The NCAA Tournament hasn’t been too fruitful for the Cal women’s hoops team.

The Bears haven’t won a Tournament game in about 15 years. Granted, Cal hasn’t been dancing all 15 years, but its has been to the Tourney each of the last two years and has gone one-and-done.

But it looks like this year may be the year that the Bears finally get out of the first round. With a No. 3 seed in its pocket and traveling down to a familiar (yet unfriendly place) in Maples Pavilion in Stanford, Cal has to be thinking this is the year.

The Bears have only one Tourney win in their history and it might be two after they play No. 14-seed San Diego. But of course, after watching the Toreros men take down power UConn yesterday in the men’s Tournament, the women’s side has got to be thinking that it can also pull off the upset.

Some keys:

• All-conference selections Devanei Hampton and Ashley Walker have to be established early and have to go to work often for the Bears.
• Alexis Gray-Lawson or Natasha Vital must contain San Diego’s All-America candidate point guard Amanda Rego. Rego is second in the nation in assists per game (8.5) and was named the West Coast Conference tournament MVP.
• Cal has to guard the perimeter shot. The Toreros shoot about 31 percent from beyond the arc, not stellar, but efficient enough to sink the Bears if they don’t prevent the three-point shot.
• On the same vein, Cal’s guard cannot be afraid to take a shot if they’re wide open.

All in all, the Bears should win this game. For them, it’s all about proving that this season wasn’t a fluke. That starts today.

Popularity: 24%