Former prep #38 national overall Texas guard Gisella Maul signs

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MoragaBear
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12:09p, 5/23/24
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Cal Signs Gisella Maul
Former Texas Longhorn Joins Bears For 2024-25 Season

BERKELEY The California women's basketball team has added sophomore transfer Gisella Maul to its roster for the 2024-25 season, head coach Charmin Smith announced Thursday.

Maul, a 5-foot-11 guard from Cedar Park, Texas, transferred to Cal from the University of Texas.

"Gisella brings much-needed length and athleticism to our backcourt," Smith said. "She is a versatile guard who can score at all three levels and defend multiple positions. We wanted Gisella out of high school. I'm glad we got a second chance and she is all in on being a Bear. I loved hearing the clarity and determination in her voice as she articulated what she was looking for in this next stage of her journey. I believe Cal is the perfect fit."

Maul appeared in 27 games as a freshman with the Longhorns last season, including three NCAA Tournament games during Texas' run to the Elite Eight. She averaged 2.3 points per game in 9.3 minutes over the 27 games. Maul had a season-high nine points twice against Southern and High Point, and dished a season-high six assists against Texas Rio Grande Valley.

"I'm coming to Cal because they have so much to offer," Maul said. "From an academic and basketball standpoint, it feels like the perfect fit for me. The culture and environment here is unlike any other and I'm grateful to join the family. I'm excited to play for Charmin because she truly buys into her players. She's building something special at Cal and I'm excited to be a part of that."

Maul the 2021-22 Texas Gatorade Player of the Year and Texas Association of Basketball Coaches Player of the Year was the No. 38-ranked recruit (ESPN) out of Cedar Park High School in Cedar Park, Texas. She led Cedar Park to back-to-back Texas 5A state championships and only lost five games in the last three seasons. In the 2021-22 season, Maul led Cedar Park to a 37-0 record and averaged 25.6 points, 8.2 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 2.9 steals per game. Maul was named the class 5A State Championship Game MVP after leading the team to its first ever state title in 2021.
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SFCALBear72
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12:35p, 5/23/24
Thanks MB!!

Great add to the roster, Bears!!

Welcome Gisella!!!
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Schroeder71
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12:45p, 5/23/24
Gisella Maul was a bigtime scorer in high school in Texas. I hope that she can find that offensive punch at Cal. She did not receive many minutes as a freshman so it's hard to read much into her stats. Hopefully, the Bears will be able to score enough to win games in 2024-25.

Gisella Maul - Women's Basketball - University of Texas Athletics (texassports.com)

Is Charmin finished or is she still attempting to find a rebounding post or wing player? This year's transfers from the portal are a trio of guards. These players were probably the best talent that CS could bring to Cal. The position mix is kind of weird, however. No big bodies or players 6-0 or taller are among the transfer class. I hope that the ACC doesn't have a lot of size. Bears now have 8 guards out of 13 scholarship players. If one includes the walk-on guard, Sofia Bowes, it's nine guards out of fourteen. All of the guards stand 5-11 or less. I hope that she's able to land another front court transfer at this late stage of the recruiting cycle to balance out the 2024 class. GO BEARS!
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BearBint
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1:33p, 5/23/24
Wowie--lots of big, sweaty Cal Gals to watch next season! https://calbears.com/sports/womens-basketball/roster
"Don't get distracted, myself. Don't get distracted." Self-talk from a young relative
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RedlessWardrobe
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In reply to Schroeder71 • 2:23p, 5/23/24
Schroeder71 said:
Gisella Maul was a bigtime scorer in high school in Texas. I hope that she can find that offensive punch at Cal. She did not receive many minutes as a freshman so it's hard to read much into her stats. Hopefully, the Bears will be able to score enough to win games in 2024-25.

Gisella Maul - Women's Basketball - University of Texas Athletics (texassports.com)

Is Charmin finished or is she still attempting to find a rebounding post or wing player? This year's transfers from the portal are a trio of guards. These players were probably the best talent that CS could bring to Cal. The position mix is kind of weird, however. No big bodies or players 6-0 or taller are among the transfer class. I hope that the ACC doesn't have a lot of size. Bears now have 8 guards out of 13 scholarship players. If one includes the walk-on guard, Sofia Bowes, it's nine guards out of fourteen. All of the guards stand 5-11 or less. I hope that she's able to land another front court transfer at this late stage of the recruiting cycle to balance out the 2024 class. GO BEARS!
Michelle, Marta, Claudia, three tall players with experience. A big focus to the formula would be incoming freshman 6-3 Gaby Abigor. If Gaby has the ability to step in and give significant minutes let's hope we can have at least 2 of these four players on the court throughout the game. I know its a high expectation, but if it's met, the size factor becomes minimized. Only time will tell.
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smh
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2:36p, 5/23/24
pic from calbears..
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stu
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2:38p, 5/23/24
Gisella didn't play much as a freshie but shot .382 on threes and had a 2.1 assist/turnover ratio. She looks like a nice addition.

Our current roster shows 8 scholarship guards, most with good size. I could see us playing 4 guards at times, depending on whether we add another big and/or Kamryn or Gabrielle can contribute right away.
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SFCALBear72
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2:43p, 5/23/24
With significant depth, height and quickness at guard, you can ramp up the defensive pressure and create turnovers.
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Schroeder71
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4:27p, 5/23/24
RedlessWardrobe-The only two proven rebounders on Cal's roster are Michelle Onyiah and Marta Suarez. Claudia Langarita has turned into a soft inside player. She has been spending her time on the perimeter on offense looking for an open three. I hope that Claudia is told that she needs to become a rebounder next season.

Gabrielle Abigor has the size but played in a small school league in high school. Probably her play on the AAU club team (Jason Kidd's) would be a better barometer on her capabilities at the college level. I don't believe that she can be counted on to fill the void when Michelle and/or Marta get in early foul trouble. Those two are the most foul prone players on the team. Right now, Charmin will have Langarita and Abigor to substitute inside. I don't know about you, but I don't know whether they can do the job.

GO BEARS!
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bearchamp
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4:45p, 5/23/24
The roster looks stronger than last year. With some early wins, could be a tournament team.
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SFCALBear72
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In reply to Schroeder71 • 4:46p, 5/23/24
Schroeder71 said:
RedlessWardrobe-The only two proven rebounders on Cal's roster are Michelle Onyiah and Marta Suarez. Claudia Langarita has turned into a soft inside player. She has been spending her time on the perimeter on offense looking for an open three. I hope that Claudia is told that she needs to become a rebounder next season.

Gabrielle Abigor has the size but played in a small school league in high school. Probably her play on the AAU club team (Jason Kidd's) would be a better barometer on her capabilities at the college level. I don't believe that she can be counted on to fill the void when Michelle and/or Marta get in early foul trouble. Those two are the most foul prone players on the team. Right now, Charmin will have Langarita and Abigor to substitute inside. I don't know about you, but I don't know whether they can do the job.

GO BEARS!
Claudia missed 11 games at the beginning of the season as she recovered from an injury. You can't use last season to gauge her capabilities/strengths.

Assistant coach Travon Bryant who works with the post players was in his first year with the Bears last season. I'm sure he'll have a whole new approach going into this year. He now knows the strengths/weaknesses of Michelle, Marta and Claudia. He'll soon learn in June when players arrive for summer camp what help/guidance Kamryn and Gabrielle need.

Put away your impressions/judgments of this team based upon last year's outcomes. This team will have a whole new look and dynamics with all the new players arriving.
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brevity
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4:58p, 5/23/24
So... Miss Maul is a Bear? I feel like that opens up an endorsement opportunity.

Come to think of it, Charmin (the retail product) uses bears in its ad campaigns:



Where's all that Procter & Gamble NIL money? It's not going to Cincinnati or Xavier, as far as I know.

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annarborbear
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5:38p, 5/23/24
I don't think we have ever had this many unknowns heading into a season, with only five players returning, needing to rely on some key freshmen, and playing in a whole new league. Will just have to wait and see what happens.
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bearchamp
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7:56p, 5/23/24
As a matter of history, men's water polo climbed to domination with a series of freshman. Maybe here too.
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rollonyoubears
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8:35p, 5/23/24
Each time she scores, student section needs to yell: 'maul 'em Bears!'
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HoopDreams
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9:56p, 5/23/24
great signing!

some HS highlights


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mbBear
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In reply to Schroeder71 • 7:54a, 5/24/24
Schroeder71 said:
Gisella Maul was a bigtime scorer in high school in Texas. I hope that she can find that offensive punch at Cal. She did not receive many minutes as a freshman so it's hard to read much into her stats. Hopefully, the Bears will be able to score enough to win games in 2024-25.

Gisella Maul - Women's Basketball - University of Texas Athletics (texassports.com)

Is Charmin finished or is she still attempting to find a rebounding post or wing player? This year's transfers from the portal are a trio of guards. These players were probably the best talent that CS could bring to Cal. The position mix is kind of weird, however. No big bodies or players 6-0 or taller are among the transfer class. I hope that the ACC doesn't have a lot of size. Bears now have 8 guards out of 13 scholarship players. If one includes the walk-on guard, Sofia Bowes, it's nine guards out of fourteen. All of the guards stand 5-11 or less. I hope that she's able to land another front court transfer at this late stage of the recruiting cycle to balance out the 2024 class. GO BEARS!
Totally agree about the "Bears able to score enough to win games"!! In fact, I hope they are able to score one more than their opponents, more times than not!!!
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mbBear
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In reply to annarborbear • 7:57a, 5/24/24
annarborbear said:
I don't think we have ever had this many unknowns heading into a season, with only five players returning, needing to rely on some key freshmen, and playing in a whole new league. Will just have to wait and see what happens.
Well, in the age of the portal, I guess that's going to happen more than ever before? Not my favorite thing, that's for sure...
Also: if a team isn't good enough to make the tournament, isn't turnover probably a good thing? I know you didn't say it was bad, just putting that out there...
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mbBear
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In reply to stu • 8:11a, 5/24/24
stu said:
Gisella didn't play much as a freshie but shot .382 on threes and had a 2.1 assist/turnover ratio. She looks like a nice addition.

Our current roster shows 8 scholarship guards, most with good size. I could see us playing 4 guards at times, depending on whether we add another big and/or Kamryn or Gabrielle can contribute right away.
Just to give further context, reminder: Texas made the Elite 8, after winning the Big 12 championship. They were 33-5. So, I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that there were some pretty good players getting the minutes for the Horns.
I will take her practice experiences/competition over someone playing at a much lower level....
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ClayK
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8:29a, 5/24/24
Maul looks like she could be a solid addition, but her minutes declined toward the end of the season -- which is odd because Texas lost Rori Harmon in December, which obviously affected the rotation.

Texas did sign Jordan Lee (from St. Mary's of Stockton) and Laila Phelia from Michigan, both of whom are tall perimeter players, so Maul may have either seen, or was forced to look at, the writing on the wall.

It would be really helpful if she stepped in, took over a starting spot and was a double-digit scorer.

As for Gabrielle Abigor, I think she has a ways to go to be an ACC-level contributor. She's athletic and a good rim protector, but she doesn't shoot well and most of her high school points came inside against inferior opposition. Down the road, she could be effective, I think.

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wvitbear
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9:25a, 5/24/24
Claudia wasn't a rebounder the year before either. She is not a rebounder.
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annarborbear
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In reply to mbBear • 9:29a, 5/24/24
mbBear said:
annarborbear said:
I don't think we have ever had this many unknowns heading into a season, with only five players returning, needing to rely on some key freshmen, and playing in a whole new league. Will just have to wait and see what happens.
Well, in the age of the portal, I guess that's going to happen more than ever before? Not my favorite thing, that's for sure...
Also: if a team isn't good enough to make the tournament, isn't turnover probably a good thing? I know you didn't say it was bad, just putting that out there...
In this situation, we will not only have to wait to see how individual players will do, we will also have to see how our players will all fit together. And then we will face 16 new teams in a new league, along with Stanford which now has a different coach and its own roster turnover. This will actually make for a very interesting season to watch, but impossible to predict the outcome.

The ACC does conduct a pre-season poll of its coaches and others right before the season starts. That will give us an idea of what their own experts think will happen.

Obviously, making the NCAA tournament does need to be our own performance standard. But not sure at this point what is going to happen or not happen this year.
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Ashfield63
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In reply to Schroeder71 • 11:41a, 5/24/24
Schroeder71 said:
Gisella Maul was a bigtime scorer in high school in Texas. I hope that she can find that offensive punch at Cal. She did not receive many minutes as a freshman so it's hard to read much into her stats. Hopefully, the Bears will be able to score enough to win games in 2024-25.

Gisella Maul - Women's Basketball - University of Texas Athletics (texassports.com)

Is Charmin finished or is she still attempting to find a rebounding post or wing player? This year's transfers from the portal are a trio of guards. These players were probably the best talent that CS could bring to Cal. The position mix is kind of weird, however. No big bodies or players 6-0 or taller are among the transfer class. I hope that the ACC doesn't have a lot of size. Bears now have 8 guards out of 13 scholarship players. If one includes the walk-on guard, Sofia Bowes, it's nine guards out of fourteen. All of the guards stand 5-11 or less. I hope that she's able to land another front court transfer at this late stage of the recruiting cycle to balance out the 2024 class. GO BEARS!

Texas has great guards, so not concerned Gisella played limited minutes for the terrific Texas team. They play exciting basketball.
GGV
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CalFanatic
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11:17p, 5/24/24
2 defensive all-conference veterans and a former top 40 offensive threat? Sounds like a pretty darn good portal class to me!
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HoopDreams
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10:06a, 5/25/24
Ok then, need another big… maybe overseas player

EP was in Australia
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annarborbear
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11:04a, 5/27/24
Have been reading more about Gisella Maul and learned that she suffered a torn ACL in AAU ball after her last high school season. So her limited minutes at Texas may have been due to continued recovery from that. Hopefully, she will be fully recovered this coming year. She is very talented and a very hard worker.
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