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Message: [QUOTE="Rooster C., post: 5325713, member: 10168"] California is up next: Cal had a fairly successful year one in the ACC finishing at 12 -6 (25 - 9 overall) and a 7th place finish in the conference. Heading in to this year Charmin Smith will be challenged to keep up that level of success. Her overall record as HC at Cal is a .476 win pct. with a .299 conference win pct (Pac-12/ACC). Last year Cal began the season and ended it unranked although it was a pretty decent team and they reached the NCAA as an 8 - seed but fell in the first round by 13 to Miss. St. A large part of Cal's success last year was due to players who are now gone. What was lost: #1 scorer/starter I. Krimili (5'10" G 14.1ppg),#4 scorer/starter U. Onyiah (6'3" F 12.4ppg/ 12 dbl-dbls), #5 scorer/starter K. Williams (5'7" G 11.1ppg) along with reserves J. Noble and N. Ackerman to graduation. The #3 scorer/starter M. Suarez (6'3" F 12.9ppg) left via the portal to TCU, along with BOTH of last year's new ranked recruits #56 K. Mafua (6'1" G/F) to Utah and #76 Z. King (5'10" G) to conference rival SMU. What remains: The #2 scorer and starter L. Twidale (Jr. 5'10" G 13.2ppg), along with 4 reserves who saw action a year ago in L. Donez (So. 5'11" G), G. Abigor (So. 6'3" C ), G. Maul (Jr. 5'11" G), and A. Drojouni (Jr. 5'11" G). Additionally returning bench players C. Langarita (Gr. 6'4" F) and walk -on S. Bowes (So. 5'10" G). It's not a lot. Transfers and incoming freshmen will play a larger role on this team than most. Incoming transfers: M. Sheppard (Jr. 5'10" G 3.9ppg last year from LSU), S. Walker (Gr. 6'5" C 2.0ppg last year with SC), and N. Ojukwu (So. 6'1" F 17.1ppg last year from Morgan St.). Incoming freshmen: #22 ranked A. "Puff" Morris (5'5" PG), #73 ranked T. Barnes (6'0" F), I. Johnson-Musa (5'10" G), and G. McCallop (5'10" G). I would expect the backcourt will consist of Twidale, Donez or Maul, Sheppard, and probably Morris the freshman. Reserves will be Donez or Maul (whichever doesn't start), Drojouni, Barnes, and possibly Ojukwu. The other 2 freshman will likely not see much action along with the walk on Bowes. In the front court it's going to be a rotation of Walker and Abigor with Langarita in reserve. The front court is looking thin and with any amount of foul trouble (which is likely) Coach Smith will have to resort to "Small Ball". I would expect a pretty steep decline with Cal this year outside of a miracle of some sort. They can compete but there just isn't enough playing/starting experience on this squad. This is a team that will take its lumps this year and hopefully gain enough experience for a better showing next year. Everyone can return next year outside of Walker and Langarita at the post. The question is will they ? After a bad season players tend to leave - especially the better ones who want to play for a contender. Of course we still haven't seen who Smith recruits for 2026 but even with some ranked players coming in she'll have to hope to land some better players through the portal at the end of this year. I would expect Cal to finish near the bottom of the conference around 14th - 18th. [/QUOTE]

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