how did the bears get to this position where we might have an epic dream team collection of 4&5 star ballers/friends who might potentially lead cal to the final 4?

monty recongized that while jay john (formerly lute olson's tactical right arm) is a strong technician and teacher that the bears recruiting needed a jump start particularly as monty is not going to attend 200 hs/aau games a year...as recruits seemingly expect coaches to attend every game, recruiting has become a young coach's game...so monty moved john to the asst ad for basketball development which freed up the bears to have 3 tireless and relentless road warriors on the recruiting trail: decuire, gottlieb and monty jr

next move was to promote travis decuire to associate head coach...imo decruire will be the next head bb coach at cal...should be noted that when bird called to commit he called decuire 1st and then monty...numerous recruits including both bird and matthews have mentioned their strong relationships with decruire

then monty hired the perfect graduate manager, theo robertson (played tenancious d/consumate team player/high achievement student)...young players/recruits have already gravitated toward this likely future asst coach

roster clearing with the transfers of murray and rossi who both could see the handwriting on the wall that they were never going to play any meaningful minutes on sweet 16 and better teams...it should be pointed out that both are hardworking kids and that that they left in good academic standing which means the apr hit for cal will be minimzed

sami not qualifying by a mile (or a kilometer for that matter) also opened up another spot

so the bears are now left with 12 scholly players on the roster (13 allowed by the ncaa) with bak bak, smith and the thurminator all graduating which means we currently have 4 schollys to offer for 2013

with the humble ringleader bird and his dad carl in the fold, matthews (interested in haas biz ad, dad is an asst coach at ucla/former usf hc) hopefully commiting this weekend during his official visit, lee's mother (moms know best) favoring cal the most and the bears still in the running for singer (over 30 ppg avg as a jr, nov 10th official visit), german export/import schilling, blue collar jones, hamilton and maybe brown (dad is the lakers hc) and of course the grand prize, gordon, cal recruiting is in a potentially spectacular position for success

you think the powe, ubaka, kately, and mcguire class was comparable?...other than ayinde, the rest were marginal students (and this is not a knock on leon powe whose unsettled early years are a source of inspiration in beating the odds) and the inevitable transfers/nba departures ensued

bird has a gpa over 3.00 and matthews rocks a 3.55 gpa...lee has a 3.2 gpa with an interest in child psychology with english & history as his best subjects and considered duke, gordon had stanford on his list, singer has a 3.4 gpa at an academically tough hs and is also considering both stanford and harvard...monty and decuire are recruiting great student athletes, not just great basketball players like braun's earlier class

2014 is also shaping up with the early commit from amhaad rorie, a seatle pg who is blowing up on the national scene with a 25 ppg avg as only a soph and a heady 3.8 gpa

hopefully local 5 star ivan rabb from bod will decide to be the ringleader for the 2015 class

#1 ranked public university in the world-university of california, berekeley

dominoes baby#

haas will be rocking again...go beers!

great post but at this point, i would title the thread as "potential" monster class, but i too am very excited about the possibilities and direction of this program! :beer:

Very premature, but I would be happy to give Decuire a shot at head coach. He's learning from one of the best.

Is Theo allowed to go on recruiting trips?

Shocky1;841940994 said:

---

how did the bears get to this position where we might have an epic collection of 4-5 star ballers/friends who might potentially lead cal to the final 4?

monty recongized that while jay john (formerly lute olson's right arm) is a strong technician and teacher that the bears recruiting needed a jump start particularly as monty is not going to attend 200 hs/aau games a year...as recruits seemingly expect coaches to attend every game recruiting has become a young coach's game...so monty moved john to the director of basketball operations which freed up the bears to have 3 road warriors on the recruiting trail: decuire, gottlieb and monty jr

next move was to promote decuire to associate head coach...imo decruire will be the next head bb coach at cal...should be noted that when bird called to commit he called decuire 1st and then monty...numerous recruits have mentioned their strong relationships with decruire

roster clearing with the transfers of murray and rossi who both were never going to play any meaningful minutes on sweet 16 and better teams...both hardworking kids it should be pointed out that they left in good academic standing which means the apr hit for cal will be minimzed

sami not qualifying by a mile also opened up another spot

so the bears are now left with 12 scholly players on the roster (13 allowed by the ncaa) with bak bak, smith and the thurminator all graduating which means we currently have 4 schollys to offer

with bird in the fold, matthews hopefully commiting this weekend during his visit, lee's mother liking cal the most and the bears still in the running for singer, jones, hamilton and the grand prize, gordon, cal recruiting is a potentially epic position for success

you think the powe, ubaka, kately, and mcguire class was great...other than ubaka, the rest were marginal students (and this is not a knock on leon powe whose unsettled early years are a source of inspiration in beating the odds) and the inevitable transfers/departures ensued

bird has a gpa over 3.00...lee has a 3.2 gpa with an interest in child psychology with english and history as his best subjects, gordon has stanford on his list, singer is 3.4 gpa at a academically tough hs...monty and decuire are recruiting great student athletes, not just great basketball players like braun's earlier class

haas will be rocking again...go beers!

---

Murray saw the writing on the wall, but Rossi, as Moraga has noted, had serious family issues and needed to be closer to home.

Who is Jones?

I've noted before DeCuire's part in landing (and retaining) Crabbe, Solomon, Wallace, and Rorie. Wouldn't surprise me at all to see him get a chance in 2016. Continuity would be huge too with John Monty and hopefully Theo then on the staff. Theo may not get to go out recruiting, but he'll be a valuable guy to have interact with recruits on campus visits.

Re: Who Is Jones?

Expect it's Torren Jones, Lee's AAU teammate.

Hard not to get excited about the possibilities, although now if the rest of this class gets filled out with 3 stars it'll end up being disappointing. Regardless, I'm enjoying Cal recruiting being a national story:

yahoo sports on Cal and Jabari Bird

Let's hope UDUB does not offer to triple DeCuire's salary the week before signing day.

RealDrew2;841941135 said:

---

Let's hope UDUB does not offer to triple DeCuire's salary the week before signing day.

---

and give him a boat.

GoldenYears;841941018 said:

---

I wouldn't think so - he's not a coach. I guess he must be allowed to host when they come for a visit though.

---

This is correct. However, I am curious whether, as a Soldiers alum, Theo can attend all the local Soldiers games, talk with the coaches and players when there and not be considered "recruiting" by the NCAA?

I think there was a question somewhere asking whether Theo can recruit, and the answer was yes

calumnus;841941234 said:

---

This is correct. However, I am curious whether, as a Soldiers alum, Theo can attend all the local Soldiers games, talk with the coaches and players when there and not be considered "recruiting" by the NCAA?

---

Shocky1;841940994 said:

---

how did the bears get to this position where we might have an epic dream team collection of 4-5 star ballers/friends who might potentially lead cal to the final 4?

monty recongized that while jay john (formerly lute olson's tactical right arm) is a strong technician and teacher that the bears recruiting needed a jump start particularly as monty is not going to attend 200 hs/aau games a year...as recruits seemingly expect coaches to attend every game recruiting has become a young coach's game...so monty moved john to the asst ad for basketball development which freed up the bears to have 3 tireless and relentless road warriors on the recruiting trail: decuire, gottlieb and monty jr

next move was to promote decuire to associate head coach...imo decruire will be the next head bb coach at cal...should be noted that when bird called to commit he called decuire 1st and then monty...numerous recruits have mentioned their strong relationships with decruire

then the bears hired the perfect graduate manager, theo robertson (played tenancious d/consumate team player/high achievement student)...young players/recruits have already gravitated toward this likely future asst coach

roster clearing with the transfers of murray and rossi who both could see the handwriting on the wall that they were never going to play any meaningful minutes on sweet 16 and better teams...it should be pointed out that both are hardworking kids and that that they left in good academic standing which means the apr hit for cal will be minimzed

sami not qualifying by a mile (or a kilometer for that matter) also opened up another spot

so the bears are now left with 12 scholly players on the roster (13 allowed by the ncaa) with bak bak, smith and the thurminator all graduating which means we currently have 4 schollys to offer for 2013

with bird in the fold, matthews (dad is an asst coach at ucla) hopefully commiting this weekend during his official visit, lee's mother liking cal the most and the bears still in the running for singer (over 30 pts avg per game in hs), jones, hamilton and maybe brown (dad is the lakers hc) and of course the grand prize, gordon, cal recruiting is a potentially spectacular position for success

you think the powe, ubaka, kately, and mcguire class was comparable?...other than ayinde, the rest were marginal students (and this is not a knock on leon powe whose unsettled early years are a source of inspiration in beating the odds) and the inevitable transfers/nba departures ensued

bird has a gpa over 3.00...lee has a 3.2 gpa with an interest in child psychology with english & history as his best subjects and considered duke, gordon had stanford on his list, singer has a 3.4 gpa at a academically tough hs and is also considering both stanford and harvard...monty and decuire are recruiting great student athletes, not just great basketball players like braun's earlier class

dominoes baby

haas will be rocking again...go beers!

---

Shocky1, I say this respectfully though I like the way you're thinking - WAY too soon.

Obviously premature, but I appreciated the insight around Monty rebuilding the coaching staff. Seems downright progressive for the old man.
I know that others have commented on this, but when Monty was hired my first thought was the quality of player he could bring to Cal given his pedigree and the environment in Berkeley. Then the first few years and only a couple of real high quality athletes. Hopefully Monty got his swag back, and Bird's commitment is a sign of things to come.

HoopDreams;841941269 said:

---

I think there was a question somewhere asking whether Theo can recruit, and the answer was yes

---

At the re-seating event, I asked him and Theo told me himself he cannot go out and recruit, can't contact recruits, but said he will be [U]very[/U] involved when a recruit steps onto campus for a visit. That is consistent with my understanding of the limitations placed on the GA position.

The question I raised is whether those limitations would prevent him from attending Soldiers games as an alum. I would think not.

calumnus;841941343 said:

---

The question I raised is whether those limitations would prevent him from attending Soldiers games as an alum. I would think not.

---

He is allowed to go to the Soldiers games. But he is required to wear these in the stands:

I think kudos are in order for Travis Decuire:

http://www.calbears.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/decuire_travis00.html

KoreAmBear;841941765 said:

---

I think kudos are in order for Travis Decuire:

http://www.calbears.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/decuire_travis00.html

---

+1 How do you pronounce his last name? Does it rhyme with McGuire?

thanks for posting kab

travis decuire is likely the most important person in cal athletics that most of us don't know a whole lot about...particulary impressive is the 2nd to last paragraph detailing his sigificant community service work

there is also a trend of decuire being slightly off the bright lights of broadway his entire career from his college playing days in montana, starting out as a hs coach, to coaching at a seattle jc, to being an asst at old dominion...guys with that underdog background are often mentally tough and willing to outwork everyone else to achieve their goals and then willing to humbly share the credit with others when they achieve their well deserved pinnacle of success

mrs lee and other potential bearents, is this the type of person you would entrust your son's athletic and academic (and maybe even spiritual) development during their collegiate experience?

reality means a lot of different things to different people...this is my reality, cal's monster recruiting class and virtually unlimited potential of these talented (and inexperienced) players when seamlessly bonded with our existing core of hardworking championship players and coached up by monty

what's your reality?

dominoes baby#

tenplay;841941803 said:

---

+1 How do you pronounce his last name? Does it rhyme with McGuire?

---

per the media guide: duh-CURE

Shocky1;841941810 said:

---

thanks for posting kab

travis decuire is likely the most important person in cal athletics that most of us don't know a whole lot about...particulary impressive is the 2nd to last paragraph detailing his sigificant community service work

there is also a trend of decuire being slightly off the bright lights of broadway his entire career from his college playing days in montana, starting out as a hs coach, to coaching at a seattle jc, to being an asst at old dominion...guys with that underdog background are often mentally tough and willing to outwork everyone else to achieve their goals and then willing to humbly share the credit with others when they achieve their well deserved pinnacle of success

mrs lee and other potential bearents, is this the type of person you would entrust your son's athletic and academic (and maybe even spiritual) development during their collegiate experience?

reality means a lot of different things to different people...this is my reality, cal's monster recruiting class and virtually unlimited potential of these talented (and inexperienced) players when seamlessly bonded with our existing core of hardworking championship players and coached up by monty

what's your reality?

dominoes baby#

---

Coach Decuire has always exuded class and integrity. I obviously don't know him day to day but the way he acts from watching him on the bench, he just seems to be a guy that is in control, respectful, and worthy of respect. Sorry to judge like that LOL.

KoreAmBear;841942002 said:

---

Coach Decuire has always exuded class and integrity. I obviously don't know him day to day but the way he acts from watching him on the bench, he just seems to be a guy that is in control, respectful, and worthy of respect. Sorry to judge like that LOL.

---

I think the assumption of positive qualities for someone we don't know is always welcome.

kaboom!!!

jordan mathews 4 star combo commits to the bears and will sign in the nov signing period with ringleader bird

the monster class continues to gain momentum

blue collar banger toren jones to visit sept 29th and deadeye shooter sam singer to visit nov 10th

5 stars lee and gordon will be starting their in homes and official visits but the opportunity to be part of something special playing locally with their friends and in front of their families for every game at the #1 ranked public university in the world will be in their thoughts

the reality for lee and gordon is why would they go across the country to attend an academically inferior college (and a significantly devalued diploma should they ever get injured) in less enjoyable year round weather and play with huge ego guys they really don't know well and that might have shoot 1st/pass 2nd agendas that don't include them?...the economic reality is that plane tickets/car rentals/hotels and food costs for their families to visit and watch them play in socially backwards/non diverse towns like tuscon, louisville, lawrence, etc. is in the thousands of dollars for each trip vs 10 bucks in gas to see them play in berekley

family matters

dominoes baby#

Socially backwards?

The other positive for Cal recruiting, is we now have a high profile player from both the Oakland Solders and the California Supreme AAU teams.

HoopDreams;841944880 said:

---

The other positive for Cal recruiting, is we now have a high profile player from both the Oakland Solders and the California Supreme AAU teams.

Agreed. One of the bigger benefits is a local AAU pipeline. And to think I bought into the bitching than Monty was above all that ;-)

Need a second helping of Crow.

(Oh, now we just need to WIN! Cause Football is pretty much dead to me this year ;-)

All the recent good news is wonderful.

Particularly I like it because I think it will end the negativity toward Monty that has been so prevalent.

We were lucky to get him and continue to be lucky to have him.

Glad that we can concentrate on speculations going forward that don't entail the issue of whether we want Monty or not.

MoragaBear;841945012 said:

---

Would be interesting to know if or how much a role Monty's extension played in the early commitments of Bird and Mathews.

I wouldn't be surprised if other programs had been trying to recruit against Cal with the idea that Monty would be retiring soon and wouldn't be there for them.

---

agreed and would also emphasize that the promotion of travis decuire is just as important in reassuring recruits that the program is on stable footing on a go forward basis

monty and decuire=championship basketball

south bender;841944997 said:

---

All the recent good news is wonderful.

Particularly I like it because I think it will end the negativity toward Monty that has been so prevalent.

We were lucky to get him and continue to be lucky to have him.

Glad that we can concentrate on speculations going forward that don't entail the issue of whether we want Monty or not.

---

I am not sure the "negativity was prevalent"--many of us just think Monty is a great coach and just wanted him to get the players that, with his coaching, can make Cal a national player. Some of Monty's strongest supporters tried to argue Monty was content, and we should be too, with a "small is beautiful" approach--that he did not want AAU players, potential one and dones, and what we have seen so far, we should be happy with in the future. As I said at the time, such "defenses" were counter productive and actually provoked the more negative opinions of some posters here (the very few that actually wanted Monty gone). A larger group of us love Monty but see the that the Pac-12 is getting stronger and that what allowed us to challenge for Pac-12 championships but lose in the first round of the Tournament, probably wouldn't even get us that in the future. We just wanted Monty to make changes that could make us a national power under his direction.

We wanted:

1. Changes in the staff to emphasize recruiting. Check (DeCuire promoted and obviously now our main recruiter, coach John reassigned to a more administrative role).

2. The hiring of a young Cal alum with NorCal or SoCal AAU ties. Check (Theo Robertson, Oakland Soldiers, Cal GA).

3. Aggressively pursuing the local AAU star players. Check (Bird, Gordon, Lee)

4. Aggressively pursuing players that might be "one and dones." Check (Bird, Gordon, Lee).

5. Take advantage of Bird's legacy status, local residence and lifelong Cal fandom to get the ball rolling, especially with an early commitment that could get other top players interested in Cal (Check).

Everyone is happy now.

:gobears::Monty

Well put.

I have no issue with anything that you wrote.

From the recent looks of it, Monty has adjusted a bit to the current recruiting environment. And perhaps good luck has factored in, with Cal's unique connection to Bird.

marcus lee's twitter aparently referenced cal, kentucky and louisville

so how much would it cost his mom and family to attend games for one weekend?

utilizing travelocity for the weekend of january 10th thru the 13th:

cheapest fare oakland to louisville-$377 per person with 2 stops and over 13 hours of travel

shortest travel time oakland to louisville-over 8 hours and $554 per person

hotel in louisville-mid range hotel for 3 nights over $400

car rental in louisville-$125 for 3 days

food in louisville-nothing fancy $25 per day per person

--------------------------

driving the family car to berkeley roundtrip for every home game-$10 for gas and a 30 minute drive each way

Shocky...

Players who are in good standing academically do not negatively impact APR if they leave before graduating. That's better than minimal...

calumnus;841945900 said:

---

I am not sure the "negativity was prevalent"--many of us just think Monty is a great coach and just wanted him to get the players that, with his coaching, can make Cal a national player. Some of Monty's strongest supporters tried to argue Monty was content, and we should be too, with a "small is beautiful" approach--that he did not want AAU players, potential one and dones, and what we have seen so far, we should be happy with in the future. As I said at the time, such "defenses" were counter productive and actually provoked the more negative opinions of some posters here (the very few that actually wanted Monty gone). A larger group of us love Monty but see the that the Pac-12 is getting stronger and that what allowed us to challenge for Pac-12 championships but lose in the first round of the Tournament, probably wouldn't even get us that in the future. We just wanted Monty to make changes that could make us a national power under his direction.

We wanted:

1. Changes in the staff to emphasize recruiting. Check (DeCuire promoted and obviously now our main recruiter, coach John reassigned to a more administrative role).

2. The hiring of a young Cal alum with NorCal or SoCal AAU ties. Check (Theo Robertson, Oakland Soldiers, Cal GA).

3. Aggressively pursuing the local AAU star players. Check (Bird, Gordon, Lee)

4. Aggressively pursuing players that might be "one and dones." Check (Bird, Gordon, Lee).

5. Take advantage of Bird's legacy status, local residence and lifelong Cal fandom to get the ball rolling, especially with an early commitment that could get other top players interested in Cal (Check).

Everyone is happy now.

:gobears::Monty

---

+1. I am particularly excited about what we are hearing about DeCuire and what sounds like his development of ties to the local elite level players. A steady diet of the best in NorCal with the occasional pick up from elite SoCal would be a pipeline that would be fantastic.

BTW, I hope Monty stays longer than his extension. He is a huge draw o recruits because he is a proven winner with a squeaky clean program.I would hope if we see the success these new recruits bring, that Monty will stay around even longer. We could make DeCuire an associate head coach and raise his salary to keep him on board until his turn comes up. All Monty lacks on his resume is an NCAA title, and I would love to see him at Cal. The key in recruiting is to add two big boys to give Monty the twin towers offense he used so effectively on the farm. I also suspect Cal is going to be a lot better than folks think in the coming season. If all the pieces come together, we could be a Top 10 team in 2013. :Monty:gobears:

cmfan64;841948686 said:

---

BTW, I hope Monty stays longer than his extension. He is a huge draw o recruits because he is a proven winner with a squeaky clean program.I would hope if we see the success these new recruits bring, that Monty will stay around even longer. We could make DeCuire an associate head coach and raise his salary to keep him on board until his turn comes up. All Monty lacks on his resume is an NCAA title, and I would love to see him at Cal. The key in recruiting is to add two big boys to give Monty the twin towers offense he used so effectively on the farm. I also suspect Cal is going to be a lot better than folks think in the coming season. If all the pieces come together, we could be a Top 10 team in 2013. :Monty:gobears:

---

The great thing about Monty is that he has shown he can produce running a multitude of offenses and with different personnel. It is because, as great teachers are apt to do, he has a knack for communicating with his players and putting them in positions so that they can do well....what they do well.