Hoping Cal’s inaugural season in the ACC might inspire Jaylon Tyson to lead the charge.
The first home game to get me salivating is the return of Tony Bennett and his Virginia Cavaliers. A close second would be Wake Forest. A bit of trivia for you all. Who did the Golden Bears knockoff in the 1999 NIT championship? Hint we play them at their place next season
Same. My work already made us do vacation requests for that time so I booked something random in February and we'll see if I can change it to accommodate.
If the underclassmen stick around and the coaching staff can land the right pieces from the portal, there’s absolutely no reason this program can not compete for an at-large Tournament bid next season…
Gotta take care of business in the non-con and avoid bad losses, more or less hold serve at Haas, and steal a couple on the road and you’re bubble. At the Bluebloods along Tobacco Rd are probably out, but Pitt/ND/Furd/SMU/Ga Tech/L’ville/Clem are all winnable roadies.
Im looking forward to see Celestine's stock continue to rise into his senior year, and for another big to break out (Curtis or portal). Aimaq's rebounding ability will be missed but I also see him as a limitation/ceiling in some ways, where we might see more production from a combination of bigs. I think he's one of those where its hard to imagine his production being replaced, but you eventually find it in different ways and the net effect could be an improvement. I was really bummed when Okafor went down and hope that didnt derail his progress.
This was a totally lost year for ND, unfortunately. He didn’t really show all that much in his limited minutes prior to injury, as he and the team were really searching for it on the defensive end. He looked incredibly raw on the offensive side, as well. Not sure what you can expect to see from Okafor next year, as a full year of playing in this system would have helped him immensely. He has every right to improve, though. And the other big Devin Curtis is a monster…would love to see him bulk up a little in the off-season and work on low post moves (offense) and defensive fundamentals. He’s got a P5 body for a big.
I love Daws…he brings effort every night & was exactly what we needed this season. Will always be grateful he came to Cal. But to get to the next level we probably need a little better D in the post, and someone who can guard mobile bigs like Brandon Walker from Montana State who ate us alive.
Okafor is still a project. I could see a little improvement over last year in the little I saw of him. His footwork seemed improved and he had a couple of bright movements in the early season right before his injury. If anyone can advance his game, it would be Madsen.
Curtis has all the physical measurements but again is very raw. I go to the games early so I can watch the team warm up. He shoots a lot of threes (and not very well). I’d like to see him working more on other aspects of his game. I’m sure he’s doing this in practice behind closed doors, but...in the end he was not a Madsen recruit so I’m not sure if he would check all the boxes in a Madsen offense but could be useful as a defender and for getting boards.
If you're like a UNC or a Duke, he's someone you'd want off the bench. He's not really a starter at the elite level because of his specific shortcomings. But his positioning is good, so he's an automatic double double.
Seems like our annual ACC strength of schedule will pretty much be on-par with our Pac 12 schedules. Considering that, even though the overall conference is stronger, we only have to face the best teams once... when we'd previously have home-and-homes with the Pac 12's elites in a given year. So, the net effect is really just more exposure, and the upsets will be worth more when we pull them off. I like it!
Cant say the same for football obviously, but this is a great new home for basketball.
Finally seeing all of these new opponents really brings out a sea change in ones perspective. The Bears will be facing a whole new reality, but having Duke, UNC, and Virginia on the schedule means solid performances could put Madsen & Co. in the national spotlight.
Cal also has a women's basketball program and their scheduled slate of opponents was released as well. https://calbears.com/news/2024/2/29/womens-basketball-womens-basketball-acc-opponents-released.aspx
Hoping Cal’s inaugural season in the ACC might inspire Jaylon Tyson to lead the charge.
The first home game to get me salivating is the return of Tony Bennett and his Virginia Cavaliers. A close second would be Wake Forest. A bit of trivia for you all. Who did the Golden Bears knockoff in the 1999 NIT championship? Hint we play them at their place next season
And more recently, who did the Cal women beat for the NIT championship in Haas?
Clemson!! Geno Carlisle, Lampley, “Circus” King, Solomon Hughes, Thomas Kilgore, The Sheriff et al.
I really wish they would release the actual dates earlier. I am trying to plan a trip to Cameron and/or the Dean Dome.
I'm going to go if it's Dook and UNC on the same roadie.
Same. My work already made us do vacation requests for that time so I booked something random in February and we'll see if I can change it to accommodate.
That's one hell of an advance vacation request timeline
Yuuuuup
Thanks Avi.
If the underclassmen stick around and the coaching staff can land the right pieces from the portal, there’s absolutely no reason this program can not compete for an at-large Tournament bid next season…
Gotta take care of business in the non-con and avoid bad losses, more or less hold serve at Haas, and steal a couple on the road and you’re bubble. At the Bluebloods along Tobacco Rd are probably out, but Pitt/ND/Furd/SMU/Ga Tech/L’ville/Clem are all winnable roadies.
Im looking forward to see Celestine's stock continue to rise into his senior year, and for another big to break out (Curtis or portal). Aimaq's rebounding ability will be missed but I also see him as a limitation/ceiling in some ways, where we might see more production from a combination of bigs. I think he's one of those where its hard to imagine his production being replaced, but you eventually find it in different ways and the net effect could be an improvement. I was really bummed when Okafor went down and hope that didnt derail his progress.
We haven’t had a rebounder as good as Daws since like Leon Powe.
This was a totally lost year for ND, unfortunately. He didn’t really show all that much in his limited minutes prior to injury, as he and the team were really searching for it on the defensive end. He looked incredibly raw on the offensive side, as well. Not sure what you can expect to see from Okafor next year, as a full year of playing in this system would have helped him immensely. He has every right to improve, though. And the other big Devin Curtis is a monster…would love to see him bulk up a little in the off-season and work on low post moves (offense) and defensive fundamentals. He’s got a P5 body for a big.
I love Daws…he brings effort every night & was exactly what we needed this season. Will always be grateful he came to Cal. But to get to the next level we probably need a little better D in the post, and someone who can guard mobile bigs like Brandon Walker from Montana State who ate us alive.
Okafor is still a project. I could see a little improvement over last year in the little I saw of him. His footwork seemed improved and he had a couple of bright movements in the early season right before his injury. If anyone can advance his game, it would be Madsen.
Curtis has all the physical measurements but again is very raw. I go to the games early so I can watch the team warm up. He shoots a lot of threes (and not very well). I’d like to see him working more on other aspects of his game. I’m sure he’s doing this in practice behind closed doors, but...in the end he was not a Madsen recruit so I’m not sure if he would check all the boxes in a Madsen offense but could be useful as a defender and for getting boards.
Daws is like an A+ on three things and a C on four things
Well said.
(btw - I know very little about bball and am most certainly selling Aimaq short.. but thats how it goes..)
Aimaq does some really good things. But as with all athletes there are other things he needs to work on. But all in all a great addition this year.
If you're like a UNC or a Duke, he's someone you'd want off the bench. He's not really a starter at the elite level because of his specific shortcomings. But his positioning is good, so he's an automatic double double.
Seems like our annual ACC strength of schedule will pretty much be on-par with our Pac 12 schedules. Considering that, even though the overall conference is stronger, we only have to face the best teams once... when we'd previously have home-and-homes with the Pac 12's elites in a given year. So, the net effect is really just more exposure, and the upsets will be worth more when we pull them off. I like it!
Cant say the same for football obviously, but this is a great new home for basketball.
Man if we keep improving we can become a big boy basketball school with this schedule.
Finally seeing all of these new opponents really brings out a sea change in ones perspective. The Bears will be facing a whole new reality, but having Duke, UNC, and Virginia on the schedule means solid performances could put Madsen & Co. in the national spotlight.