First off, apologies to calumus who posted the initial thread on this and I give him the credit, but since Bird's name isn't in it, just trying to keep the "booths" to a minimum...welcome aboard Jabari

Quote:

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RICHMOND -- Salesian High's Jabari Bird, one of the nation's top basketball prospects, announced Wednesday he will attend Cal a year from now.

The 6-foot-6 wing, regarded as a five-star recruit, settled on Cal days after making a weekend campus visit. Bird had previously narrowed down his choices to Cal, Washington, Oregon and Colorado.

Oral commitments cannot become official until the national letter-of-intent signing period, Nov. 14-21.

Rated as the nation's No. 15 overall prospect by Scout.com and No. 20 by Rivals.com, Bird is one of the top recruits Mike Montgomery has lured to Cal in his five seasons as coach.

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http://www.mercurynews.com/cal-bears/ci_21472735/cal-basketball-gets-commitment-from-salesian-high-star?source=rss&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

Who is this guy and how far can he throw a football?

Our Domicile;841940154 said:

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Who is this guy and how far can he throw a football?

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After all these years I finally figured out this is a football board but I think a little good news at this point is welcome...same if Missy Franklin comes aboard on day.....:beer:

Is he a one and done type?

Davidson;841940160 said:

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Is he a one and done type?

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He could be. But if we can get Gordon and Lee we could be final 4 board their only year.

Cal_Fan2;841940157 said:

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After all these years I finally figured out this is a football board but I think a little good news at this point is welcome...same if Missy Franklin comes aboard on day.....:beer:

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please please please.

Like Bird, maan, she's a 5 (spinning) star also..

Davidson;841940160 said:

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Is he a one and done type?

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I'd take a one-and-done over 5-years-done-nothing. :bravo

After seeing what's happening on the grid-iron lately, being known as only a "Basketball School" doesn't sound so bad after all.

So it was not a wasted weekend after all. Got to see Cal women's volleyball beat the #6 Rainbow Wahine 3-2 at Stan Sheriff and Jabari's visit was a hit!

Cal_Fan2;841940148 said:

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First off, apologies to calumus who posted the initial thread on this and I give him the credit, but since Bird's name isn't in it, just trying to keep the "booths" to a minimum...welcome aboard Jabari


http://www.mercurynews.com/cal-bears/ci_21472735/cal-basketball-gets-commitment-from-salesian-high-star?source=rss&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

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No apologies needed! :gobears:
:beer:

WooHoo!

cal4life;841940357 said:

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All this whining about Mike Montgomery, and guy pulls a top 20 recruit with potential for a top 5 class.

Old man river knows what he's doing, and unlike JT, he'll be able to coach em up.

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Many on this board not only questioned Monty"s recruiting at the end of last season but also his ability to coach effevtively still IIRC.

Regardless, incredible news in an otherwise difficult week.
:gobears::cheer:Monty:bluecarrot:

This is the biggest recruit since Leon Powe, and if Jabari can stay healthy, he'll have an even better college career. This is something to be truly excited about- the buzz is back in Berkeley.

NYCGOBEARS;841940361 said:

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Many on this board not only questioned Monty"s recruiting at the end of last season but also his ability to coach effevtively still IIRC.

Regardless, incredible news in an otherwise difficult week.
:gobears::cheer:Monty:bluecarrot:

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Anyone questioning Monty's coaching needs their head examined. Cal is the least athletic team in the Pac-12. Monty helped turn Jorge Gutierriez into a Pac-10 PoY. Think about that for a second. Jorge was 3-5 minute guy his frosh year who couldn't shoot and had little to no offense.

Monty has coached Cal as far as Cal could go with its athletic limitations. Don't get me wrong I love Jorge, Jerome, Patrick Christopher, et al., but none of them are NBA caliber players let alone athletes. Even Crabbe who is a very good player is a limited athlete.

Bird gives Cal that type of athlete that Monty has never had even at Stanford.

Think about the times Cal got rocked or beaten under Monty it's almost always been against teams with better athleticism.

Monty takes the best of the scrappers and squeezes the most out of them. He hasn't had big time talent save for the Lopez and Collins brothers.

Give Monty that type of talent and Cal can start to make deep runs into the tournament.

RaphaelAglietti;841940433 said:

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Anyone questioning Monty's coaching needs their head examined. Cal is the least athletic team in the Pac-12. Monty helped turn Jorge Gutierriez into a Pac-10 PoY. Think about that for a second. Jorge was 3-5 minute guy his frosh year who couldn't shoot and had little to no offense.

Monty has coached Cal as far as Cal could go with its athletic limitations. Don't get me wrong I love Jorge, Jerome, Patrick Christopher, et al., but none of them are NBA caliber players let alone athletes. Even Crabbe who is a very good player is a limited athlete.

Bird gives Cal that type of athlete that Monty has never had even at Stanford.

Think about the times Cal got rocked or beaten under Monty it's almost always been against teams with better athleticism.

Monty takes the best of the scrappers and squeezes the most out of them. He hasn't had big time talent save for the Lopez and Collins brothers.

Give Monty that type of talent and Cal can start to make deep runs into the tournament.

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I think Casey Jacobsen, Josh Childress and Adam Keefe were also big time recruits/players.

Very nice! Glad to have you as a Golden Bear, Jabari.

I've been a Cal fan too long and have been burned too many times, so I refuse to get too excited about any recruit until they are ON CAMPUS, IN UNIFORM, and PLAYING!! He sounds great though.

glutton;841940602 said:

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I've been a Cal fan too long and have been burned too many times, so I refuse to get too excited about any recruit until they are ON CAMPUS, IN UNIFORM, and PLAYING!! He sounds great though.

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Yup. We don't get excited about any Cal football player either, until they start dazzling in the NFL out of nowhere. We are California Football.