Lots of folks watching on TV, yes?

For a game so early in conference, it's an important one for Cal:
1) WSU is one of the teams Cal needs to beat if they want to make any noise in conference
2) Bears are at home
3) For confidence. 0-2 going into next week would not be good

GO BEARS!

Hopefully late arriving crowd. Looks smaller than Friday game.

One has to wonder why CJ & Sara are the focal points on offense for Cal to start this game. Not sure either have performed to that.

Might leave by halftime if they dont cut the lead down to 12! Quelastima!

Green is a great player. Love watching her when she doesn't have the ball, a mark of a truly great player!

Nightmare start: down 28-6 with a minute left in the first.

That is perhaps the worst quarter of basketball I have seen Cal women ever play. Lazy and not smart. CJ is a great person but she might want to move her feet on defense and make a layup on offense.

pearbear said:

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Nightmare start: down 28-6 with a minute left in the first.

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Just sat down at my computer - no TV here - and what?
Ok, I get scoring maybe only 6 in a 10 minute quarter -but giving up 31 points? How the heck does that happen? (Yeah, probably not a bit of defensive pressure - off to live stats to look)
Is there a mercy rule?

Why are they taking Yue out after she made a terrific pass to Evelyn though she blew another close shot.

Wow - those WSU stats are frightening - 83% shooting and 22 points (of 35) in the paint. It's not like they're bombing from outside or taking trips to the free throw line - and Cal isn't turning the ball over at an excessive rate - only 4 -
So, sounds like a matador defense.

Well, I hope I get to read about the miracle comeback setting all sorts of records in the process - but, I'm off to do other things. Sigh.

Great speech by Coach Smith at half time. She is spot on.

Cal down 25 after 1st quarter and Wazzu expands their lead out to 36 midway through 2nd period. Bears show some signs of life late and cut the deficit back to the first quarter margin of 25 points, 54-29.

As I predicted Chanelle Molina scored at will w/ 21 (9-12). Fortunately, Borislava Hristova picked up two fouls and sat out the final nine minutes. She is 4-5 from the floor and scored 11 points in 11 minutes. This could be the worst home court defeat of the modern era. Will it end up 108 to 58?

If Cal continues to shoot 15-25% from the floor while playing non-existent defense, I doubt that the Bears will be able to find anyone that inept to beat in the Pac 12.

Bears jump on Cougars 10-0 to start second half and cut their lead down to 15 points. However, WSU settles down and expands out their lead back to 24 by end of period. Molina is 11-14 and Hristova is 9-12 for 26 & 22 points, respectively. The dynamic duo is shooting 20-26 (77%) even better than I feared in my preview.

Final: Washington State 96, Cal 75. I predicted a 70-64 victory for the Bears. Cal scored enough but could not stop its opponent from shooting 62% from the field. The Cougars scored 32 points more than I anticipated. When is the last time an opponent registered 96 points in Berkeley on Cal's scoreboard?

Wazzu's high point totals so far this season BEFORE TODAY were victories over UCI (87), Pepperdine (85) & Arkansas-Pine Bluff (85). These were all home games in Pullman.

Cal's offense originates all on its frontline with Jaelyn Brown (20), Evelien Lutje Schipholt (15), Alaysia Styles (10) & CJ West (10). The four guards [Sara Anastasieska, Leilani McIntosh, Cailyn Crocker & Jazlyn Green] went 1-9 from three point land.

Could Cal possibly field a lineup of C CJ West , PF Evelien Lutje Schipholt, wing Jaelyn Brown, wing Alaysia Styles & PG Leilani McIntosh/Jazlyn Green? The bench would be weakened but the four best players would be on the court together. Just an idea...GO BEARS!

Their fast players played faster, their slow players played faster. The Cougar defense gave little space and Cal couldn't create their own.

They were well prepared for everything Cal threw at them. The Pac12 coaches have seen Cal's 2020 early games on film now. The lob-dog don't don't hunt no more.


Would be Cal assists were turnovers again-and-again.

The opponent from the north moved the rock, and appeared to have a big pot of of assists.

Bummer for sure, but a young rising team like Cal must learn from games like this for the future. Keep learning and pushing.

Just about everyone on Cal had a great one-on-one moment, build on it. There will be more of these moments if the ball moves better (passing.)

Chen Yue is a good passing big; like an Andrew Bogut. I don't mind her touching the ball on the perimeter and then she can get back on D and protect.the.rim. Someone's gotta do it on the transitions, OMG.

Schroeder71 said:

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Cal down 25 after 1st quarter and Wazzu expands their lead out to 36 midway through 2nd period. Bears show some signs of life late and cut the deficit back to the first quarter margin of 25 points, 54-29.

As I predicted Chanelle Molina scored at will w/ 21 (9-12). Fortunately, Borislava Hristova picked up two fouls and sat out the final nine minutes. She is 4-5 from the floor and scored 11 points in 11 minutes. This could be the worst home court defeat of the modern era. Will it end up 108 to 58?

If Cal continues to shoot 15-25% from the floor while playing non-existent defense, I doubt that the Bears will be able to find anyone that inept to beat in the Pac 12.

Bears jump on Cougars 10-0 to start second half and cut their lead down to 15 points. However, WSU settles down and expands out their lead back to 24 by end of period. Molina is 11-14 and Hristova is 9-12 for 26 & 22 points, respectively. The dynamic duo is shooting 20-26 (77%) even better than I feared in my preview.

Final: Washington State 96, Cal 75. I predicted a 70-64 victory for the Bears. Cal scored enough but could not stop its opponent from shooting 62% from the field. The Cougars scored 32 points more than I anticipated. When is the last time an opponent registered 96 points in Berkeley on Cal's scoreboard?

Wazzu's high point totals so far this season BEFORE TODAY were victories over UCI (87), Pepperdine (85) & Arkansas-Pine Bluff (85). These were all home games in Pullman.

Cal's offense originates all on its frontline with Jaelyn Brown (20), Evelien Lutje Schipholt (15), Alaysia Styles (10) & CJ West (10). The four guards [Sara Anastasieska, Leilani McIntosh, Cailyn Crocker & Jazlyn Green] went 1-9 from three point land.

Could Cal possibly field a lineup of C CJ West , PF Evelien Lutje Schipholt, wing Jaelyn Brown, wing Alaysia Styles & PG Leilani McIntosh/Jazlyn Green? The bench would be weakened but the four best players would be on the court together. Just an idea...GO BEARS!

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I think Coach Smith might take a serious look at this potential starting five going forward. Evelien has improved her shooting and free-throw shooting. Rebounding is her strength. She's also cut down on her personal fouls. Her presence would also help Alaysia. Sara might thrive coming off the bench. Less pressure and she could help ramp up the press defense like she did in the second half.

Whoa, some of us could hardly believe what we were seeing.....whatever Washington State did to shoot over 80% I want some for the Bears......Our team was coming back in the 3rd period, but made turnovers in the 4th quarter that hurt us getting under 18 points down. W.S. missed very few shots as the ball always seemed to find its way to the hoop for 2 more points. This game was a shock as the Bears have spoiled me by losing to good teams by very few points. I have spoken to two mothers this weekend whose daughters are freshman. I asked them if their daughters were happy at CAL. They seemed pleased, and said their daughters were very happy to be here. I have not heard one negative comment about Charmin starting with the day she was announced as Head Coach. I agree that it might be beneficial to start E. Lutje Schipolt instead of Sara. ELS gets to the basket, scores, and rebounds. Sara plays well for short periods. I give her much credit for getting herself back in shape to play after undergoing two back surgeries during her time at CAL. Charmin, her staff and players will keep working hard!!! GO BEARS!!.

I saw two games this week where Cal's freshie guards got schooled by opposing senior guards. That will probably happen a few more times but next season we should be stronger.

Gotta love Evelien. Her tenacity reminds me of Gennifer and Reshanda but Evelien has other skills. If she can expand her shooting range she'll be a terror.

Agree that we need to start our best combination of athletes and defenders at the outset. Every coach in the league is going to be in attack mode against us.

I have been to a lot of Cal games over the years. I've seen us with much worse teams playing number one teams in the nation. But I have never seen a beat down at the beginning of the game like what happened today. We certainly didn't lay any defense. Giving their two stars a lot of uncontested shots. But they made them and then the rest of the team started pouring it on.

But we are also not scoring ourselves in the beginning of the game. We usually miss a lot of uncontested shots. Some are even layups. We got down against Washington just the same. What is happening?

I really think Styles could be a scorer but she hesitates too much. She has a good midrange jumper. But she doesn't go all out.

Our point guards don't draw a lot of help from the opposing team because they are not threats to score. Contrary when Molina and Hristova penetrated they draw a lot of attention so their passes to open team mates are unmolested. Other team waits for a pass.

We are every bit an inside team as we were with Anigwe. It just doesn't go to one person. But the turnovers are the same.

We don't have a great three point shooting team. Brown and Green can occasionally eat it up but it is not as good as the last three years. Tonight "I thought we would pay better as we faced man to man again but we didn't shoot better.

Attendance was poor tonight. Can't get people to come out.

We did stage our usual second half comeback but we were too far behind. I was thinking when we down 30 plus that it was hard to imagine that Washington beat this team at their place handily. We could have beat Washington, but no prayer tonight.

Oh well, there is always Stanford .

By the way, it seemed the volume was a little softer tonight. Was that me or my imagination?

I'm OK with the freshman guards getting schooled in a conference game. To be expected. For me this game is on Coach Smith. She wanted to feature CJ and Sara at the start, which was a mistake from the start. Neither of them should be featured, period.

I could go on but there is no point. This loss is on the staff and they own it.

i find the comments on the WBB board better than the current MBB board

The WBB board is not rah rah or bashing. Just balanced commentary, good and bad, and I tend to agree with folks here a lot more than on the MBB board for some reason

refreshing

I totally agree with Evelien. She plays with such intensity and fight, and is athletic and scrappy. Once she improves here shot, look out

Overall I like our freshmen class. Jaz Green has talent. Just needs to gain experience.

Leilani is a solid PG, although her defense needs to improve a lot. As an undersized 1, this will be a multi-year effort

Crocker is the one player that is a question mark for me. She hasn't shown a lot, but she hasn't played a lot and is only a freshmen too, so maybe it will just take more time for her to show

With the Pac12 so strong this year, it's going to be a rough season. But that is what I originally projected. Then with a promising OOC result I started to think I may have under estimated the team initially.

Overall, where I'm at now, is the team is better than I expected, but in this conference, not nearly good enough to compete with the top half of the conference, and there will be no games that we should take lightly. If there were, we just played them.

On paper that was our most likely win of the season and we got blown out. Yuck.

I have somehow said it for years and it just keeps getting worse. I have never seen a team miss more layups. It's actually startlingly and now approaching fascinating. For a woman of her size and strength, CJ is a main culprit who gets ball in good position and then either rushes, goes up weak, or fails to use her body to shield.

blungld said:

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I have somehow said it for years and it just keeps getting worse. I have never seen a team miss more layups. It's actually startlingly and now approaching fascinating. For a woman of her size and strength, CJ is a main culprit who gets ball in good position and then either rushes, goes up weak, or fails to use her body to shield.

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The stats show CJ made 4 out of 7 so she couldn't have missed too many layups. I'm way more concerned about the defensive performance of our guards but I'm not upset because they're so inexperienced. I also didn't like the number of uncatchable passes aimed at our bigs in fast break situations but I'm happy to see them running.

HoopDreams said:

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i find the comments on the WBB board better than the current MBB board

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Me too. Though nobody asked I'll offer a few reasons:

I think loud posters get more attention than quiet ones, and since the MBB has so many more posts it necessarily has more loud ones. What I (thankfully) don't see on the WBB is the personal attacks common on the MBB.

Our men's fans are enduring a third consecutive terrible season and if there's any improvement it's hard to see. Our women's team has better talent, better stability in the program, and a terrific incoming 2020 class.

I think Charmin Smith is much more Berkeley than Mark Fox is. IMHO Fox got off to a bad start with many fans (including me) and doesn't seem to have improved that much.

wvitbear said:

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By the way, it seemed the volume was a little softer tonight. Was that me or my imagination?

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I arrived about 15 minutes before tip-off and found the volume tolerable. But from the Cal player introductions onwards I needed my earmuffs most of the time.

I would like to see what Charmin has to say and then what she does in response after watching the tape. Seems like we will need a half-time adjustment before and not just during the next game. I will be really surprised if she doesn't alter the starting line-up. I also think taking players out for a sit on the bench when they are playing poorly on defense or making careless TO's may be a necessary learning experience for this group. Have to get rid of some of these bad habits this season. I would also tell Styles to take a minimum of 12 shots each game. If she is not a scorer for us, no one else is going to be up for playing that role.

It should be remembered that Cal's freshman class consists of zero top 100 recruits, the sophomore class is non existent, there is but one player in the junior class (Styles) who I believe was a four star and only one of the four seniors (Brown) was a top recruit. So the Bears have only two four stars. Next year we have a top ten recruiting class coming in, so I imagine Charmin will suddenly become a much better coach.

Finnish Oski said:

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It should be remembered that Cal's freshman class consists of zero top 100 recruits, the sophomore class is non existent, there is but one player in the junior class (Styles) who I believe was a four star and only one of the four seniors (Brown) was a top recruit. So the Bears have only two four stars. Next year we have a top ten recruiting class coming in, so I imagine Charmin will suddenly become a much better coach.

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I believe Chen Yue was a four star recruit. Her official bio says: "Rated a four-star prospect and the No. 17 post player by ESPN HoopGurlz "

Finnish Oski said:

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It should be remembered that Cal's freshman class consists of zero top 100 recruits, the sophomore class is non existent, there is but one player in the junior class (Styles) who I believe was a four star and only one of the four seniors (Brown) was a top recruit.

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Per ESPN. FWIW PN ranked CJ #48 and Cailyn #66. Also Jazlen missed her junior year with an injury and Evelien didn't play in the USA so both were under the recruiting radar.

My guess is all 4 of our freshies will become solid players but we should expect growing pains this season.

Quote:

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Next year we have a top ten recruiting class coming in, so I imagine Charmin will suddenly become a much better coach.

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Yes, I think some of those players should be able to help right away. We may also have Mi'Cole Cayton and Naje Murray.

I had no idea CJ and Cailyn were so highly rated, as for Chen, she might have been a four star but anyone who saw her as a freshie would know that was a mistake. The point still remains that Charmin will be working with much more talent next year and hopefully ever onwards. I hasten to add that I don't make this point to in any way diminish the talents and efforts of our current squad. I greatly admire each one of them and expect to see them contribute to the development of the program.

(Deleted)

UrsineMaximus said:

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I'm OK with the freshman guards getting schooled in a conference game. To be expected. For me this game is on Coach Smith. She wanted to feature CJ and Sara at the start, which was a mistake from the start. Neither of them should be featured, period.

I could go on but there is no point. This loss is on the staff and they own it.

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So, are you saying C.J. and Sara should not be starters. Charmin does send subs in for them in the first Quarter. Of course, they do return. Maybe Charmin thinks it would be too much pressure for ELS, Jazzie or Cailyn to be starters. What do you mean by featuring C.J.and Sara. I am sure Charmin excepts full responsibility for the team's losses. Frankly, in the first quarter, Washington State could not miss. They shot over 8o to 84%. The team did make a come back in the 3rd quarter only to have W.S. to make another run in the 4th quarter. On some shots, it seems players just threw the ball towards the basket, and OMG it went in. Hopefully, Sunday's game was a fluke.

CJ has played well this year. she usually misses those shots in the first period and then settles down.

I have gone back and forth about Sara. She needs to play to fill in the rotation. But Green has more talent. But if you are considering which five play together then I don't know. Green can give a scoring boost off the bench. Although Schipholt is a wonderful player, she is not a shooter. She scores a lot of her points on garbage lays. Hard for her to post bigger layers. Putting her with Green gives us scoring off the bench,

In defense of ?Sara who hasn't shot well lately. When we finally had our defensive surge against /////////////wsu, it was Sara who came to play with extraordinary energy on defense. She played like, we are getting our asses kicked, we have to be more aggressive. I'm using my five fouls up.

One more note about Sara. She seems to be best when she drives left and doesn't come back to the right side. It is hard to stop a person going to their left if you are not used to defending that way. Why she doesn't do it more often , I don't know.