While Cal men’s basketball is opening up their season away from Berkeley against Oregon State, Cal women’s basketball will be taking on San Jose State at Haas Pavilion at the exact same time. Both games are set for Wednesday at 4:00 PM PST. Cal men’s basketball’s game will air on Pac-12 Networks while Cal women’s basketball’s game will air online on Cal Live Stream. So fans will be able to simultaneously watch both if they’d like.

Cal comes into this season with the #6 ranked recruiting class in 2020 according to espnW Hoopgurlz and has hopes to accomplish a lot with this year’s freshman group. Both this season and beyond. Freshman guard/forward Dalayah Daniels is the top recruit out of the bunch, named to the 2020 McDonald’s All-American roster. Forward Ugonne (Michelle) Onyiah, center Fatou Samb, and center Sela Heide were not ranked far behind Daniels. Rounding out the Bears’ stellar class is a pair of guards in Ornela Muca and Alma Elsnitz.

Cal also has a nice core returning from last season. Sophomore guards Cailyn Crocker, Leilani McIntosh, and Jazlen Green project to give the Bears a potent backcourt that can score from the perimeter as well as create plays for the forwards. Sophomore forward Evelien Lutje Schipholt is coming off a really good freshman campaign and should give the Bears experience and tenacious rebounding inside.

Despite having a fantastic recruiting class and a solid returning core, Cal is picked to finish 9th in the Pac-12 according to the Pac-12 media poll, showing just how competitive the Pac-12 is expected to be this year. That said, this season is expected to be one of growth and one that Cal can hopefully build on to put together competitive NCAA tournament runs in the coming seasons. This season is hopefully the start of something very special for this freshmen group.

Touching quickly on San Jose State, the Spartans had their strongest season in 40 years last season, finishing with a 19-12 overall record and 12-6 record in the Mountain West. On top of that, their top two scorers from last season, junior guard Ayzhiana Basallo (18.5 points) and senior forward Tyra Whitehead (13.9 points & 10.1 rebounds) are both returning. In short, this is no ordinary San Jose State team. Even with all their incoming talent, Cal will need to play well to win this game and do all they can to contain Basallo and Whitehead.