Guys, stop with the 'holier than thou' virtue signaling because we're Cal. That's precisely one of the reasons we've sucked for so long at Hoops and FB. Let's stop pretending these 'student-athletes' are coming here to make contributions to the Physics department. I want ballers, PERIOD. Tarkanian recruited the jails and won a national championship. We're moving to the ACC and I guarantee you our opponents are not recruiting altar boys. Welcome to Berkeley Lee Dort. Now go kick some ass!
I’m not in the “we’re holier than thou because we’re Cal” camp, I’m in the “I don’t want the university I’ve rooted for nearly my entire life and can’t kick that habit to coddle reprehensible people for the sake of bball victories” camp. I trust in Madsen and trust he doesn’t want to tarnish his reputation by recruiting players who will throw it all away through violent, illegal and disrespectful behavior. I hope Dort makes the most of this second chance!
I’ve long advocated for Cal Athletics to start playing like big boys, but this isn’t quite what I had in mind. Anyways, I’ll trust Madsen’s judgement. He’s putting a lot on the line with this one, so they must feel confident in the young man.
They certainly have a lot of work to do. Dort and the 6’6” wing they got (Kevin Armstrong) will hopefully give them something in the back-end of the rotation.
But these two additions hopefully are just the beginning.
Some relationships are toxic (alcohol) and hopefully the young man will realize its better to walk or run from a toxic situation. Everybody needs a second chance. I commend Madsen for giving the kid a second chance. He's has an interesting background (Haiti), prep school.
Obviously, we should have a zero-tolerance policy toward the behavior he was accused of. Just because there's no legal issue doesn't mean there's no issue. And I don't want Cal to be the place where people with significant character issues come to rehab their reputation. I do NOT know if this is true in Dort's case or if there's a pattern, or even what his side of the story is.
I certainly hope Madsen has all the facts and has made this determination carefully. Madsen has a reputation for high character so I'm hoping this does not tarnish it. The Berkeley campus itself will be much less forgiving of domestic violence than most.
We know Dort will be playing college basketball somewhere. And it's better he be at a place with high standards than low standards. But I'm hoping our concerns will be addressed beyond citing the lack of a legal problem.
I don't want Cal to be the place where a person with character issues rehabs their reputation, but am completely okay Cal being a placer where with a person rehabs their character. Most folks are usually deserving of a second chance if the four Cs apply, confession, contrition, and commitment to change. Cal could be a fitting place for him assuming this is true.
Plus Coach Mazerai…he probably knows as much about the situation as most people. Trust in Madsen and his staff…Cal will NEVER be the West Coast University of Miami.
Chances are Cal fans will spend a helluva lot more time lamenting Dort’s underwhelming IN-game stats and defense than they will his OFF-court behavior.
Yeah, I am with you. I used to work at the juvenile justice clinic in law school defending juvenile criminal defendants. Honestly they were 99% just knuckleheads who would be able to redeem themselves if given the opportunity. I don’t see the great value in shunning people for life. But I say that without knowing a thing about this dude’s case. Agree that we just have to trust Madsen until we have reason not to.
Maybe I’m naive, but I get the feeling that Madsen will be able to provide the environment he needs to stay out of trouble. Plus, it sounds like they worked it out in the courts.
I haven’t seen the evidence for that. Sounds like a top high school recruit who went through a rough patch of injuries and personal mistakes. A lot to be determined.
I want to see what he can do on the court. Right now all I’ve seen is what he’s done in the court. Gotta have faith the coaches saw something.
He played 17 games as a FR in ‘22, before the incident, averaging under 2 PPG & a little over 1 RPG….he’ll be in the rotation, but barring significant improvement, doesn’t figure to be more than a depth piece.
Hey, that jumper he hit v Furd in the P12 Tourney was eye opening but let’s not kid ourselves: Curtis and Dort both have a long, long way to go before they’re even serviceable ACC bigs.
I'm not saying Curtis is ready to be a starter. But he went from "should not get any minutes" to "I can see him becoming useful". I didn't even remember the jumper against Furd haha.
Guys, stop with the 'holier than thou' virtue signaling because we're Cal. That's precisely one of the reasons we've sucked for so long at Hoops and FB. Let's stop pretending these 'student-athletes' are coming here to make contributions to the Physics department. I want ballers, PERIOD. Tarkanian recruited the jails and won a national championship. We're moving to the ACC and I guarantee you our opponents are not recruiting altar boys. Welcome to Berkeley Lee Dort. Now go kick some ass!
I’m not in the “we’re holier than thou because we’re Cal” camp, I’m in the “I don’t want the university I’ve rooted for nearly my entire life and can’t kick that habit to coddle reprehensible people for the sake of bball victories” camp. I trust in Madsen and trust he doesn’t want to tarnish his reputation by recruiting players who will throw it all away through violent, illegal and disrespectful behavior. I hope Dort makes the most of this second chance!
I’ve long advocated for Cal Athletics to start playing like big boys, but this isn’t quite what I had in mind. Anyways, I’ll trust Madsen’s judgement. He’s putting a lot on the line with this one, so they must feel confident in the young man.
It’s an interesting move, because nothing in his play in Nashville says he’s an impact guy at this level.
More the reason that they are hopefully thinking with their heads and not their hearts.
Or they are desperate
You’re allowed to think it, but you’re not allowed to say it!
They certainly have a lot of work to do. Dort and the 6’6” wing they got (Kevin Armstrong) will hopefully give them something in the back-end of the rotation.
But these two additions hopefully are just the beginning.
Some relationships are toxic (alcohol) and hopefully the young man will realize its better to walk or run from a toxic situation. Everybody needs a second chance. I commend Madsen for giving the kid a second chance. He's has an interesting background (Haiti), prep school.
As Avi said, Adam Mazerai recruited this kid to Vanderbilt...assuming the staff is confident they can work with him.
He fills the ND Okafor role. We need depth, and this does not figure to be an NIL deal, at least not one of substance. But the roster needs bodies.
Obviously, we should have a zero-tolerance policy toward the behavior he was accused of. Just because there's no legal issue doesn't mean there's no issue. And I don't want Cal to be the place where people with significant character issues come to rehab their reputation. I do NOT know if this is true in Dort's case or if there's a pattern, or even what his side of the story is.
I certainly hope Madsen has all the facts and has made this determination carefully. Madsen has a reputation for high character so I'm hoping this does not tarnish it. The Berkeley campus itself will be much less forgiving of domestic violence than most.
We know Dort will be playing college basketball somewhere. And it's better he be at a place with high standards than low standards. But I'm hoping our concerns will be addressed beyond citing the lack of a legal problem.
I don't want Cal to be the place where a person with character issues rehabs their reputation, but am completely okay Cal being a placer where with a person rehabs their character. Most folks are usually deserving of a second chance if the four Cs apply, confession, contrition, and commitment to change. Cal could be a fitting place for him assuming this is true.
Agree. The key difference between the two is maintaining high character standards. I think Madsen is someone we can give the benefit of the doubt.
Plus Coach Mazerai…he probably knows as much about the situation as most people. Trust in Madsen and his staff…Cal will NEVER be the West Coast University of Miami.
Chances are Cal fans will spend a helluva lot more time lamenting Dort’s underwhelming IN-game stats and defense than they will his OFF-court behavior.
Good point about Mazerai. I didn't want to throw a particular program under the bus but we know what's up lol.
I also think it's going to be fine.
Yeah, I am with you. I used to work at the juvenile justice clinic in law school defending juvenile criminal defendants. Honestly they were 99% just knuckleheads who would be able to redeem themselves if given the opportunity. I don’t see the great value in shunning people for life. But I say that without knowing a thing about this dude’s case. Agree that we just have to trust Madsen until we have reason not to.
lol seriously?
@avi instead of "We will have to hope Madsen exercised his due diligence..." how about "We can assume Madsen exercised his due diligence...".
I'd give him the benefit of the doubt.
we got a freshman commit too. Kevin Armstrong 6’6 G/Wing!!
Athlete. Raw.
Maybe I’m naive, but I get the feeling that Madsen will be able to provide the environment he needs to stay out of trouble. Plus, it sounds like they worked it out in the courts.
Let’s see some more!!
I think the bigger issue will probably be he's not very skilled.
I haven’t seen the evidence for that. Sounds like a top high school recruit who went through a rough patch of injuries and personal mistakes. A lot to be determined.
I want to see what he can do on the court. Right now all I’ve seen is what he’s done in the court. Gotta have faith the coaches saw something.
He played 17 games as a FR in ‘22, before the incident, averaging under 2 PPG & a little over 1 RPG….he’ll be in the rotation, but barring significant improvement, doesn’t figure to be more than a depth piece.
To be fair, that's what Curtis looked like last year but he started seeing larger swaths of improvement at the end of the season.
Hey, that jumper he hit v Furd in the P12 Tourney was eye opening but let’s not kid ourselves: Curtis and Dort both have a long, long way to go before they’re even serviceable ACC bigs.
I'm not saying Curtis is ready to be a starter. But he went from "should not get any minutes" to "I can see him becoming useful". I didn't even remember the jumper against Furd haha.
@avi “coming out of high school”’not college