The California men’s basketball team comes into the 2025-2026 season with an almost entirely new roster. Two seniors, DJ Campbell and Rytis Petraitis, will lead the Bears through a second ACC campaign that features Haas Pavilion matchups with the Duke Blue Devils and the University of North Carolina Tar Heels in January.
Ten of Cal’s 13 scholarship recipients are transfers, bolstering a 9-ranked ACC and 40th overall transfer class according to On3. Among the new faces are John Camden, the Delaware forward who led the Blue Hens in scoring (16.8 ppg) and rebounding (5.5 rpg) while shooting a strong 41.6 percent from 3-point range and 46.9 percent from the field.
Former De La Salle hoopster Chris Bell, the senior forward who played at Syracuse last season, will also help spread the floor with 170 made threes during his career with the Orange.
Additionally, Serbian center Milos Ilic joins the Bears’ roster from Loyola Maryland where he led that team in points (14.4 ppg), rebounds (7.5 rpg) and assists (3.0 apg) while starting 81 of 87 career games. His dynamic scoring and passing ability from the post will be key for spreading the Bears offense this season.
Another transfer, guard Nolan Dorsey, a Defensive Player of the Year in 2024-2025 and averaged an impressive 1.7 steals per game, the best in conference, with the Fighting Camels.
Rounding out the 2025 transfer class are sophomore guard Justin Pippen, junior guard Dai Dai Ames, redshirt sophomore seven footer Dhiaukuei “DK” Manyiel Dut, sophomore forward Sammie Yeanay and sophomore center Mantas Kocanas.
The transfers joined Cal during the 2025 offseason and offer the Bears some versatility on both ends of the floor. While Yeanay was injured last season with Grand Canyon and may miss a significant chunk of this season, his 6’8” 240 pound frame will be helpful to the interior defense, when he returns.
Kocanas is also coming off injury, playing just two games with Florida Atlantic in 2024-2025 before going out with a season-ending injury. At 6’11” he’ll be another helpful addition to the interior defense this year.
Dut is the only true seven-footer on the roster and didn’t see much action with Georgia State in 2024-2025. That said he’ll bolster the size and the rebounding on the roster and could be used for situational purposes.
Ames started 26 of the 31 games last season for Virginia and was efficient from the floor (46 percent), from three (39.7 percent) and the free throw line (82.9 percent) with the Cavaliers. Beyond just his offensive dynamism, Ames brings some key ACC experience with him.
Pippen came off the bench in 28 games as a freshman with Michigan and brings some important Big 10 conference experience to the roster. One key highlight from last season came against Purdue Fort Wayne when he shot 50 percent from the field with 10 points. It’s felt that Pippen was underused last season and will push to start and play a key role for the Bears this year.
The Golden Bears roster also features four-star prospect freshman guard Jovani Ruff. The two-time league MVP at Long Beach Poly set career scoring records for the school. Freshman guard Semetri Carr, a four-star prospect from Redwood High School in the North Bay, was a proven winner in high school collecting three straight MCAL titles while winning the 2025 MCAL player of the year.
The new talent presents a new opportunity for Head Coach Mark Madsen in his third year. Last season, he led the Bears to an 11-6 record at home including solid wins against ACC opponents like Virginia, Miami and Boston College. Thanks in part to the efficient conference record, the Bears reached the ACC tournament and won a thrilling double-overtime matchup against Virginia Tech to become the second No. 15 seed to win a game in the conference tourney.
Non-Conference Play
Mad-Dog Madsen and crew get started on Nov. 3 against CSU Bakersfield at Haas Pavilion followed by a Wright State matchup at home on Nov. 6. After that, the Bears will host CSU Fullerton for the first time in eight years.
The biggest early season test comes against Kansas State on the road on Nov. 13. The Wildcats were 10-6 at home last season and hold a 4-1 advantage in the head to head games. In the last meeting between the two in November 2022, the Bears battled back from a 15-point deficit before losing by nine.
Nearly two weeks later, on Nov. 25, the Bears will take on the UCLA Bruins at Chase Center in San Francisco.
The second leg of non-conference play features a six-game home stretch with matchups against Utah (Dec. 2), Dominican University of California (Dec. 9 ), Northwestern State (Dec. 13) and Morgan State (Dec. 19).
On Dec. 21, the Bears will wrap up non-conference play with a Haas pavilion game against Columbia.
The wealth of home games should present an opportunity for the Bears to go into conference play on a high-note.
ACC Games
As mentioned, Duke and UNC are the two biggest ACC matchups for Cal, but conference play begins Dec. 30 or Dec. 31 in Haas Pavilion against Louisville followed by a Jan. 2 face off with Notre Dame at home.
The Bears then go on the road for two games against Virginia and Virginia Tech, respectively, before returning home for the Jan. 13 matchup against Duke and the Jan. 17 or 18 matchup against UNC.
Following that, the Bears hit the road again for a three game set against Stanford, Florida State and Miami between Jan. 24 and Jan. 31. They return in early February for a two game home stand against Georgia Tech and Clemson. Then another two-game road trip to the Northeast for games against Syracuse and Boston College.
The final five conference games are split with three games against Stanford, SMU and Pitt at Haas while the two last ACC games against Georgia Tech and Wake Forest are on the road.
Conference play will undoubtedly be more of a challenge as the nine-game home-road split, in conjunction with the rapid turnaround from the west coast to the east coast will likely pose some challenges.
That said, the new and improved Bears roster has a useful combination of interior talent and spot-up shooting as well as a higher ceiling for defense.
