Bears brace for make-or-break stretch
The Cal women’s basketball team is in free fall.
Once considered a possible Elite 8 team and probable NCAA Tournament host site, the Bears are now on the cusp of missing the tournament altogether.
Nobody feels that more intimately and can speak about it in a more informed fashion than Lindsay Gottlieb.
“I think there’s a little bit of unluckiness with having lost several of the one- to three-possession games, but at this point, that’s who you are. I’m not sugarcoating it in any way,” the Bears’ head coach said. “Big picture, I’m like: ‘How the eff are we here?’ But little by little, it’s obvious . ...
“No one is more disappointed in the results than I am, but what are your options? Your only option is to say: ‘Let’s get it together from here. We have the capability. This is our story. Let’s do something special.’ ”
Cal — once 9-0 and No. 1 in the RPI — has lost five straight games, its longest skid in three years. But back in January 2016, would-be alltime leading scorer Kristine Anigwe and eventual most prolific 3-point shooter Asha Thomas barely knew how to find their classrooms.
Now seniors, Anigwe and Thomas — along with grad-transfer guard Recee Caldwell — were supposed to lead Cal back to the glory of the 2013 Final Four team. Maybe they still will, but Berkeley isn’t looking so beautiful right now.
The Bears (14-11, 5-9 Pac-12) play No. 17 Arizona State on Friday and Arizona in the season’s home finale Sunday — two opportunities to boost a No. 47 RPI before closing the regular season at the Washington schools.
“Thank goodness, our fate is in our control,” Gottlieb said. “A Pac-12 championship isn’t in our control. An NCAA home seed isn’t in our control. But, being in the tournament, finishing strong and giving ourselves a chance, all of that’s in our control.
“But, there are no more learning lessons. There’s no more figuring it out. This is do-or-die time, relative to basketball.”
Cal’s skid has included losses to three top-10 teams, three during which it has trailed by three points or fewer in the final 90 seconds and two during which it led in the fourth quarter.
In its most recent losses — a Los Angeles sweep last weekend — Cal had distinctly different problems.
Against USC, the Bears didn’t play very hard, were awful in transition and took bad shots in the clutch. Two days later at UCLA, they committed 16 turnovers and handed out offensive rebounds (14) for free.
“There’s still a lot to play for,” Gottlieb said. “None of this makes me think any differently about this team or these seniors. It only makes me more compelled to say: ‘There is only one option at this point. We have to fight our way to the highest level of our capabilities.’
“We’re going to finish differently. I believe that.”