Cal's Men and Women With a Hoops First in 33 Seasons

The Cal men’s and women’s basketball teams did something last weekend they hadn’t accomplished in nearly 33 years.

They swept Stanford on the same weekend.

That’s right, the Bears hadn’t packaged those two victories since the Cal women knocked off Stanford 64-59 back on Friday, Feb. 12, 1993 at Harmon Gym before the men crushed the Cardinal 86-61 on Sunday Feb. 14 at Maples Pavilion.

Of course, scheduling has something to do with that — the men’s and women’s basketball Big Games weren’t always arranged on the same weekends on the calendar.

A more consistent factor was simply that Tara VanDereer and Mike Montgomery’s teams at Stanford were difficult for Cal — or anyone — to beat.

But 33 seasons ago, point guards Jason Kidd and Milica Vukadinovic led the Bears to victories within two days of each other. Both of those Cal teams played in the NCAA Tournament, the men famously upsetting two-time defending national champion Duke to advance to the Sweet 16 while the women won their opener before bowing out.

The Bears pulled off the double this past weekend, their teams led by former Stanford players.

Coach Mark Madsen’s squad toppled Stanford 78-66 at Maples on Saturday before Charmin Smith’s women got the best of the Cardinal, 78-71 in overtime, at Haas Pavilion on Sunday afternoon.

Madsen got his first victory in three tries against his alma mater, exiting Maples a winner for the first time since his senior season in 1999-2000. Smith’s team swept both meetings with Stanford last year and with a split of two meeting this season is now 3-1 vs. Kate Paye, her former Cardinal teammate.

Madsen and Smith both were teen-agers and in high school the last time the teams they now coach swept their future college alma mater.

The outcomes last weekend had more than personal meaning for the Bears. Both programs needed a victory to move in the right direction in their bids to reach the postseason.

The Cal men are now 15-5, 3-4 in the ACC and have climbed to No. 55 in the NET computer rankings. The win at Stanford was the Bears’ first on the road this year and they now 3-4 in Quad 1 games, which will boost the resume they hope might land them in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2016.

There is still work to do.

The Bears already have faced No. 4 Duke, then-17th-ranked North Carolina, No. 17 Virginia and No. 20 Louisville. Cal visits Florida State (8-12, 1-6) on Wednesday and Miami (16-4, 5-2) on Saturday, and still has challenging home games ahead vs. No. 22 Clemson and SMU. And the Bears play the rematch against Stanford at Berkeley on Feb. 21.

The Cal women (12-9, 3-5) have a steeper hill to climb to gain a berth in the NCAAs for the second straight season.

The victory over Stanford was their first in a Quad 1 or Quad 2 game. The Bears, No. 57 in the NET rankings and 0-7 in Quad 1 games, will get another crack at changing that when they host ACC co-leader No. 7 Louisville (19-3, 9-0) on Saturday in their final regular-season shot at a team currently ranked in the AP Top-25.

Cal faces Notre Dame (13-7, 5-4) on Thursday evening at Haas.

Follow Jeff Faraudo on Twitter, Facebook and Bluesky

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