Assuming Tyson is gone, we need a full roster makeover.

- Have to get a PG, Forward, Center, and possibly another Guard/Forward for the other starting lineup job

- We need a legit 6th man off the bench (maybe from a mid major)

https://www.johncanzano.com/p/canzano-jordan-pope-all-in-for-the

Jordan Pope is from Oakley, not too far from Berkeley. Him going to Berkeley would be the biggest piece.

Cal has reached out to Houston Mallette, per source

6'5 PG from Pepperdine that would fill the void of Jalen Cone

Shot 41% from three while averaging 14 a game

One player to definitely monitor https://t.co/WLdBZ4Yusw

— Cal Sports (@CAL_SPORTS_) March 15, 2024

Mallette has 1 year remaining. 6' 5" but only 185 lbs. 3-pt and FT shooting good, 2-pt not so good. 2.3 A/game is not a PG number but 1.3 TO/game is good. Dunno about defense.

https://pepperdinewaves.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster/houston-mallette/4263

stu said:

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Mallette has 1 year remaining. 6' 5" but only 185 lbs. 3-pt and FT shooting good, 2-pt not so good. 2.3 A/game is not a PG number but 1.3 TO/game is good. Dunno about defense.

https://pepperdinewaves.com/sports/mens-basketball/roster/houston-mallette/4263

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I think Ethan Anderson was the primary PG for Pepperdine. Mallette more a combo guard that can run a little PG.

Johnfox said:

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Assuming Tyson is gone, we need a full roster makeover.

- Have to get a PG, Forward, Center, and possibly another Guard/Forward for the other starting lineup job

- We need a legit 6th man off the bench (maybe from a mid major)

https://www.johncanzano.com/p/canzano-jordan-pope-all-in-for-the

Jordan Pope is from Oakley, not too far from Berkeley. Him going to Berkeley would be the biggest piece.

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Don't disagree with your listed needs. I do think if they can find a HS player or 2 that can play early they will try and sign them. I think they need 6 new additions. they do not all need to come from the portal, but they all need to be able to contribute now.

The portal will be interesting to watch for who enters. This first wave starting Monday will likely comprise players from teams that did not make a postseason tourney. Should be a big group though. Then each following week as teams get eliminated from post season and programs make coaching changes both outgoing and incoming.

I would be surprised if Madsen does not already have a tentative target list based on back channel discussions. There will be some surprises. There always is. And another group could come from NBA draft entries that do not like their positions after pre draft camps.

Also Cal may have a player (other than Tyson) they would like to stay decide to enter.

So, the UC Berkeley Bears need to hire an entire starting lineup, and three others ready to contribute immediately? Sounds doable.

Newell, Celestine and Brown can play. Curtis has potential. Celestine starts. The other two are close.

barsad said:

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If I was playing Uno with kids, I would keep only my Celestine card and throw down three or four Wild portal Draw 4 cards. Clean house, hope that Wilkinson's ready, and start fresh.

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You would keep Larson, right? In February, I was actually wondering if you might be his dad or something.

Keep Larson as 3rd or 4th relief substitution. Newell 3rd at his position. Only Celestine to start. Brown and Askew-1st subs in. Curtis maybe 3rd. Get rid of all the rest.

I think the team needs a lot!! On a tourney team, in my opinion, Celestine is a third option kind of guy. Brown is a good sub off the bench next year. I am excited for the incoming frosh scorer. Newell is a serviceable bench player who plays some good minutes. The team has 2 bigs who can fill a few minutes here or there. The need for a number 1 and two player stands out. Do they have the NIL to get those?

I think Madsen has the NIL to go out and get 3 huge players (PG + Forward + Center). I think he will have to go the other route with less NIL to discover under appreciated players at mid majors, or underutilized bench players at the power conference.

Big C said:

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You would keep Larson, right? In February, I was actually wondering if you might be his dad or something.

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Right, thanks for the reminder Big C, definitely keeping my Larson card, need a solid backup. Not his dad or related in any way, I just like an underdog walk-on who played with more grit than 90% of the team.

barsad said:

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Big C said:

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You would keep Larson, right? In February, I was actually wondering if you might be his dad or something.

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Right, thanks for the reminder Big C, definitely keeping my Larson card, need a solid backup. Not his dad or related in any way, I just like an underdog walk-on who played with more grit than 90% of the team.

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I'm rooting for him, too! He battles and he has a decent shot. Needs to build more strength and learn how to use it to stake out his territory down low.

barsad said:

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Big C said:

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You would keep Larson, right? In February, I was actually wondering if you might be his dad or something.

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Right, thanks for the reminder Big C, definitely keeping my Larson card, need a solid backup. Not his dad or related in any way, I just like an underdog walk-on who played with more grit than 90% of the team.

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any idea why he didnt see the court v Stanford

barsad said:

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If I was playing Uno with kids, I would keep only my Celestine card and throw down three or four Wild portal Draw 4 cards. Clean house, hope that Wilkinson's ready, and start fresh.

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Nothing against Celestine, but IMHO, Brown's the one with the higher ceiling; it'd be nuts to let him go. If Madsen develops him, Brown can probably be a first round pick in his junior year (if not next year).

I hope we keep Brown but IMHO he has a long way to go. Especially, as SFCityBear mentions, on defense.

01Bear said:

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barsad said:

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If I was playing Uno with kids, I would keep only my Celestine card and throw down three or four Wild portal Draw 4 cards. Clean house, hope that Wilkinson's ready, and start fresh.

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Nothing against Celestine, but IMHO, Brown's the one with the higher ceiling; it'd be nuts to let him go. If Madsen develops him, Brown can probably be a first round pick in his junior year (if not next year).

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What did you see in Brown that makes you rate him so high as a first round pick in any round? He looks frightened out there, even a bit scared. He does not drive particularly well. My goodness, Cone was such a liability out there on defense, why didn't Madsen play Brown more if he is so good? He is a freshman, and he will get better. But he needs to bulk up and get stronger, and that may affect his shooting touch.

Celestine and Brown play different positions. I don't know who is the better shot, but Celestine has been doing it for 3 seasons at Cal, with Brown's sample being only one season, playing few minutes, and none as a regular starter. Celestine is already a good defender. He can drive, he can shoot both mid-range and 3 pointers. I can't see any reason not to keep Celestine over Brown. I just need to see a lot more minutes of Brown to evaluate him. Right now, he just doesn't seem to be very dangerous. The only reason right now that I'd keep a Brown over Celestine is that Celestine has a history of serious injury.

I am also not interested in taking players who will be NBA picks in early drafts. I just don't care about players who will leave early. I want only 4 year players, or players who want to be here, not just showcase their talents to scouts who might draft them, and then blow town for the big bucks.

SFCityBear said:

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01Bear said:

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barsad said:

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If I was playing Uno with kids, I would keep only my Celestine card and throw down three or four Wild portal Draw 4 cards. Clean house, hope that Wilkinson's ready, and start fresh.

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Nothing against Celestine, but IMHO, Brown's the one with the higher ceiling; it'd be nuts to let him go. If Madsen develops him, Brown can probably be a first round pick in his junior year (if not next year).

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What did you see in Brown that makes you rate him so high as a first round pick in any round? He looks frightened out there, even a bit scared. He does not drive particularly well. My goodness, Cone was such a liability out there on defense, why didn't Madsen play Brown more if he is so good? He is a freshman, and he will get better. But he needs to bulk up and get stronger, and that may affect his shooting touch.

Celestine and Brown play different positions. I don't know who is the better shot, but Celestine has been doing it for 3 seasons at Cal, with Brown's sample being only one season, playing few minutes, and none as a regular starter. Celestine is already a good defender. He can drive, he can shoot both mid-range and 3 pointers. I can't see any reason not to keep Celestine over Brown. I just need to see a lot more minutes of Brown to evaluate him. Right now, he just doesn't seem to be very dangerous. The only reason right now that I'd keep a Brown over Celestine is that Celestine has a history of serious injury.

I am also not interested in taking players who will be NBA picks in early drafts. I just don't care about players who will leave early. I want only 4 year players, or players who want to be here, not just showcase their talents to scouts who might draft them, and then blow town for the big bucks.

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I agree that Brown was a little overmatched mentally this past season. The game needs to slow down for him. The best way to do that is to get more live game time. But that's not why I think he's got the higher ceiling.

Celestine's shown that his ceiling is a D-1 (even P5/4) college starter. That's honestly pretty darn good for anyone! But I'm sure he has NBA aspirations. Unfortunately, (from what I've seen of him) he lacks the explosiveness and elite athleticism usually needed in today's game.*

Keep in mind, neither Russell Westbrook nor Zach Lavine really lit up the stat sheet when they were in college. But both were lottery picks because NBA teams saw them as having high ceilings due to their athleticism and explosiveness. Rodney Brown strikes me as that kind of player. (Obviously, I'm not saying Rodney will prove to be a NBA All-Star or MVP candidate**; that's up to how he develops in the Association.)

Brown's still young, but he has shown flashes of his explosiveness and elite athleticism. With good coaching and bodybuilding, he should be able to make it as a NBA player. Of course, before he gets that far, he needs to adapt to the college game, first. Again, that takes playing time in actual games.

Once Brown gets used to playing at the college level, he'll likely be able to put up (at a minimum) solid numbers. With his length, explosiveness, and athleticism, NBA teams will be more inclined to scout him. If he puts up numbers comparable to Jaylon Tyson's this year (as I believe he'll be able to do) he'll be a first round pick and possibly even a lottery pick.

I also get what you're saying about wanting guys who will stay for four years. That would be ideal for any system. However, college basketball is now a big business. The best players (read most NBA ready) want to go to teams that can showcase them and win 30 games a season while doing so. Sure, there are plenty of teams that win the NCAA with teams full of seniors, but most Final Four teams now have at least one lottery pick. Lottery pick guys tend to be underclassmen with high ceilings***.

Because I want to see Cal win the NCAA Tournament, I want to see Cal bring in not just four-year players but also NBA lottery pick guys, including one-and-dones like Jaylen Brown. Of course, a team with all one-and-dones is unlikely to win the NCAA tourney. However, a team with multiple upperclassmen leaders (even if they're role players) and one or two one-and-done guys who can take over games when needed can win it all.

*Of course there are exceptions. Luca Doncic and Nikola Jokic lack explosiveness and elite athleticism, as well and they're perpetual MVP candidates. But what they lack in athleticism and explosiveness, they make up for with elite basketball IQ and playmaking ability. This isn't a knock on Jalen, but he doesn't have that same level of basketball IQ and playmaking ability. About the only Cal player who had that combination of high basketball IQ and playmaking in my lifetime is Jason Kidd. So that's a really high standard, which few can meet.

**Though, I did predict Jaylen Brown would be a NBA All-Star as he wrapped up his line year at Cal. That was because Jaylen not only had elite athleticism and explosiveness, but he was also dedicated to learning and improving himself. His drive was what made me believe he would excel. He's proved me right. How I wish he were a Laker instead of a Celtic!

***The era of senior lottery picks ended in the 90s or early 00s, IIRC. Sure Jimmer Fredette was a lottery pick after his senior year, but he was drafted way too high. Team executives learned from that mistake and now tend to stay away from four-year players in the lottery with the obvious exception of Damian Lillard.

01Bear said:

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SFCityBear said:

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The thread has been up for a few days, and only one poster, Stu, has mentioned defense, when he said about a player, "I dunno about his defense".

Defense is 50% of the game, and Madsen should recruit for it. This year we were an awful defensive team. Near the bottom of Division one in most all defensive statistic categories. The last time Madsen went to the portal for talent with track records, he went mostly for offense. People who could score. Only one of his portal selections, Kennedy, was known to play some defense.

Aimaq was not present on defense. Anybody who penetrated Cal's defense to gain the paint, usually got a clean look at the basket. Cal's biggest need on defense is a rim protector.

The next biggest need on defense is a guard who can stop the ball at the point of attack. Stop that point guard from getting into the paint. Stop him from passing into the paint.

A general rule should be that we stop signing players who are in the portal, simply because they can score the ball. I've had enough of these guys, haven't you? Look for players who can play some D, along with their shooting ability or slick moves or hops. I'm tired of Cal putting players on the floor who don't play defense, or aren't any good at it when they try to play it.

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I think the problem on defense is more about desire and coaching. I agree with you that not all players want to play D; it's hard work with little recognition whereas offense is instant gratification and recognition (even by the basketball illiterate casual fan). That said, with good coaching and a desire to play shutdown defense, most Div. 1 basketball players can play good defense.

I think Madsen can fire up his team. He can make them believers. He should be able to get his players to want to play shutdown defense. He and his coaching staff have to be able to teach it, though.

Unfortunately, if he's essentially replacing his rotation every year, he won't have time to teach defense. He'll have to focus most of his time on teaching his players how to run his plays and otherwise getting them used to playing with one another. If Madsen can keep half of his rotation players for two or three years, he should be able to integrate the other half on offense and still be able to coach everyone up on defense or better yet, get everyone to play team defense at a high level.

Think about Jim Boeheim and his Syracuse teams. Most of his rotation players stuck around for three or four years. This meant he usually only had to replace one or two rotation players per year. Often, the replacements were already with the team the previous year. This made integrating the new players into his system much easier. It also made teaching the new guys how to play within his defensive schemes more manageable as he (or his assistant coaches) could provide more one-on-one attention to new players who needed it (especially on the defensive end).

Of course, thanks to Fox, the Cal cupboard's a bit bare and Madsen needs to recruit for immediate needs, which means getting players who can contribute immediately (especially on offense where Fox let things die). He still needs to rebuild Cal men's basketball's reputation nationally in order to get buy-in from high school recruits who can (and will want to) stay for two or more years. Until that happens, Cal's defense will likely continue to look disjointed.

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I agree with most all of this. Madsen had an immediate need to make a splash, up the entertainment that the team could bring to the arena, and get customers buying tickets again. That means bring in some proven offense. He did that very well. Now it is time to start developing more of a long term strategy. Likely most portal players will only be staying a year (or two at most). Newell had his recruits for 4 years, and in his system, he rarely started a sophomore. It took 2-3 years to teach a player to be a dependable defender in his system To be able to teach defense and be successful year after year, a coach should focus on the young recruits, because they are the only ones who might stay 3 or 4 years, concentrate on teaching especially them, how to play good defense. And then just bring in portal players to fill an immediate need, mostly on offense. One good thing about recruiting players for defense is that they are likely to stay for 3 or 4 years, as opposed to the offensive player, who is more likely to leave early.

Pope plays good defense.

Great offensive stats. Can he play defense?

SFCityBear said:

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The thread has been up for a few days, and only one poster, Stu, has mentioned defense, when he said about a player, "I dunno about his defense".

Defense is 50% of the game, and Madsen should recruit for it. This year we were an awful defensive team. Near the bottom of Division one in most all defensive statistic categories. The last time Madsen went to the portal for talent with track records, he went mostly for offense. People who could score. Only one of his portal selections, Kennedy, was known to play some defense.

Aimaq was not present on defense. Anybody who penetrated Cal's defense to gain the paint, usually got a clean look at the basket. Cal's biggest need on defense is a rim protector.

The next biggest need on defense is a guard who can stop the ball at the point of attack. Stop that point guard from getting into the paint. Stop him from passing into the paint. Cone was not present on defense either.

A general rule should be that we stop signing players who are in the portal, simply because they can score the ball. I've had enough of these guys, haven't you? Look for players who can play some D, along with their shooting ability or slick moves or hops. I'm tired of Cal putting players on the floor who don't play defense, or aren't any good at it when they try to play it.

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I will point out that he did sign Kennedy whose value is other than scoring.

I agree with you about "scorers" with one modification: I'm tired of low percentage, high volume scorers and if they are not good defenders, even more so. Wyking Jones, Mark Fox and now Mark Madden have each brought in guys like that as transfers and they tended to make us worse overall.

The key is team offensive and defensive efficiency: Points per possession and points surrendered per possession and how an individual player contributes to that.

oskidunker said:

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Madsen should look at this guy.

He goes to West Valley Junior College in Saratoga, Ca. They're 31-0 and playing tonight in the semifinals of the state championship. His name is Shakir Odunewu, , 6'11", freshman, and from Cairo, Egypt.

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Odunewu was originally at New Mexico State. He was a victim of internal hazing and sexual harassment that pretty much shut down the Aggies basketball program. He and a teammate settled with NMSU for a total of $8 million.

https://sports.yahoo.com/new-mexico-state-mens-basketball-suspended-for-rest-of-2022-23-season-amid-harassment-sexual-contact-accusations-230928677.html#:~:text=New%20Mexico%20State%20men's%20basketball%20suspended%20for%20rest%20of%202022,amid%20harassment%2C%20sexual%20contact%20accusations

https://syndication.bleacherreport.com/amp/10075052-former-nmsu-players-describe-sexual-assault-harassment-of-teammates-coaches.amp.html

No idea of his game or how he ended up at JC in California, but I'm sure coaches know about him and any potential he may have. Sounds like a project to me. But he has a body and he averaged 17 points and 9 rebounds at West Valley.

I'd like to see if we can get him as a backup center, or if we cannot sign anyone in the portal, get him as the starter. Maybe he's the next Jaylen Wells. Defense is a unknown though

I am looking forward to seeing Okafor make a jump after he is healthy. How many seasons does he have left?

KoreAmBear said:

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I am looking forward to seeing Okafor make a jump after he is healthy. How many seasons does he have left?

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Cal will ask for a Medical redshirt and he is a sophomore. So three.
But none of that means anything anymore with the transfer portal being wide open all year round.

edit: As I stated it doesn't matter…. He's already entered the portal. So he has 3 years to play….somewhere else!

Stojakovic is in the portal. Expect Raynaud to announce soon.