eastcoastcal said:

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Shocky, 4thGen, anyone?

I keep looking at our offer sheet and literally can't forsee anyone who's projected to come to Cal. Shocky mentioned on another thread that Fox was chatting with a "6'8 lanky player from AZ" at the Arizona game or something of that nature. I take it that he's referring to Cody Williams, the 23rd ranked player in the nation. Have some doubts we'll land him... but hey I'll root for Fox to get him

Maybe we flip Rodney brown back? There's a lowish 3 star from Colorado named Baye Ndongo who doesn't have any prediction as of now but based on visits seems like he's leaning towards Boulder.

In any case does anyone have any insight? Any news?

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Anything more depressing than our basketball recruiting? The only way this picks up is if we have a surprisingly good season -- and I would put that at less than 25% happening.

6’11” F Devin Curtis of Southern California Academy (2023) on an official visit at Cal Berkeley 🏀🔥 #ALLIN pic.twitter.com/tkN5qNGqUP

— West Coast Elite (@wceua) September 30, 2022

Can someone please clarify how many scholarships we have to offer for this recruiting cycle?

Clayton leaving after this year is 1.

I believe our seniors Lars, Kuany, Brown and Hyder could come back next season using the covid exemption year. If that's the case, does that count against our scholarship allotment?

Yes they count (players have extra year, but team now needs to stay within regular schollie limit

BC Calfan said:

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Can someone please clarify how many scholarships we have to offer for this recruiting cycle?

Clayton leaving after this year is 1.

I believe our seniors Lars, Kuany, Brown and Hyder could come back next season using the covid exemption year. If that's the case, does that count against our scholarship allotment?

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BC Calfan said:

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Can someone please clarify how many scholarships we have to offer for this recruiting cycle?

Clayton leaving after this year is 1.

I believe our seniors Lars, Kuany, Brown and Hyder could come back next season using the covid exemption year. If that's the case, does that count against our scholarship allotment?

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Definitely a 4thgen question, as the answer is at least one (Clayton), and maybe up to six. Seems like there are four seniors (your three + LT) who could stay or go, plus I bet Celestine takes an injury year and transfers.

BC Calfan said:

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Can someone please clarify how many scholarships we have to offer for this recruiting cycle?

Clayton leaving after this year is 1.

I believe our seniors Lars, Kuany, Brown and Hyder could come back next season using the covid exemption year. If that's the case, does that count against our scholarship allotment?

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Unless some of them take real quantum leaps this season, I'll frankly be pissed of they return. All are nice guys and I appreciate their contributions, but I'll be ready to watch a different set of mediocre players. But of course, Fox will welcome them back as it hides his lousy recruiting for another year. I think it was a mistake to let Anticevich play a fifth year - he put up essentially the same numbers and took away playing time from younger front-line players who could have used the game experience.

I've been thinking about the $ situation and I want to know whether there was substantial donor interest in the MBB program when we were good. Cuonzo, Monty, Braun, etc. When we were making the tournament and the program was getting good recruits (most recently the Cuonzo class with Rabb/Brown and subsequently making the tournament as a 4 seed) was there substantial donor interest?

If there was, then I think the way to resurrect the program is via firing Fox and replacing him with someone who can excite donors. If I was wealthy with $ to give, frankly I probably wouldn't be putting money into a program led by Fox. But if we had hired Kidd, Musselman, Decuire, etc then I think I'd be much more likely to view the ROI for my donation to be worth it since we'd have a higher ceiling.

If there was similarly low levels of donor interest (around 11th in the conference where we are now) then I don't think our program can be resurrected because the name of the game now seems to just be $ in the world of NIL, meaning if we just don't have substantial donors interested in making a competitive MBB program, I don't think there's a way to be successful.

HearstMining said:

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So, this is a chicken-or-the-egg situation. You can't win without donors investing $$$ and you don't get donors if you aren't winning. How to break this cycle? This is very similar to a startup company trying to attract capital. It seems to me you need three things:

• A coach with a track record for turning around programs.
• A believable plan to create a winning Cal team including how the donations will be used to support the plan
• The coach has to be willing to pitch the plan to the donors and give them periodic candid updates on progress.

Personally, I don't do well making pitches, but I recognize that it's critical here in order to break the chicken-or-egg cycle.

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Well said, a coach with people skills, tireless recruiter and existing key relations with nationally recognized programs. When that coach is in charge, donation levels will substantially increase and thus allow the program to be in the mix for the NIL demands/requirements to induce the top 300 players to visit. Literally these players will not visit unless there is a strong belief that NIL monies are available to them, should they choose Cal.

How do you know NIL is a factor? Clearly, top ranked mercenaries will require NIL considerations, but doesn't NIL opportunity fade to de minimus among the lesser ranked recruits?

To me, the good news is that you don't need many players to turn a basketball program around. Find (or fund) a couple stars and you're there. The issue obviously being who really wants to go play for Fox right now + I doubt many big donors are super excited to write a check for the program at the moment.

Right now Utah, WSU, and Cal are the only three programs in the PAC without a commit for the 2023 class. About a month til early signing day.

KenBurnski said:

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Fox has solid legs. This is the most impressed I've been with him.

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And he drove on marsalis!

https://www.on3.com/news/dontae-russo-nance-bronson-schmidt-uili-set-first-official-visit-cal-berkley/