Next up: A double dose of Bears

Due to an unusual bit of scheduling, Stanford returns to the Bay Area to play Cal at Haas Pavilion on Tuesday evening at 7:00 (yes, that's tomorrow, Jan 8) and at Maples on Sunday afternoon at 1:00.

Both games will be televised — the away game by the Pac-12 Networks and the home game by ESPN2 — and both will be broadcast by KZSU.

These games will almost certainly be very competitive and very exciting. Under the guidance of second-year head coach Lindsay Gottlieb and sixth-year associate head coach Charmin Smith, the Bears have matured into an excellent team. This is their best chance in many years to topple the Cardinal from the top of the conference rankings. The outcome of this week's games may well determine the Pac-12 regular season championship.

Cal is ranked No. 7 in the national polls. They've lost just one game — on the road to then-No. 4 Duke. Both Bay Area teams began the conference season with victories over the Rocky Mountain teams, but Cal's winning margins were somewhat slimmer than Stanford's.

Cal is a strong defensive team that, on average, gets 13.2 more rebounds than its opponents — the fourth-best rebound margin in the nation. They have a very well-balanced offense. Six of the Bears average between 9.8 and 13.6 points per game. Most of their scoring is in the paint. As a team, they average only four three-pointers per game — 238th in the nation. (That's just a bit less than the Cardinal, whose average is 4.5.)

The Bears are poor free-throwers. They're sent to the free throw line about 18 times per game, but make only 62% of their shots.

The Bears' starting five for every game this season have been:

• #23, 5'9" senior guard Layshia Clarendon is a shooting guard and one of Cal's three top scorers with an average of 13.0 points per game. She's Cal's most productive three-point shooter. She takes about 32% of her shots from beyond the arc and makes 36% of them. She also averages 2.6 assists and 4.0 rebounds per game.


• #15, 5'9" sophomore guard Brittany Boyd, who runs the point for Cal, has matured into a dependable as well as a productive member of the team. Her ball handling has improved greatly since her freshman year — she's averaging almost five assists per game and her A/TO ratio is now 1.5. She's one of Cal's three top scorers with 13.6 points per game. She also averages 3.8 rebounds and 2.9 steals per game.


• #25, 6'2" redshirt junior forward Gennifer Brandon is a rebounding machine with an average of 10.3 per game. She's also one of Cal's three top scorers with 12.4 points per game and blocks the most shots — not quite one per game.


• #33, 6'3" senior center Talia Caldwell is Cal's fourth almost-double-digit scorer with 9.8 points per game. She makes 65.9% of her field goal attempts. She's also Cal's second-best rebounder with 6.5 per game.


• #2, 6'0" junior guard Afure Jemerigbe averages 7.6 points and 3.4 rebounds per game. She's the only other Bear besides Clarendon who takes many long shots. 44% of her attempts are from beyond the arc, and she makes 33% of them.

The Bears have just five other active players on their roster:

• #4 5'7" senior guard Eliza Pierre plays for about 22 minutes per game. She's a tenacious defender in ways that aren't fully reflected in the stats, where she tallies 3.2 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game. She's Cal's backup point guard. Her energy sometimes hampers her ball-handling. On offense, she scores 2.5 points and 2.3 assists per game, but almost as many turnovers.


• #21, 6'3" sophomore forward Reshanda Gray is developing into a key member of Cal's strong front court. She comes off the bench for about 20 minutes per game and averages 9.8 points and 5.2 rebounds.


• #40, 6'2" sophomore forward Justine Hartman, the highest-ranked recruit ever signed at Cal, hasn't yet achieved her potential in the college game. Her playing time as a freshman was limited because of knee problems, and she's played only about eleven minutes per game so far this season. She averages 3.7 points and 1.3 rebounds per game.


• #30, 5'8" junior guard Mikayla Lyles plays about 11 minutes per game. She averages 2.3 points and 1.5 rebounds.


• #5, 6'0" junior guard Avigiel Cohen has played in only half of Cal's games this season for about six minutes per game. Her only scoring has been one three-pointer.

Cal's win-loss record (12-1 overall, 2-0 conference), their RPI (4) and their strength of schedule rank (5) all place them 2nd in the Pac-12.

Here are Cal's 2012-13 statistics and roster.