...to get Cal Women's Hoops to the next level. Seems like they're getting some good talent but they can't put it together on the floor. I'm a big Smith fan and don't want to see her go, but something is definitely missing.

Patience and no more pandemics.

*injuries

I think to be in the upper tier you need at least 2 or 3 superstars with great supporting players and right now we have only 1 superstar and alot of average supporting players. We need more top quality bigs.(see Stanford) Taller top quality guards.(See Stanford) Everyone/every team had to deal with Covid. We had more injuries and more younger players than other teams. We don't have well experienced coaches like Tara, Corie, Adia, and Kelly. We need more top talent -not the level of what we are getting.-and we need them coming in each class-not just one every couple of years. Maybe next year Curry and Bonner will be the 2 superstars but they are still young so maybe also our lack of excellent upper classmen also contributed to the problem. I wonder what it would have been like if all of the last several people who transferred out were still with the team. You need to repeatedly recruit top players to win and you need to have a winning program to get the top recruits and unfortunately we have neither.

A good new coach.

Go Bears!

A dedicated practice facility with all the bells and whistles would be a great start.

And getting lucky with more players like Curry would help too. Realistically, a highly rated player is unlikely to choose Cal over most Pac-12 recruiting competitors right now, so Charmin and staff need to a) identify undervalued talent, and b) as mentioned, get lucky.

There are fewer basketball players every year (the long skilled athletes are shifting to volleyball) so that makes the task even harder.

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A good new coach.

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What do you see as the problem with our current coach?

The new female assistant coach did a good job improving Cal's offense last season. The male coach did not improve the post players enough, IMO. I also expected more improvement and implementation of pressing with Eliza Pierre on board but I didn't see enough there, either. The Bears lack weakside defensive help that even high school teams have. I don't know the specific areas that Charmin is in charge of but she needs to help out the two assistants that could use some help.

Observe Texas's pressure defense that will face Stanford on Sunday. Karisma Ortiz knows how to implement it because she played for the Longhorns last season. Earlier this season, Texas upset Stanford in Palo Alto. Some of the top teams remaining like South Carolina & Texas are doing it with defensive pressure.

wbbilluminati said:

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Recruiting. (as the jury is still out on coaching)

With the departure of Dalayah Daniels, that changes our front court recruiting needs.

Anybody seen 6'3" Mary Carter from Cal Stars?

4.0 GPA projecting as a big wing/swing forward in top 150 national ranking territory.

Another intriguing name is 6'2" PF Meadow Roland from Fresno, an athletic stock-riser also on the radar for at top 150 ranking.

Right now I'm crossing my fingers for 6'2" wing Jordy Griggs who started out at Mater Dei before family moved to Alabama/Georgia and 6'1" wing/forward Miya Verse from Arizona ranked #39 by ESPN.

Also, I'd like us to get involved with more international recruits!!!

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As per Raoul, there are at least 700 WBB players in the transfer portal. With all the coaching changes, many players are looking to go elsewhere. It's not just grad transfers.

Besides those from Colorado, any others on your radar?

I've always wondered how teams like Missouri State and these other schools have players who were not ranked but still manage to make the tournament most years and have good teams.

I love Charmin and the coaching staff but I always get the feeling they go for the home run recruits and when they can't get them the cupboard is left pretty bare. Look at Utah and their great freshman class and what they've accomplished without highly ranked recruits.

SFCALBear72 said:

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wbbilluminati said:

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Recruiting. (as the jury is still out on coaching)

With the departure of Dalayah Daniels, that changes our front court recruiting needs.

Anybody seen 6'3" Mary Carter from Cal Stars?

4.0 GPA projecting as a big wing/swing forward in top 150 national ranking territory.

Another intriguing name is 6'2" PF Meadow Roland from Fresno, an athletic stock-riser also on the radar for at top 150 ranking.

Right now I'm crossing my fingers for 6'2" wing Jordy Griggs who started out at Mater Dei before family moved to Alabama/Georgia and 6'1" wing/forward Miya Verse from Arizona ranked #39 by ESPN.

Also, I'd like us to get involved with more international recruits!!!

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As per Raoul, there are at least 700 WBB players in the transfer portal. With all the coaching changes, many players are looking to go elsewhere. It's not just grad transfers.

Besides those from Colorado, any others on your radar?

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At this point, avoiding any losses to transfers is considered a successful recruiting offseason lol.

Jillian Archer previously USC then Georgetown a 6'2" forward from LA with 2 yrs eligibility is maybe the one intriguing possibility but no clue what she's looking for. Her reputation was always a rebounder.

SFCALBear72 said:

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ClayK said:

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A dedicated practice facility with all the bells and whistles would be a great start.

And getting lucky with more players like Curry would help too. Realistically, a highly rated player is unlikely to choose Cal over most Pac-12 recruiting competitors right now, so Charmin and staff need to a) identify undervalued talent, and b) as mentioned, get lucky.

There are fewer basketball players every year (the long skilled athletes are shifting to volleyball) so that makes the task even harder.

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Repeating this point in different threads doesn't get it any closer to reality. I'm sure Coach Smith is lobbying very hard for such a facility. Getting it to the construction phase is above her pay grade. That would be AD Knowlton.

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What, you don't remember the practice facility the team had when they made the Final 4?!
Cal success in women's hoop isn't a so long ago to not be relevant. There isn't a singular answer (which I know is the only thing that matters on sports boards of this nature), but basketball in general is the easiest sport to turn around, because of the numbers. I also don't think you can dismiss the value of being in one of the best conferences in the nation....

As for past success, my sense is that the playing field is different now when it comes to recruiting. Almost all P-5 programs now have elaborate practice facilities, which was not the case 10 years ago. And I also think elite players look at basketball differently, seeing it as a viable career path even outside of the WNBA, and thus want to have a situation that will help them improve.

Note that football invested in a huge new weight room to keep up with the competition, and it certainly appears that a practice facility is the basketball equivalent.

ClayK said:

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As for past success, my sense is that the playing field is different now when it comes to recruiting. Almost all P-5 programs now have elaborate practice facilities, which was not the case 10 years ago. And I also think elite players look at basketball differently, seeing it as a viable career path even outside of the WNBA, and thus want to have a situation that will help them improve.

Note that football invested in a huge new weight room to keep up with the competition, and it certainly appears that a practice facility is the basketball equivalent.

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This is a good post, especially the part of about viable career paths.

As I have expressed before, I don't see the economics of a dedicated state of the art practice facility for basketball, absent some donor who wants a underwrite a facility to put his name on. In most P5 schools, comparing basketball to football falls apart when you start looking at the accounting. Tara doesn't seem to have any problems recruiting players even though she has to share dingy Maples with a bunch of other teams. She would rather have the money go to financing scholarships and assistant coach pay.

wifeisafurd said:

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ClayK said:

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As for past success, my sense is that the playing field is different now when it comes to recruiting. Almost all P-5 programs now have elaborate practice facilities, which was not the case 10 years ago. And I also think elite players look at basketball differently, seeing it as a viable career path even outside of the WNBA, and thus want to have a situation that will help them improve.

Note that football invested in a huge new weight room to keep up with the competition, and it certainly appears that a practice facility is the basketball equivalent.

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This is a good post, especially the part of about viable career paths.

As I have expressed before, I don't see the economics of a dedicated state of the art practice facility for basketball, absent some donor who wants a underwrite a facility to put his name on. In most P5 schools, comparing basketball to football falls apart when you start looking at the accounting. Tara doesn't seem to have any problems recruiting players even though she has to share dingy Maples with a bunch of other teams. She would rather have the money go to financing scholarships and assistant coach pay.

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Agree with Clay that the new world of WBB is more like MBB, and moving that direction even further every season

Part of that is Title IX and social media, but what will accelerate WBB's accent is NIL

But I do think we need a dedicated practice facility. Title IX and Cal's philosophy means it will also be home to other sports too, which makes it bigger and more expensive. Hopefully that draws some donors from those sports too.

Stanford has a gym that players use aside from Maples. Don't know if it's just for scholarship players, though.

Stanford has the smallest venue in the Pac 12, i think. Doesn't hurt their recruiting.