BeachedBear said:

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MiZery said:

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How many scholies we got left now?

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With the changes of the last couple of years, I really don't think scholarship number is as meaningful as it used to be. Much more important is how much $$$ you can budget for top 5 and next 5. After that is pretty much similar to what a walk on was in the past.

Its not dead - just doesn't seem as important.

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New rules will have roster limits, not scholarship limits, for every Division I sport, and teams are free to give full or partial scholarships to every athlete on the roster. For men's basketball the roster limit will be 15.

In terms of the number of scholarships we have to give, am I correct that we have 6?

1. Three Seniors are out of eligibility, Sossoko, Blacksher & Tucker.
2. Three are in the Portal, Wilkinson, JOJ and Omot.
3. Scholarships are increasing from 13 to 15 so that's 2 more.

That gives us 8 openings.

We have two freshman coming in next season, Car & Ruff so that's two of the 8 available scholarships and leaves us with 6.

So far through the portal it looks like we have two guards and a forward which leaves us with 3 more schollies to give. My thoughts are the following spots are priorities.

1. Center/Big Man who can guard the rim and score some. Would love to see a 6'10" or better center.
2. Another big for the front court who can score, 6'8" or better.
3. Either a Big 2 guard or another wing who can shoot the three, 6'7" or better.

We can always dream.

Go Bears!

barsad said:

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Seems like a lot of people here forget how to be a fan in the offseason… meaning, a true Cal fan believes every player coming in is going to do better than his historic best. It's called optimism, not Pollyannish, just optimism. So in my book, Ames is the best guard in the ACC in 2025-26 until he proves me otherwise. He could shatter that optimism in the first game in November, but until then he's No. 1. That's the best part of April-October, no numbers in the L column yet.

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You don't get to decide for others how to be a fan and you don't get to define what a "true Cal fan" believes.

As I said to Hoop, every program needs unconditionally optimistic fans. I don't begrudge you if that is how you want to be a fan. However, every program needs fans that will hold that program accountable also. If every fan as soon as the clock hits triple zero on a horrific loss or as soon as a poor season ends says "we'll get 'em next time. All our guys are going to be Michael Jordan starting.....now!", we don't get anywhere.

Ames is not going to be the best guard in the ACC. That is not even fair to him to set that expectation. He's a decent guard and a decent pickup. I think it is great if you want to believe we are undefeated and could win the national title until you are proven otherwise. That is one way to be a fan and if it makes you enjoy yourself more, that is great. You shouldn't expect that the criteria for being a true fan is to fantasize about things that are not going to happen and pretend like they could be real.

All of my top moments, experiences, and emotions connected to Cal sports occurred while Cal was competing based on something achieved. They did not occur in my mind in April daydreaming.

For me, there absolutely are numbers in the L column April through October. This year there are 19 of them. Cal is 14-19 until it does otherwise. Pretty much every successful athlete says that last loss burns in you until you wash it away with the next victory. IMO, the state of Cal's basketball program is unacceptable. They are who they are until they change who they are. And while I mean it when I say that we need people like you to support the program, we also need people that will honestly say that 14-19 is not acceptable and is willing to put in some critical analysis to say realistically we have not yet improved our team through the portal to substantially improve on that record.

The other issue I have with this is you don't leave the "true" fan with any point in time to critically discuss the state of the program. Before the season we should all be optimistic because we are undefeated. During the season we should all be optimistic because there is always next game and we shouldn't drag the team down. After the last game is over it is what is the use of criticizing now. It's over. Get 'em next year. Whether you intend it this way or not, it is essentially an argument to shut down all critical analysis of the program.

barsad said:

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oskidunker said:

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bearsandgiants said:

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Johnfox said:

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He had an injury that really messed him up but him finishing strong in the end is the true Ames

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The only players we seems to sign are either bench warmers on top teams, decent players on tier 2 rosters who don't have the skills to make the jump, or formerly injured players we hope will be able to rebound. How about we just focus on the best high schoolers we can get and sign them to 3 year deals?

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That would nice but there is no way to do this.

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There is no way to currently do this only because it's not the norm, there should be no legal block to a 3-year NIL deal that requires players to forfeit their money if they break it. That would require poaching schools to cover the player's lost money as well, making it more expensive to poach. Would schools still try to break players' contracts? Probably, but it would definitely lower the rate of one-and-done players hopping to a new team every year. The NCAA and others who created this terrible system need to think of creative ways to fix it NOW.

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No one with any power wants to make it so you can lock up high schoolers for 3 years. The players don't want it. The powerful programs who have the money to poach the players don't want it. The only one's who want it are the programs who are too cheap to pay players the going rate.

Even if you could legally do this, players won't sign a three year deal with you because any decent player thinks they will get better and be able to get a better deal. There will be plenty of schools that are comparable to Cal who won't require a three year deal. The players who will sign a three year deal would be the ones who don't ever expect a better deal. In other words, you get the pleasure of watching players for multiple years, it's just that they will be crappy players.

I find it funny that in a society that champions capitalism and free market economy that when people find themselves on the short end of that stick, they want others to give up their rights to market themselves. There is an easy solution to this. If Cal wants good players who stay, they can pay them market rate. The bottom line is that the Cal community as yet does not value basketball as much as others. The solution isn't to try and make others play for us at cut rates. It is to convince our community that they need to place a higher value on those players.

BearlyCareAnymore said:

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barsad said:

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Seems like a lot of people here forget how to be a fan in the offseason… meaning, a true Cal fan believes every player coming in is going to do better than his historic best. It's called optimism, not Pollyannish, just optimism. So in my book, Ames is the best guard in the ACC in 2025-26 until he proves me otherwise. He could shatter that optimism in the first game in November, but until then he's No. 1. That's the best part of April-October, no numbers in the L column yet.

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You don't get to decide for others how to be a fan and you don't get to define what a "true Cal fan" believes.

As I said to Hoop, every program needs unconditionally optimistic fans. I don't begrudge you if that is how you want to be a fan. However, every program needs fans that will hold that program accountable also. If every fan as soon as the clock hits triple zero on a horrific loss or as soon as a poor season ends says "we'll get 'em next time. All our guys are going to be Michael Jordan starting.....now!", we don't get anywhere.

Ames is not going to be the best guard in the ACC. That is not even fair to him to set that expectation. He's a decent guard and a decent pickup. I think it is great if you want to believe we are undefeated and could win the national title until you are proven otherwise. That is one way to be a fan and if it makes you enjoy yourself more, that is great. You shouldn't expect that the criteria for being a true fan is to fantasize about things that are not going to happen and pretend like they could be real.

All of my top moments, experiences, and emotions connected to Cal sports occurred while Cal was competing based on something achieved. They did not occur in my mind in April daydreaming.

For me, there absolutely are numbers in the L column April through October. This year there are 19 of them. Cal is 14-19 until it does otherwise. Pretty much every successful athlete says that last loss burns in you until you wash it away with the next victory. IMO, the state of Cal's basketball program is unacceptable. They are who they are until they change who they are. And while I mean it when I say that we need people like you to support the program, we also need people that will honestly say that 14-19 is not acceptable and is willing to put in some critical analysis to say realistically we have not yet improved our team through the portal to substantially improve on that record.

The other issue I have with this is you don't leave the "true" fan with any point in time to critically discuss the state of the program. Before the season we should all be optimistic because we are undefeated. During the season we should all be optimistic because there is always next game and we shouldn't drag the team down. After the last game is over it is what is the use of criticizing now. It's over. Get 'em next year. Whether you intend it this way or not, it is essentially an argument to shut down all critical analysis of the program.

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I think you should spend some time looking up the definition of "not Pollyannish," you either missed reading it or don't understand it, because then you went on to describe a Pollyannish fan who believes Cal will win the national title.
Just to be clear, though… no one thinks any "critical analysis", yours or mine, in this space is making any impact on the program or serves as some weird accountability check that Cal Athletics gets. This is entertainment, though some days not so much.
The accountability comes in the drop in attendance, drop in reputation, and drop off a cliff recruiting ability. We're already there, my friend, no critical analysis needed.
On your second pontification playing Dr. Smith and the Invisible Hand, we should not endorse a system that encourages constant roster churn at a majority of schools. Bad for the sport, bad for fans, bad all around, common sense rules help systems work better. If you really think Cal donors are going to wake up one day and see the "value" of buying expensive players then you may have entered a portal yourself… to some other alternate reality/dimension.

barsad said:

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BearlyCareAnymore said:

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barsad said:

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Seems like a lot of people here forget how to be a fan in the offseason… meaning, a true Cal fan believes every player coming in is going to do better than his historic best. It's called optimism, not Pollyannish, just optimism. So in my book, Ames is the best guard in the ACC in 2025-26 until he proves me otherwise. He could shatter that optimism in the first game in November, but until then he's No. 1. That's the best part of April-October, no numbers in the L column yet.

---

You don't get to decide for others how to be a fan and you don't get to define what a "true Cal fan" believes.

As I said to Hoop, every program needs unconditionally optimistic fans. I don't begrudge you if that is how you want to be a fan. However, every program needs fans that will hold that program accountable also. If every fan as soon as the clock hits triple zero on a horrific loss or as soon as a poor season ends says "we'll get 'em next time. All our guys are going to be Michael Jordan starting.....now!", we don't get anywhere.

Ames is not going to be the best guard in the ACC. That is not even fair to him to set that expectation. He's a decent guard and a decent pickup. I think it is great if you want to believe we are undefeated and could win the national title until you are proven otherwise. That is one way to be a fan and if it makes you enjoy yourself more, that is great. You shouldn't expect that the criteria for being a true fan is to fantasize about things that are not going to happen and pretend like they could be real.

All of my top moments, experiences, and emotions connected to Cal sports occurred while Cal was competing based on something achieved. They did not occur in my mind in April daydreaming.

For me, there absolutely are numbers in the L column April through October. This year there are 19 of them. Cal is 14-19 until it does otherwise. Pretty much every successful athlete says that last loss burns in you until you wash it away with the next victory. IMO, the state of Cal's basketball program is unacceptable. They are who they are until they change who they are. And while I mean it when I say that we need people like you to support the program, we also need people that will honestly say that 14-19 is not acceptable and is willing to put in some critical analysis to say realistically we have not yet improved our team through the portal to substantially improve on that record.

The other issue I have with this is you don't leave the "true" fan with any point in time to critically discuss the state of the program. Before the season we should all be optimistic because we are undefeated. During the season we should all be optimistic because there is always next game and we shouldn't drag the team down. After the last game is over it is what is the use of criticizing now. It's over. Get 'em next year. Whether you intend it this way or not, it is essentially an argument to shut down all critical analysis of the program.

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I think you should spend some time looking up the definition of "not Pollyannish," you either missed reading it or don't understand it, because then you went on to describe a Pollyannish fan who believes Cal will win the national title.
Just to be clear, though… no one thinks any "critical analysis", yours or mine, in this space is making any impact on the program or serves as some weird accountability check that Cal Athletics gets. This is entertainment, though some days not so much.
The accountability comes in the drop in attendance, drop in reputation, and drop off a cliff recruiting ability. We're already there, my friend, no critical analysis needed.
On your second pontification playing Dr. Smith and the Invisible Hand, we should not endorse a system that encourages constant roster churn at a majority of schools. Bad for the sport, bad for fans, bad all around, common sense rules help systems work better. If you really think Cal donors are going to wake up one day and see the "value" of buying expensive players then you may have entered a portal yourself… to some other alternate reality/dimension.

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I know the definition of Pollyanna. It has your picture and a copy of your post next to it. I chose not to challenge you on that point. You can't change a Pollyanna post by saying "no Pollyanna". In fact that is exactly what a Pollyanna would say and what in this case a Pollyanna did say.

Frankly, I was pretty charitable in my post given the fact that you decided to tell everyone with a different approach from you that they have forgotten how to be a fan and that they aren't true Cal fans. My way of being a fan is to care enough about the performance not to excitedly post multiple times that 14-19 is progress over 13-19. But I don't consider myself the arbiter of true fandom and I try not to injure myself patting myself on the back.