Why in the world would he convince any of those players to return? I appreciate the hard work they put in, they are Cal Bears, but several things:
1. They chose to move on (or at least enter the portal), *before* finding out who the new coach was going to be. What does this say about them?
2. Only Alijiki (fixed) hasn't graduated, the other 3 are graduating, so in order for them to remain at Cal, they actually have to get *admitted* to grad school. In case people haven't noticed (or remembered), Cal is literally one of the most difficult grad schools to get into. It's a primary reason Cal doesn't get a lot of grad transfers, even though there's now a certificate program.
3. These players are all replaceable. They only help with depth, but sometimes it's better to move on from players who were part of a team that put together the worst 4 year run in school history. Madsen should go get his players and get better players, I can't think of any reason to be "faithful" to these guys. I appreciate their hard work, and Fox clearly was a major contributing factor to the lack of their success, but a clean split is best for all parties.
sorry...lol, got them confused for a minute...senior moment. Alijiki is sophomore, the other 3 (KK, Lars, Brown) all supposedly on track to graduate in 4 years.
If I read it correctly the players who have entered the portal have potentially forfeited their scholarships, meaning that the university is not required to renew them. It will be up to Madsen to evaluate the available talent in the portal and then decide what pieces are desirable and would be good fits for Cal.
They can still withdraw from the portal. What I don't know is if they are still guaranteed their scholarship if they withdraw before the window closes or if the school has to approve. But I'm pretty certain that being in the portal after closure severs the scholarship tie.
Edit: These players have indeed put their scholarship at risk. Madsen can decide whether to re-offer.
The portal has been around long enough, and re-re-re-hashed in these posts long enough that I am little surprised these basic questions are still around, but I'm dumb about some things myself so here goes...
You never really withdraw from the portal. You register for the portal while it's open or you don't. Once you register you are free to pursue any position that will have you, including at your current school. You wanna stay? The school still wants you? Then stay. You can stop taking calls from other schools, but all you ever did was register. Some kids say they are withdrawing from the portal but really that just means they're not open to calls (I believe there is a Don't Contact Me flag they can set...) Also, as noted, you give up any guarantees on your current scholly but if you're staying then it's gotta be cuz they still want you, right? Besides, in the current situation CAL is gonna re-up anyone who wants to stay decent players, body count, good optics...
Yeah, be interested to see if Mad Dog runs anyone off... I don't expect it. There has been some debate about how quickly CAL in particular can rebuild a roster but I'd expect (besides being a nice guy) Mad Dog not to get a 5th or deeper guy immediately better than anyone who wants to stay... If he can get 4 brand new guys good enough to challenge for start/playing time then I think he'll be off to a good start.
I hear ya. But if Cal can get donors to contribute to the NIL, he’s very likely getting better guys…up to 3 starters. And winning 4-5 times as many games in year 1 is absolutely realistic.
So long as it’s basically the Wild West with the NIL and portal, the days where you recruit a kid and develop him over a 4 year period are gone. The first thing these kids want to know now are how much they can make. If you don’t have the funds, then the kids you develop are then gonna bolt, and you’re basically a minor league system for a wealthier club.
I'm not concerned with the players who are in the portal, and in saying that, I'm not trying to trash them. But there are better ones to replace them. If I'm Madsen, I go after Hunter Dickinson. Solid big man, all academic, grad transfer. I don't know if he has two years or one year because he's technically a junior. But I'd solidify the middle. THEN, I'd go after a starting point guard and build from that.
Who cares about big men, guards are what dictate how good a team will be. Obviously you need competent bigs, but the main focus should always be great guards.
The best coaches will work with who they can get - Mike Montgomery built his Stanford teams off a bunch of bigs, and came here and we were guard centric with Jerome, P Chris and Jorge being the leaders of his team. Talent talent talent, regardless of height.
Who wouldn’t want to be ranked #1 most the year, win the conference and be a 1 seed? I don’t get the issue with that. Their problem was having over 200 plays and zero offensive freedoms to exploit openings on the fly.
Agreed. Averaged a doo-blay/doo-blay in Orem B2B years and was then was a solid piece on a decent team in the best Conference in the country. Him, maybe Tim Ceaser off that UVU team for some glue guy minutes/rebounding, and then a couple of moderately efficient shooting guards, and this roster suddenly is light years ahead.
When Askew, Celestine & Newell are suddenly the 4th, 5th and 6th best options….hmmm
Why in the world would he convince any of those players to return? I appreciate the hard work they put in, they are Cal Bears, but several things:
1. They chose to move on (or at least enter the portal), *before* finding out who the new coach was going to be. What does this say about them?
2. Only Alijiki (fixed) hasn't graduated, the other 3 are graduating, so in order for them to remain at Cal, they actually have to get *admitted* to grad school. In case people haven't noticed (or remembered), Cal is literally one of the most difficult grad schools to get into. It's a primary reason Cal doesn't get a lot of grad transfers, even though there's now a certificate program.
3. These players are all replaceable. They only help with depth, but sometimes it's better to move on from players who were part of a team that put together the worst 4 year run in school history. Madsen should go get his players and get better players, I can't think of any reason to be "faithful" to these guys. I appreciate their hard work, and Fox clearly was a major contributing factor to the lack of their success, but a clean split is best for all parties.
Alajiki got his degree in two years?
sorry...lol, got them confused for a minute...senior moment. Alijiki is sophomore, the other 3 (KK, Lars, Brown) all supposedly on track to graduate in 4 years.
Do appreciate how that pic is going to make furdies throw up a little each time they see it…
Nah, they already experienced it with Monty.
You guys talk as if they care about sports.
If I read it correctly the players who have entered the portal have potentially forfeited their scholarships, meaning that the university is not required to renew them. It will be up to Madsen to evaluate the available talent in the portal and then decide what pieces are desirable and would be good fits for Cal.
They can still withdraw from the portal. What I don't know is if they are still guaranteed their scholarship if they withdraw before the window closes or if the school has to approve. But I'm pretty certain that being in the portal after closure severs the scholarship tie.
Edit: These players have indeed put their scholarship at risk. Madsen can decide whether to re-offer.
https://www.ncsasports.org/recruiting/ncaa-transfer-rules
The portal has been around long enough, and re-re-re-hashed in these posts long enough that I am little surprised these basic questions are still around, but I'm dumb about some things myself so here goes...
You never really withdraw from the portal. You register for the portal while it's open or you don't. Once you register you are free to pursue any position that will have you, including at your current school. You wanna stay? The school still wants you? Then stay. You can stop taking calls from other schools, but all you ever did was register. Some kids say they are withdrawing from the portal but really that just means they're not open to calls (I believe there is a Don't Contact Me flag they can set...) Also, as noted, you give up any guarantees on your current scholly but if you're staying then it's gotta be cuz they still want you, right? Besides, in the current situation CAL is gonna re-up anyone who wants to stay decent players, body count, good optics...
Right now, 4 slots appear to be open.
6 out, 2 recruits in…
Lars, Sam, Joel, KK in portal, Clayton out of eligibility, heard Hyder will likely not return (retire or portal).
Plus anyone else that is “encouraged” to enter the portal, which like it or not happens, especially now in this NIL/transfer-heavy era.
Yeah, be interested to see if Mad Dog runs anyone off... I don't expect it. There has been some debate about how quickly CAL in particular can rebuild a roster but I'd expect (besides being a nice guy) Mad Dog not to get a 5th or deeper guy immediately better than anyone who wants to stay... If he can get 4 brand new guys good enough to challenge for start/playing time then I think he'll be off to a good start.
I hear ya. But if Cal can get donors to contribute to the NIL, he’s very likely getting better guys…up to 3 starters. And winning 4-5 times as many games in year 1 is absolutely realistic.
So long as it’s basically the Wild West with the NIL and portal, the days where you recruit a kid and develop him over a 4 year period are gone. The first thing these kids want to know now are how much they can make. If you don’t have the funds, then the kids you develop are then gonna bolt, and you’re basically a minor league system for a wealthier club.
I'm not concerned with the players who are in the portal, and in saying that, I'm not trying to trash them. But there are better ones to replace them. If I'm Madsen, I go after Hunter Dickinson. Solid big man, all academic, grad transfer. I don't know if he has two years or one year because he's technically a junior. But I'd solidify the middle. THEN, I'd go after a starting point guard and build from that.
Who cares about big men, guards are what dictate how good a team will be. Obviously you need competent bigs, but the main focus should always be great guards.
Did you see how Madsen's team was built at Utah Valley? Get ready for a big man.
The best coaches will work with who they can get - Mike Montgomery built his Stanford teams off a bunch of bigs, and came here and we were guard centric with Jerome, P Chris and Jorge being the leaders of his team. Talent talent talent, regardless of height.
Always great to have talented bigs. But if you don't bring in talented guard you end up with a team like Purdue
A #1 seed?
Who wouldn’t want to be ranked #1 most the year, win the conference and be a 1 seed? I don’t get the issue with that. Their problem was having over 200 plays and zero offensive freedoms to exploit openings on the fly.
Also guards who ultimately couldn't shoot.
I don’t think we can afford him….dude’s gonna command close to $1M.
Fardaws Aimaq tho…Texas Tech big…what are your thoughts?
Real chance he could come. Super rebounder, knows coach madsen. Loves him.
Agreed. Averaged a doo-blay/doo-blay in Orem B2B years and was then was a solid piece on a decent team in the best Conference in the country. Him, maybe Tim Ceaser off that UVU team for some glue guy minutes/rebounding, and then a couple of moderately efficient shooting guards, and this roster suddenly is light years ahead.
When Askew, Celestine & Newell are suddenly the 4th, 5th and 6th best options….hmmm