Cal Women's Basketball: Bears Picked 9th in Pac-12 by Media, 10th by Coaches

Cal finished last in the conference last season, but the addition of talented freshmen give the Bears a chance to move

Cal was picked to finish ninth in the preseason Pac-12 women's basketball media poll and tabbed for 10th in the coaches conference poll.

The Golden Bears finished last in the Pac-12 last season in Charmin Smith's first season as Cal's head coach, but the addition of a freshman recruiting class ranked as the seventh-best in the country gives the Bears a chance to move up this year.

**Cal head coach Charmin Smith and Cal sophomore Evelien Lutje Schipholt are part of this round table discussion with Stanford's coach Tara VanDerveer and Arizona's Adia Barnes:

The Bears have only one returning starter -- sophomore point guard Leilani McIntosh -- but all six newcomers are expected to get significant playing time.

Stanford, which is ranked No. 2 in the preseason AP national poll, is the overwhelming choice to win the confefence title according to both the coaches and media polls.

Arizona is picked to finish second in the media poll and is tied with defending champion Oregon for the No. 2 spot in the coaches poll.

Four Pac-12 teams are ranked in the preseason top-10: Stanford, Arizona, UCLA and Oregon.

Pac-12 programs' combined to add 18 of the country's top 100 incoming freshmen according to ESPN's HoopGurlz recruiting rankings, including a national-best eight McDonald's All-Americans - Oregon's Angela Dugalic, Te-Hina Paopao, Sydney Parrish, Maddie Scherr and Kylee Watson, California's Dalaylah Daniels, Oregon State's Sasha Goforth, and Stanford's Cameron Brink.

The conference also released a 15-player preseason all-Pac-12 team. Nobody from Cal was on that list, which is available at the bottom of this story.

Pac-12 Media poll (with first-place votes in parentheses followed by total voting points)

1. Stanford (19) 248

2. Arizona (1) 225

3. Oregon 201

4. UCLA 200

5. Oregon State (1) 174

6. Arizona State 135

7. USC 130

8. Utah 94

9. Cal 76

10. Colorado 75

11. Washington 53

12. Washington State 27

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Pac-12 coaches poll (first-place votes in parentheses followed by total voting points)

1. Stanford (10) 120

2. Arizona (2) 103

2. Oregon 103

4. UCLA 88

5. Oregon State 83

6. USC 69

7.  Arizona State 61

8. Utah 52

9. Colorado 43

10. Cal 31

11. Washington 34

12. Washington State 15

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Follow Jake Curtis of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53

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