Says it all. We need talent upgrades at so many spots to compete in upper 1/3rd of acc

Need to retain some players also, Stoyo and Wilkinson for sure, but also a few players beyond those two.

BlakeJ22 said:

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Need to retain some players also, Stoyo and Wilkinson for sure, but also a few players beyond those two.

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Where do you see promise on the roster of Wilkinson quality. Less than that does not propel us up in the ACC

OdontoBear66 said:

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BlakeJ22 said:

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Need to retain some players also, Stoyo and Wilkinson for sure, but also a few players beyond those two.

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Where do you see promise on the roster of Wilkinson quality. Less than that does not propel us up in the ACC

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To me that's' the interesting issue - do you want to keep some continuity on the roster so everyone is more up to speed on the system even if they might not be ideal for the position or try to bring in better players that might take some time to fit in? Would experience make up for less skill or vice versa?

Welp cannot emphasize this enough but we need to keep Wilkinson. Madsen should call it quits if he can't retain him or stoj

An all new roster every season like the team formerly known as the Oakland A's.

Johnfox said:

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Welp cannot emphasize this enough but we need to keep Wilkinson. Madsen should call it quits if he can't retain him or stoj

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We absolutely need to keep getting better. If not rapidly, then incrementally. I don't care how we do it or with whom.

6956bear said:

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I get Louisville is a historic basketball program and Cal is not, but if you have a decent NIL budget you can make a good sized turnaround in hoops via the portal.

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Though not as dramatic, Vandy also had a big-time turnaround with, basically, a new roster.

Both schools had new coaches who were highly successful at a lower level.

Let's see if they can reload in Year 2.

With the hundreds of millions which will soon be cut in federal $ to the UC's, it will be interesting to see how much money will be put into hiring athletes for D1 sports.

We might be favored over v tech, although we could not beat them in Haas with Ola Joseph.

RedlessWardrobe said:

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Okay, this might be a bit dramatic, but watching the way these guys never stopped playing yesterday really has me hoping that these guys can stick together for another year. I know its the ultimate cliche, but one thing you cannot say against Madsen is that these guys ever quit on him.

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It's a given but being in the ACC adds a bit of cachet that will help get some more talent on this roster, our guys know they are playing on a big stage and want to show out when the opportunity arises.

RedlessWardrobe said:

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Okay, this might be a bit dramatic, but watching the way these guys never stopped playing yesterday really has me hoping that these guys can stick together for another year. I know its the ultimate cliche, but one thing you cannot say against Madsen is that these guys ever quit on him.

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Well after two years with two completely new rosters, Madsen produced the same results. Perhaps with continuity there might be some improvement next year.

Good Question and one I've thought a great deal about since NIL has changed the landscape of college athletics.

I will start by saying that year 2 in Madsen's tenure at Cal was a foundational year which allows him to build with returning and two incoming freshman players. If he can retain and recruit the right players through the portal I can see the Bears playing in the top half of the ACC next year. I'll start by noting that we have two key 4-star players coming to Cal next year in Ruff & Car. These are the kind of players we will need to recruit in years ahead to make Cal basketball relevant again.

In order of Priority.

1. Keep 4 Key Players - Madsen needs to do all he can to keep Stajakovic, Wilkinson, Dort & Petraitis at Cal for next season.

It would be great if we can keep Omot, JOJ, Mahoney & Campbell, but won't be surprised if 2 of them decide to leave.

2. Recruit the Portal - We need two key pieces for next year, better outside shooting and size. 3-5 players

Starting Center - Bring in a 6'10" or taller center who can dominate in the paint, protect the rim, run the floor & provide some offense. We need a player who is capable of starting and can stay on the floor. If we can bring in an underclassman that would be even better so he can be here for 2-3 years. I know this will be a hard find, but one can dream.

Wings - I would love to add two wings who can shoot & one being 6'9" or better. Shooters are a premium for this team and some height would help with defense and rebounding.

Big Point Guard - Even though we have Wilkinson & Car next year, they are both on the small side at 6'1" and 6' and would love to have an experienced 6'3" or taller point guard for 1 or 2 years to provide some leadership when needed.

Hoping some of these guys will be sophomores or Juniors so they will be here more than one year.

3. NIL Funds - Madsen is going to need NIL dollars to get the pieces he needs to keep Cal headed in the right direction.

Go Bears!

Yeah. I don't think this board has a clue how dire things could get. Not sure about cal but ucsd froze hiring and is not committing to multi.year funding for grad students. Going to say it again, if you care about cal sports and live in a red district at a minimum call for a multi year cut back. The one year hack is going to be devestating

socaltownie said:

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Yeah. I don't think this board has a clue how dire things could get. Not sure about cal but ucsd froze hiring and is not committing to multi.year funding for grad students. Going to say it again, if you care about cal sports and live in a red district at a minimum call for a multi year cut back. The one year hack is going to be devestating

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It likely going to get really ugly, really fast. We are worried about our athletics programs surviving when the university itself is on the chopping block.

They definitely kept competing, but I don't know how excited we're supposed to be over almost beating the 12th best team in the conference.

I see your point. With enough money, maybe we can steal Pat Kelsey!

HKBear97! said:

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RedlessWardrobe said:

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Okay, this might be a bit dramatic, but watching the way these guys never stopped playing yesterday really has me hoping that these guys can stick together for another year. I know its the ultimate cliche, but one thing you cannot say against Madsen is that these guys ever quit on him.

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Well after two years with two completely new rosters, Madsen produced the same results. Perhaps with continuity there might be some improvement next year.

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I don't agree the result was the same. Last year, the team was reliant on one great player (Tyson), lost games that were supposed to be easy out of conference wins (Pacific/Montana State), was lacking in young talent, and reportedly had a lot of internal dysfunction.

This year was an improvement on all fronts. The trajectory for Cal is upward, albeit not as fast as we'd all like. The key questions as I see them:

• Will Cal have the NIL to compete?
• Can Madsen hang on to young talent, recruit new talent (incoming class seems promising), and continue to mine the portal? This is obviously NIL related, but Cal has to this point done well in the portal. Can Madsen continue to sell Cal to players?
• Can Madsen improve as a game coach? His players play hard, but I see many tactical mistakes that make a difference in close games.
• And in that regard, can Cal get over the hump in close games? They lose too many heartbreakers. Not surprising given the roster, but to take the next step, those need to become wins (like football).

I'm cautiously optimistic on all fronts except the most important one - NIL. I have no insights there, but I'm concerned that others in the know seem to be concerned.

Furd had only one significant player return from last year - even lost Stojo - and they were able to improve dramatically in one year. They picked up Blakes and Sellers, but the main driver was firing their lousy coach.

Addicted-to-TopDog said:

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Furd had only one significant player return from last year - even lost Stojo - and they were able to improve dramatically in one year. They picked up Blakes and Sellers, but the main driver was firing their lousy coach.

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True, but that "one significant player " was a big time guy.

No doubt

At what program does Campbell, get more playing time?

the difference between Madsen's first and second year in terms of growing the program:

1. shows he plays an exciting brand of basketball
2. shows he can develop players
3. shows he's a player's coach

and ...

in year 1 he completely rebuilt the program with transfers, but lost his starters and every significant 2nd team player to NBA, graduation or transfer

that made year 2 challenging but he showed he has stabilized the program, and again demonstrate he can develop players (e.g. Sissoko made a huge jump this season, and Wilkinson who he developed and gave him the freedom to shine)

as important he recruited players with experience but remaining eligibility

therefore year 3 will have continuity we didn't have in year 2 (of course retaining our key players is critical and that's going to take NIL)

Addicted-to-TopDog said:

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Furd had only one significant player return from last year - even lost Stojo - and they were able to improve dramatically in one year. They picked up Blakes and Sellers, but the main driver was firing their lousy coach.

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You mean the guy than leads the NCAA in double doubles? Put Raynaud on Cal's team and they are at top 25 team.

Helps a LOT to have maxime raynaud as your center. If sissoko was on that team, they have the same record as Cal. Also this is blakes' last year so it also helps bringing in a 5th year guy for one year

wifeisafurd said:

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Addicted-to-TopDog said:

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Furd had only one significant player return from last year - even lost Stojo - and they were able to improve dramatically in one year. They picked up Blakes and Sellers, but the main driver was firing their lousy coach.

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You mean the guy than leads the NCAA in double doubles? Put Raynaud on Cal's team and they are at top 25 team.

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We hopeSisoko is improved enough to beat V Tech next Tuesday. Planevride is only an hour and a half. Hopefully they are there now. Rebound and make open threes and re have a chance.

One player I'm watching is Myles Che. He's wilkinson's friend and the dude knows how to play ball the right way

Dan Hurley on 60 Minutes:

"50% of my roster or more is at least considering going in the portal, if not already knows what school that they're going to"https://t.co/5rMja7b5fU

— The Field of 68 (@TheFieldOf68) March 9, 2025

The jury's out on Aidan Mahaney to say the least