At the ACC Tipoff event in Charlotte on Tuesday, Cal women’s basketball coach Charmin Smith made her message plain: this team knows more, has been through more, and should be ahead of where last year’s group was at this stage.
“Yeah, I think returning seven people from last year's roster and four starters has really catapulted us,” she said. “We're a lot further ahead than we were at this point last year.
“Things moved really fast. You know, the drills that we're doing, where we are with our defense, everything is just a lot further ahead than last year, and I think that's going to help us be ready sooner obviously.
That matters because the Bears are coming off a 21-15 season built around a roster with plenty of new pieces. This year, Cal is leaning into a group that already understands the system, and Smith sees that as the kind of edge that can push the Bears back into the kind of season they had in 2024-25, when they went 25-9 and earned their only NCAA tournament berth since 2019.
The part Smith wants most is simple: better results in the tight ones. Last season, Cal had its share of close games and didn’t close enough of them out.
“You know, it was tough last year,” she said. “We were in a lot of big games. You know, we had chances, and again, I think the veterans that we have returning will remember that and we'll be better because of it.
“I think we just keep gaining experience. And people know our system now.
People are more familiar with how we want to play and what we want to do. I think that will get us over the hump in those close games.”
Cal started ACC play last season 0-4 before finding its footing and finishing 9-9 in the league. That early stretch also came during Lulu Twidale’s shooting slump, a rough patch that helped define the Bears’ uneven start.
Twidale, who led Cal in scoring last season, said her offseason focus was straightforward.
“This offseason it was [about] consistency,” Twidale said. “Last season didn't start how I wanted to. It came in conference and at the end of conference, so my goal is just to be really consistent this year and come in ready to go from jump.”
Gisella Maul, who earned a starting role midway through last season, is another player Cal expects to lean on more heavily. The left-hander said her offseason work was about sharpening her voice as much as her game.
“Yeah, I mean, definitely consistency, like Lulu said,” Maul said. “I think for me the biggest thing that -- the biggest jump I wanted to make this offseason was, like, my leadership. I just wanted to work on being a more vocal leader and just being there for my team in a more vocal way.
“I think for me it was just kind of, like, getting better in the areas that I knew that I needed work on. So for me it was mainly my off hand.
I think the offseason I took that as the opportunity to just, like, in my workouts alone just do everything with my right hand and just, you know, grow in that area. That's where I needed growth.”
Cal’s schedule will give the Bears an early read on where they stand. The exhibition slate includes games against UCLA on October 14 and USC on October 25, both in Los Angeles. The regular season opens November 2 at home against Washington State.
The nonconference schedule also features Gonzaga in Hawaii on November 23, Texas A&M at home on December 3 and Nebraska at the Chase Center in San Francisco on December 20. Cal’s first ACC game comes against Stanford on December 13 at Haas Pavilion.
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