Gottlieb’s approach to slump: tough love
The Cal women had the day off Monday, but head coach Lindsay Gottlieb still clocked in.
She spent the day trying to perfect a message to give her team amid its worst stretch of the season, and she ultimately decided that video from the squad’s season-long, three-game losing streak would be abundantly clear.
“We’ve stunk,” Gottlieb said Thursday, a day ahead of hosting Colorado (12-11, 3-9 Pac-12). “We had a very blunt film session Tuesday. We reset some of our priorities, and I made sure I was very clear with our messaging. I think the players saw it, believe it and are ready to go out and execute it.
“I can’t wait for game day.”
This could be the defining point of the season for the Bears (15-8, 6-6), who have dropped out of the Top 25 during the skid. They’re still projected to make the NCAA Tournament, and tied for sixth in a loaded conference, they still can make a regularseason run.
But this team expected more from itself. After losing to then-No. 23 Missouri in November, Cal rattled off seven straight wins, a stretch during which it set defensive records and three-point shooting marks.
During the past three games — all against Top 25 opponents — the Bears have gotten away from what made them so successful. When under duress, they’ve taken chances on defense that break the integrity of the entire unit and have forced 1-on-5 and early shot-clock three-pointers.
“When it’s not easy for us, or when the opponent really digs into who they are, we tend to veer off track into things that aren’t going to help us,” Gottlieb said. “We need to be disciplined enough to stick to the game plan and have some non-negotiables, like transition defense and rebounding.
“It’s been a good week of being exposed to that and having to respond to that.”
Cal had a seven-game stretch when it limited each opponent to 60 or fewer points. The past two opponents averaged 79.5 points per game.
Cal is still in the middle of the Pac-12, shooting 32.6 percent from threepoint range. But the past four games haven’t helped — a span during which the Bears shot 8 for 55 (14.5 percent).
Gottlieb broke it down further. Cal is 5-for-41 in the past three games, and without Jaelyn Brown’s 3-for-4 effort against Oregon, the Bears would be 2-for-37 (5.4 percent).
“We feel like we’re at our bottom, and we want to bounce back from that,” Gottlieb said. “I genuinely feel if I say something critical or harsh or whether we just won a game or just lost, this team is ready to listen to the message, ready to learn and ready to try to do better. This conference is so good that that doesn’t get you a win. Just trying to be better isn’t enough, so I hope we’re also able to execute those things and play with the energy, passion and discipline to win games.
“I do think this is a team that hears me and is trying to rally from this low point.”
On the third anniversary of Dean Smith’s death, Gottlieb closed out practice Wednesday with one of his quotes. During an interview, author John Feinstein told Smith that he should be proud of helping to desegregate Chapel Hill, N.C., in 1958.
“John, you should never be proud of doing the right thing,” said Smith, who retired in 1997 with a then-Division I men’srecord 879 wins. “You should just do the right thing.”
That was the final piece of Gottlieb’s clear message to her team.