59 Comments
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FromCtoShining(Blue)C's avatar

Has anyone checked to see if Oski has entered the transfer portal yet?

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PawlOski's avatar

You win.

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JeriAnn May's avatar

Agree. Good one! But very sad week for cal athletics.,.

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sycasey's avatar

Fire Knowlton.

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Rick Hirsch's avatar

The sooner the better, the sorry son of a bitch has done NOTHING to advance Cal athletics. Why Christ extended him is mystery of Ripperian proportions and a model of poor decision making by a leader (sorta) totally out of her element, and who listened to the wrong advice because she didn't know what the hell she was doing.

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sycasey's avatar

If anything, he's dragged down Cal athletics, in nearly every sport.

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Osodeoro's avatar

Am I correct that once his contract was extended, he extended Wilcox for fear of losing him to Oregon?

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Rick Hirsch's avatar

He did extend Wilcox, and Oregon was poaching at the time, but I can't remember the details

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Gobears512's avatar

These kids are free to make the best decision for themselves and their families - just as the coaches and administrators have for years, but this new type of free agency and free for all in college sports is ridiculous and has really dampened the enjoyment of following college athletics.

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Jaylen Brown's avatar

Was looking forward to seeing the pippen and Stojakovic duo :(

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Ron Tiongco's avatar

I'm ok with this one. Stojakovic never met a shot he didn't like. Very rarely were his points significant. Sure he'd score 30. But it was usually in a game we would win or lose by 20. I think he might have had one clutch shot. His stats were empty calories. Just wish he'd have gone before Wilkinson. Maybe Jeremiah might have stayed.

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Rae Moulton's avatar

Yeah, he did have a propensity sometimes to fixate on finding an opening for himself when other players had better looks.

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Jimmy Chitwood's avatar

Play making was certainly an area he needed to improve upon to boost his draft stock but it’s still a dagger.

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Andrew P's avatar

Stop watching all college sports until this ridiculous portal is figured out.

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Jimmy Chitwood's avatar

Unlike the football departures, Andrej’s apparently was all about the money. Cal just doesn’t have the same donor support as football, according to the socials…

Knowlton burned a lot of bridges with Mark Fox. Really tough to articulate just how much damage the Colonel has done to the Cal revenue sports. Sigh. Such a bummer.

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veritek's avatar

Rumor circulating that Illinois is dropping a massive bag; congrats & good luck to Andrej.

And at the risk of sounding like a broken record: remove & replace Knowlton asap

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Jimmy Chitwood's avatar

Yup I knew it was B1G…sounds about right. It’s tough to compete when the $$$ discrepancy is so big, which makes the football losses all the more disastrous.

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DoubleBear's avatar

Simple A/B thought experiment: Are we seeing this same trend in non-revenue sports?

e.g. transfers out to be more competitive elsewhere?

If the answer is yes: points to poor athletic program management overall

If the answer is no: points to AD being unprepared to compete in pay to play sports.

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Gobears2's avatar

House on fire?...

True...but maybe Cal is just the canary in the coal mine for college athletics in general.

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Jimmy Chitwood's avatar

When players receiving real, legal money from non-blueblood programs becomes more important than academics, Cal’s gonna be in trouble.

Plus most other schools would have moved on from an incompetent AD that has destroyed the athletic department.

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GoldenBear88's avatar

Holy crap on a cracker! What the hell is going on in Berkeley? Something is seriously wrong with athletics and I hope we find out what it is and fix it, SOON. FUCLA is winning the battle for public recognition as the best UC. Whether it is true or not, perceptions matter. When kids and parents see a school that is constantly on tv, that drives applications and donations. My alma mater had better get it's act together QUICK before we become known as the #2 or #3 UC up north.

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veritek's avatar

What a fucking nut punch the past few days have been - like WTF are we even doing anymore? Copypasting a comment I posted on another forum:

Cal athletics is a deeply flawed and unserious operation. But we've already known that for a while; and apparently it's increasingly obvious to players in both revenue sports. Way past due for Lyons to bite the bullet and dismiss Knowlton with prejudice.

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Jimmy Chitwood's avatar

Can’t compete in this era because we were caught completely flat-footed and unprepared for this new NCAA reality.

Sad.

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O.Overall's avatar

There should be free beer at the Bear’s Lair all week. Gotta prioritize the mentals

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Steve LaRussa's avatar

Been a cal fan for 60 years watching players come in as raw freshman and watching them develop for 3or 4 years It was fun to see the progression. NOW when they use cal to get recognition they're gone.Thats the system the powers at the top,and networks created.To he'll with the fans.But money is more important I guess then loyalty and wanting to be on steam and getting better every year.Guess I'm living in the past.

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O.Overall's avatar

The thing with NIL Collectives being nominally separate from the school is a strange fiction, and you would think the regulatory environment will eventually shift to a more basic free market type system where the schools contract with the players directly. If it does then I wouldn’t be surprised to see schools require players to stay for 2,3,4 years if they want the big $$$. Right now it is all year to year by necessity because the Collectives are separate entities and are not supposed to require school enrollment as a condition. Is a stupid place to land and you have to think it will change.

Oh and these players are 100% employees of the school. Give me a fucking break about that one

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AndDriveDriveDrive's avatar

We definitely need some kind of contract system. 100% free agency (which we have now) is terrible for the sport and terrible for fans

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LiffeyBear's avatar

College football & basketball outside of a very few programs (B1G, SEC) are dead. I had hope the ACC experiment would allow Cal to survive but the experiment has obviously failed. The Calgorythm, College Gameday turnout, NIL collective contributions… all warmed my heart as a Cal fan but all ultimately failed.

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O.Overall's avatar

I get that but guys, today is not the endpoint of history; it’s just a dot on a line. I mean jeesh, SMU was in the top 10 this year in football. SMU! We are entitled to freak out but ultimately we should also chill a bit

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EchoOfSilence's avatar

This is a blip

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AirBear2015's avatar

Are we witnessing the final end of Cal Athletics? Are we dead????

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Jimmy Chitwood's avatar

If we don’t topple the Knowlton domino, probably.

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KetamineCal's avatar

What. The. Fuck.

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