Cal Women's Basketball: Gonzaga, Alabama Highlight 2024-25 Nonconference Schedule

Golden Bears will face five teams that were in the NCAA tournament this past season before they begin ACC play

Marta Suarez, Michelle Onyiah and Ioanna Krimiliare / Cal Athletics

A road game against Gonzaga and home games against Alabama and Auburn highlight the Cal women’s basketball 12-game nonconference schedule for 2024-25, which was announced Monday.

Five of the Bears’ nonconference opponents – Gonzaga, Alabama, Auburn, Michigan State and either Arizona or Vanderbilt – played in the NCAA tournament this past season.  (Arizona becomes a nonconference foe this coming season, with the Wildcats joining the Big 12, and Cal headed to the Atlantic Coast Conference).

Cal opens its regular season with home games against Saint Mary’s and Idaho State before playing road games against San Jose State and Gonzaga.  The November 15 game against Gonzaga will be played in Spokane, Wash., where the Bulldogs are always hard to beat.  They finished the 2023-24 season ranked No. 14 in the country.

The Bears then play home games against Grambling State and Auburn, and the November 22 games against Auburn will be a challenge as the Tigers have a chance to be ranked in the top 25 in the preseason polls.

Cal plays Michigan State on November 26 in Palm Springs, and will face either Vanderbilt or Arizona the next day at the same site. Michigan State was 22-9 this past season, including 12-6 in the Big Ten.

Cal hosts Alabama on December 5 in the ACC/SEC challenge.  The Tide went 24-10 this past season and is a god bet to be a preseason top-25 team this coming season.

The Bears final nonconference games will come in Raising The B.A.R. (Basketball, Activism, Representation) Invitational on Dec. 21 and 22. Fordham, Temple and Xavier will be other four teams involved in that two-day event.

Cal will then begin play in the ACC, with a number of teams in that conference expected to begin the 2024-25 season in the top 25.  Notre Dame is likely to be near the top of the preseason rankings, with North Carolina State, Duke, Louisville, North Carolina and Florida State being possible top-15 teams as well.  Stanford has lost a lot of talent as well as head coach Tara VanDerveer, but the Cardinal will still present a challenge.

Cal is coming off a 19-15 season in which it barely missed getting into the NCAA tournament.  The Bears return most of the talent from that team and added several transfers as well.

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