now officially sophs

HoopDreams;842309376 said:

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now officially sophs

Not from an academic perspective: semester is not over.

My invitation to the banquet WAS mailed to me, I'm guessing, but our dumb azz mailman must have delivered it to a neighbor, or something. Happens every year, dammit.

This past basketball season DID feature one incredible game, which culminated in "one shining moment" for the ages. As long as we're here to discuss and rank games and moments in Harmon/Haas, the Justin Cobbs-beats-#1-undefeated-Arizona game will always be mentioned.

PS: Thanks also to the Cal Straw Hat Band!

Shocky1;842309359 said:

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for me cal basketball is a metaphor for life, if you only focus on the desination (winning championships) you will miss much of life's amazing journey

appreciate the small things, a holed 4 ft slippery downhill putt, the smile of your beautiful yoga teacher, little kids playing basketball at the park, watching jeff powers let it fly

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Here's the deal. If it were about the destination and not the journey, I wouldn't still be following Cal football and men's basketball after 40 years. If anyone tells me that for them Cal basketball is about the destination and not the journey, then I have to advise giving up Cal basketball.

And yep, it is like life. It is about the journey, not the destination.

Bearprof;842309398 said:

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HoopDreams;842309376 said:

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now officially sophs

Not from an academic perspective: semester is not over.

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Classic professor post!

HoopDreams;842310189 said:

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:beer:

real talk: unless you have minted $10+ mil (25+ mil if you are ugly or uptight), hot girlz aren't interested in quiet guys

wake the **** up#

tmz is reporting that dhea sodano is gonna break up with lil wayne because he's not nearly as mentally & physically engaged as the returning california golden bears

adios lil wayne#



cal bb practices are starting today

Shocky1;842310441 said:

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real talk: unless you have minted $10+ mil (25+ mil if you are ugly or uptight), hot girlz aren't interested in quiet guys

wake the **** up#
y

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Shocky, I appreciate your Bear fandom and the factual info you occasionally provide, but this drivel?

You are certainly no one to evaluate quiet guys and the women they attract. In any event, your nonsense is often appalling and childish.

The intelligent recruits that Cal seeks don't have to be histrionic loudmouths to be valuable and successful. See Jorge for case in point.

Go Bears!

moreau catholic's damari milstead has been named to max prep's 5 player 3rd team freshmen all american team

cal was the 1st bigtime program to offer damari

frank knight's mariners#

Damari Millstead. What a great name!

alex illikainen of grand rapids minnesota (not michigan) is a fiercely competitive (sound familiar?) 6'9" 210 lbs 2015 big man with a 3.5 gpa...alex is aware of cal's reputation as the #1 public university in the world

gregg gottlieb offered illikainen this july to go along with his more than dozen offers including midwest powers indiana, minnesota, creighton & nebraska

alex has 3 ice hockey playing sisters with 2 playing collegiately at dartmouth & providence so there's a family track record of going away for better academic opportunities

the key in the bears recruitment will the coordination of a visit for the illikainen's family to the san francisco bay area for the arizona game

and maybe meet alex's older brother, david kravish...

deja vu all over again=bear territory


cal family#
california dreamin'#



alex recently became the grand rapids thunderhawks leading scorer in school history during a 71-62 freezeout of the detroit lakes lakers

alex has described his official visit to cal during the bears buzzer beating victory over the #1 ranked arizona wildcats as "i don't think it can get much better than that" & the haas atmosphere as "electrifying"

dad darin noted that the cal coaches are sincere & that the bears student athletes they met are all high character along with cal's world class academic opportunities



did i mention that alex has got game?



****************************************************

coach martin is gonna hopefully visit alex in the near futurue as illikainen's intent in taking his early (jr yr) official visit to cal (his only official visit thus far) for the justin "ice in his veins" cobbs upset of then #1 arizona was to facilitate an early college decision & commitment

****************************************************

tracy webster scouted alex at nike's eybl (elite youth basketball league) tnt in sacramento

Shocky1;842311070 said:

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did i mention that alex has got game?

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Looks like Alex had a case of Osgood Schlatter!

official welcome to coach jon harris to the bears staff



that leaves one final opening, don't anticipate kent williams (current tenn assistant coach) being offered a position...hopefully a strong recruiter with west coast hs & aau relationships will fill out coach martin's staff

calfiornia dreamin' shout out to jon, wife heidi (former marquette 1000 pt scorer) & children leah, hailey & jaxson

kinda wondering if heidi can beat jon at a game of horse

cal family#

welcome new associate head coach tracy webster & his wife shenetta to the san francisco bay area



rumor has it that tracy & cuonzo go way back to the stone ages & can finish each other's sentences

sure hope tracy is gonna lose all the orange pumpkin clothing (other than oct 31st)

tracy, there's a goodwill on telegraph

what not to wear#

One went to Purdue... The other Wisconsin

congrats to david "doc" kravish for finishing #9 in the pac 12 in rebounding this season with 7.7 rpg...david & josh scott (8.8 rpg) are the only 2 players among the top 10 that will be returning next season so its possible the bears will have the pac 12 rebounding champion 2 yrs in a row (solo led the conference this yr with 10 rpg)

david also finished #3 in the pac 12 in blocked shots with 1.94 rejections per game...with both jordan bachynski & omar "unibrow" oraby out of eligibility, kravish is the clear cut favorite to lead the conference in blocks next season

dk also finished #10 in the pac 12 in fg shooting with a highly accurate .529%

if kravish can put another 10-12 lbs of muscle on this offseason working with the s&c program & also start dressing better too, he will be an unstoppable player next season

david kravish is the consummate team player & will provide the necessary sr leadership that was often lacking this season



while high character guys & hard workers, the sr trio was more inwardly than team focused:

rich-didn't always bring it, coaches often commented that they didn't know which guys would show up in terms of focus & energy...when he showed up, he was usually the best big on the floor

justin-a perfectionist, would sometimes go off on his younger teammates which hurt team morale...jc was also encouraging too at times

jeff-cal media heavily edited his sr day video interview to delete the question & answer re: his role on the team (to be honest with you, i never fully understood his role either)

it should also be pointed out that both cobbs & solomon left berkeley shortly after the smu game in dallas to prepare for the nba combines/workouts prior to the upcoming draft & they will not graduate this spring

david kravish has earned the full respect of his teammates with his work ethic (including his impressive academic achievements), his unselfish style of play & his team 1st approach to cal basketball

david, this is your team...elevate
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=st+lucia+elevate+video&qpvt=st+lucia+elevate+video&FORM=VDRE#view=detail&mid=61FCB82D0D87683DFC9D61FCB82D0D87683DFC9D

travis decuire & theo robertson told me today that they do not have their next career steps figured out yet

best of luck to 2 amazing individuals

Shocky1;842311443 said:

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travis decuire & theo robertson told me today that they do not have their next career steps figured out yet

best of luck to 2 amazing individuals

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Nuts!
Shocky, do you know if the new staff had any interest in Theo? Interview?
Thanks

chimezie metu is a bouncy 6'8" 200 lbs 2015 top 50 player from lawndale (ca) that won his league's mvp trophy this season



chimezie rocks a 3.6 gpa & is interested in pre law studies

metu's ecletic top 5 includes world class academic colleges & party schools with cal, harvard, creighton, asu & usc

chimezie unofficially visited cal for a fb weekend last sept with 2 of his hs coaches & 2016 pg colin slater of clovis north



cuonzo martin & tracy webster scouted chimezie metu & his oakland soldiers teammates at the nike eybl tnt in sacramento

chimezie is playing with a faster motor & has drawn additional interest from arizona, stanford & oregon with a decision expected by the end of summer

HoopDreams;842309376 said:

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now officially sophs

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"life is a journey to be experienced, not a problem to be solved"

-winnie the pooh per noted life philosopher k(rooks)

Shocky just say no to...

[INDENT][/INDENT]ahmaad rorie requested & received a release from his cal loi earlier this week

ahmaad is under a lot of pressure to stay locally & play with his cousin, david crisp, a 2014 commit to washington from the rainier beach hs program...both rorie & crisp played together at clover park hs as freshmen before ahmaad went to lincoln hs & david to rainier beach

from a pg pt standpoint, both the 5'11" crisp & 6' rorie would be competing for the backup role to the huskies only proven player, nigel willliams-goss

lorenzo romar (who is a good guy) & his tenure in seattle are on shaky footing after missing the ncaa tnt the last 3 yrs & attendance/fan interest on a sharp decline

the huskies are currently predicted to finish near the bottom of the pac 12 in 2014 with star cj wilcox graduating, leading rebounder perris blackwell (graduate transfer from usf) out of eligibility, the program's only big with potential robert upshaw (who was kicked out of fresno state) flunking out of school in washington & desmond simmons (played hs ball at salesian) a graduate transfer to st marys for his sr season

there's a real chance that the washington players will be playing for a new hc in 2015 if the huskies are the worst rebounding team with 20+ losses in the pac 12 next season

i met ahmaad at the cal victory in seattle & he is an articulate, very intense young man who excels both on the bb court & in the classroom

if his goal is to truly benefit both himself & his mom down the road, competing for the bears wide open starting pg position & attending the #1 ranked public university in the world is probably the best choice

whatever decision ahmaad ultimately makes (his twitter currently indicates he is a commit to cal) one can't help but wish him nothing but the best

50 yr decision#

Shocky1;842311797 said:

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[INDENT][/INDENT]ahmaad rorie requested & received a release from his cal loi earlier this week

ahmaad is under a lot of pressure to stay locally & play with his cousin, david crisp, a 2014 commit to washington from the rainier beach hs program...both rorie & crisp played together at clover park hs as freshmen before ahmaad went to lincoln hs & david to rainier beach

from a pg pt standpoint, both the 5'11" crisp & 6' rorie would be competing for the backup role to the huskies only proven player, nigel willliams-goss

lorenzo romar (who is a good guy) & his tenure in seattle are on shaky footing after missing the ncaa tnt the last 3 yrs & attendance/fan interest on a sharp decline

the huskies are currently predicted to finish near the bottom of the pac 12 in 2014 with star cj wilcox graduating, leading rebounder perris blackwell (graduate transfer from usf) out of eligibility, the program's only big with potential robert upshaw (who was kicked out of fresno state) flunking out of school in washington & desmond simmons (played hs ball at salesian) a graduate transfer to st marys for his sr season

there's a real chance that the washington players will be playing for a new hc in 2015 if the huskies are the worst rebounding team with 20+ losses in the pac 12 next season

i met ahmaad at the cal victory in seattle & he is an articulate, very intense young man who excels both on the bb court & in the classroom

if his goal is to truly benefit both himself & his mom down the road, competing for the bears wide open starting pg position & attending the #1 ranked public university in the world is probably the best choice

whatever decision ahmaad ultimately makes (his twitter currently indicates he is a commit to cal) one can't help but wish him nothing but the best

50 yr decision#

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Rorie and Crisp can play together sort of how Isaiah Thomas and Venoy Overton did. I'm not a big fan of NWG but he does put up numbers and will probably leave early. What Romar's job security is hard to say, but I can't see them firing him unless he has a couple of really bad seasons consecutively. He's the most successful coach in their history and they probably won't be able to do better than him.

I would have liked to see him a Bear. His outside shooting touch and leadership skills would have helped a lot. The ex-Tenn. pg is rated almost the same. I hope Cuonzo can land him.

tsubamoto2001;842311810 said:

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Rorie and Crisp can play together sort of how Isaiah Thomas and Venoy Overton did. I'm not a big fan of NWG but he does put up numbers and will probably leave early. What Romar's job security is hard to say, but I can't see them firing him unless he has a couple of really bad seasons consecutively. He's the most successful coach in their history and they probably won't be able to do better than him.

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comparing rorie & crisp playing small ball together to thomas (nba player) & overton (convicted of sexual assault & pimping, romar's recruiting has jumped the shark since then) is a superficial analysis

thomas & overton were surrounded by elite talent (several had nba aspirations) including bigs like brockman that could rebound & start the up tempo transition

the huskies have zero rebounding talent returning next season & nobody over 6'6" in the incoming class

romar's had 3 "really bad seasons" in a row missing the ncca tnt during this stretch but more importantly fan attendance is sharply declining at a time when washington is spending hundred of millions on the renovation of the football stadium...there is pressure on the ad for bb revenues

do you wanna bet the huskies won't lose 20+ games next season?

Shocky1;842311855 said:

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comparing rorie & crisp playing small ball together to thomas (nba player) & overton (convicted of sexual assault & pimping, romar's recruiting has jumped the shark since then) is a superficial analysis

thomas & overton were surrounded by elite talent (several had nba aspirations) including bigs like brockman that could rebound & start the up tempo transition

the huskies have zero rebounding talent returning next season & nobody over 6'6" in the incoming class

romar's had 3 "really bad seasons" in a row missing the ncca tnt during this stretch but more importantly fan attendance is sharply declining at a time when washington is spending hundred of millions on the renovation of the football stadium...there is pressure on the ad for bb revenues

do you wanna bet the huskies won't lose 20+ games next season?

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I hear Robert Upshaw is back in the fold for UW after having some issues to work out last season while he was sitting out his transfer year. NBA talent. Having or not having Upshaw will make or break UW next year in my opinion.

seattlebear02;842311860 said:

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I hear Robert Upshaw is back in the fold for UW after having some issues to work out last season while he was sitting out his transfer year. NBA talent. Having or not having Upshaw will make or break UW next year in my opinion.

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agreed that upshaw is a difference maker, with him washington could be a nit team and without him lose 20+ games

after being kicked out of fresno state, upshaw was suspended from all bb team activities including practices after the winter break when grades were released...prior to that he sat on the huskies bench during his redshirt season

upshaw's gonna need a strong spring (and probably summer) semesters to become academically eligible...and if he does squeeze by in terms of eligibility, how's that gonna work with him playing/traveling with the bb team next fall & schoolwork?

getting back to ahmaad, while washington is putting a lot of pressure on ahmaad to commit, if td resurfaces elsewhere that could also be a major consideration...ahmaad told me that he conversed with travis almost every day since his soph yr

welcome 7'1" 250 lbs kingsley okoroh, coach martin's 1st commitment to the california golden bears



spoke with okoroh's hc jai steadman at westwind prep (i'm an acquaintance of former suns tom chambers whose twins sons also attend westwind) in phx who emphasized several times that kingsley is an outstanding young man

okoroh has a 3.0+ gpa & his dad michael is a professor of facilities mgmt at the university of derby's school of engineering & technology...his dad has a family policy of mandatory good grades in order to play sports & is harder on his sons re: academics than athletics...kingsley bro is a bodybuilder back in england

westwind's academic tutor hannah has told steadman that kingsely is very polite & actively engaged in his schoolwork...apparently hannah doesn't say this about all of jai's players

okoroh season stats: 18 ppg, 12 rpg, 6 bpg & 4 apg



steadman thinks that okoroh like most young bigs has significant development potential on offense & has a nice soft touch...he shot 79% on fts & did not attempt any 3 pters, apparently kingsley does not think of himself as a stretch 4

defensively steadman compared him to dikembe mutombo in terms of his ability to be a monster shot blocker & rebounder but still needs more strength to reach his potential

jai also told me he has known cuonzo for yrs & that he knows kingsley is in "very good hands" with coach martin

most rating services have not seen okoroh play but tom chambers thinks okoroh with hard work could have nba potential

kingsley, welcome to the #1 ranked public university in the world (including waterford, england)



kingsley's loi has been signed & received by the bears staff

okoroh should be academically good to go between his education in england (low achievement students are funneled into trade schools), findlay prep classes, westwind prep coursework & additional credits at grand canyon university (15 minutes from westwind prep)

april 31st at the kingfish at 7:00 pm, you can be my guest



looking forward to meeting you, 89b

with all the limo drivers, bodyguards & personal (wink, wink) assistants at the kingfish that nite, how we gonna recognize each other?

do u look like silvia hackl of austria?



if so maybe we could go for a drive afterwards or something



the bear would not quit, the bear would not die#

everybody needs to mark their calendars, gonna be fun times at the kingfish

we'll celebrate mike montgomery & his staff leading cal bb to the most successful era during the last half a century...and somebody will have tears in their eyes thinking about their departures, going our separate ways


sandy barbour will give a much anticpated update on the sears cup standings (good time to go take a leak)

1947 will be teaching the newbies some old school drinking games & cal fight songs

around midnight i'll be buying everybody a glass of dom perignon white gold jeroboam & we'll all sing about going home (eventually)


good times with the hilite taking place when we took jon, tracy & cuonzo's ugly azz orange blazers & burned them in the dumpster behind the fish

Thank you Shockster, and Leslie thanks you as well.

1947;842312207 said:

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Thank you Shockster, and Leslie thanks you as well.

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1947 really had a good time at the fish back in the alleyway



i apologized by private messages to 1947 a while back for an inaccurate characterization that i made about him & he graciously accepted my apology then

shockster=sometimes a stoopid dumb azz

who knew

Hail to the King!
7-1 Center Kingsley Okoroh



Last Cal player from England was Richard Midgley