San Francisco Chronicle

Stanford, Cal look strong, but UCLA is coaches’ choice

- By Tom FitzGerald Tom FitzGerald is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tfitzgeral­d@ sfchronicl­e.com Twitter: @tomg fitzgerald

Stanford will try to return to the Final Four after making its fifth trip in nine years last season. Cal looks loaded, and so does Oregon, featuring former Miramonte-Orinda standout Sabrina Ionescu.

But the team picked to win the Pac-12 basketball championsh­ip in the coaches’ poll was UCLA, thanks mainly to allconfere­nce returnees Jordin Canada and Monique Billings.

Stanford and Oregon tied for second place in the poll, and Cal was fifth. Stanford and Cal were among the record seven Pac-12 teams that reached the NCAA Tournament last season.

Cardinal head coach Tara VanDerveer, armed with a three-year contract extension (which strangely was not announced by the school when it was reached in July), enters her 32nd season at Stanford with senior sharpshoot­er Brittany McPhee and standout Australian forward Alanna Smith. Last season, the Cardinal won the Pac-12 tournament, beating regular-season champ Oregon State in the final.

At Pac-12 media day Wednesday, VanDerveer said her freshman class, ranked fifth in the country by HoopGurlz, is as good as any incoming group she’s had at Stanford. Referring to one of the newcomers, she said, “I think Maya (Dodson) will dunk in a game.”

They’ll need to be strong quickly because Stanford plays UConn in the second game of the season, Nov. 10 at an Ohio State tournament. The Huskies have four starters back, plus Azura Stevens, a 6-foot-6 transfer from Duke who was AllACC in 2015-16, and freshman Megan Walker, the nation’s top recruit. Cal outlook: The bench may be more crowded than usual for Cal, at least when head coach Lindsay Gottlieb’s 5-month-old son, Jordan, and assistant coach Kai Felton’s 4-month-old son, Weston, are around.

Gottlieb, the Bears’ seventhyea­r coach, said she told her players she would be as approachab­le as ever, although “there may be a little guy in a bouncy chair next to us.”

All-Pac-12 forward Kristine Anigwe and point guard Asha Thomas are among four returning starters. Gottlieb called Anigwe “one of the best post players in the country” and said she’s delighted with “the best team chemistry since our Final Four team” in 2013.

As a result, she said, “We’re no longer on the rise. We’re here.”

Anigwe said she has worked on getting stronger and being a more rounded player. “I don’t want to be scoutable this year,” she said. “I want people to be surprised when they get on the court.” Oregon outlook: Despite having just two seniors and two juniors, Oregon looks ready to roll after reaching the Elite Eight for the first time in program history.

Even though the Ducks are one of the youngest teams in the country, head coach Kelly Graves said, “I know where we’ve been picked (second, in a tie with Stanford) by the other coaches. We’re not under the radar now.”

Ionescu, the conference’s Freshman of the Year last season, and Ruth Hebard give the Ducks a terrific 1-2 sophomore punch. Last year Hebard averaged 14.9 points and 8.2 rebounds, and Ionescu 14.6 points and 5.5 assists.

In the offseason, Ionescu said, “I worked a lot on my defense. I thought I was a defensive liability last year.”

She also gave the assembled media members a quick tutorial in how to pronounce her name. “All together now — it’s ‘yoNESS-koo,’ ” she said.

As if last year’s great recruiting class wasn’t enough, Graves added three internatio­nal standouts: forward Satou Sabally of Berlin; guard Aina Ayuso of Barcelona, Spain; and guard Anneli Maley of Melbourne, Australia.

“If you’re not recruiting internatio­nally, you’re doing a disservice to your team,” Graves said. “All three are going to impact us in a positive way.” Briefly: Former Long Beach State coach Jody Wynn takes over at Washington for Mike Neighbors, who left for Arkansas. Also gone is Kelsey Plum, the leading scorer in the history of women’s college basketball. … Oregon State added a 6-8 junior college transfer from Poland, Joanna Grymek. Her going to school in the U.S. wasn’t warmly welcomed back home, head coach Scott Rueck said. “She wanted to be the best she could be.”

 ?? Gabrielle Lurie / The Chronicle ?? Armed with a three-year contract extension, Tara VanDerveer and her Stanford team figure to stand out among the crowd.
Gabrielle Lurie / The Chronicle Armed with a three-year contract extension, Tara VanDerveer and her Stanford team figure to stand out among the crowd.
 ?? D. Ross Cameron / Special to The Chronicle ?? Cal forward Kristine Anigwe was All-Pac-12 last season.
D. Ross Cameron / Special to The Chronicle Cal forward Kristine Anigwe was All-Pac-12 last season.

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