I forget whether that gorgeous big Greek girl is a forward or a center. Whatever, I hope she's strong enough to do some damage.

redless, charmin doesn't have until summer to figure out how to play naya at her natural 4 (as hoop dreams has observed she is a defensive liability against true 5s with height & length), she needs to start playing okuwku 35+ minutes now mostly at the 4 with sakima (if healthy) at the 5 with both players on the court

otherwise this team will continue to lose the majority of the acc games & naya will be in the portal unless she truly values a berkeley degree above all else

keep in mind that charmin 100% wasted the talents of her last 4 michelle onyiah by not playing her at the 4 too where she wouldn't struggle to defend more physical 5s, smith also failed to correct onyiah's "victim" belief that somehow the refs wuz working against her which caused shocky to write a season long monster thread documenting every foul against her to validate that there wuz no secret agenda by the refs against her

it wuz very concerning to meet with michelle in person during multiple football games that september to hear her talk about the refs secret agenda against her, i asked her if she'd spoken to charmin about this & she gave me the impression that smith agreed with her...that's when shocky tole michelle that there wuz zero chance there wuz a nationwide ref agenda against her and that i would document every foul called against her to document this fact...tole her it would her mitigate her fouling proclivity if she played fundamentally sound d with the principle of verticality and not body up opposing bigs so often along with not leading the nation in setting moving screens (which is taught at the junior high level by responsible coaches) which at least made her smile

summer is way too late for smith to start figuring out **** like how to utilize the special talents of naya but as a career sub .300 conference winning coach it wouldn't surprise me if she keeps doing the same ol **** and just hopes for different outcomes

72, the odds of charmin finding a 6'6" post with the academics to be accepted at cal for a losing program are realistically very very small

the incoming posts are not gonna be able to compete with elite acc posts in their 1st year of college, if naya leaves it's hard to imagine this team winning many if any acc games

keep in mind this is all the head coach's doing, she absolutely wasted gabby's talents during her time in berkeley by not putting her on the floor as a defensive/rebounding 5 while protecting michelle from foul trouble as a 4 and playing zone at times

and now gabby is gone for good

nobody with a basketball background would think that the seriously and often injured claudia wuz gonna play "significant" minutes

SFCALBear72 said:

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RedlessWardrobe said:

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HoopDreams said:

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Naya is absolutely a key player for this season and next, but of course she can't play center full time defensively

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Yes, Charmin needs to keep Naya. Then moving forward it is imperative that over the summer Charmin implements an additional offensive rotation that uses Naya's skill set enabling her to play as a 4 when she's in the game. If done correctly, it will not have a negative impact on recruiting or anything like that. Hope to see it.

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She was hoping to get significant minutes from Claudia.

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Really? Don't see how this was possible after the last couple years

kc1121 said:

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SFCALBear72 said:

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RedlessWardrobe said:

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HoopDreams said:

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Naya is absolutely a key player for this season and next, but of course she can't play center full time defensively

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Yes, Charmin needs to keep Naya. Then moving forward it is imperative that over the summer Charmin implements an additional offensive rotation that uses Naya's skill set enabling her to play as a 4 when she's in the game. If done correctly, it will not have a negative impact on recruiting or anything like that. Hope to see it.

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She was hoping to get significant minutes from Claudia.

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Really? Don't see how this was possible after the last couple years

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Yes. That was the preseason expectation. Plus, she's 6'4.

She supposedly resolved much of her injury issues by having surgery last year. Now, it sems to be an "illness" which is keeping her off the court.

In her first season with us (sophomore year), she played in 25 games (averaged 12.7 minutes).
Junior year, 24 games (averaged 9.7 minutes). She's played in 10 games thus far this season; averaged 7.4 minutes.

Shocky1 said:

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redless, charmin doesn't have until summer to figure out how to play naya at her natural 4 (as hoop dreams has observed she is a defensive liability against true 5s with height & length), she needs to start playing okuwku 35+ minutes now mostly at the 4 with sakima (if healthy) at the 5 with both players on the court

otherwise this team will continue to lost the majority of the acc games & naya will be in the portal unless she truly values a berkeley degree above all else

keep in mind that charmin 100% wasted the talents of her last 4 michelle onyiah by not playing her at the 4 too where she wouldn't struggle to defend more physical 5s, smith also failed to correct onyiah's "victim" belief that somehow the refs wuz working against her which caused shocky to write a season long monster thread documenting every hole against her to validate that there wuz no secret agenda but he refs against her

summer is way too late for smith to start figuring out **** but as a career sub .300 conference winning coach it wouldn't surprise me if she keeps doing the same ol **** and just hopes for different outcomes

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Shocky, I actually hear you. The only reason I mentioned "this summer" is that some posters on this board have declared it impossible for it to be done in the middle of the year. I was doing my best not to draw that recurring reaction, because I'm trying to avoid conflict these days. But to your point I will go ahead and reitrerate, I refuse to believe that in today's world of Women's College Basketball, the only way a team can be successful running a half court offense is with a 4 that has the ability to shoot 3 pointers. A good coach should have no problem running a rotation that takes advantage of a player like Naya, even at the 4 spot. And a decent women's CBB player should be able to learn and execute more than one type of offensive rotation. Naya as a 4 can give this team an added dimension. It should be implemented.

My guess is that Cal along with the other 362 Division 1 teams could all be looking for the same thing in the Portal

Yeah, even when she got limited playing time earlier this season, there were a couple times where they showed her with the back belt/support while on the bench.

In her Cal career, she's averaged 2.8ppg and 1.3rpg with 16 career blocks and 16 3s
22-23 3.9ppg 1.3rpg
23-24 2.1ppg 1.5rpg
25-26 1.9ppg 0.7rpg

woodacre, the challenge for cal is that it's competing for elite posts with other power 4 conferences with better attendance (which impacts attendance) and more successful nil fundraising

yeah cal will be able to bring in a mid major post with no effort but that's not gonna win acc games, it's gonna take serious nil dollars to secure another sakima

would also mention that in my pre season conversations with michelle she made a point of coming over to my 50 yard line perch at memorial stadium to chat it up, i would've made a point in addressing onyiah's victim mentality with the head coach if she had made a point of being visible/available on football gamedays kinda like lindsay gottlieb relentlesslly did back in the day during a final four era of wbb excellence...linday wuz the one who asked me to start the 100,000+ views sabrina ionesco thread at this site & actually introduced me and hoop dreams to her parents on her official visit to berkeley

Either your four or your five needs to be able to make 15-footers -- or better yet, threes. If neither has no offensive presence except at the rim, it's a major problem.

clay, cal wbb may lose every remaining acc game this season, that's a problem not the silly comment that women college basketball players need to be able to make 15 footers or else they need to sit on the bench

ur rigid views in the days of portionless basketball are OUTDATED, my most recent discussions re: naya have been with my golf buddy jim pitman who wuz the general manager for the phoenix mercury when they won wnba championships

but believe wut u want, good luck in ur high school season

Last Wednesday Cal and Syracuse played for 55 minutes.

Syracuse's center (Izoge) and two 4's (Almon & Thompson) were an aggregate 0/0 from 3 point land.

Cal's center (Walker) and two 4's (Barnes & Ojukwu-some minutes at the 5) were an aggregate 1/3 from 3 point land.

102 minutes total for the 3 Syracuse players, 106 minutes total for the 3 Cal players.

How did either of these teams play with such an outlandish strategy without it becoming a major problem? Hmmm.

lola played 43 minutes (significantly more minutes than any naya game this season) at the 4 hybrid 3 and scored ZERO points vs syracuse, trust me charmin is not requiring the ability to make an open 15 footer a requirement to get playing time

in that game naya scored 25 points in 24 minutes

I guess it depends on the quality of the players, but Caldwell, Brandon and Grey rotated the 4/5 positions while taking no perimeter shots whatsoever. And, yes, the three-point shot line was in effect back then as well.

And I agree on Lola. I follow the plus/minus stats, and her's are mostly negative. And the minutes Lola got last year, while not contributing much, could have been used to develop King.

Except Lola was a better defender. And could run the point better if she had to.

wvitbear said:

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Except Lola was a better defender. And could run the point better if she had to.

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Not sure of your evidence on her defense. Seems like everyone wants to downplay King now that she has confirmed that she is capable of scoring 40 in an ACC game and with a very high shooting percentage. But nothing we can do about it now.

Really sad to see her transfer. A top ranked recruit with size, athleticism and potential

I didn't think she was ready for PG as she was turn over prone but she was just a freshie

She's now the best player on her team as only a soph and has all-conference potential ahead of her

Absolutely would have been key at Cal at SG and PG as a combo

Wow, so not having the right balance of outside/inside players cost us in the final four. The final four? In my world, if the problem is occuring in the NCAA Final Four, I will take it every time.

In the Final Four game, we had a 10 point lead at the half. Then Louisville turned up the pressure, the refs relaxed their calls, and we had 10 TO's. On the defensive end, one of their guards made five three pointers. Our potential third guard would have been. Eliza, who offered no offense, or Mikayla, who was not quick on defense. So, amazingly, our coaches continued to use the same line-up that got us to the Final Four in the first place,

And contrast that to last year, when we got blown out in the first round. while shooting 25% from the field, 3-21 on threes (14%), and committing 24 TO's.

clay, appreciate your clarifications, think we're actually both on the same page that cal's "best" lineup is sakima and naya on the floor together

yeah we're in agreement it's not perfect but it's 1000% better than the current coaching ****show which is gonna run off naya unless she values a berkeley degree above all else

fyi, my golf buddy jim pitman (a phx sun employee) wuz the general manager for the championship phx mercury WNBA franchise that often played 2 physically active posts with limited perimeter shooting skillz

I am confident that 6-2 Aussie Zara Russell can shoot from the outside. Also, the Aussie PG is supposedly an adept outside shooter. GO BEARS!