Post by mhbruin on Apr 22, 2023 11:36:45 GMT -8
CHANGES
Added 3 new transfers: Keonte Kennedy, Mike Meadows, and Jaylon Tyson.
===================
First up are the the last-place California Golden Bears, also known as the Bad News Bears. Going into the season, I wrote, "There should be a lot of excitement in Berkeley about this team. Not because they will be a good team. The real suspense is whether they can stay out of last place, and whether this is Mark Fox's last season."
The answers were no and yes. Mark Fox is gone. This may be one of the few times that the Fox news is accurate.
He has been replaced by Mark Madsen, who did a great job coaching at Utah Valley. He may find he had more talent at Utah Valley than he will next season at Cal.
IN THE DRAFT OR TURNING PRO
Cal hasn't had a player drafted since 2017, when Ivan Rabb and Jabari Bird were taken. They only Cal player currently in the NBA is Jaylen Brown, who has played there for one season.
GRADUATING
After 7 seasons of college basketball, Dejuan Clayton has run out of eligibility When he first started playing college hoops, the UCLA roster included Issac Hamilton, Thomas Welsh, Aaron Holidy, and Prince Ali.
TRANSFERRING OUT
Cal has seven players transfering, including three regular starters and a part-time starter.
*Jarred Hyder missed the entire season with an injury. His stats are for the 20-22 season.
Based on the list of new schools they are going to, no one sees these guys as Pac-12 level players, but this is still over half their roster.
RETURNING
California returns five players. First notice the shooting percentages. This is the gang that couldn't shoot straight. They need to find scoring and shooting.
The Bears were #320 in offense, accoding to KenPom. California was dead last in the Pac-12 in scoring, FG percent, and 3-point percent. (They were bad at defense, too.)
Askew will almost certainly lead them in scoring., but as a career 37% shooter, he will be taking a lot of shots to do it. He is their returning assist guy, but he didn't have a great A/TO ratio. They need some help at the point.
A mass exodous from a bad team isn't alwasy a bad thing. Coach Mad Dog has done a good job in rebuilding his roster through the portal.
RECRUITS
Brown may be a decent player, based on his list of offers. There isn't much to get excited about in this class.
The best thing I can say about Devin Curtis is that he gives them a second Devin. I imagine they lead the nation in Devins.
How bad is Pac-12 recruiting when two crappy 3-star players is the 8th best in the league? Then again, they would be the 10th best class in the B1G.
(#19 class, #2 in Pac-12)
Mad Dog hasn't done badly in the portal, considering he is trying to recruit to Cal. These five players seem to be a big upgrade. He brings in a couple of 4-star players, a ton of experience,
Fardaws Aimaq played one season at Mercer, two seasons at Utah Valley for Mark Madsen, and one season at Texas Tech. He was a good rebounder, but his shooting wasn't very good for a big guy.
Jalen Cone played 2 seaons at Virgina Tech, where he played almost 20 minutes per game before transferring to Northern Arizona. In his 4 seasons, he shot 40% from the field, but he is a good 3-point shooter. Finding a 40% three-point shooter is helpful for a team with no proven scorers or shooters.
Keonte Kennedy continues his tour of the US. He want to HS in Austin, then played at Xavier, UTEP, Memphis, and now in Berkely. He is coming off his best season in college, with decent shooting percentages.
Mike Meadows played well for Portland in the WCC, and he looks like he might be able to play the point for them.
Jaylon Tyson is joining his teammate in the Texas Tech to California pipeline. He played a lot and played well for one of the worst teams in the Big 12. Now he is coming to one of the worst teams in the Pac-12. He played his freshman year at Texas.
Overall, I think Coach Madsen, did a pretty good job of putting together a roster, given the mess he inherited.
CONCLUSION
Added 3 new transfers: Keonte Kennedy, Mike Meadows, and Jaylon Tyson.
===================
First up are the the last-place California Golden Bears, also known as the Bad News Bears. Going into the season, I wrote, "There should be a lot of excitement in Berkeley about this team. Not because they will be a good team. The real suspense is whether they can stay out of last place, and whether this is Mark Fox's last season."
The answers were no and yes. Mark Fox is gone. This may be one of the few times that the Fox news is accurate.
He has been replaced by Mark Madsen, who did a great job coaching at Utah Valley. He may find he had more talent at Utah Valley than he will next season at Cal.
IN THE DRAFT OR TURNING PRO
Player | Games | Starts | Minutes | Points | Rebounds | Assists | Can Return? |
- none - |
Cal hasn't had a player drafted since 2017, when Ivan Rabb and Jabari Bird were taken. They only Cal player currently in the NBA is Jaylen Brown, who has played there for one season.
GRADUATING
Player | Games | Starts | Minutes | Points | Rebounds | Assists |
Dejaun Clayton | 9 | 8 | 32 | 9 | 2 | 2.9 |
After 7 seasons of college basketball, Dejuan Clayton has run out of eligibility When he first started playing college hoops, the UCLA roster included Issac Hamilton, Thomas Welsh, Aaron Holidy, and Prince Ali.
TRANSFERRING OUT
Cal has seven players transfering, including three regular starters and a part-time starter.
Player | Games | Starts | Minutes | Points | Rebounds | Assists | Destination |
Sam Alajiki | 29 | 14 | 24 | 6 | 4 | 0.7 | Rice |
Obinna Anyanwu | 27 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 0.1 | |
Joel Brown | 32 | 31 | 33 | 7 | 3 | 3.2 | Iona |
Jarred Hyder* | 22 | 2 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 0.8 | Cal Poly |
Kuany Kuany | 32 | 26 | 25 | 9 | 4 | 0.8 | VCU |
Marsalis Roberson | 31 | 0 | 13 | 2 | 2 | 0.7 | UC Davis |
Lars Thiemann | 31 | 30 | 25 | 10 | 5 | 0.6 | Loyola Marymount |
*Jarred Hyder missed the entire season with an injury. His stats are for the 20-22 season.
Based on the list of new schools they are going to, no one sees these guys as Pac-12 level players, but this is still over half their roster.
RETURNING
Player | Games | Starts | Minutes | Points | Rebounds | Assists | FG% | 3Pt% | A/TO | Class | Recruiting Stars | Recruiting Rank |
Devin Askew | 13 | 13 | 32 | 16 | 3 | 3.0 | 38% | 30% | 1.1 | Sr | 4 | 32 |
Grant Newell | 31 | 28 | 27 | 8 | 4 | 0.7 | 40% | 27% | 0.6 | So | 3 | 299 |
Monty Bowser | 32 | 8 | 17 | 4 | 1 | 0.4 | 33% | 27% | 0.6 | Jr | 4 | 137 |
ND Okafor | 30 | 2 | 13 | 4 | 3 | 0.3 | 43% | -- | 0.4 | So | 3 | 187 |
Wrenn Robinson | 16 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0.3 | 44% | 33% | 2.5 | Jr | Unranked | |
California returns five players. First notice the shooting percentages. This is the gang that couldn't shoot straight. They need to find scoring and shooting.
The Bears were #320 in offense, accoding to KenPom. California was dead last in the Pac-12 in scoring, FG percent, and 3-point percent. (They were bad at defense, too.)
Askew will almost certainly lead them in scoring., but as a career 37% shooter, he will be taking a lot of shots to do it. He is their returning assist guy, but he didn't have a great A/TO ratio. They need some help at the point.
A mass exodous from a bad team isn't alwasy a bad thing. Coach Mad Dog has done a good job in rebuilding his roster through the portal.
RECRUITS
(#59 class, #8 in Pac-12)
Player | Size | Position | Recruiting Stars | Recruiting Rank | Offers |
Rodney Brown | 6-5 175 | SF | 3 | 174 | Oregon State, Tennessee, USC |
Devin Curtis | 6-10 210 | C | 3 | 202 | Loyola Marymount, Nothern Illinois, Montana |
Brown may be a decent player, based on his list of offers. There isn't much to get excited about in this class.
The best thing I can say about Devin Curtis is that he gives them a second Devin. I imagine they lead the nation in Devins.
How bad is Pac-12 recruiting when two crappy 3-star players is the 8th best in the league? Then again, they would be the 10th best class in the B1G.
TRANSFERRING IN
(#19 class, #2 in Pac-12)
Mad Dog hasn't done badly in the portal, considering he is trying to recruit to Cal. These five players seem to be a big upgrade. He brings in a couple of 4-star players, a ton of experience,
Player | Size | Games | Starts | Minutes | Points | Rebounds | Assists | FG % | 3-Pt % | A/TO | From | Class | Recruiting Stars | Recruiting Rank |
Fardaws Aimaq | 6-11 245 | 11 | 9 | 27 | 11 | 8 | 1.5 | 44% | 28% | 0.7 | Texas Tech | Sr 5 | Unranked | |
Jalen Cone | 5-11 175 | 33 | 32 | 33 | 18 | 3 | 2.5 | 42% | 40% | 1.0 | Northern Arizona | Sr 5 | 4 | 102 |
Keonte Kennedy | 6-5 180 | 25 | 12 | 23 | 9 | 3 | 0.8 | 46% | 38% | 0.8 | Memphis | Sr 5 | 3 | 247 |
Mike Meadows | 6-2 175 | 21 | 12 | 29 | 11 | 3 | 2,2 | 46% | 36% | 1.9 | Portland | Sr 5 | Unranked | |
Jaylon Tyson | 6-7 210 | 31 | 31 | 29 | 11 | 6 | 1.3 | 48% | 40% | 0.8 | Texas Tech | Jr | 4 | 36 |
Fardaws Aimaq played one season at Mercer, two seasons at Utah Valley for Mark Madsen, and one season at Texas Tech. He was a good rebounder, but his shooting wasn't very good for a big guy.
Jalen Cone played 2 seaons at Virgina Tech, where he played almost 20 minutes per game before transferring to Northern Arizona. In his 4 seasons, he shot 40% from the field, but he is a good 3-point shooter. Finding a 40% three-point shooter is helpful for a team with no proven scorers or shooters.
Keonte Kennedy continues his tour of the US. He want to HS in Austin, then played at Xavier, UTEP, Memphis, and now in Berkely. He is coming off his best season in college, with decent shooting percentages.
Mike Meadows played well for Portland in the WCC, and he looks like he might be able to play the point for them.
Jaylon Tyson is joining his teammate in the Texas Tech to California pipeline. He played a lot and played well for one of the worst teams in the Big 12. Now he is coming to one of the worst teams in the Pac-12. He played his freshman year at Texas.
Overall, I think Coach Madsen, did a pretty good job of putting together a roster, given the mess he inherited.
CONCLUSION
Mark Madsen can coach. However, over half his roster will be playing in Berkley for the first time this season. This isn't a super talented bunch, but he as four 4-star players on the roster.
He also has 5 seniors and 3 junions, so he has some age and experience on the roster.
Last season they won 3 games, including 2 Pac-12 games. (UT-Arlington, Stanford, and Colorado should be embarassed.) I expect Cal to improve on those win totals, and maybe avoid last place in the league. It would be hard to do worse.
Maybe they will improve more in Madsen's second season leading the Golden Bears. We will be more worried about Rutgers and Nebraska by then.
Wilner:
11. Cal
Mark Madsen has done as well as could be expected — no, check that: far beyond what could have been expected — in his first few months on the job, with some help from the administration: The Bears have acquired five transfers (five!), and several are contenders for starting positions. (Two of the newcomers, Jaylon Tyson and Fardaws Aimaq, averaged double figures for Texas Tech last season.) But our broader view remains the same: The upgrades required to turn Cal into a respectable program cannot be completed in one offseason. Previous: 11
He also has 5 seniors and 3 junions, so he has some age and experience on the roster.
Last season they won 3 games, including 2 Pac-12 games. (UT-Arlington, Stanford, and Colorado should be embarassed.) I expect Cal to improve on those win totals, and maybe avoid last place in the league. It would be hard to do worse.
Maybe they will improve more in Madsen's second season leading the Golden Bears. We will be more worried about Rutgers and Nebraska by then.
Wilner:
11. Cal
Mark Madsen has done as well as could be expected — no, check that: far beyond what could have been expected — in his first few months on the job, with some help from the administration: The Bears have acquired five transfers (five!), and several are contenders for starting positions. (Two of the newcomers, Jaylon Tyson and Fardaws Aimaq, averaged double figures for Texas Tech last season.) But our broader view remains the same: The upgrades required to turn Cal into a respectable program cannot be completed in one offseason. Previous: 11