There is actually going to be a chance to upset Baylor. They have a great record, but have not had a really strong schedule. They beat UConn, but lost to Stanford and had a close win over Arizona State. They lost their starting point guard at the beginning of the year and that remains a problem. We did lose to them by 40 in Waco two years ago, but Kristine was at that time way over-matched and had 11 TO's, along with very poor shooting by our guards. It will take great shooting this time, but the upset possibility is actually there. We will need to play aggressively and like we have nothing to lose.

Kristine should have extra motivation to have a good showing against fellow senior post Kalani Brown as the two will be competing for positioning in the imminent WNBA draft.

I expect Anigwe to have plenty of rebounds, though this is absolutely the toughest frontcourt in the country in Baylor's Brown and Cox. But I'd like to see Kristine relax a bit in taking her shots and hopefully knock down more than 6 field goals. Would be great to see her put up something like 25 points but it won't be easy. Brown is a big and strong 6'7" and Cox at 6'4" has ridiculously long arms, making her the best shot blocker I've seen in the country.

Big game from Kristine or not, I think our three-point shooting is most important as far as our chances for an upset.

I think a big key will be not overthinking the game plan. We are going to need some instinctive reactions as we had today and hope that the shots are dropping. Playing outside in against this particular team is about all that I would have on the drawing board.

All year long I have been waiting for all four three point shooters to be hot at the same time. This is the time to do it.

I love Cal and would love to see KA play in the Cal uniform another few games. But, beating #1 Baylor in Waco is very very tough. Here is how I see it:
. If Cal play like the first half against UNC, Baylor wins by 30.
. If Cal plays 40 minutes like the second half and the refs are kind to us (no cheap fouls on KA and not allowing Baylor to rough-up KA without being called for fouls) we may have a chance.

Go Bears!

calbear80 said:

---

I love Cal and would love to see KA play in the Cal uniform another few games. But, beating #1 Baylor in Waco is very very tough. Here is how I see it:
. If Cal play like the first half against UNC, Baylor wins by 30.
. If Cal plays 40 minutes like the second half and the refs are kind to us (no cheap fouls on KA and not allowing Baylor to rough-up KA without being called for fouls) we may have a chance.

Go Bears!

---

We do have a chance. We can choose how we play them and we can chose how we adjust to how they play us. We have a very talented team. We should be very competitive with them.

Look at the women's swim team who got the most out of everyone and battled through adversity to get a fantastic result. So proud of them.

Look at the women's softball team on how to put the players in situations where we get the least from them.

GATC said:

---

Look at the women's swim team who got the most out of everyone and battled through adversity to get a fantastic result.

---

Kudos to the women's swim team, but I don't think swimming is a team sport in the same way basketball is.

Box Scores

2014: 75-56 Baylor
http://www.espn.com/womens-college-basketball/boxscore?gameId=400548781

2017: 86-46 Baylor
http://www.espn.com/womens-college-basketball/boxscore?gameId=400947271

Both games featured poor shooting by Cal, too many turnovers, and big foul and rebound discrepancies.

We have a chance if our shooters get hot from long range and open things up for Anigwe inside, but of course the odds heavily favor Baylor.

Baylor also has very good parimeter defenders. DD Richards locks down who ever they put her on.

R90 said:

---

We have a chance if our shooters get hot from long range and open things up for Anigwe inside, but of course the odds heavily favor Baylor.

---

Absolutely correct. When we can hit from the outside it makes it easier on our team & Anigwe. We struggle immensely when our perimeter shooters struggle. Yesterday Brown's outside 3s were a god sent.

If Baylor can defend KA without double teaming we will be in trouble. If they do double, then it's our normal game plan if KA can score anyway, but I liked how she played in our UConn game. Received the pass, but kicked out to shooters.

If we can hit our shots, that will force Baylor from aggressively loading up on KA

To me, that's the winning formula

Will this be Chen's one shining moment?


Not sure how we can slow down Baylor's huge and talented posts, and 6-foot-7 Kalani Brown is not just tall, but huge and strong

It will hard for KA to avoid foul trouble and she will need some rest. CJ was one of the hero's in the first round win but can she fend off either of these two herself? She can only play so many minutes.

Chen Yue is also 6-7 and strong. She defended UNC's physical post one time and forced her to take a bad fade away shot.

I think this is Chen's big shot to really help this team

Well, if UCF men couldashoulda beat Duke, Cal women can beat Baylor.

Just noticed that Baylor have 2 frosh recruits that we were after, DeCosta, Aquira and Bickle, Caitlin. Both avg 6-7 minutes a game. Kind of surprise that Aguira is the 4th most 3pt shoots on the team considering the # of minutes she has played. Thought she would be more a power forward though she is only 6ft

Can she check more than one shooter at a time?

OBear073akaSMFan said:

---

Just noticed that Baylor have 2 frosh recruits that we were after, DeCosta, Aquira and Bickle, Caitlin. Both avg 6-7 minutes a game. Kind of surprise that Aguira is the 4th most 3pt shoots on the team considering the # of minutes she has played. Thought she would be more a power forward though she is only 6ft

---

Forbes and DeCosta were teammates on AA team

I think Recee Caldwell -- who has been much, much better than I thought she would be -- is the key here. If Baylor can make her disappear by guarding her with a superior athlete, Cal will struggle, I think. Asha Thomas is a good player, a very good player, but her lack of size will make it easier for Baylor control her (they have taller women who are just as athletic).

Anigwe will get hers, if the refs are somewhat cooperative, but if nothing is happening on the perimeter, it's going to be a hard game to win.

Baylor fan here. Hope we see a good game tonight I would make a few observations from BU perspective.

1. Jackson and Juicy have filled in just fine as point guards. We lost a talented player before the start of the season but have obviously adjusted quite well.

2. Caldwell played at Tech so we are very familiar with her talent over multiple games. Congrats on recruiting her.

3. Our 2 bigs off the bench have contributed significantly despite being freshmen. (Smith, Egbo)

4. Moon, guard, comes off the bench with speed, athleticism and zeal.

5. Kind of neat that we are both bears with Gold/yellow as a color.

6. Kalani gets all the press, but Cox is the bigger threat from every perspective

7. You better hope our bigs get in early foul trouble

8. Let the game begin.

fredbear said:

---

Baylor fan here. Hope we see a good game tonight I would make a few observations from BU perspective.

1. Jackson and Juicy have filled in just fine as point guards. We lost a talented player before the start of the season but have obviously adjusted quite well.

2. Caldwell played at Tech so we are very familiar with her talent over multiple games. Congrats on recruiting her.

3. Our 2 bigs off the bench have contributed significantly despite being freshmen. (Smith, Egbo)

4. Moon, guard, comes off the bench with speed, athleticism and zeal.

5. Kind of neat that we are both bears with Gold/yellow as a color.

6. Kalani gets all the press, but Cox is the bigger threat from every perspective

7. You better hope our bigs get in early foul trouble

8. Let the game begin.

---

Well, I have a lot of hope. But my hope is more that KA does not get into early foul trouble.
Cal has not been a good first half team most of the year, for whatever reason. So, hope will continue into at least the beginning of the third quarter.
Cal has some other bigs on the bench in Chen and Styles - so it's not necessarily all KA and West - if Cal's coach wants to use them to wear down Baylor bigs - but Gottlieb has never shown any inclination to play that game.

Um, Chen Yue has played 51 minutes all season ... if she is relied on for anything beyond cheerleading, Cal is in big trouble.

She has scored nine points, though. For the year ...

ClayK said:

---

Um, Chen Yue has played 51 minutes all season ... if she is relied on for anything beyond cheerleading, Cal is in big trouble.

She has scored nine points, though. For the year ...

---

All true, but she does have five fouls to give!

Yes, but can she be aggressive enough to foul someone?

In my own potential upset scenario, Chen would play no role whatsoever. Her appearance in last year's tournament as an emergency fill-in for Anigwe after not playing at all during the season did not go well.

Stanford completely shutdown both Baylor bigs in Palo Alto. The Cardinal posts both scored 9 points as role players. HC Tara Van Derveer can really devise unique defensive game plans. ASU lost by six points to Baylor in Tempe. Cal was 1-2 and 1-1, respectively, vs the Cardinal & the Sun Devils. Both Cal upsets were in Berkeley, however.

Baylor playing on their home court makes the difficulty of an upset twice as great. The second half of the UNC game was the best the Golden Bears have played this season (55 points) and in Waco. Cal would have to stay in the game in the first half which has not always been easy this season. I hope that Baylor only defends Kristine Anigwe with a single huge post like Kalani Brown. KA has to have a 20 point scoring game along with 3 of our 5 three point threats also "on" and registering double-digits.

Obviously, Cal has to be almost perfect and perhaps Baylor a bit flat for this to be tight. In 2017 and 2014, the Bay Area Bears fell by 40 & 20 points, respectively, to the Baylor Bears in Waco. It would shock the nation if the six Pac 12 teams remain (8-0) undefeated today with four more encounters...GO BEARS!

puget sound cal fan said:

---

Can she check more than one shooter at a time?

---

No but their other defenders are also very good. I just mentioned her because she is lock down.

People seem a bit overawed by Baylor. Cal played well early against UCONN and had some good wins in the season. More importantly, the Bears seem to be playing better the last few games. Baylor will be good, but our Bears (NOT LADY BEARS!!!) can certainly expect to be very competitive against Baylor. I agree that a slow start will be a problem, but in a big game like this, a slow start seems inlikely.

OBear073akaSMFan said:

---

Just noticed that Baylor have 2 frosh recruits that we were after, DeCosta, Aquira and Bickle, Caitlin. Both avg 6-7 minutes a game. Kind of surprise that Aguira is the 4th most 3pt shoots on the team considering the # of minutes she has played. Thought she would be more a power forward though she is only 6ft

---

I had mentioned before that Mulkey was transitioning DeCosta to the perimeter which will be her position at the next level. She has not gotten a lot of court time because injuries and learning to defend guards consistently required more experience. She hit 3 for four from three in their last game. She also has guard ball handling skills to go along with her natural quickness. If we remember she represented her 3x3 team at the worlds in the skill competition and took 3rd. She probably won't be really ready till next season.

ClayK said:

---

Anigwe will get hers, if the refs are somewhat cooperative, but if nothing is happening on the perimeter, it's going to be a hard game to win.

---

What drives me crazy sometimes is when she reaches in and get called for those "caught in the cookie jar" fouls. Those drive me crazy especially when she already has a number of fouls. We cannot afford her to be taken because of foul issues.

#4 seed South Carolina scored only 11 points vs Baylor in the first quarter of their Sweet 16 match-up. Baylor scored 24. This is on a neutral court.

Cal scored 16 to Baylor's 19 in the first quarter in Waco. Just sayin'.

baylor beat 4 seed by 25 points on a neutral court
baylor looks like the NC right now

Baylor just beat #2 seed Iowa by 32. Looking at the stats I see Baylor made more than twice as many FG and got almost twice as many rebounds! Early in the game I started wondering why Iowa wasn't trying more threes.

stu said:

---

Baylor just beat #2 seed Iowa by 32. Looking at the stats I see Baylor made more than twice as many FG and got almost twice as many rebounds! Early in the game I started wondering why Iowa wasn't trying more threes.

---

Oregon is looking pretty good against Baylor. Ahead by 1 with 5 minutes to go.

GATC said:

---

Oregon is looking pretty good against Baylor. Ahead by 1 with 5 minutes to go.

---

Oregon ended up losing 72-67. I didn't see the game but noticed Ionescu made 6 of 24 FG. Can anyone explain how that happened?

stu said:

---

GATC said:

---

Oregon is looking pretty good against Baylor. Ahead by 1 with 5 minutes to go.

---

Oregon ended up losing 72-67. I didn't see the game but noticed Ionescu made 6 of 24 FG. Can anyone explain how that happened?

---

I like Baylor over ND. Baylor has an absurd amount of physical talent. Muppet probably is a better coach, but not enough to make up the talent difference IMO.