Civil Bear said:

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AZ Bear said:

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Madsen looks like the best recruiter Cal has hired in any sport (not just MBB) in a very long time.

I agree that Madsen looks like an excellent recruiter. And what he's offering would be very appealing to me were I a player or the parent of a player.

I'll also agree that Madsen looks like one of the best recruiters we've had a Cal in a long time.

I'll disagree with one portion of your overall point: as far as being THE BEST recruiter Cal has had, I'd point out that Cuonzo Martin had phenomenal recruiting results in his short time at Cal. Jaylen Brown, Rabb, and some of the others is hard to top. We don't know how this year's crop of Madsen recruits will turn out yet, but if there's one thing you can say about Cuonzo's time at Cal, it's that the man recruited like a boss!

I'd rather have Madsen as a coach and I think over time Madsen could wrest the title of "best Cal recruiter" from Cuonzo. But I think we gotta give credit where it's due to Cuonzo...

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The Bozoman was a way better recruiter than Guonzo. He just got caught.

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Sebastabear said:

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Big C said:

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oskidunker said:

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DaveT said:

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Cal isn't a top-tier MBB program. We haven't appeared in the NCAA tournament since 2016. We haven't won our conference since 2010. We haven't had a winning record since 2017. Two years ago we were a clown show pretending to be a college basketball program. Our facilities are mediocre, as is our fan support. Despite valiant efforts, I doubt we have an elite NIL budget.

And yet, Madsen has been able to compile a top-8 portal class and convince players to come to Cal over offers from Kentucky, North Carolina, Texas, LSU, Ole Miss, and Arkansas. What more can he do as a recruiter?

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What you say is true however it is important to realize tbe following two things.

1. We were a top 20 recruiting class last year and had a losing record. You can talk about injuries, I guess

2. Recruiting class rankings are composed of two things. One is the number of players you get. The other is the stars
Since we always need to replace tbe whole team, the ranking will always be high.

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Madsen is a good recruiter and this is a good portal class. No doubt.

But yeah, isn't one of the reasons that this class is ranked highly that we got so many guys? And the reason we got so many guys was because we had so many spots to fill? I don't think acknowledging that takes away from the good things that are going on; it's just reality.

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Except it's not true. Look at On3. They currently have us ranked #9 (with only four recruits somehow). Seven of the next 10 schools ranked immediately below us have the same number of players coming in or more. So no, Cal is not unique. There was massive turnover as a result of the portal across teams this year. It's not even particularly noteworthy how many players we lost. We weren't in the majority, but it was a substantial minority of teams who found themselves in a similar situation to ours. Madsen is getting credit in these rankings for picking up excellent players, not just lots of players.

Cal fans always seem to work so hard to find reasons why our successes should be minimized. It's some kind of battered spouse syndrome. Sometimes things go bad for Cal. I'm on the front line with a pitchfork when that happens. But sometimes things go right. This is one of those times.

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Sebastabear said:

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Big C said:

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Sebastabear said:

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Big C said:

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oskidunker said:

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DaveT said:

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Cal isn't a top-tier MBB program. We haven't appeared in the NCAA tournament since 2016. We haven't won our conference since 2010. We haven't had a winning record since 2017. Two years ago we were a clown show pretending to be a college basketball program. Our facilities are mediocre, as is our fan support. Despite valiant efforts, I doubt we have an elite NIL budget.

And yet, Madsen has been able to compile a top-8 portal class and convince players to come to Cal over offers from Kentucky, North Carolina, Texas, LSU, Ole Miss, and Arkansas. What more can he do as a recruiter?

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What you say is true however it is important to realize tbe following two things.

1. We were a top 20 recruiting class last year and had a losing record. You can talk about injuries, I guess

2. Recruiting class rankings are composed of two things. One is the number of players you get. The other is the stars
Since we always need to replace tbe whole team, the ranking will always be high.

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Madsen is a good recruiter and this is a good portal class. No doubt.

But yeah, isn't one of the reasons that this class is ranked highly that we got so many guys? And the reason we got so many guys was because we had so many spots to fill? I don't think acknowledging that takes away from the good things that are going on; it's just reality.

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Except it's not true. Look at On3. They currently have us ranked #9 (with only four recruits somehow). Seven of the next 10 schools ranked immediately below us have the same number of players coming in or more. So no, Cal is not unique. There was massive turnover as a result of the portal across teams this year. It's not even particularly noteworthy how many players we lost. We weren't in the majority, but it was a substantial minority of teams who found themselves in a similar situation to ours. Madsen is getting credit in these rankings for picking up excellent players, not just lots of players.

Cal fans always seem to work so hard to find reasons why our successes should be minimized. It's some kind of battered spouse syndrome. Sometimes things go bad for Cal. I'm on the front line with a pitchfork when that happens. But sometimes things go right. This is one of those times.

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That's great to hear! Some of us have predicted that we might finish somewhere around .500 overall this coming season (a few more wins than last season). Maybe we should revise upward a bit? What do you think?

("some kind of battered spouse syndrome" ... not a bad analogy, actually... I'm not a doctor, but a good prescription for me and those of my ilk might be a steady diet of over-.500 seasons in football and basketball)

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Let's talk after we get our point guard. Big last piece of the puzzle.

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bearsandgiants said:

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Sebastabear said:

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Big C said:

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Sebastabear said:

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Big C said:

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oskidunker said:

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DaveT said:

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Cal isn't a top-tier MBB program. We haven't appeared in the NCAA tournament since 2016. We haven't won our conference since 2010. We haven't had a winning record since 2017. Two years ago we were a clown show pretending to be a college basketball program. Our facilities are mediocre, as is our fan support. Despite valiant efforts, I doubt we have an elite NIL budget.

And yet, Madsen has been able to compile a top-8 portal class and convince players to come to Cal over offers from Kentucky, North Carolina, Texas, LSU, Ole Miss, and Arkansas. What more can he do as a recruiter?

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What you say is true however it is important to realize tbe following two things.

1. We were a top 20 recruiting class last year and had a losing record. You can talk about injuries, I guess

2. Recruiting class rankings are composed of two things. One is the number of players you get. The other is the stars
Since we always need to replace tbe whole team, the ranking will always be high.

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Madsen is a good recruiter and this is a good portal class. No doubt.

But yeah, isn't one of the reasons that this class is ranked highly that we got so many guys? And the reason we got so many guys was because we had so many spots to fill? I don't think acknowledging that takes away from the good things that are going on; it's just reality.

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Except it's not true. Look at On3. They currently have us ranked #9 (with only four recruits somehow). Seven of the next 10 schools ranked immediately below us have the same number of players coming in or more. So no, Cal is not unique. There was massive turnover as a result of the portal across teams this year. It's not even particularly noteworthy how many players we lost. We weren't in the majority, but it was a substantial minority of teams who found themselves in a similar situation to ours. Madsen is getting credit in these rankings for picking up excellent players, not just lots of players.

Cal fans always seem to work so hard to find reasons why our successes should be minimized. It's some kind of battered spouse syndrome. Sometimes things go bad for Cal. I'm on the front line with a pitchfork when that happens. But sometimes things go right. This is one of those times.

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That's great to hear! Some of us have predicted that we might finish somewhere around .500 overall this coming season (a few more wins than last season). Maybe we should revise upward a bit? What do you think?

("some kind of battered spouse syndrome" ... not a bad analogy, actually... I'm not a doctor, but a good prescription for me and those of my ilk might be a steady diet of over-.500 seasons in football and basketball)

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Let's talk after we get our point guard. Big last piece of the puzzle.

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So all of these amazing signings and we still don't have a true center nor point guard? I thought we just got an amazing one to start all of this. Did he not sign? Tucker averages 5 assists per game. I guess that's not our point guard.

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RedlessWardrobe said:

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And just because Wilkinson is only a 3 star recruit, does that mean he doesn't exist? Christian Tucker who averaged over 5 assists per game was originally a walk on, so based on that do we simply just disregard Wilkinson altogether? Most young players progress in their early years, so Wilkinson just might end up being "our point guard."

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Quote:

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So all of these amazing signings and we still don't have a true center nor point guard?

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sluggo said:

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RedlessWardrobe said:

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And just because Wilkinson is only a 3 star recruit, does that mean he doesn't exist? Christian Tucker who averaged over 5 assists per game was originally a walk on, so based on that do we simply just disregard Wilkinson altogether? Most young players progress in their early years, so Wilkinson just might end up being "our point guard."

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Short players are not necessarily point guards. Watch Wilkinson play.

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DaveT said:

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We have both. We have a good team as constructed. Madsen is trying to improve it with the final scholarship. Hopefully he'll screw it up so we have something meaningful to complain about.

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RedlessWardrobe said:

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sluggo said:

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RedlessWardrobe said:

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And just because Wilkinson is only a 3 star recruit, does that mean he doesn't exist? Christian Tucker who averaged over 5 assists per game was originally a walk on, so based on that do we simply just disregard Wilkinson altogether? Most young players progress in their early years, so Wilkinson just might end up being "our point guard."

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Short players are not necessarily point guards. Watch Wilkinson play.

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More like a Jalen Cone, yes?

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sluggo said:

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RedlessWardrobe said:

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sluggo said:

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RedlessWardrobe said:

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And just because Wilkinson is only a 3 star recruit, does that mean he doesn't exist? Christian Tucker who averaged over 5 assists per game was originally a walk on, so based on that do we simply just disregard Wilkinson altogether? Most young players progress in their early years, so Wilkinson just might end up being "our point guard."

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Short players are not necessarily point guards. Watch Wilkinson play.

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More like a Jalen Cone, yes?

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More of a Gary Payton II

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barsad said:

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DaveT said:

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We have both. We have a good team as constructed. Madsen is trying to improve it with the final scholarship. Hopefully he'll screw it up so we have something meaningful to complain about.

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Amen to that, I'm getting pretty bored with nothing to complain about.
I would amend what you said by saying, yes, we have a set of good players. But a good team would be one with a solid No. 2 behind every starting position on the floor, so that one bad sprained ankle doesn't hobble the whole team because we have no one to step in. We don't have that, IMHO, at the 5, hence we do not yet have a good team. Fingers crossed on this last scholarship, but the further we get into late spring/summer, the less likely that there's someone still available. I guess we can always poach someone who regrets their first commit choice.

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RedlessWardrobe said:

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sluggo said:

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RedlessWardrobe said:

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sluggo said:

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RedlessWardrobe said:

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And just because Wilkinson is only a 3 star recruit, does that mean he doesn't exist? Christian Tucker who averaged over 5 assists per game was originally a walk on, so based on that do we simply just disregard Wilkinson altogether? Most young players progress in their early years, so Wilkinson just might end up being "our point guard."

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Short players are not necessarily point guards. Watch Wilkinson play.

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More like a Jalen Cone, yes?

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More of a Gary Payton II

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Does that mean he ends up in the NBA? (haha)

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Sebastabear said:

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Big C said:

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oskidunker said:

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DaveT said:

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Cal isn't a top-tier MBB program. We haven't appeared in the NCAA tournament since 2016. We haven't won our conference since 2010. We haven't had a winning record since 2017. Two years ago we were a clown show pretending to be a college basketball program. Our facilities are mediocre, as is our fan support. Despite valiant efforts, I doubt we have an elite NIL budget.

And yet, Madsen has been able to compile a top-8 portal class and convince players to come to Cal over offers from Kentucky, North Carolina, Texas, LSU, Ole Miss, and Arkansas. What more can he do as a recruiter?

---

What you say is true however it is important to realize tbe following two things.

1. We were a top 20 recruiting class last year and had a losing record. You can talk about injuries, I guess

2. Recruiting class rankings are composed of two things. One is the number of players you get. The other is the stars
Since we always need to replace tbe whole team, the ranking will always be high.

---

Madsen is a good recruiter and this is a good portal class. No doubt.

But yeah, isn't one of the reasons that this class is ranked highly that we got so many guys? And the reason we got so many guys was because we had so many spots to fill? I don't think acknowledging that takes away from the good things that are going on; it's just reality.

---

Except it's not true. Look at On3. They currently have us ranked #9 (with only four recruits somehow). Seven of the next 10 schools ranked immediately below us have the same number of players coming in or more. So no, Cal is not unique. There was massive turnover as a result of the portal across teams this year. It's not even particularly noteworthy how many players we lost. We weren't in the majority, but it was a substantial minority of teams who found themselves in a similar situation to ours. Madsen is getting credit in these rankings for picking up excellent players, not just lots of players.

Cal fans always seem to work so hard to find reasons why our successes should be minimized. It's some kind of battered spouse syndrome. Sometimes things go bad for Cal. I'm on the front line with a pitchfork when that happens. But sometimes things go right. This is one of those times.

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Quote:

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On3's Team Transfer Portal Index utilizes the On3 (P)erformance score to measure a team's production during the transfer process, compared relative against its roster and not a comparison against other schools. This proprietary algorithm determines if a school has improved its overall team talent, stayed the same, or declined in talent during the transfer window

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