The No. 9 Cal women’s basketball team has for the entire year tried to gain respect. I’m not doubting that the Bears deserve it. They do.

But Sunday’s loss to Washington highlights the reason why this team isn’t ready to take the Pac-10’s top spot from Stanford or to enter the national scene.

All the Bears had to do was beat a team that they had defeated by 26 points a month earlier to secure their first ever Pac-10 title. But they couldn’t even do that.

“We worked so hard this year to put ourselves in this position,” Cal coach Joanne Boyle said. “We didn’t do what we needed to do to finish it off. It started from the get-go of the game and it was about all the little things. There are certain things this team knows they have to do to be successful. That’s defense and rebounding. And they didn’t do that and we were in foul trouble. It was all the little things that makes or breaks you.”

So now, instead of celebrating a Pac-10 regular season title, the Bears are still trying to find themselves as they head into the postseason.

Cal deserves everything that it set-out to do this year. The Bears should be Pac-10 champions. They should have beat the Card at least once. The team should have the respect that they so much desire.

Instead, Cal still has to fight for it. But it shouldn’t have to. This team has enough talent to take it far in the NCAA Tournament. It has enough talent to beat a Stanford and to win a conference title.

But, the good teams always take care of the little things. And when you can’t beat a team that’s sixth in the Pac-10 and has a losing record overall, then maybe you shouldn’t be Pac-10 champs.

And when the Bears go to practice this week, that’s all they should think about. How to prevent the little mistakes from happening so that they can let there talent flourish.