So JW used Cal to get a better opportunity closer to home. Not a stepping stone then?

Addicted-to-TopDog said:

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So JW used Cal to get a better opportunity closer to home. Not a stepping stone then?

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Well used is a very general concept. Both parties "use" each other in a sense then. Mad Dog found a guy a little under the radar and he blew up. If you say he used Cal fine but then every portal transfer is a "use" of that school. It's just the way it is, and for him, I can understand it a little better because of the home factor. Andrej clearly had one goal in mind, better himself for the NBA. Did that align with us being a better team? Sometimes. Sometimes not.

Addicted-to-TopDog said:

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Cal has become a stepping stone for pure opportunists like Stojakobrick and Wilkinson. One and done.

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Not just us, but any school that isn't a blue blood is going to be a stepping stone to somewhere else. Mid-majors become stepping stones to us, we become stepping stones to bigger P5 programs, etc.

Addicted-to-TopDog said:

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Good Monkees knowledge.

Bobodeluxe said:

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Good Monkees knowledge.

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How can Monkees knowledge be good?

stu said:

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Bobodeluxe said:

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Good Monkees knowledge.

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How can Monkees knowledge be good?

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Yeah, well there is that.

What are we griping about?

It opens up another roster spot, doesn't it? Or has the Portal closed? {Please reply before 10PM, so I can get some sleep)

The NCAA transfer portal cycle for the 2025 college basketball season opened March 24 and will close on Tuesday, April 22.
https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/2025-college-basketball-transfer-portal-live-updates-entries-commitments-news-powered-by-247sports/live/

bearister said:

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The NCAA transfer portal cycle for the 2025 college basketball season opened March 24 and will close on Tuesday, April 22.
https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/2025-college-basketball-transfer-portal-live-updates-entries-commitments-news-powered-by-247sports/live/

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As I understand it April 22 is the last day to enter the portal. Once they enter, players can take their time to choose a destination

pingpong2 said:

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Portal giveth, portal taketh.

I've said on day 1 that the portal sucks. I still maintain that the portal sucks. Even when we're the "beneficiaries" of the portal, F the portal.

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Agree, we love the portal until we hate the portal

Hoo luv da portal?

Asking for a friend.

drizzlybears brother said:

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pingpong2 said:

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Portal giveth, portal taketh.

I've said on day 1 that the portal sucks. I still maintain that the portal sucks. Even when we're the "beneficiaries" of the portal, F the portal.

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Agree, we love the portal until we hate the portal

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The portal makes college football and basketball transfers even more like the European futbol ecosystem. The wealthiest clubs have the money to buy top players from the middle tier teams in the same leagues (and occasionally from other top teams). The middle tier teams replenish their squads by buying players from lower tier teams and players who couldn't get enough playing time with a top tier team.

BearSD said:

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drizzlybears brother said:

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pingpong2 said:

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Portal giveth, portal taketh.

I've said on day 1 that the portal sucks. I still maintain that the portal sucks. Even when we're the "beneficiaries" of the portal, F the portal.

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Agree, we love the portal until we hate the portal

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The portal makes college football and basketball transfers even more like the European futbol ecosystem. The wealthiest clubs have the money to buy top players from the middle tier teams in the same leagues (and occasionally from other top teams). The middle tier teams replenish their squads by buying players from lower tier teams and players who couldn't get enough playing time with a top tier team.

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But once Cal gets relegated, there will be no going back . . .

The Cult of The Portal

bearister said:

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The Cult of The Portal

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Save your lady friend, Jim. In another eighty years it would all happen anyway.

Bobodeluxe said:

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bearister said:

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The Cult of The Portal

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Save your lady friend, Jim. In another eighty years it would all happen anyway.

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Had it been me, I never woulda let Joan Collins get away, but Kirk got action all over the galaxy. Heck, he had hot aliens.

Big C said:

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Bobodeluxe said:

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bearister said:

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The Cult of The Portal

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Save your lady friend, Jim. In another eighty years it would all happen anyway.

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Had it been me, I never woulda let Joan Collins get away, but Kirk got action all over the galaxy. Heck, he had hot aliens.

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Agree. I would have saved her.

Big C said:

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Bobodeluxe said:

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bearister said:

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The Cult of The Portal

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Save your lady friend, Jim. In another eighty years it would all happen anyway.

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Had it been me, I never woulda let Joan Collins get away, but Kirk got action all over the galaxy. Heck, he had hot aliens.

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The best James T. ever got was Barbara Bouchet:

In retrospect signing up for 12 years in the ACC seems like an extremely dumb move… I know Cal was probably forced into it by the other teams, but couldn't we have a "probationary status" where either the team or the conference could say bye-bye to the contract if after a year or two it's not working out?
That's the thing that Andrej's departure makes clear: It's not working out. We should be in the WCC next year, but I guess it's a legal impossibility.

barsad said:

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In retrospect signing up for 12 years in the ACC seems like an extremely dumb move… I know Cal was probably forced into it by the other teams, but couldn't we have a "probationary status" where either the team or the conference could say bye-bye to the contract if after a year or two it's not working out?
That's the thing that Andrej's departure makes clear: It's not working out. We should be in the WCC next year, but I guess it's a legal impossibility.

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You could make an argument that the new pac12 isn't that much different given the haircut cal took on the ACC share. Maybe if it blows up in 3 years we can see where things fall

What's happening in 3 years? I've heard this elsewhere, that the ACC is fragile and for some reason will spontaneously combust, but I don't understand why. Something in the contract of the new teams? I know it's lost its elite status, but 4 tournament teams and one in the Final Four ain't too bad.

socaltownie said:

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barsad said:

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In retrospect signing up for 12 years in the ACC seems like an extremely dumb move… I know Cal was probably forced into it by the other teams, but couldn't we have a "probationary status" where either the team or the conference could say bye-bye to the contract if after a year or two it's not working out?
That's the thing that Andrej's departure makes clear: It's not working out. We should be in the WCC next year, but I guess it's a legal impossibility.

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You could make an argument that the new pac12 isn't that much different given the haircut cal took on the ACC share. Maybe if it blows up in 3 years we can see where things fall

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I know anything's possible, but Wilner who devotes all his time into this stuff has repeatedly stated in his columns that that based on events the chances of the ACC staying intact through 2036 is highly probable, and a lock to stay as is through 2030. So at least no change for 5 years.

barsad said:

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What's happening in 3 years? I've heard this elsewhere, that the ACC is fragile and for some reason will spontaneously combust, but I don't understand why. Something in the contract of the new teams? I know it's lost its elite status, but 4 tournament teams and one in the Final Four ain't too bad.

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Every conference still has their haves and have nots. In the SEC and the B1G, it is presumed that the haves want to jettison their have nots (Why should schools like Vandy and Northwestern be making huge TV money?) and so a massive realignment is expected sometime in the not-too-distant future. 30-40 teams?

Three years from now is a total WAG, but everything seems to be moving so fast now. Three years? Two? Six?

Bb is fine. It is football that drives this and that is why people are speculating that Clemson and fsu want out

RedlessWardrobe said:

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socaltownie said:

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barsad said:

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I know anything's possible, but Wilner

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Wilner shamelessly panders to the Washington State and Oregon State fans who wish the worst for Cal and Stanford. What he says is no different than what the most bitter Wazzu fans say. The term is "wishcasting", i.e., turning what you wish for into your "prediction" of what will happen.

Many things are possible, but whatever happens won't happen just because the haters want it to happen.

BearSD said:

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RedlessWardrobe said:

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I know anything's possible, but Wilner

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Wilner shamelessly panders to the Washington State and Oregon State fans who wish the worst for Cal and Stanford. What he says is no different than what the most bitter Wazzu fans say. The term is "wishcasting", i.e., turning what you wish for into your "prediction" of what will happen.

Many things are possible, but whatever happens won't happen just because the haters want it to happen.

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My reference to Wilner was specifically about the ACC situation. Not sure what relevance that specific issue has to do with WSU and OSU at the current time.

RedlessWardrobe said:

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BearSD said:

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RedlessWardrobe said:

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I know anything's possible, but Wilner

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Wilner shamelessly panders to the Washington State and Oregon State fans who wish the worst for Cal and Stanford. What he says is no different than what the most bitter Wazzu fans say. The term is "wishcasting", i.e., turning what you wish for into your "prediction" of what will happen.

Many things are possible, but whatever happens won't happen just because the haters want it to happen.

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My reference to Wilner was specifically about the ACC situation. Not sure what relevance that specific issue has to do with WSU and OSU at the current time.

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Wilner and Canzano are just saying what WSU and OSU fans want to hear because that gets them clicks and, in Canzano's case, subscriptions. Don't mistake it for objective analysis.

Myles Rice = Dai Dai Ames
Andrej Jakimovski = Pippen/Dorsey
Jaylen Wells = John Camden
Isaac Jones = Milos Ilic/Rytis
Oscar Cluff = Lee Dort

HearstMining said:

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BearSD said:

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Addicted-to-TopDog said:

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I always figured this was going to happen. The man is a mercenary. Look how we got him in the first place. My only surprise is that it took this long. All of that butt-kissing Madsen did all season amounted to nothing.

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There's another truism that has to be heeded given the portal, and I think it applies in basketball even more strongly than in other sports: Good players want to play with other good players.

If you have a player on your team who is good enough to be wanted by other teams, you better fortify your roster with other good players. If he looks around and doesn't see teammates who are on his level, he's probably going to go someplace where he does.

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But don't recruit players who play the same position as your current guy because that will take away PT and your guy might go into the portal because after all, his objective is to be the featured player, not to win games or actually compete for playing time.

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Yeah, I was wondering where all the playing time for all these guards was going to come from.

In losing Andrej, we lose one of our better players, a guy with great upside potential, but last year he was just a slightly above average college player according to the advanced metrics. Exactly as valuable as Petrais. His 318 from three was not good for a shooting guard. His defense was average. Of course, our other guards were worse.

So if one of our many guards can step up and be an above average player, not just in potential, but in actual play, then we will not miss Andrej much at all. I'm really hoping it is Ruff. Moreover, It will be tough to replace Sissoko, but it is a low bar to ask for better production from the 1,3 and 4 spots. I definitely think we could see a better team this upcoming season, but right now, you have to squint real hard to see significant improvement from a team that went 14-19, 6-14 in ACC play. I'm not sure .500 play and a losing record in conference moves the needle.

We will see who Madsen gets with the open (?) scholarship. Hopefully a whale.

bearister said:

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The NCAA transfer portal cycle for the 2025 college basketball season opened March 24 and will close on Tuesday, April 22.
https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/2025-college-basketball-transfer-portal-live-updates-entries-commitments-news-powered-by-247sports/live/

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Thanks bearister.