Andrej Stojakovic visiting Illinois, the team to beat; hasn't ruled out return to Cal
The California Golden Bears are still trying to bring Stojakovic back.
The California Golden Bears will need a first option for next year with Andrej Stojakovic in the transfer portal. Could that first option potentially be … Andrej Stojakovic? Joe Tipton reports that Stojakovic might reconsider a return to the Bears if the right opportunity doesn’t emerge.
It seems that Cal has recovered from the initial blow of losing Stojakovic and the donors have rallied to put together a competitive offer. But it’s still an uphill climb.
Florida, North Carolina, Clemson, Michigan and several others are also getting involved. But Illinois is the team to beat, according to Travis Branham of 247Sports (you can hear more at the hour mark of this live stream). It seems as if Illinois was the team that approached Stojakovic with an impressive offer, plus the appeal of a high-octane offense and the ability to play with a few European players from the Balkans. He is visiting right now—a decision could come soon if all goes well.
The problem is he’s maybe gonna take his time weighing insane and astronomically high offers that Cal has no ability to even come close to matching. Our hoops NIL is on the kinda-meager side because of well-documented AD incompetence. A quick decision would certainly be more beneficial to MM and staff.
Even worse, Cal does not have that time. They need a legit alpha-dog athlete that can score or we’re very easily looking at a Mark Fox-esque 7-8 win team next year at best in MBB. Thats the reality of the situation…it’s f-ing dire. And with the portal closing soon there’s not a lotta options left.
Mike Williams and Jim Knowlton should be brought up on charges.
Cal should be trying to bring Jaivian Thomas back.