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Retaining Key Players Makes Cal a Contender in ACC Women's Basketball
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- Retaining Key Players Makes Cal a Contender in ACC Women's Basketball
Cal head coach Charmin Smith | Photo by Jake Curtis
Typically success in the the transfer portal is based on the players that are brought in. But in the case of Cal's women's basketball team, the success was based on the players that did not transfer out .
As a result of that retention, Cal should reach the women's NCAA tournament for just the second time in eight years in 2027 and could challenge for an ACC title.
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The only Cal players who transferred out after receiving significant playing this past season were Puff Morris, a high school McDonald's All-American who was not a Cal starter at the end of the 2025-26 season as a freshman and probably would not have been a starter in 2026-27 either, and Lola Donez, who started four games due to injuries to teammates.
Back are starters Mjracle Sheppard, Lulu Twidale, Gisella Maul and Taylor Barnes. Center Sakima Walker is the only starter gone after exhausting her college eligibility.
With the Golden Bears currently in the midst of their summer practice sessions, head coach Charmin Smith reflected on the importance of having four 2025-26 starters staying out of the transfer portal.
"I give a lot credit to our core, obviously we have great leadership, our staff," she said. "The environment that we have created I think is a positive environment where people want to be here.
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"Bringing in a general manager piece, I think [women's basketball GM] Meghin [Williams] has done an excellent job in retention and recruitment."
It's also true that Smith must have adequate financial resources to attract and keep top athletes in this era of revenue-sharing with college athletes.
Asked whether money is a factor, Smith said, "100 percent a factor. Our players are getting paid, and again I think we did a good job of allowing people to know how much we value them.
"We did a good job in those retention conversations from a financial perspective of being able to give people what they needed in order to feel valued. And credit to our alums and our fan base, our supporters for helping us reach those rev-share numbers that we so desperately need."
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It's an ongoing challenge.
"Every year we need more money," Smith said. "We're already strategizing about how we sign a '27 class and have money for the portal. And we will have what we need in order to get better and rise up the rankings of the ACC."
Cal should rise from last season, when the Bears went 21-5 overall and 9-9 in the ACC, but did not reach the NCAA tournament. A berth in the NCAA tournament should be the baseline expectation for the Bears' 2026-27 team, which in many ways resembles the Bears' experienced 2024-25 squad that went 25-9 overall, 12-6 in the ACC and got into the NCAA tournament one year after going 7-11 in the Pac-12.
"Yeah, I draw a lot of comparisons to that team," Smith said. "That team returned four starters, and then you add [transfer] Kayla Williams. This team's returning four starters and then we have a group of players which a lot of players could start. We've got that same type of retention that's allowing us to move faster through what we want to do.
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"I think this group wants to do way better than we did last year, and I think we have the pieces to help us do that."
Smith says she hasn't considered what her starting lineup will be, but our guess of a starting five would be this:
Sheppard at point guard, Missouri transfer Shannon Dowell and Twidale at the wings, 6-foot-5 Rhode Island transfer Albina Syla at center and either Taylor Barnes or Gisella Maul at the final perimeter spot.
Smith says several promising freshmen will get playing time, and Australian freshman Zara Russell has impressed teammates during the summer workouts.
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It's still just August with summer practices continuing, but Cal seems to have the talent and experience to finish high in the ACC standings this season.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/cal as Retaining Key Players Makes Cal a Contender in ACC Women's Basketball .
