The faculty basketball season suggestions off at present across the nation — and for the Cal Bears, midway the world over in opposition to Vanderbilt within the Oui-Play occasion in Paris.
Here’s a take a look at what’s new and what to search for this season from the Cal Bears, Stanford Cardinal, San Jose State Spartans, Santa Clara Broncos and Saint Mary’s Gaels.
CAL BEARS
Final season: 25-9, 12-6 (seventh within the ACC), reached the NCAA Match for the primary time since 2019
Head coach: Charmin Smith, seventh season, 81-89
Season opener: Nov. 3 at Adidas Enviornment in Paris, France
Projected starters: Junior guard Lulu Twidale (13.2 factors, 3.03 assists), sophomore ahead Naya Ojukwu (17.1 factors, 9 rebounds at Morgan State), graduate pupil middle Sakima Walker (1.4 factors, 0.7 rebounds at South Carolina), junior ahead Anastasia Drosouni (1.0 factors, 0.4 rebounds), junior guard Mjracle Sheppard (3.9 factors, 2.3 rebounds at LSU).
Stanford’s Tess Heal defends Calilfornia’s Lulu Twidale within the first quarter, Friday, Dec. 13, 2024, at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley, Calif. (Karl Mondon/Bay Space Information Group)
Key reserves: Junior guard Gisella Maul (1.3 factors, 1.5 rebounds), graduate pupil ahead Claudia Langarita, freshman ahead Taylor Barnes, sophomore guard Lola Donez, freshman guard Grace McCallop.
Strengths: Cal brings again Twidale, who will begin the season because the group’s major scoring possibility and added Ojukwu, a Morgan State switch who’s the following greatest scoring possibility and was initially recruited from Gonzaga. Walker, a South Carolina switch, and Sheppard, an LSU switch, each carry expertise from big-name packages and will see themselves getting vital roles within the rotation.
Weaknesses: Twidale is the one returning starter, so Cal has a variety of questions on who will contribute as a result of gamers on the group have restricted Division I expertise. Seven of Cal’s gamers are freshmen and sophomores. Exterior of Walker and Langarita, Cal is a bit undersized and will wrestle coping with bodily ACC opponents.
Outlook: Cal’s 25 wins had been probably the most throughout Smith’s tenure with the Golden Bears, and probably the most the college has had for the reason that 2012-13 season. Nonetheless, Cal misplaced 4 of its high 5 scorers from final season. Ioanna Krimili (14.1 factors), Kayala Williams (11.1 factors) and Ugonne Oniyah (12.4 factors) all graduated, and Marta Suarez transferred to TCU. Cal may have a new-look group and was picked to complete twelfth within the ACC in response to the preseason ballot.
STANFORD CARDINAL
Final season: 16-15, 8-10 (tied for tenth within the ACC), misplaced within the first spherical of the WBIT
Head coach: Kate Paye, second season, 16-15
Season opener: Nov. 3 vs. UNC Greensboro
Projected starters: Junior ahead Nunu Agara (15.8 factors, 7.6 rebounds), junior guard Chloe Clardy (10.2 factors, 2.58 assists), freshman guard Hailee Swain, junior ahead Courtney Ogden (5.9 factors, 2.9 rebounds), middle Kennedy Umeh (3.1 factors, 2.4 rebounds).
Stanford’s Nunu Agara #3 drives on Ohio State’s Ajae Petty #1 within the fourth quarter at Chase Heart in San Francisco, Calif., Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (Karl Mondon/Bay Space Information Group)
Key reserves: Freshman ahead Lara Somfai, freshman ahead Alexandra Eschmeyer, sophomore guard Wrenwyck Ijiwoye (3.4 factors, 0.9 assists), ahead Mary Ashley Stevenson (4.4 factors, 3.4 rebounds), senior guard Talana Lepolo (2.6 factors, 1.1 rebounds).
Strengths: Agara and Clardy are a robust scoring combo that would be the point of interest of the offense. Stanford additionally options three five-star freshman recruits — Swain, Somfai and Eschmeyer — on the roster , exhibiting that one down season didn’t harm this system’s recruiting energy. The 6-foot-5 Eschmeyer boosts the Cardinal’s frontcourt measurement alongside Umeh (6-4) and Somfai (6-3).
Weaknesses: Exterior of Agara and Clardy, Stanford doesn’t have one other confirmed scoring risk. Stanford can also be a really younger, with eight freshmen or sophomores on the roster. In a troublesome ACC, there could possibly be some rising pains early earlier than issues easy out.
Outlook: After a disappointing first season beneath Paye — the Cardinal missed the NCAA Match for the primary time in 37 seasons and performed within the Girls’s Basketball Invitation Match — Stanford had a really sturdy recruiting class with measurement and scoring capacity. Pairing that with retaining two of the group’s high three scorers, expectations are for a bounceback season. Stanford is projected to complete sixth in response to the preseason ACC ballot.
SAN JOSE STATE SPARTANS
Final season: 10-22, 3-15 (tenth within the Mountain West)
Head coach: Jonas Chatterton, first season.
Season opener: Nov. 8 at BYU
Projected starters: Senior guard Amira Brown (7.1 factors, 1.9 assists), junior guard Rylei Waugh (7.1 factors, 3.3 rebounds), Mecca Alexander (0.7 factors, 1.7 rebounds), ahead Maya Anderson (redshirted in 2024-25 however made 17 begins in 2023-24), ahead Harisa Mehmedovic (3.4 factors, 3.3 rebounds at Union County Faculty).
New San Jose State ladies’s basketball coach Jonas Chatterton. (Courtesy of San Jose State Athletics).
Key reserves: Senior guard McKenna Simons (1.5 factors, 0.8 rebounds at Grand Canyon), freshman ahead Gabriela Pato, junior guard Brianna McGee (switch from Redlands), junior ahead Amelie Sitterud (1.8 factors, 1.8 rebounds at LMU).
Strengths: Brown and Waugh are the one returners to begin double-digit video games for the Spartans final season and may be anticipated to hold the workload on offense. The 6-foot-1 Anderson returns after redshirting final season. Anderson has good measurement and scoring capacity as she averaged 5.4 factors whereas making 17 begins as a real freshman.
Weaknesses: The Spartans misplaced their high 5 scorers and high two rebounders from final season. The Spartans do not need a variety of measurement and will wrestle within the paint because the 6-foot-4 freshman Pato is the one participant on the roster over 6-foot-1.
Outlook: The Spartans determined to maneuver on from head coach April Phillips after they went 23-71, 8-46 over three seasons, hiring Chatterton, who had been the affiliate head coach at Oklahoma. The Spartans have completed within the backside three in convention play three straight years. It’s a brand new period now beneath Chatterton, however he may have a troublesome problem with San Jose State having to be constructed from the bottom up. The Mountain West preseason ballot has SJSU projected to complete final within the convention (twelfth).
SANTA CLARA BRONCOS
Final season: 14-17, 8-12 (eighth within the WCC)
Head coach: Loree Payne, first season.
Season opener: Nov. 3 vs. Stanislaus State
Projected starters: Graduate pupil ahead Sophie Glancey (18.1 factors, 9.6 rebounds at Northern Arizona), junior guard Maia Jones (12.2 factors, 2.7 assists at Saint Mary’s), graduate pupil guard Ashley Hawkins (18.9 factors, 4.9 assists at Gardner-Webb), junior ahead Kylee Fox (9.2 factors, 3.4 rebounds), junior ahead Ava Schmidt (3.3 factors, 2.6 rebounds at Northern Arizona).
Northern Arizona head coach Loree Payne calls out a play from the sidelines in opposition to Sacramento State through the first half of an NCAA faculty basketball recreation for the championship of the Large Sky ladies’s match in Boise, Idaho, Wednesday, March 8, 2023, in Boise, Idaho. Sacramento State gained 76-63. (AP Photograph/Steve Conner)
Key reserves: Sophomore guard Aniyah Hooker (6.0 factors, 2.4 assists – at Sienna), Reilly Clark (injured in 2024-25, switch from Northern Arizona), senior ahead Alana Goodchild (5.8 factors, 2 rebounds), freshman guard Maddy Warberg, freshman ahead Tyler Glidersleeve-Stiles.
Strengths: After 136 profession wins at Northern Arizona in eight seasons, most in class historical past, Payne arrived alongside together with her greatest participant from NAU. Glancey is a risk to attain and on the boards. Extra offensive arrived in Jones, who was St. Mary’s main scorer final season and Schmidt, hit 20 three pointers coming off the bench at Northern Arizona. Fox brings a bodily presence within the backcourt and as a sophomore was named a captain at Fresno State.
Weaknesses: Whereas Santa Clara has many confirmed starters, the reserves aren’t as polished. The Broncos reserves might be made up of gamers who haven’t seen a variety of division one actions exterior of Goodchild.
Outlook: Santa Clara introduced in large names within the switch portal and has a roster constructed of gamers with good measurement who can rating. Payne becoming a member of this system has Santa Clara projected to complete fifth within the West Coast Convention in response to the preseason ballot, which is three locations larger than the place they completed final season.
SAINT MARY’S GAELS
Final season: 14-17, 10-10 (sixth within the WCC)
Head coach: Jeff Cammon, third season, 27-35
Season opener: Nov. 4 at Wyoming
Projected starters: Graduate pupil guard Malia Latu (10.7 factors, 4.3 rebounds at Santa Clara), junior guard Emily Foy (8.3 factors, 2.9 rebounds), sophomore ahead Edie Clarke (3.3 factors, 2.4 factors) , senior ahead Georgia Grigoropoulou (4.4 factors, 4.7 rebounds at Santa Clara), junior ahead Abigail Shoff (7.1 factors, 3.7 rebounds).
Key reserves: Junior guard Jada Hunter (3.5 factors, 2.1 rebounds), junior guard Amy Kurkowski (2.6 factors, 1.8 rebounds), sophomore guard Mauriana Hashemian-Orr (2.3 factors, 2.1 rebounds), senior ahead Melesungu Afeaki (2.5 factors, 1.6 rebounds), junior guard Addi Wedin (6.5 factors, 2.8 rebounds in 2023-24, injured in 2024-25).
Lengthy Seashore State 49ers head coach Jeff Cammon on the sidelines throughout their first spherical recreation in opposition to CSU Fullerton within the Large West Girls’s Match at UCI’s Bren Occasions Heart in Irvine on Tuesday, March 12, 2019. Lengthy Seashore State defeated Cal State Fullerton 60-54. (Photograph by Kevin Sullivan, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Strengths: The Gaels beginning rotation is full of gamers with measurement who can rating the basketball. Foy, the WCC sixth lady of the 12 months in 2024-25, returns and may anticipate a much bigger function within the offense. Saint Mary’s additionally made noise within the switch portal buying Latu, an enormous scoring risk, and the 6-foot-3 Grigoropoulou, who’s a robust defender with a knack for getting rebounds.
Weaknesses: Latu, Foy and Shoff may probably be the one large scoring threats for the Gaels. The group has nice measurement and athleticism, however Latu is the one participant to common over ten factors per recreation on the Division I degree final season. The Gaels hope to develop among the youthful expertise on the roster into scorers.
Outlook: Saint Mary’s improved in convention play final season to 10-10 from 6-10 the earlier season. In 12 months three beneath Cammon, the Gaels hope to make a push for his or her first profitable convention file since 2018-19. Saint Mary’s is projected to complete seventh within the West Coast Convention in response to the preseason ballot.
