LOS ANGELES — Cal coach Charmin Smith won’t waste any time cashing in on her team’s first in six years.

NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament appearance

“I think we put Cal women’s basketball back on the map,” Smith said Saturday night in the moments following a at USC’s Galen Center. “I can tell in the interest we have in some recruits. I think who we can go after is better than it was.”

59-46 loss to Mississippi State

It will be a whirlwind that starts Monday, when the transfer portal opens. Yes, the NCAA, in its infinite wisdom, declares open season on migratory talent after the first weekend of the tournament when 32 teams are still playing for a championship.

Players can enter the portal with plans to go elsewhere even as they put it on the line for their current school.

“It’s going to be crazy,” Smith said. “There’s no break, and we have to replace seven people that are graduating, essentially.”

The new guard is expected to include Taylor Barnes, a McDonald’s All-American and the top recruit in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. A 6-foot guard from South Grand Prairie, Barnes told reporters in October she connected with Smith during recruited and committed to Cal.

First, the portal beckons, and Smith will mine it build on a 25-9 season and a 12-6 record in the Bears’ first season in the Atlantic Coast Conference.