Tonight at 6:00 PM PST on Pac-12 Networks, Cal women's basketball will take on the UCLA Bruins. Cal is the #10 seed in the Pac-12 tournament and UCLA is the #4 seed in the tournament, ranked #12 in the nation. I will get this game hub rolling with five things to look for going in to the game.
#1. Will Cal start to feel the pressure? In my opinion, something that has really helped Cal out is not having the expectations from outside forces to go very far. Sure, they believe in themselves, but it does help when most Cal fans and those of us in the media write them off as done for the season. If they lose, we all will say we expected it and that we can all finally look towards next season. However, with two wins in the Pac-12 tournament, Cal suddenly is looking like a team who might win this tournament and thus advance to the NCAA tournament. It will be interesting to see if Cal can continue to play footloose and fancy free or if they start to tighten up once people (including themselves) start thinking they actually have a real shot at winning this thing.
#2. Penina Davidson has to continue playing well: Penina Davidson has really stepped up during these past two games for Cal and Cal needs her to continue her stellar play. She has been giving Cal an additional weapon that other teams now have to worry about, which frees things up for Kristine Anigwe, Courtney Range, etc. If Cal wants to be playing for the Pac-12 title on Sunday, they will likely need Penina Davidson to have another strong outing.
#3. Cal has to play well on the perimeter: Cal needs to find ways to make some threes. Mikayla Cowling, Asha Thomas, and Courtney Range have to get the 3-ball to drop and at the same time, Cal also needs to defend the perimeter well. Kari Korver and Nirra Fields are both good 3-point shooters and Jordin Canada is much more of a threat from beyond the arc than her 28.1% shooting indicates since she can hit big shots in big moments. The perimeter play will be key in this game. Cal better get their own shooters going while simultaneously preventing UCLA's shooters from getting on a roll.
#4. Cal needs to get to the line: In their 108-104 win over UCLA in December, Cal got to the foul line 33 times while UCLA got to the foul line 22 times. As a result, Cal made 6 more foul shots and that made all the difference. Cal must be aggressive in this game, attack the basket, and get to the foul line in order to win this game. Odds are good that whichever team attempts more foul shots will win the game.
#5. Cal needs to have fun: There's a song by Tower of Power called "You Ought To Be Having Fun" and right now, Cal needs to embrace this song as their theme song in a way. Cal needs to enjoy this tournament, play relaxed, and enjoy the role of being the underdog. They seem to enjoy this role and for whatever reason are playing better as a result. Cal has already exceeded our expectations by still being alive and so long as they continue to have a positive attitude, odds remain good that they will be playing on Sunday night for the Pac-12 tournament championship.
Prediction: With the way Cal has been playing in this tournament, I have to pick them to win today. They are on a roll right now and all appears to be clicking for them. They've beaten UCLA before and that should give them even more confidence. UCLA is a very good team and will not be an easy win. They have a lot of talent and they too play as a team. This one will be close, but assuming that Kristine Anigwe has another big game and that everybody else plays as well as they've been playing, I got Cal winning this game 72-69.
#1. Will Cal start to feel the pressure? In my opinion, something that has really helped Cal out is not having the expectations from outside forces to go very far. Sure, they believe in themselves, but it does help when most Cal fans and those of us in the media write them off as done for the season. If they lose, we all will say we expected it and that we can all finally look towards next season. However, with two wins in the Pac-12 tournament, Cal suddenly is looking like a team who might win this tournament and thus advance to the NCAA tournament. It will be interesting to see if Cal can continue to play footloose and fancy free or if they start to tighten up once people (including themselves) start thinking they actually have a real shot at winning this thing.
#2. Penina Davidson has to continue playing well: Penina Davidson has really stepped up during these past two games for Cal and Cal needs her to continue her stellar play. She has been giving Cal an additional weapon that other teams now have to worry about, which frees things up for Kristine Anigwe, Courtney Range, etc. If Cal wants to be playing for the Pac-12 title on Sunday, they will likely need Penina Davidson to have another strong outing.
#3. Cal has to play well on the perimeter: Cal needs to find ways to make some threes. Mikayla Cowling, Asha Thomas, and Courtney Range have to get the 3-ball to drop and at the same time, Cal also needs to defend the perimeter well. Kari Korver and Nirra Fields are both good 3-point shooters and Jordin Canada is much more of a threat from beyond the arc than her 28.1% shooting indicates since she can hit big shots in big moments. The perimeter play will be key in this game. Cal better get their own shooters going while simultaneously preventing UCLA's shooters from getting on a roll.
#4. Cal needs to get to the line: In their 108-104 win over UCLA in December, Cal got to the foul line 33 times while UCLA got to the foul line 22 times. As a result, Cal made 6 more foul shots and that made all the difference. Cal must be aggressive in this game, attack the basket, and get to the foul line in order to win this game. Odds are good that whichever team attempts more foul shots will win the game.
#5. Cal needs to have fun: There's a song by Tower of Power called "You Ought To Be Having Fun" and right now, Cal needs to embrace this song as their theme song in a way. Cal needs to enjoy this tournament, play relaxed, and enjoy the role of being the underdog. They seem to enjoy this role and for whatever reason are playing better as a result. Cal has already exceeded our expectations by still being alive and so long as they continue to have a positive attitude, odds remain good that they will be playing on Sunday night for the Pac-12 tournament championship.
Prediction: With the way Cal has been playing in this tournament, I have to pick them to win today. They are on a roll right now and all appears to be clicking for them. They've beaten UCLA before and that should give them even more confidence. UCLA is a very good team and will not be an easy win. They have a lot of talent and they too play as a team. This one will be close, but assuming that Kristine Anigwe has another big game and that everybody else plays as well as they've been playing, I got Cal winning this game 72-69.
