Congrats to Andre for getting his Cal degree first and foremost. One thing that potentially hurts all Cal athletics in the transfer portal for Grad students is that Cal only offers credential programs, not a true Graduate degree or pathway. At least at UCSB he will pursue an actual graduate degree and still be wearing Blue & Gold, just a different shade...
Interesting choice for Andre. I live in SB and will definitely head over to the Thunderdome to root for him, but UCSB is hardly a lock for the Tournament...they’ll have to win the Big West tourney for the automatic.
The Gauchos lost Amadou Sow, who is a strikingly similar player...AK22 will slide into his role. Best of luck to Andre, though a team with a more direct route to the Dance seemed a likelier destination. Also, we should keep our eyes on Pencilneck as a possible Fox replacement.
I also hope he makes the tourney and sees his hard work pay off with a tangible reward. He's improved significantly since he started at Cal and if not the NBA he should be able to play overseas for decent remuneration for awhile.
Best wishes to Andre. He did all he could here and will always be a Bear. Got his Cal degree that will serve him well in life. I'm afraid it's sad to see the Fox era end with such a whimper. We'll have at least one more season of whimpering before Knowlton may act. I take no pleasure in it, as Fox does many things well and by all accounts his players like playing for him and play hard. But recruiting is recruiting. Losing Andre is no big surprise. Not having talented replacements for Andre is the problem.
Seems like he does a couple of things extraordinarily bad (recruiting and offensive basketball) and two things competently (defense and sweet talking ADs and major donors). He gets far too much credit for fielding a team that plays hard (low bar) in spite of the hopeless hole he's helped put them in.
Is there some new hole that I'm not aware of? The gaping chasm left by Wyking wasn't going to be filled by anyone in a couple of years. Fox has only improved every aspect of the team since then... other than recruiting. That is his only negative, and unfortunately for him, it's the most important. Plus you have to be twice as good as the next guy because it's Cal. I saw a fully competent offense that ran slow-down half-court basketball because the was the best way to stay in games because the team has so few scorers (recruiting). I also saw defense that improved to near excellence with players that were a step slow (recruiting) finally getting the scheme and playing help defense very well. I don't know much about Knowlton, but the blurbs when he was hired described a straight shooter & stand up guy. As a West Point grad, veteran, and coming from Air Force, I highly doubt sweet talking has any affect on his hire/fire decisions.
We're in year 4 since Wyking. At what point does that excuse get sunsetted? I've seen programs rebound from death penalties faster than this. Coming off Wyking, nearly any functioning coach could make the improvements that Fox has. Like literally all of them. Whatever positives Fox has brought, those have plateaued. This is the top of the hill for Fox basketball and we're still sitting at the cellar. Is it OK to expect something more of Cal basketball? Or are we required to expect nothing for the next decade? Also, as someone whose father retired from the Marines and grew up on military bases, I can certainly attest to the fact that sucking up to rank does indeed go a long way towards building a career and is something that is valued and rewarded.
Agreed, CB91, as Cal unfortunately remains totally irrelevant on the national scene. There’s no excitement surrounding the program, no draw. It’s just plodding along, like a typical Fox game plan on both sides of the ball.
Bradley leaving last year for an established SDSU program is one thing...Cal should NOT be losing it’s best player to U.C. Santa Barbara, though. That’s a big blow, and an indictment of the current state of the program. Best of luck to Andre...here’s hoping the Gauchos win the Big West and dance...
The best player on the team moving on to a middling Big West program rather than staying and playing in Berkeley as the go-to player?
While not the least bit surprising, it’s a blow nonetheless. Horrible optics for the program & Conference…at least Bradley went to an established, well-known program.
Further, he's ostensibly leaving for a chance at a tourney appearance, but betting on a program that has really just modest chance of making one next year. No one even feigns an argument that we are in any position to do the same -- not just for next year, but for the foreseeable future.
They finished 5th in their conference, and would have to win it outright for a chance to get in next year. I think "a modest chance" strikes the right tone here.
Thanks Dre. You've been a warrior and class act at Cal. Good luck to you
Well said hoop!
Congrats to Andre for getting his Cal degree first and foremost. One thing that potentially hurts all Cal athletics in the transfer portal for Grad students is that Cal only offers credential programs, not a true Graduate degree or pathway. At least at UCSB he will pursue an actual graduate degree and still be wearing Blue & Gold, just a different shade...
Could you expound on this a little? You can't get a graduate degree from Cal? News to me.
Interesting choice for Andre. I live in SB and will definitely head over to the Thunderdome to root for him, but UCSB is hardly a lock for the Tournament...they’ll have to win the Big West tourney for the automatic.
The Gauchos lost Amadou Sow, who is a strikingly similar player...AK22 will slide into his role. Best of luck to Andre, though a team with a more direct route to the Dance seemed a likelier destination. Also, we should keep our eyes on Pencilneck as a possible Fox replacement.
I'm assuming Josh Pasternack, current UCSB coach who was with Zona for 6 years prior to his current stint.
Yeah especially when he kicked Jorge while on Arizona's bench.
Exactly. He’s a punk.
I also hope he makes the tourney and sees his hard work pay off with a tangible reward. He's improved significantly since he started at Cal and if not the NBA he should be able to play overseas for decent remuneration for awhile.
He's not an NBA prospect, but he could definitely play pro overseas.
Best wishes to Andre. He did all he could here and will always be a Bear. Got his Cal degree that will serve him well in life. I'm afraid it's sad to see the Fox era end with such a whimper. We'll have at least one more season of whimpering before Knowlton may act. I take no pleasure in it, as Fox does many things well and by all accounts his players like playing for him and play hard. But recruiting is recruiting. Losing Andre is no big surprise. Not having talented replacements for Andre is the problem.
"I take no pleasure in it, as Fox does many things well and by all accounts his players like playing for him and play hard."
I'm going to need proof of the first two parts of that statement.
Seems like he does a couple of things extraordinarily bad (recruiting and offensive basketball) and two things competently (defense and sweet talking ADs and major donors). He gets far too much credit for fielding a team that plays hard (low bar) in spite of the hopeless hole he's helped put them in.
Is there some new hole that I'm not aware of? The gaping chasm left by Wyking wasn't going to be filled by anyone in a couple of years. Fox has only improved every aspect of the team since then... other than recruiting. That is his only negative, and unfortunately for him, it's the most important. Plus you have to be twice as good as the next guy because it's Cal. I saw a fully competent offense that ran slow-down half-court basketball because the was the best way to stay in games because the team has so few scorers (recruiting). I also saw defense that improved to near excellence with players that were a step slow (recruiting) finally getting the scheme and playing help defense very well. I don't know much about Knowlton, but the blurbs when he was hired described a straight shooter & stand up guy. As a West Point grad, veteran, and coming from Air Force, I highly doubt sweet talking has any affect on his hire/fire decisions.
"That is his only negative"
You and I count negatives in completely different ways, if you think his only negative is recruiting.
It's like saying he's a good QB who's bad at throwing the football. I kind of think of Fox as the Drew Lock of Pac-12 coaches BTW.
We're in year 4 since Wyking. At what point does that excuse get sunsetted? I've seen programs rebound from death penalties faster than this. Coming off Wyking, nearly any functioning coach could make the improvements that Fox has. Like literally all of them. Whatever positives Fox has brought, those have plateaued. This is the top of the hill for Fox basketball and we're still sitting at the cellar. Is it OK to expect something more of Cal basketball? Or are we required to expect nothing for the next decade? Also, as someone whose father retired from the Marines and grew up on military bases, I can certainly attest to the fact that sucking up to rank does indeed go a long way towards building a career and is something that is valued and rewarded.
Yes, this.
Agreed, CB91, as Cal unfortunately remains totally irrelevant on the national scene. There’s no excitement surrounding the program, no draw. It’s just plodding along, like a typical Fox game plan on both sides of the ball.
Bradley leaving last year for an established SDSU program is one thing...Cal should NOT be losing it’s best player to U.C. Santa Barbara, though. That’s a big blow, and an indictment of the current state of the program. Best of luck to Andre...here’s hoping the Gauchos win the Big West and dance...
Faraudo agrees with you about this not being a good look for Cal MBB: https://www.si.com/college/cal/basketball/andre-kelly-to-ucsb
He graduated and is moving on, how is that a "big blow" to Cal?
The 'big blow' already happened a few years ago, thankfully he left in 2019.
The best player on the team moving on to a middling Big West program rather than staying and playing in Berkeley as the go-to player?
While not the least bit surprising, it’s a blow nonetheless. Horrible optics for the program & Conference…at least Bradley went to an established, well-known program.
Further, he's ostensibly leaving for a chance at a tourney appearance, but betting on a program that has really just modest chance of making one next year. No one even feigns an argument that we are in any position to do the same -- not just for next year, but for the foreseeable future.
They finished 5th in their conference, and would have to win it outright for a chance to get in next year. I think "a modest chance" strikes the right tone here.
Hurts the pride a bit but that's how it goes. Wishing him the tournament experience that we can't provide.
Good luck, Andre. I hope you get to the tourney next year.
This is a sitcom right?