Cal Women Soar Six Spots to No. 18 in AP Top-25 Poll

The Cal women’s basketball team has climbed to No. 18 in the AP Top-25 — its highest ranking in six seasons — after a pair of impressive wins in Atlantic Coast Conference play.
The Bears’ six-slot jump was the highest of any team in the poll.
Cal coach Charmin Smith talks in the video above about how her team deserves bigger crowds at Haas Pavilion than the 2,311 who watched Sunday's 82-70 victory over Florida State.
Curiously, the NCAA’s NET computer rankings don’t give the Bears quite the same respect.
Even after its win over Florida State — in a game where the Bears led by 34 points — Cal sits one spot below the Seminoles in the NET rankings. FSU (13-4, 3-2 ACC) dropped one spot to No. 29 in the NET listing while Cal (16-2, 4-1) remained unchanged at No. 30.
Besides the decisive head-to-head result, the Bears are 4-1 in road games vs. 1-4 in the same setting for FSU, and they have a 2-1 record in Quad 1 games compared with 0-4 for the Seminoles.
The Bears, who also beat then-No. 21 North Carolina State last week, have their highest AP ranking since the 2018-19 season, when Cal got as high as 13th.
Cal returns to the road this week and will play Thursday at Duke (13-4, 4-1), which slipped two spot to No. 16 after splitting two games last week. The Blue Devils lost 53-46 in overtime at No. 19 North Carolina before beating Virginia 60-55.
Duke, which is No. 10 in the NET rankings, has an 85.9 percent chance of beating Cal, according to ESPN’s analytics.
The top four spots in the AP rankings remain unchanged, with UCLA, South Carolina, Notre Dame and USC holding their positions.