Curious about what y'all think the starting 5 looks like.
Roster as it stands today:
Portal
G Cone 5'11"
G Meadows 6'2"
G/Wing Kennedy 6'5"
G/Wing Tyson 6'6"
C Aimaq 6'11"
Returning
G Askew 6'3"
Wing/G Celestine 6'7"
Wing Newell 6'8"
C Okafor 6'9"
Wing Bowser 6'7"
Freshman Recruits
Curtis 6'10"
Brown 6'5"
I'm assuming Aimaq, Tyson, and Cone slot right into the starting lineup, with another Guard (Askew?) and a bigger wing to provide some more size (Newell?). Ideally, we add another big wing to help with size and rebounding given the guard-heavy roster we've brought in so far.
Personally would make cone as the scoring 6thman. Dev is actually a really good facilitator and operator of an offense. It’s just that last season was asked to score more than play the point guard spot.
Also moving cone into the second unit gives you another 3PT shooter and ball handler to rotate in. The secondary handler in the starting lineup can easily be Jaylon.
Yeah, I could see that. Especially with Cone’s defensive concerns. But I feel like it’s hard to imagine a 20ppg player coming here and then coming off the bench. A bit concerned about the playmaking on the team. Cone and Askew have roughly 1:1 assist to turnover over the years. Hoping askew can make a leap with a new system/supporting cast and seems like he’s putting in a lot of offseason work.
I think the bigger selling point isn’t starters but more minutes distribution and also the closing lineup. I don’t think it matters from a broader sense of dev or cone starts if they’re both getting 20/24 minutes a game.
Mad Dog has to be dancing about this one, but before we get too excited, I'm wondering what this is all about (from The Athletic):
"Tyson, originally a Texas Tech commitment out of high school, followed Chris Beard to Texas and then only played a semester at UT before transferring to Texas Tech. Now he’s back in the portal, and he could have to sit a year before he’d be able to play unless he’s able to secure a waiver."
Went on The Athletic message board and got the answer:
"You can transfer once without sitting out but if you transfer a second time then you have to sit out a year unless the former school agrees to sign a waiver for you to leave. Most do but not always."
I know this has been rumored for a bit but I'm extremely excited to see it happen. Not only is he a tremendous player, he seems like a great fit. Welcome, Jaylon!
We still have to see how Mad Dog does with the other aspects of coaching but his work through the portal has been tremendous. I still cannot process my optimism.
(Jaylon's brother Jordyn hasn't announced his decision yet but he's rumored to be going elsewhere. Update: he's a Sun Devil)
Off topic but has Cal left UA and gone back to Nike/Jordan Brand? I've noticed in all these basketball announcements the Jordan 1 has been prominently featured.
Good to know. You're probably right and it's just Nike. Glad they are back with the swoosh. It may not mean much to some but these things matter to recruits.
The contract officially starts on June 1, but since UA has given us the bare-minimum contractual support for the past 3 years - just uniforms and equipment and there's no reason to continue adhering to the now ending contract, a handful of players played this season in Nikes. Jadya Curry on WBB, Askew on MBB and I saw the entirety of the Men's and Women's golf teams at Tilden and Oakland Metro wearing Nikes for practice.
All. the social media handles had a big announcement about two months ago for 100 days out.
I'm having this strange sensation of being excited about our team again, and what it means to my life to want to go to games. It's been some dreadful winters for me as far as not having a team to cheer on. Living in the PNW I can't be season ticket holder at Haas but I assure you I would be if I lived in NorCal. But I can once again travel to watch my Bears play against the WA schools and OR schools. All I ever want is a competitive team that gives us a chance to win each night. Go freaking Bears and Go Coach Madsen!
BTW, is anyone sadistic enough to wonder where Cal bball would be if Fox wasn't fired (he apparently did have 1 year remaining on the contract)? No doubt there would still have been some transfers out (hard to compare against reality depending on who was encouraged to leave or saw the writing the wall). But also hard to imagine there would be any transfers in to the dumpster fire of where the program was. So it's very likely next season would have even exceeded this season in utter futility.
I would rather not think about it....but I have come to the conclusion that maybe we needed a dumpster fire to make the systemic changes required to be successful in this new landscape. Clearly you can't build a program from the bottom up nowadays...you build it from the bottom and the sides. Madsen is checking all the boxes right now: you gotta come in hard and make a big splash quickly. Compare this to the first group Fox's team brought in...which pretty much sealed his fate from year one.
This is the transformational change that I thought we'd see with Madsen. Right now, if he can get this crew into the NIT, I think it will be a successful season, and we'll look at this group as the catalyst for bringing the Cal MBB back from hell.
We are supposed to get $100 million practice facility. That would boost our HS recruiting soon too.
what the heck...is this really happening? Madson must have quite a rep.
Curious about what y'all think the starting 5 looks like.
Roster as it stands today:
Portal
G Cone 5'11"
G Meadows 6'2"
G/Wing Kennedy 6'5"
G/Wing Tyson 6'6"
C Aimaq 6'11"
Returning
G Askew 6'3"
Wing/G Celestine 6'7"
Wing Newell 6'8"
C Okafor 6'9"
Wing Bowser 6'7"
Freshman Recruits
Curtis 6'10"
Brown 6'5"
I'm assuming Aimaq, Tyson, and Cone slot right into the starting lineup, with another Guard (Askew?) and a bigger wing to provide some more size (Newell?). Ideally, we add another big wing to help with size and rebounding given the guard-heavy roster we've brought in so far.
Im thinking:
Cone
Kennedy (3 and D role not much handling)
Tyson
Newell
Aimaq
-----------
Meadows
Celestine
Askew
Okafor
Curtis
------
Bowser
Brown
Personally would make cone as the scoring 6thman. Dev is actually a really good facilitator and operator of an offense. It’s just that last season was asked to score more than play the point guard spot.
Also moving cone into the second unit gives you another 3PT shooter and ball handler to rotate in. The secondary handler in the starting lineup can easily be Jaylon.
Yeah, I could see that. Especially with Cone’s defensive concerns. But I feel like it’s hard to imagine a 20ppg player coming here and then coming off the bench. A bit concerned about the playmaking on the team. Cone and Askew have roughly 1:1 assist to turnover over the years. Hoping askew can make a leap with a new system/supporting cast and seems like he’s putting in a lot of offseason work.
I think the bigger selling point isn’t starters but more minutes distribution and also the closing lineup. I don’t think it matters from a broader sense of dev or cone starts if they’re both getting 20/24 minutes a game.
Mad Dog has to be dancing about this one, but before we get too excited, I'm wondering what this is all about (from The Athletic):
"Tyson, originally a Texas Tech commitment out of high school, followed Chris Beard to Texas and then only played a semester at UT before transferring to Texas Tech. Now he’s back in the portal, and he could have to sit a year before he’d be able to play unless he’s able to secure a waiver."
I thought the portal was the wild west?
Went on The Athletic message board and got the answer:
"You can transfer once without sitting out but if you transfer a second time then you have to sit out a year unless the former school agrees to sign a waiver for you to leave. Most do but not always."
I know this has been rumored for a bit but I'm extremely excited to see it happen. Not only is he a tremendous player, he seems like a great fit. Welcome, Jaylon!
We still have to see how Mad Dog does with the other aspects of coaching but his work through the portal has been tremendous. I still cannot process my optimism.
(Jaylon's brother Jordyn hasn't announced his decision yet but he's rumored to be going elsewhere. Update: he's a Sun Devil)
Wow...he is doing work...
Off topic but has Cal left UA and gone back to Nike/Jordan Brand? I've noticed in all these basketball announcements the Jordan 1 has been prominently featured.
Yes, Cal is back with Nike. I did not know Jordan Brand was back too. I assumed it was just Nike and no more Jordans for us.
Good to know. You're probably right and it's just Nike. Glad they are back with the swoosh. It may not mean much to some but these things matter to recruits.
The contract officially starts on June 1, but since UA has given us the bare-minimum contractual support for the past 3 years - just uniforms and equipment and there's no reason to continue adhering to the now ending contract, a handful of players played this season in Nikes. Jadya Curry on WBB, Askew on MBB and I saw the entirety of the Men's and Women's golf teams at Tilden and Oakland Metro wearing Nikes for practice.
All. the social media handles had a big announcement about two months ago for 100 days out.
A transfer a day keeps the naysayers away. Seems like every day I open up WFC to news of another transfer.
Boom
Welcome to the Bear family young man and to the finest public school in the world! How many years of eligibility does he have?
2 years
Is this what it's like to root for another program? I like this feeling.
I may make the trip down to LA this year...
I’ll be there embarrassing myself and my daughters. Just got a dog and named her Oski!
YES, love it.
As Forrest said, "the most beautiful name in the wide world."
Good call. We could holler at Bronny Jr. too.
When he's at USC?
Yes. Holler not nice things.
i misread it your meaning. Holler can also mean "try to entice" - as in "let me holler at you, girl"
I can now officially (and proudly) announce I will be stepping foot into Haas Pavilion again!
Likewise
I'm having this strange sensation of being excited about our team again, and what it means to my life to want to go to games. It's been some dreadful winters for me as far as not having a team to cheer on. Living in the PNW I can't be season ticket holder at Haas but I assure you I would be if I lived in NorCal. But I can once again travel to watch my Bears play against the WA schools and OR schools. All I ever want is a competitive team that gives us a chance to win each night. Go freaking Bears and Go Coach Madsen!
Truth...
BTW, is anyone sadistic enough to wonder where Cal bball would be if Fox wasn't fired (he apparently did have 1 year remaining on the contract)? No doubt there would still have been some transfers out (hard to compare against reality depending on who was encouraged to leave or saw the writing the wall). But also hard to imagine there would be any transfers in to the dumpster fire of where the program was. So it's very likely next season would have even exceeded this season in utter futility.
I would rather not think about it....but I have come to the conclusion that maybe we needed a dumpster fire to make the systemic changes required to be successful in this new landscape. Clearly you can't build a program from the bottom up nowadays...you build it from the bottom and the sides. Madsen is checking all the boxes right now: you gotta come in hard and make a big splash quickly. Compare this to the first group Fox's team brought in...which pretty much sealed his fate from year one.
Don't you mean masochistic?
No
This is the transformational change that I thought we'd see with Madsen. Right now, if he can get this crew into the NIT, I think it will be a successful season, and we'll look at this group as the catalyst for bringing the Cal MBB back from hell.
Mad dog does it again! I can’t wait to see how he puts this team together. After 5 + years of brutal basketball, I’m actually excited!
40% from 3? wow; we might win some games next year. yeehaw!
I hope we win more games than last year.