LOS ANGELES — Cal coach Charmin Smith won’t waste any time cashing in on her team’s first NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament appearance in six years.
“I think we put Cal women’s basketball back on the map,” Smith said Saturday night in the moments following a 59-46 loss to Mississippi State at USC’s Galen Center. “I can tell in the interest we have in some recruits. I think who we can go after is better than it was.”
It will be a whirlwind that starts Monday, when the transfer portal opens. Yes, the NCAA, in its infinite wisdom, declares open season on migratory talent after the first weekend of the tournament when 32 teams are still playing for a championship.
Players can enter the portal with plans to go elsewhere even as they put it on the line for their current school.
“It’s going to be crazy,” Smith said. “There’s no break, and we have to replace seven people that are graduating, essentially.”
The new guard is expected to include Taylor Barnes, a McDonald’s All-American and the top recruit in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. A 6-foot guard from South Grand Prairie, Barnes told reporters in October she connected with Smith during recruited and committed to Cal.
First, the portal beckons, and Smith will mine it build on a 25-9 season and a 12-6 record in the Bears’ first season in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
“We’ll be aggressive,” Smith said. “I know that we’ll find the pieces we need to be back here and hopefully get even further, similar to how we did last offseason.”
Cal’s losses are considerable. The Bears’ five starters played deep into games most of the season, all of whom averaged in double figures in scoring. Forwards Michelle Onyiah and Marta Suarez and guards Ioanne Krimili and Kayla Williams are out of eligibility. The only returning starter is Lulu Twidale, an Australian who scored 13 points in the loss to Mississippi State.
Yet the portal is nothing new to Smith. Suarez, Krimili and Williams all started their careers elsewhere and were added via the portal.
“We’ve done this before,” Smith said. “We can offer opportunity, and most people transferring want an opportunity to play. And we can also say now, `Hey, we’ve done this before. You come here, we know how to win. We know how to get to the NCAA Tournament and you too can put your face on this program and help us win basketball games in the ACC.
“I hope we can use this as a springboard to further success, and if we can get back here next year, it won’t be our first rodeo. What you want is constant improvement and being in the ACC tournament as an eight seed is a dramatic improvement for our program.”
Twidale, as did most of the Bears against Mississippi State, had mixed success Saturday. She kept the Bears within striking distance with 11 points in the first half, but scored only once in the second half and finished with eight turnovers.
Twidale is going to give it a day before looking too far ahead.
“Most of my emotions are really about not getting an opportunity to play with this team again,” Twidale said. “I’m really grateful for my seniors. They were here for my freshman year, they helped me grow into the player I am today.
“They are really good role models to me of what leaders look like. I’m really grateful to be a part of this program, a part of this team, and accomplish what we did this year.”