We're hanging in there but have too many TO and too many defensive lapses giving WSU open threes.

Evelien (10 points) and Michelle are on the bench with 2 fouls each. We're playing 4 guards again, Mia has hit a couple of threes.

stu said:

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We're hanging in there but have too many TO and too many defensive lapses giving WSU open threes.

Evelien (10 points) and Michelle are on the bench with 2 fouls each. We're playing 4 guards again, Mia has hit a couple of threes.

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Yup, we are hanging in there. Great to see Mia hitting the 3's.

Nice video of the players and Charmin thanking the fans.

Things are getting out of hand, WSU has made 5 or 8 threes. Timeout Cal - hope we pick up our defensive intensity.

WSU's one big Murekatete is hard to handle. And WSU has really clamped down on Jayda.

Another timeout after a 14-2 start to the 2nd half. Good idea, we look a little confused.

stu said:

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WSU's one big Murekatete is hard to handle. And WSU has really clamped down on Jayda.

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We have no answer for their smothering defense.

Started the 3rd quarter down 6. Then we go down 18 but started pressing and ended the quarter down 10. Mia made a great play defending a layup. Got the player to miss then hit the rebound and drew a foul.

Yeah, WSU is pretty good. But we're playing faster now with 4 guards and WSU's lead is down to 10.

A look at the WSU roster shows 10 of their 13 are international players.

I spoke too soon. WSU has a 7 - 0 run to start the 4th quarter. WSU is shooting almost 60%, 70% on threes.

Defense is getting gashed. Too many back cuts for easy baskets or not closing out to shooters. Team just looks tired.

Evelien has hardly played in the 2nd half after scoring 10 in the first. We're rotating Dalayah, Michelle, and Fatou as our one big.

If we make the slightest mistake on offense (not infrequent) WAS runs a break. And scores.

Most of our players look totally gassed.

Cailyn gets the and-one on a three! Play of the game!

We're now playing a zone with 2 bigs. No matter, WSU seems content to run out the clock.

After a nice little flurry (of individual efforts) we're within 11 but less than 2 minutes remain.

stu said:

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After a nice little flurry (of individual efforts) we're within 11 but less than 2 minutes remain.

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Down 6 with 40.8 left. Was down 20

With 40 seconds to go we're down by just 6. A few minutes before it was 20. Some gamblers must be squirming now.

Horrible charging call on Cailyn after a WSU flop on a fast break. Then a moving screen call (not horrible) on Michelle to erase a three.

GATC said:

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stu said:

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After a nice little flurry (of individual efforts) we're within 11 but less than 2 minutes remain.

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Down 6 with 40.8 left. Was down 20

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two fouls on us kept us from getting within 3. Lots of boos in the arena. We had the momentum making up 14 in 3-5 minutes. Great fight by our bears. Love this team.

GATC said:

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two fouls on us kept us from getting within 3. Lots of boos in the arena. We had the momentum making up 14 in 3-5 minutes. Great fight by our bears. Love this team.

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Totally!

One thing that worries me is we're getting so much or our scoring not from running the offense but from individual efforts. Nobody is being selfish, we're passing the ball when a shot isn't there, but we're not getting many easy ones.

This late in the season the defense should not look that disorganized. Come on Charmin. What's going on?

Yes, we had some obvious defensive breakdowns. WSU will probably make the NCAA Tournament but still ...

Many other offenses we've faced this year, like WSU, flow. Ours is so scattershot and as previously mentioned is heavily reliant on an individual's creativity rather than team play. This results in bad turnovers and forced shots.
Still the comeback today showed heart as it started when we seemed dead in the water. We can play some pretty mean defense at times.
Nice to see Mia hit a couple of threes. If she can become more of a scoring threat to go along with her rebounding, defense and hustle she'll be a valuable contributor in the years to come.
Poor Michelle, I half expect her to be whistled for a foul while checking in at the scorer's table. The talent is there though.
Really enjoyed watching this team, despite the conference record, but assuming good health I'm expecting them to improve by leaps and bounds in 22-23.
P.S. Today's substitute PA was a vast improvement over Thursday night's clown show.
Also thanks to everyone who shares their thoughts here. I enjoy so many of your insights and look forward to more in what's left of this season, the off season and next season. Go Bears!

From what I saw, Caitlyn did extend her right arm. Not the worse call I've seen from the Pac refs.

Have to give it up for Kamie Ethridge. After an honored career as a championship player at Texas, it took her many years to obtain a head coaching job at a major conference school, and then her teams at WSU lost 20 games in each of her first two seasons there. But now, in her fourth year, they are well up in the PAC12 conference and heading toward the NCAA tournament. They play great team basketball, and she has recruited some good players. Maybe this can now be our own benchmark in heading toward Charmin's fourth year next season. But I agree, if we continue to play small and not pass the ball, it isn't going to happen for us.

Observations for immediate improvement...and lowering my blood pressure.

First, timing and execution on screening. Way too many illegal screen calls or ineffective screens. From not getting there on time to the player with the ball moving before the screen is set or even not getting the angle of the screen correct - you name it, Cal's done it....

Second, not being aware of where the ball is in relation to the player you're guarding. Cal has too many players not knowing where the ball is...a lot of times, their head is turned and that's an invitation for the pass to be made. If you don't know where the ball is, how can you defend effectively? Plus, how do you know when or if you need to help if you can't see the play?

The first needs to be addressed in practice? The second can be shown on film, but to me it's putting yourself in a better position to keep track of where the ball is and keeping in contact with the player you're guarding. Mental awareness and effort.

There are some good players here and we don't lose any rotation players to graduation. So there is a bright side if everyone commits to making improvements.

Opinion: Cal needs to push tempo.

Last point: if Cal played the entire 40 minutes with the grit, effort and determination as they did in the final few minutes of this game, they'll be okay. If they improve on their defensive awareness and offensive execution, they can be very good.

I'm pleased that Mia Mastrov is getting more minutes. She played 20 minutes today; 14 minutes on Thursday. Charmin is calling her number more often now. She's good on defense. Her offense will come. Remember, she's still technically a freshman.

We'll have Bush, Ortiz, and Heide back on the bench next season plus Amaya Bonner.

SFCALBear72 said:

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I'm pleased that Mia Mastrov is getting more minutes. She played 20 minutes today; 14 minutes on Thursday. Charmin is calling her number more often now. She's good on defense. Her offense will come. Remember, she's still technically a freshman.

We'll have Bush, Ortiz, and Heide back on the bench next season plus Amaya Bonner.


For sure, so Happy for Mia!! I was fairly close to the her side of the floor when she hit her first three. I was relieved for her. What a confidence booster to hit that first three. Glad she made a second three, as her head is in the game. She is a very good player, and has made great progress. She plays terrific defense with the press. Mia was moving in sync with the opposition player. The Bears certainly are bringing excitement to Cal WBB, eventhough it may be at the end of the game. Cal does not get many breaks on fouls called against them. Their fight against teams having size and muscle is something to see. GO Bears on Wed. night at the Pac-12 tournament!!!!

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gljone said:

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From what I saw, Caitlyn did extend her right arm. Not the worse call I've seen from the Pac refs.

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Refs were good and didn't call many fouls. This one hurt because it would have gotten us within 3 after being 20 down in the fourth quarter.

SFCALBear72 said:

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I'm pleased that Mia Mastrov is getting more minutes. She played 20 minutes today; 14 minutes on Thursday. Charmin is calling her number more often now. She's good on defense. Her offense will come. Remember, she's still technically a freshman.

We'll have Bush, Ortiz, and Heide back on the bench next season plus Amaya Bonner.

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I talked to Jadyn and she is definitely coming back and really looking forward to it. She's the most fundamentally sound player. Alma said she's not 100% yet but should be next season.

stu said:

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One thing that worries me is we're getting so much or our scoring not from running the offense but from individual efforts. Nobody is being selfish, we're passing the ball when a shot isn't there, but we're not getting many easy ones.

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Yeah (she sighed). But the consistently coherent play, and the wins, will come. At this point I'm content, usually, to see Cal working hard and learning.