SPOKANE, Wash. -- For the second week in a row, Cal's women's basketball program spent a NCAA Tournament press conference answering a lot of questions that didn't have much to do with basketball.

The Bears wouldn't want it any other way.

Not only does Cal embrace its personality and its culture off the court, it helps fuel its performance on the court. The Bears are a collection of unique and compelling personalities; not separate but intertwined in a way that produces an exemplary model of a team.

After last week discussing President Barack Obama's bracket that had Cal advancing to the Final Four, the Bears spent much of their news conference Thursday talking about a music video the team produced and released on Wednesday. Using a song called "Started From The Bottom" that was written primarily by backup point guard Eliza Pierre with conceptual help from guard Mikayla Lyles, video coordinator Erik Williams produced the video which included players and the program's support staff as well.

"My philosophy in general is that college athletics should be an enjoyable experience for the people that are involved in it," Cal coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. "That doesn't mean they love every second. I'm pretty sure they don't love sprints and drills and every type of off-season workout. But I do think that you have to embrace their nature of being fun-loving. I think you have to empower them to enjoy the experience. And I think I can do that because I'm so confident in their focus level. I'm so confident that the basketball is serious to them."

The formula has obviously worked. Cal won a share of its first-ever Pac-12 championship this season, earned a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament and is in its second-ever Sweet Sixteen, where it will meet sixth-seeded LSU here Saturday night. At 30-3, the Bears have amassed their most wins in a single season in school history.

And they have done so balancing those personalities, ones that have a lot in common but that can also be strong at times. And ones that have never caused players to lose sight of the responsibility, commitment and affection they have for one another.

"I think it speaks to Lindsay's coaching mentality and style, how she really relates to the players," Cal guard Layshia Clarendon said. "'I don't know if a lot of head coaches around the country would let their players make this kind of video going into the tournament. It really speaks to her supporting us and all we want to do - our dreams, our hopes, our goals, our just wanting to have fun. We're really thankful to be in a program like this where they do support us."

While Pierre admitted this is now a serious time - the stakes keep getting higher as the Bears advance further into the tournament - it doesn't seem to have affected Cal's attitude. The Bears were a loose bunch before taking the floor at Spokane Arena for practice today. The team was singing and dancing in the locker room before practice, even engaging in a pseudo flash mob with a loosely choreographed dance.

As the team warmed up before practice, the Bears took part in their usual ritual of tossing a football around. And point guard Brittany Boyd borrowed a photographer's camera and took Gottlieb's picture from across the court.

"Our team is really loose and we like to have fun," Pierre said. "It was about to get real serious so we wanted to have fun and make the music video. Just to have the coaches approve that and say that they want us to have fun, that they want the world to see us as a team, I think that we were really appreciative of that."

The Bears have started practicing at the Spokane Arena. They just completed their media obligations and now are on the court getting ready for tomorrow's Sweet Sixteen game against LSU.

The Bears had a smooth arrival into Spokane last night. Their charter flight left the Oakland Airport around 5:15 p.m and landed in Spokane just before 7 p.m. When the team bus arrived at the team hotel, the Bears were greeted in the lobby with blue and gold balloons and the Cal fight song playing, not to mention a warm welcome by the hotel staff. The Bears then had a team dinner.

In a few hours, the Bears will head over to Spokane Arena for media interviews and a 90-minute practice.

A couple sights from yesterday's trip into Spokane:

After returning from Lubbock, Texas at about 4 a.m. early Tuesday, Cal women's basketball coach Lindsay Gottlieb had no time to worry about matching the fashion sense of LSU coach Nikki Caldwell.

As it turns out, she had no time to worry about sleeping, either.

It was right back to work for Gottlieb and the Bears' coaching staff as soon as they got back home. Truth be told, the work started on the charter flight that departed two hours after Cal beat South Florida in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Monday.

The second-seeded Bears (30-3) meet No. 6 LSU (22-11) on Saturday night at Spokane Arena in the NCAA regional semifinals.

"It's a lot of film. There's not a lot of sleep," Gottlieb said. "We are thrilled as a coaching staff to be having late nights in late March."

The Tigers are a mild surprise to be at the Sweet Sixteen, having upset third-seeded Penn State on their home floor to earn the trip to Spokane. Gottlieb and the Bears are familiar with Caldwell, who was the head coach at UCLA for three years before taking the LSU job in 2011.

Caldwell is known to be an impeccable dresser with an affinity for high heels.

"They know that their coach is going to be outdressed," Gottlieb said. "I've lost the fashion battle already. They know that. I'm sure I'll hear about it all week."

The Tigers had the advantage of playing their first two games on its home floor, but they also beat Penn State with only seven healthy players after starting point guard Jeanne Kenney suffered a concussion in their first-round win over Green Bay.

Since the Bears played Monday and LSU played Tuesday, Cal has an extra day to prepare for Saturday. Gottlieb gave her players the day off Tuesday but were back in the gym Wednesday with three full days to prepare for the Tigers.

"You don't have time to complain about being tired. People are sitting at home right now," Cal guard Layshia Clarendon said. "There are only 16 teams left that have this opportunity. So I think at the end of the day that gratitude alone kind of helps push you forward."

Cal's women's basketball team has come a long way. How long? The Bears will tell you themselves:

Cal coach Lindsay Gottlieb and players Layshia Clarendon and Gennifer Brandon met the media Wednesday afternoon to talk about this weekend's trip to Spokane, Wash. for the NCAA Sweet Sixteen.

This week's update focuses on the men's tennis team.

LUBBOCK, Texas - Forget the missed throws or fouling 3-point shooters. None of that mattered during a jubilant late night and early morning after the Cal women's basketball team advanced to the second Sweet Sixteen in school history with an 82-78 victory over South Florida in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Monday at Texas Tech University.

The Bears fully know why they allowed the Bulls to come back to force the extra session Monday night. They've never claimed to be perfect and have never shied away from working at curing those imperfections.

But the bottom line is the Bears were clearly the better team Monday, not by a lot but by enough. The Bears outplayed USF in almost every facet except free throw shooting. Indeed, had Cal not missed eight of 11 free throws down the stretch, it would have won comfortably.

"I said, 'Not one person looks behind'," Cal coach Lindsay Gottlieb said about her message during the team huddle heading into overtime. "We don't think, talk about the time that's already lost. We're looking forward. Not that it was easy, but there was no carryover whatsoever and again that short memory is important. We all know we made mistakes down the stretch but what are you going to do? We're going into overtime and I said there's no option but to win this game."

Once overtime started, it was back to regular basketball again because South Florida had no reason to send the Bears to the line. And once Cal regained the lead, this time it made 8 of 10 free throws to seal it.

"It was exciting," said Cal guard Layshia Clarendon, who led the Bears with 27 points, two short of her career-high. "I think this is what March is all about. It's one of those games where toward the end, the clock couldn't tick any slower. It felt like you were in a movie."

When the game finally did end, the Bears engaged in an on-court celebration that was part-joy, part-relief. But this is where Cal expected to be. Ranked in the top-10 for almost the entire season, anything short of at least the Sweet Sixteen would have felt like an unfulfilled season.

The Bears enjoyed the win as much as they could after a physically draining game that ended after 11 p.m. local time. By the time Cal completed its media obligations, showered and reached the airport, it was 1 a.m.

Still, there were a ton of smiles and laughs as the team headed to the airport. The Southwest Airlines crew guiding the charter flight back to Oakland congratulated the Bears over the airplane intercom. The plane touched down in Oakland at 2:10 a.m. local time.

The Bears were ready and deserved a good night's sleep at that point. They will watch tonight's Penn State-LSU game with great interest, as the winner will be their next opponent Saturday in Spokane, Washington.

"I'm so proud and excited and happy for the young women in our locker room that we're going to the Sweet Sixteen," Gottlieb said. "Just very thankful to be in this position with these young people."

No surprise that the Bears are getting a tough test from South Florida. The Bulls were impressive Saturday night in winning on Texas Tech's home floor and have dynamic players in the backcourt. But the difference so far has been the play of Cal senior Layshia Clarendon, who has 17 points at the half on 7-10 floor shooting. Clarendon ended the half with a terrific spin move and drive that resulted in a 3-point play with 1.9 seconds remaining. Clarendon scored eight off the Bears' final nine points of the first half.

Brittany Boyd, coming off arguably the best Cal performance ever in an NCAA Tournament game, has a game-high six assists. Reshanda Gray has provided a spark off the bench with six points and three rebounds in 11 minutes.

Second half coming up in about 10 minutes. 

Usual starters: Boyd, Jemerigbe, Clarendon, Brandon and Caldwell.

For South Florida: Andrell Smith, Inga Orekhova, Andrea Smith, Alisia Jenkins and Akila McDonald.