Cal is going (big) dancing. The Bears secured their spot in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday as one of 68 teams to make the field following a 25-8 campaign and 12-6 showing in their first season in the ACC.
Charmin Smith's group will hold the No. 8 seed in Spokane Regional 4 and match up with ninth-seeded Mississippi State on Saturday in Los Angeles to open the tournament.
The Bears are in the same part of the bracket as No. 1 seed USC and would play the Trojans in the second round should both teams advance.
It has been a memorable season once again for Cal, which won six of its last eight games entering the NCAA Tournament. The 25 victories marks the first time that feat has been accomplished at Cal since the 2012-13 season plus the Bears have hit a new program high with 294 3-pointers this season.
Cal knocked off top-25 opponents Alabama (No. 19) and NC State (No. 21) and was itself ranked for eight consecutive weeks in the AP Top 25 poll reaching as high as No. 18.
The Bears have used balance to help lead to their success this season and will enter the NCAA Tournament with five players averaging at least 10 points. Senior guard Ioanna Krimili leads the way in scoring for Cal by scoring 14.2 points per game while sophomore guard Lulu Twidale and senior forward Marta Suárez enter the NCAA Tournament both averaging 13.2 points.
That trio has combined for 228 of Cal's 294 made 3-pointers this season.
Michelle Onyiah, who is one of four players who has started all 33 games this season, leads the team with 7.4 rebounds per game while averaging 12.2 points while senior guard Kayla Williams rounds out the double-digit scoring group with 11.3 points including 50 made 3-pointers.
The Bears were only one of six teams nationally to have five players finish the regular season scoring in double figures.
Cal finished the season seventh in the ACC, which will be represented in the NCAA Tournament by eight teams from the league, after being picked to finish 14th in the preseason poll.
The success for Cal this season earned Smith another new contract this week that will keep her at the helm in Berkeley through 2030.
Following the Bears' loss to Notre Dame in the ACC Tournament, Smith spoke openly about hoping her group would be seeded higher than eighth or ninth following the body of work put together by her group.
"I just want people to really do their homework and give us credit for what we've done, really give us credit for what we've done," the sixth-year Cal head coach said. "When you put our record in Quad 1 wins and the fact that we have no losses outside of Quad 2 — we have Clemson and Virginia Tech are our only Quad 2 losses. Everything else was North Carolina, Duke, Notre Dame twice, like it's just — I think we should be a higher seed than what we have right now."
The Bears will get their opportunity to prove that they should be seeded higher beginning Saturday when they square off with a Mississippi State squad that logged 21 victories this season heading into the NCAA Tournament.
The Bulldogs were the 10th seed in the SEC Tournament and lost to rival Ole Miss in the second round back on March 6. Mississippi State finished conference play with a 7-9 record but scored a win over then-No. 10 Oklahoma back in January.
The first two rounds of the tournament will be held at campus sites, Cal will play at USC's Galen Center, while the regional semifinals and finals will be held in Spokane, Washington and Birmingham, Alabama.
The Final Four will be hosted at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida.
