate.bsky.social

writeforcalifornia.com/p/cal-womens...

Cal Men's Basketball: A 1:1 Conversation with Coach Mark Madsen Recapping a late August conversation with Coach Madsen, plus an overview of the 25-26 schedule

Recapping a recent phone convo I had with Coach Madsen, where he calls his shot for the number of wins this year(plus other coach-speak and factoids).
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Men's Basketball Roster Catch-Up Familiarizing ourselves with the new roster and having a sense of optimism

It's mid August, so let's take a look at the Cal Men's Basketball roster. I am weirdly optimistic about this season.

writeforcalifornia.com/p/mens-baske...

Oh god the urge to go look at twitter is so strong right now...must resist.

We're going to Florence in a week. What's the restaurant?

Looking at the box score with no context, and see the 'B Hurley' 2 minutes for ASU. I'm imagining a very frustrated Coach Hurley in the last minutes just saying f*** it, grabbing a bench warmers jersey and subbing himself in.

Cal's worst game of the year comes at the worst time. Credit to MSU for making Cal uncomfortable all game. It will be a somber post game press session.

Credit to MSU's defense, making everything uncomfortable for Cal. MSU is leading 41-29 entering the 4Q. I've seen nothing so far that makes me think a comeback is possible. I hope they prove me wrong.

Marta Suarez maintained a meditative position for nearly 3 minutes at the halftime break.

The optimist in me sees Ioanna with a late 3-pointer and Michelle with a nice basket down low to end the half as signs of good things to come.

The pessimist in me sees everything else.

26-19 Miss State lead at the half over Cal. Cal has not been able to make a shot (except for Lulu) and have already committed 12 TOs. Cal's defense is keeping them in the game, limiting MSU to 25% shooting.
If Cal even shoots average in the second half and maintains the defense, they should win.

12-5 Miss St over Cal at the end of the first quarter. Cal's defense has been fine, winning the rebounding battle. Cal is taking good shots, but nothing is going in. Lulu is 2/2, rest of team is 0/11.

If Cal just regresses to the mean on shooting, they'll be fine.

Ready to go!

SEC turned out well to root for MSU, but Bears fans are slightly louder, at least in the pregame.

Kayla Williams picture in the hallway between the Cal locker room and the playing floor. Awkward.

Bears Prepare For NCAA Tournament A few comments from Coach Smith, Kayla Williams and Ioanna Krimili ahead of Saturday's matchup versus Mississippi State

In which Coach Charmin Smith talks about "guarding biggies."

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The many faces of Coach Charmin Smith while watching the selection show. First two are early region 8/9 matchups, last one is when Cal finally appeared.

Cal has a lineup of Sissoko, Rytis, Tucker, Pavlovic, Campbell.

Just like we thought back in November.

a man is sitting at a desk with his hands folded ALT: a man is sitting at a desk with his hands folded

This game has everything. Tucker pick and rolls.Andrej going nuclear. Vladimir driving the lane.

Proud of Cal for the fight they're showing despite the odds.

ACC Tourney: Cal Beats Virginia Tech 82-73 in 2OT Thriller Six overtimes in two games as Cal advances to face Stanford tomorrow

Cal survives to take on Stanford tomorrow. My recap, plus going in depth on the final play of regulation and Cal baiting VA Tech to make the bad decision.
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Cal Crushes the Cavaliers 75-58 in the ACC Tourney Onyiah, Suarez record double-doubles as Cal leads from start to finish

My recap of Cal's win over Virginia in the second round of the ACC Tournament.

One of these days, ACC coverage will not treat Cal like an OOC opponent. They mangle names, give unequal pregame "hype" time, and sometimes just get facts wrong.

writeforcalifornia.com/p/cal-crushe...

Ward, corrected herself midway through the 3rd period, and apologized for the USF confusion.

Cal still haw a long way to become part of the ACC family. Watching the Cal/UVA game, play-by-play announcer Pam Ward says "Ioanna Krimili who started her career at SOUTH FLORIDA before continuing her career on the west coast"

(Krimili started at Univ of San Francisco)

Sigh.

You need to watch it as it does move the story along nicely, but there's a few things that caused eyerolls between my wife and I.

Women's Basketball: A Deeper Look at Turnovers and Assists Statistics Plus a few fun clips from Sunday's win over Miami

TLDR; Coach Charmin Smith's team struggles more than average against high pressure defenses, and why to watch for the number 15 as Cal marches on in the ACC and NCAA Tournaments.

writeforcalifornia.com/p/womens-bas...

I will raise a toast this evening to Coach Norman Dale. May he rest in peace.

Women's Hoops; Bears Edge Virginia, Come Up Short in Loss to the Hokies Recapping the Virginia split, and looking ahead to the last week of the season

In which I spent way too much time breaking down the ACC Tnmt seeding options for Cal Women's Basketball as they enter the last week of the regular season.

They want 7. They could get to 6.
They don't want to slip to 8/9.

writeforcalifornia.com/p/womens-hoo...

Mady Sissoko and Rytis Petraitis are filling up the stat sheet. Mady has a 4pt/4reb/3blk/2asst/1steal stat line. Rytis has a 6pt/8reb/2asst/1steal line.

At the half, Cal leads FSU 37-33. Jeremiah Wilkinson is fulfilling the volums dribble-drive finisher role of Andrej, and has 10 points on 4-of-10 shooting. Joshua Ola-Joseph is the spark plug tonight, with 11 points so far. He is 3-of-4 on 3 pointers, while the rest of the team is 0-for-10.

It's not secret I think Joshua Ola-Joseph has the ingredients to be a special player for Cal. He came in at the 16-minute timeout for the Bears, and in two minutes scored 5 points, had a highlight steal and long pass and lit a fire for the Bears to ignite a 9-0 run.