I cant even begin to rank all the teams. Besides automatically making the tournament would you consider anything less than a fourth place finish a disappointment? Obviously ...yes. Which teams are trending down? Which are staying about the same?

I think this season Cal, UCLA or OSU will win the Pac 12, I don't want to throw Stanford in the mix-Lol
Utes will be formidable...

I think OSU will be down but Stanford will do well. USC could do well, as they had some injuries last year to their guards. ASU will be worse. Wash and will be worse.

UCLA, Stanford & Cal return the most proven talent... Oregon State loses 3 of top 4 players but has good backups (especially their post player). ASU loses 4 of 5 backcourt players but returns all of their "bigs". Washington returns MVP Plum & breakout star, C Oshafor . Utah could surprise, too. GO BEARS!

We gon be championship

Schroeder71;842703344 said:

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UCLA, Stanford & Cal return the most proven talent... Oregon State loses 3 of top 4 players but has good backups (especially their post player). ASU loses 4 of 5 backcourt players but returns all of their "bigs". Washington returns MVP Plum & breakout star, C Oshafor . Utah could surprise, too. GO BEARS!

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Washington loses Walton, gains Romeo. Just can't leave Osahor open from the 3 point line. Last year Atchley exposed a weak defensive player and put us on our backs. Good coaching, actually.

Amend my prediction for Washington. For some reason i thought Plum was a senior last year. No wonder I couldn't find her on a WNBA roster. They also get a very good guard from Brookside Christian.

GATC;842703373 said:

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Washington loses Walton, gains Romeo. Just can't leave Osahor open from the 3 point line. Last year Atchley exposed a weak defensive player and put us on our backs. Good coaching, actually.

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..but Romeo probably will sit out a year.

OBear073akaSMFan;842703559 said:

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..but Romeo probably will sit out a year.

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Good point. That helps.

85 Fly;842703324 said:

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I think this season Cal, UCLA or OSU will win the Pac 12, I don't want to throw Stanford in the mix-Lol
Utes will be formidable...

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Cal has plenty of talent but little experience or depth at guard. We'll need to avoid injuries and play better than the sum of our parts.

stu;842703837 said:

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Cal has plenty of talent but little experience or depth at guard. We'll need to avoid injuries and play better than the sum of our parts.

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Toward the end of last year, we had become a very good defensive team. That should continue. Offense was our weakness. I think we can make a major leap forward there if Kristine can learn to pass back out of the double team, and if Thomas, Cayton and others can hit a better percentage of outside shots when that happens.

stu;842703837 said:

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Cal has plenty of talent but little experience or depth at guard. We'll need to avoid injuries and play better than the sum of our parts.

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We lost Gabby Green, gained Mi'Cole Cayton, Jaelyn Brown, C. J. West. Gained another year experience for 8 players. Lost Jeff Cammon, gained Wendale Farrow

We were 4-14 (10th) in conference last year but played very well in the Pac-12 tournament even in back to back games. Something went wrong once we got into conference play last year. Hopefully these problems have been fixed.

I get the feeling that Cayton will make a big impact defending players that we had trouble with last year. If we don't have to rely solely on our one dimensional game, we could be really good.

Let's say a 12-6 record can win the Pac-12 (which may be too low) ... that would be an eight-game turnaround for the Bears, which is asking a lot.

On the other hand, there's a lot of talent returning, and the chemistry might be better with an unhappy (or why did she transfer?) Green gone.

It's reasonable to expect Asha Thomas to improve, perhaps significantly, as she is not only now a Pac-12 veteran, she's one more year removed from her ACL. The real question, though, is whether Courtney Range can improve. I've always felt she's a very good player, but last year, she wasn't. She shot poorly and turned the ball over way too much, and she needs to take a step forward, both for Cal and her professional career.

It's always chancy to rely on freshmen, and though the recruits appear to be a quality group, expecting even one of them to be an impact player this year is optimistic. It could happen, but you never know ... remember all the chatter about Chen Yue on the board last year, and her impact was essentially zero. Of course she could be a force this year, but again, it's impossible to predict.

On RebKell, they have a thing where people predict the best possible outcome for their team, the worst possible, and the likely ...

For Cal, I'd say 20+ wins, a win in the NCAA tournament and a trip to the Pac-12 finals would be the best.

Injuries could lead to a complete disaster, as they could with any team, but barring that, if the freshmen can't contribute, Range stays the same and Davidson is overmatched as a starter, it could be hard to duplicate last year's 15 wins.

Middle ground: Close to 20 wins, win or two at Pac-12 tournament, first-round loss in NCAAs or a couple wins in the WNIT.

Hope I don't get crucified for this but... Green's departure should help us. My honest opinion. Excited for the energy and passion at the guard positions by Cayton and Thomas. We return one of the top posts in the country. If we stay injury free it should be a much better year.

BIG IF. Still can't believe we finished 15-17 last year...

Just need to confirm this- but Anastasieka is siting out this year, correct?

CalFanatic;842704285 said:

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Hope I don't get crucified for this but... Green's departure should help us. My honest opinion. Excited for the energy and passion at the guard positions by Cayton and Thomas. We return one of the top posts in the country. If we stay injury free it should be a much better year.

BIG IF. Still can't believe we finished 15-17 last year...

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I think the problem was with how we used her. Once she was given the green light for three point shooting, we had no chance of scoring regularly on those possessions.

annarborbear;842704287 said:

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I think the problem was with how we used her. Once she was given the green light for three point shooting, we had no chance of scoring regularly on those possessions.

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I'll never know why she wasn't posting up smaller guards. She came in with such high expectations and had such a unique skill set, but there always seemed to be something off about her engagement and effort. She often projected a dour energy that I couldn't shake or reconcile with her potential.

blungld;842704303 said:

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I'll never know why she wasn't posting up smaller guards.

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+1

I wish Gabby had worked more on her post game. She has the talent to be effective inside against anyone, not just guards. Think Jason Kidd. Then if her shooting ever came around she'd be unstoppable.

Quote:

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there always seemed to be something off about her engagement and effort.

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I thought she played with better intensity as a soph and I was looking forward to further improvement.

Last year was the best the Pac 12 has been as a league since i hAve been watching. Two teams in the final four.

Last year's Cal team , if it had been playing in a different yer would have made the NCAA's. This coming year will not have quite the depth of the previous year. So, I expect us to be better.

Relevant factors, IMHO:

[CODE] Talent Experience Depth Balance Chemistry

2015-16 good very low limited poor not so good
2016-17 good decent sufficient poor ?
2017-18 good good sufficient good ?[/CODE]

It sounds like Cayton and Smith are legit perimeter shooters, and Brown's perimeter shot is reportedly improving. If that's the case, Cal's offense can become more strategic and varied. With strong outside shooting, Cal's opponents won't be able to pack-the-post to help on Anigwe, Range, West and Davidson. The perimeter scoring threat will also open the lane for Wings and Guards to penetrate and get to the hoop. Could be a real tonic.

puget sound cal fan;842704382 said:

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It sounds like Cayton and Smith are legit perimeter shooters, and Brown's perimeter shot is reportedly improving. If that's the case, Cal's offense can become more strategic and varied. With strong outside shooting, Cal's opponents won't be able to pack-the-post to help on Anigwe, Range, West and Davidson. The perimeter scoring threat will also open the lane for Wings and Guards to penetrate and get to the hoop. Could be a real tonic.

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Cowling (39%), Thomas (36%), Range (33%) are good 3 point shooters. Range had an off year and should shoot a higher % next year. Davidson is lights out in practice. She should be better in games next year. We lost our worst outside shooter.

GATC;842704473 said:

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Cowling (39%), Thomas (36%), Range (33%) are good 3 point shooters. Range had an off year and should shoot a higher % next year. Davidson is lights out in practice. She should be better in games next year. We lost our worst outside shooter.

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Davidson played very well in the Pac-12 Tournament and seemed to find her stride at the end of the season. She then went on to play for the New Zealand National Women's team (Tall Ferns) this summer as they took on some Eastern European teams in preparation for the Olympics. Tremendous experience. Bodes well for this season.

CalFanatic;842704285 said:

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Hope I don't get crucified for this but... Green's departure should help us. My honest opinion. Excited for the energy and passion at the guard positions by Cayton and Thomas. We return one of the top posts in the country. If we stay injury free it should be a much better year.

BIG IF. Still can't believe we finished 15-17 last year...

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You haven't so far. I had the feeling that LG let Green do whatever she wanted (and played her a lot) because LG was thankful that she came here. I felt that she did that with Boyd as well. It appears that her handling of Anigwe indicates that LG is growing as a coach.