Smith sees Bears getting better, but next step elusive
LAS VEGAS — Charmin Smith brought four outfits to Las Vegas. Her Cal women's basketball team had won four conference games all season, but she had reason to believe Cal had turned a corner.
Realistically, she knew this season might not extend beyond the Pac-12 tournament, in which Cal was the 10th seed and — with a 13-17 record — was not bound for the WNIT, either. But this group had taken some steps her other teams hadn't since before the pandemic. A top-25 win over USC in the final home game marked progress.
“First it was Oregon State, and it was like OK, we were able to win a Pac-12 game,” Smith said. “Then with USC, it was beating a top 25 (team). I think that gives us a lot of confidence, getting that signature win is a big deal.”
The Bears, who lost by less than 12 points to Stanford, Notre Dame, and Colorado, had been close several times. Their firstround loss to Washington State was similar; Cal led by as much as 14 in the third quarter but couldn't stop the Cougars' push.
That's how this season felt throughout: so close, but lacking the ability to close out.
Some of that was Cal's reliance on sophomore Jayda Curry, who averaged 15.5 points after leading the conference in scoring as a freshman. They also lacked experience in big moments, and depth to hold off a team that could rotate.
“A good friend of mine, Angela Taylor, she told me, ‘you can't skip steps in building it.'” Smith said. “And I shared that with the team. It's like, this is our journey, this is our process, we can't skip the steps, even the painful ones.”
Cal will bring back Curry as a junior, and senior starting point guard Leilani McIntosh announced she would be back for a fifth season. Starting shooting guard Kemery Martin will also be back as a junior, and 6-foot-4 power forward Claudia Langarita will likely earn a larger role.
Mia Mastrov showed promise in flashes off the bench, four-star prospect Amaya Bonner should also see more time, and incoming freshman Lulu Laditan-Twidale is a guard who captained the Australian National Under-17 team that qualified for the 2022 FIBA U17 Women's Basketball World Cup.
The path this season for Cal has been a source of frustration, but also hope.
“This team that we have right now would murder last year's team,” she said. “We're so much better, and next year we'll be even better. Just keep building it and stay with the process here.”
Smith has won 10 combined conference games since taking over in 2019, right before the pandemic began. The Bears had eight conference games postponed, more than any other team in the conference in 2020-21.
The Bears won't have it easy in a Pac-12 that seems to be getting better. Tournament seventh seed Washington State won the conference championship starting with its comeback win over Cal and eight Pac-12 teams are projected to be in the NCAA Tournament.
It might still be a few years away before the Bears see legitimate growth in the Pac-12, but Smith is determined to bring Cal back to relevance. It was a tough job, replacing Lindsay Gottlieb, and then the pandemic struck. It's not going to happen overnight.
The theme of nearly every postgame presser during the season was Smith wanting more time for her team. She didn't get it this time, but did get one thing she wanted: for Cal to be tough to play against, something she tried to instill since the first day of the season.
“It isn't easy playing against Cal,” Smith said. “I think everyone in the conference would agree with that. We still have some growth to do and some pieces to put together. But I think we've held our own in this conference.”