Cal spotlights Black women coaches
Weekend tournament also draws attention to lack of diversity in NCAA coaching ranks
Cal head coach Charmin Smith and the Bears will be highlighting more than basketball at this weekend's Raising the B.A.R Invitational.
Raising the B.A.R. — which stands for Basketball, Activism, Representation — is led by Black women head coaches. Previously dubbed the Cal Classic, the tournament doubles as a way to raise awareness for a glaring discrepancy in the demographics of NCAA coaches.
This weekend's tournament at Cal will be coached by Smith, SMU's Toyelle Wilson, Dawn Thornton of Arkansas PineBluff and Gardner-Webb's Alex Simmons.
“It's really important to me to highlight social-justice issues,” Smith said, “to continue the conversation around social justice and to emphasize the representation, or lack thereof, in the sport.”
In 2020, the most recent year in which full data is available, the NCAA demographics database reported that though 46% of women basketball players are Black, just 17% of D-I women's head coaches are Black women.
In the 2021 offseason, 17 D-I coaching vacancies were filled by Black women. But of the nine Power 5-conference vacancies, only two were filled by Black women. Last year, for the first time in D1 history, two Black head coaches — South Carolina's Dawn Staley and Arizona's Adia Barnes — led their teams to the Final Four in the same season. Twelve teams in last spring's NCAA Tournament teams had Black women head coaches.
“It's a position that has a ton of weight to it and a lot of pressure,” Smith said. “I'm extremely proud to be in a position that I have and I recognize a lot of people who look like me only get one shot at it, and sometimes the shot we get aren't as good as the opportunity other coaches get for their first-time experience.”
Smith's Bears (5-1) have been sharp behind 13 points per game from sophomore Jayda Curry and a strong supporting cast. Transfer Kemery Martin is averaging 11.2 points and Evelien Lutje Schipholt 10.2.
Cal will play Arkansas PineBluff on Saturday and SMU on Sunday.
Heal thriving
One of the most dynamic freshmen in the Bay Area has gotten off to a torrid start in Santa Clara. Tess Heal is averaging 17.4 points per game through her first eight while shooting 53.7%.
Heal won the first three WCC Freshman of the Week awards of the season and led the Broncos with 23 points in Saturday's 71-58 win over Washington in Las Vegas. She is the nation's sixth-leading scorer, the WCC's leading scorer, and is the highest-scoring freshman among the West Coast conferences (WCC, Pac-12, Mountain West, Big West, WAC, Big Sky).
In September, she helped Australia win the U18 Women's Asian Championship for the first time, which earned the Aussies a berth in the 2023 FIBA U19 Women's World Cup.
The Broncos (5-3) will take a three-game winning streak into Wednesday night's game against national No. 2 Stanford (8-1) at Maples Pavilion.
Pac-12 heat
Stanford was the universal preseason favorite to win the Pac-12 and that hasn't changed. But conference play won't be easy.
Arizona (No. 14), UCLA (15), Utah (16) and Oregon (19) are all in the AP Top 25. UCLA, especially, has turned heads. Led by an elite backcourt of Charisma Osborne and Kiki Rice, the Bruins have beaten Tennessee and South Dakota State as part of a 7-1 start. And Utah, which blew out Oklahoma last week to knock the Sooners out of the poll, has the second-best offense in the country (95 points per game).
Stanford opens Pac-12 play Dec. 23 when it hosts Cal.