It’s been a wonderful few months for Cal coach Lindsay Gottlieb.
She’s pregnant with her first child due next spring, her team is unbeaten through non-conference play and now the Bears are back in the Top 25. The Bears entered The Associated Press women’s basketball poll at No. 21 on Monday. UConn remained the top choice, as the unanimous No. 1.
“Definitely for me I think it’s nice, but I understand how these things go. A lot of it is perception,” Gottlieb said. “For these young women who handled losing last year and finished strong. They did nothing but bring this program back to where we can be. Hopefully it’s a motivating factor to keep doing what we are doing.”
The Bears are 12-0 and off to the best start in school history. They open up Pac-12 play in Arizona on Thursday before facing No. 18 Arizona State on Sunday.
“You look at every weekend and there isn’t an easy one,” Gottlieb said of the conference which has seven teams ranked and three more just outside the Top 25. “For us going to start at Arizona is a repeat of what we did last year that didn’t go so well. Our players are motivated and ready for conference play.”
Cal was 15-17 last season, the first losing one under Gottlieb. With most of the team back, including star sophomore forward Kristine Anigwe , the Bears have been stellar so far.
“It’s a very similar cast of characters to last year. Every single person was in a new role last year,” Gottlieb said. “We have similar talent and much more understanding in roles. … Whether you call it gelling, maturing or just owning roles better. It’s Cal version 2.0.”
While Cal has won its first 12 games to start the season, UConn continues to roll. The Huskies received all 33 first place votes again after beating then-No. 12 Ohio State and Nebraska to stretch their winning streak to 86 consecutive games. UConn faces No. 4 Maryland on Thursday. A victory would be the team’s 30th straight on the road tying the NCAA record. It would also leave them three victories short of matching the 90-game overall winning streak the school set from 2008-11.
Notre Dame, Baylor, Maryland and Mississippi State followed UConn in the poll again. The top 11 teams remain unchanged as most schools had a light week of games because of the holidays.
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View the poll: https://collegebasketball.ap.org/ap-womens-college-basketball-poll-week-8
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This story has been corrected to reflect that Cal’s star sophomore forward is Kristine Anigwe, not Kristin.
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