Intuit said:

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No disrespect intended, but Cal's current 14 & 15 would be readably replaceable and only missed on game day by their loved ones.

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Ha, painfully true, Intuit. They're not my 14 & 15, they're Madsen's, I'm just pointing out that coaches don't normally cut a player's scholarship just because there are better players out there, that would lead to some reputational damage. I imagine there are one or two who are already gone but we don't know it. How reliable is your "silent commit" source?

Yeah 2-3 of those scholarship players are getting their tuition paid for sitting on the bench. And the walk-one as well are practice players?

I hope some of the walk-ons walk away, I never understood the value of an entire 5-man practice squad that doesn't travel. Don't we want the best 15 guys challenging each other at the highest level in practice?

barsad said:

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I hope some of the walk-ons walk away, I never understood the value of an entire 5-man practice squad that doesn't travel. Don't we want the best 15 guys challenging each other at the highest level in practice?

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Two sets of 5 on 5. Let's the bottom 5 scholarship players (often freshmen) get some much needed scrimmaging and development. Otherwise 5 players are just watching the other 10 play. Probably not as important to develop those players in the modern portal era, but that is the idea.

calumnus said:

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barsad said:

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I hope some of the walk-ons walk away, I never understood the value of an entire 5-man practice squad that doesn't travel. Don't we want the best 15 guys challenging each other at the highest level in practice?

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Two sets of 5 on 5. Let's the bottom 5 scholarship players (often freshmen) get some much needed scrimmaging and development. Otherwise 5 players are just watching the other 10 play. Probably not as important to develop those players in the modern portal era, but that is the idea.

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This ^^^^ plus wholesale subbing of a different 5 man team is an excellent way to prepare the PRIMARY players to quickly communicate and adapt to changing offenses and defenses. Which is something that our team has struggled with (and is pretty common in the era of new team every year).

Any further projections?

Bobodeluxe said:

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Any further projections?

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More opportunities for all these 2s we have. Hopefully a good three point shooter. We will need someone to step up. Hoping Ruff is a freshman phenom.

New starting 5:
Dorsey
Pippen
Ruff or Ames
Petraitis
Ilic

Not exactly a fear-inspiring bunch. Our 15th man needs to be the 2nd coming of LeBron at this point.

barsad said:

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New starting 5:
Dorsey
Pippen
Ruff or Ames
Petraitis
Ilic

Not exactly a fear-inspiring 6bunch. Our 15th man needs to be the 2nd coming of LeBron at this point.

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Nope this can't be. A lineup with 3 guards with Petraitis and Ilic up front? We get devoured. Based on what we have now Camden and Dort need to be at the 4 and 5.

Intersting lineup. No way camden does not start.

Before AS left I had Petraitis coming off the bench. Now I have Rytis starting again, Camden, and Dort as frontcourt. Ames starts at the point (at least in early games), and then the 2 is wide open (DJ, Ruff,Dorsey, etc.)

Johnfox said:

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Intersting lineup. No way camden does not start.

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Yeah, kind of forgot about Camden, he'll be in there for one of the guards. But I really hope Madsen is not sending in Dort as the big man for the season, we're going nowhere if that happens.

barsad said:

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Johnfox said:

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Intersting lineup. No way camden does not start.

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Yeah, kind of forgot about Camden, he'll be in there for one of the guards. But I really hope Madsen is not sending in Dort as the big man for the season, we're going nowhere if that happens.

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I agree with you about Dort, I was just saying that as of right now he's our starting center by default. Hopefully MM gets one or two more bigs with the remaining openings.

Agreed. As mentioned by many people, Madsen used a moneyball style approach this offseason to find players. Similar to how Kyle Smith assembled his 2024 WSU squad that went to the NCAA tourney.

Ames, Dorsey, Ilic, Pippen, Camden, and Yeanay are all moneyball players who might not be the flashiest players, but are really good if you increase their production or play them to their strengths.

Ames, Camden, and Pippen are going to have huge years. It will be fun to see Ilic and Dort battle it out. I know for a fact that Ilic has a great offensive bag, but the defense is a question mark (Dort is the better defender). Dorsey is an energy and defensive guy similar to Keonte Kennedy.

JF, what's the latest on Aidan Mahaney? Still feel like there's a chance?

Aren't we already guard heavy?

If we get another guard I hope he's heavier than Mahaney.

Big C said:

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The thing with Dort is... when bigs put in the work and get the right coaching, they often get noticeably better.

And Dort last season was a pretty good backup center. Not unreasonable at all to think he will develop into a pretty good starter.

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Also, Ilic might start and improve over his already good numbers last year.

At this point, we just need someone who can score that's above 6 feet.

Johnfox said:

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Staff is back in touch with him. He's back in play after the tea leaves said that the staff moved on from him (bad move imo). He's visited Fresno State, UCSB, and FAU so far (I also believe based on what I heard that he visited Cal earlier).

He's a scorer that the team badly needs to fill Stojakovic's void. Sure he had a down year at UConn, but St. Mary's is all we needed to see. And I know a lot of y'all have been unhappy with his size and weight, but is he really worse than Jovan Blacksher or Jalen Cone? No. In fact, he's the same size as Steph Curry, so he has the potential.

I'm a big Mahaney guy and hope he comes to Cal!

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highly rated out of HS, good player at St Mary's, from Northern Cal, veteran PG with size (6-3)

if he wants to come to Cal then I'd certainly take him. I'm a big believer that you need a veteran PG

Johnfox said:

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Staff is back in touch with him. He's back in play after the tea leaves said that the staff moved on from him (bad move imo). He's visited Fresno State, UCSB, and FAU so far (I also believe based on what I heard that he visited Cal earlier).

He's a scorer that the team badly needs to fill Stojakovic's void. Sure he had a down year at UConn, but St. Mary's is all we needed to see. And I know a lot of y'all have been unhappy with his size and weight, but is he really worse than Jovan Blacksher or Jalen Cone? No. In fact, he's the same size as Steph Curry, so he has the potential.

I'm a big Mahaney guy and hope he comes to Cal!

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His size is good for a PG, especially in college. Good 3pt shooting, good assist numbers, defensive rating is good. And yes, can be a scorer when he needs to be. We have a lot of guards, but assuming we don't have someone even better as a possibility, agree that he would be a good replacement for Andrej.

BC Calfan said:

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If that means someone else de-committing so be it. Mahaney would add some excitement and he would be our primary scorer. I'm all for it.

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If Mahaney is our primary scorer Cal is going to be trash. He is a 6pt game scorer. He did nothing at UCONN. We need a pure scorer at the G position and at the Wing. Not sure Cal has the money or the time in the portal to identify this type of talent. Cal needs to find a P4 starter/talent who can be a scorer at this point.

Nothing against Mahaney and I get he is from the Bay Area but he is not JKidd, Leon Powe, Bird, and many others.

Myles Che is a name to watch

KoreAmBear said:

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Gkhoury2325 said:

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BC Calfan said:

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If that means someone else de-committing so be it. Mahaney would add some excitement and he would be our primary scorer. I'm all for it.

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If Mahaney is our primary scorer Cal is going to be trash. He is a 6pt game scorer. He did nothing at UCONN. We need a pure scorer at the G position and at the Wing. Not sure Cal has the money or the time in the portal to identify this type of talent. Cal needs to find a P4 starter/talent who can be a scorer at this point.

Nothing against Mahaney and I get he is from the Bay Area but he is not JKidd, Leon Powe, Bird, and many others.

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He had a magical freshman season at St. Mary's. I believe Justin Cobbs had putrid numbers at Minnesota before he transferred over. Just need the right setting and the ball. We'd give him the ball.

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Cobbs also needed some coaching, which he got at Cal. And he played in an offense that used his strengths. Unclear whether that will happen now.

Stoj is considering a return to Cal! He's visiting Illinois today/tomorrow and USC and Kentucky are the other top schools he's choosing from.

Please do what Magoon Gwath did Stojakvoic!

Johnfox said:

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Stoj is considering a return to Cal! He's visiting Illinois today/tomorrow and USC and Kentucky are the other top schools he's choosing from.

Please do what Magoon Gwath did Stojakvoic!

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jf, are you just messing with us?

Andrej Stojakovic has completed a Zoom with USC and has been in steady contact with Kentucky, a source told @247Sports.

Others showing interest include North Carolina, Florida, Clemson, LSU, Cincinnati, UConn and more. A return to California is also still in consideration. https://t.co/wq0jOp02as

— Travis Branham (@TravisBranham_) April 21, 2025

If he did decide to come back to Cal he would be heralded as our saviour and Madsen would surely showcase him first and foremost like he did with Jaylon.

3Cats4CAL said:

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If he did decide to come back to Cal he would be heralded as our saviour and Madsen would surely showcase him first and foremost like he did with Jaylon.

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As usual, if he leaves it's easier to deal with if he doesn't join a team in the ACC.