The college basketball landscape within the Bay Area looks quite different because the end of last season.
Tara VanDerveer is not any longer the coach of the Stanford women's team and is retiring after an unparalleled profession. Jerod Haase was fired after eight seasons as coach of Stanford's men's team. The Bay lost a whole lot of talent, including Aidan Mahaney's transfer to UConn and Kiki Iriafen's departure to USC.
There's also the proven fact that Cal and Stanford at the moment are within the ACC and can face Duke and Kentucky.
Here's how the Bay Area college basketball teams performed on the primary day of the season:
(San Jose State's women's teams and San Francisco men's teams will play their first games of the season on Tuesday)
Stanford (women) def. La Moyne, 107-43
Kate Paye, who has the unenviable task of replacing among the best coaches in college basketball history, didn't must sweat much as Stanford earned a surprising win over La Moyne of the Northeast Conference.
After playing sparingly in her first two seasons, redshirt junior Jzaniya Harriel finished her profession with 24 points, five rebounds and three assists. Senior guard Elena Bosgana also had a career-high 19 points despite playing only quarter-hour, while sophomore forward Nunu Agara matched her career-high 18 points.
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Stanford (men) def. Denver, 85-62
Paye isn't the one recent basketball coach on the farm. Kyle Smith began his tenure as Stanford's recent head coach with a decisive 23-point victory over Denver, this system's 14th consecutive win in a season opener.
Leading the way in which for the Cardinals was guard Oziyah Sellers, a transfer from USC who was born in Fremont and raised in Hayward. Seller, this system's first undergraduate transfer since 2009, set profession highs in points (24) and rebounds (7) in a single game while recording two steals and a block.
Senior forward Maxime Raynaud, the reigning Pac-12 Most Improved Player of the Year, posted a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds and a career-best six assists. Graduate guard Jaylen Blakes, a transfer from Duke, scored 12 total points and matched career-highs in assists (six), steals (three) and blocks (two), while junior guard Benny Gealer scored 12 points with career-highs of 4 and three – Pointer.
Cal def. Saint Mary's (women), 90-58
With reigning WCC Freshman of the Year Zeryhia Aokuso still recovering from offseason knee surgery, Cal survived Saint Mary's with a surprising win at Haas Pavilion.
Sophomore guard Lulu Twidale, an honorable mention Pac-12 All-Freshman last season, scored a career-high 24 points and sank five of her eight three-pointers. Senior forward Marta Suárez totaled 17 points and eight rebounds, while graduate Ioanna Krimili, the Bears' leading scorer last 12 months, had 14 points, three rebounds, two assists and a game-high +/- of +40.
At Saint Mary's, sophomore defensive back Emily Foy led the Gaels with 13 points and 7 rebounds. Senior guard Kennedy Johnson, a transfer from Idaho who averaged 14 points and 7 rebounds last season, had 12 points and five rebounds in her debut for the Gaels.
Cal def. Cal State Bakersfield, 86-73
While Cal cruised to a 13-point win in its season opener, Cal State Bakersfield played with aggression and energy for 40 minutes, unwilling to easily hand the Bears a win. Although uncomfortable, Cal left Haas Pavilion with a win and commenced Mark Madsen's second season as head coach.
Graduate guard Jovan Blacksher Jr., a transfer from Grand Canyon, led the Bears with 17 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists. Andrej Stojakovic, the son of former Sacramento standout Peja Stojakovic who transferred from Stanford, had 16 points and 6 rebounds in his Cal debut.
San Jose State (men) loses to Western Illinois 59-55
San Jose State's season-opening loss to Western Illinois within the Ohio Valley Conference won't go down as the most important upset of the night. That award belongs to No. 13 Texas A&M, which lost to UCF 64-61. However, the Spartans' four-point loss at home to the Leathernecks definitely falls into the shocking category.
The numbers tell a whole lot of the story. Despite shooting 19 more free throws than Western Illinois, San Jose State couldn't overcome an evening through which it shot 35 percent from the sphere and 19 percent from three. The Spartans felt the absence of their top three scorers from last 12 months – Myron Amey Jr. (transfer), Alvaro Cardenas (transfer), Tibet Gorener (transfer) – as they struggled offensively down the stretch.
San Francisco (women) loses to Colorado State 52-47
San Francisco entered the fourth round with a six-point lead, but was outscored 21-10 in the ultimate quarter of the sport, ultimately leading to a five-point loss to Colorado State.
Neither team shot the ball particularly well; The Dons made 27.1 percent of their field goal attempts while the Rams made 29.3 percent. Senior guard Freja Werth, WCC Freshman of the Year last season, totaled 13 points and nine rebounds in 37 minutes.
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