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1 month ago | 
writeforcalifornia.com | Nick Kranz
OK, let’s get to the news first. Per Jeff Goodman as announced on Monday, Cal has a new basketball player!We’ll get to what Mantas Kocanas brings to Cal shortly, but let’s quickly check in on the status of Cal’s 2025-26 roster more generally.
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1 month ago | 
writeforcalifornia.com | Nick Kranz
After an offseason spent watching richer programs pluck the best players off of the rosters of both Cal football and men’s basketball, it’s probably fair to say that most Cal fans aren’t exactly huge fans of the current status quo in college sports.
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1 month ago | 
writeforcalifornia.com | Nick Kranz
Mjracle Sheppard is the biggest transfer addition so far for Charmin Smith and the Bears via @calwbball on twitterAs Cal WBB surprised fans with a resurgent 2024-25 campaign that ended in an unexpected-in-October NCAA tournament selection, we knew that the end of the year would result in a major roster makeover. The Bears exceeded expectations in part because the team was full of 4th, 5th, or even 6th year players.
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1 month ago | 
writeforcalifornia.com | Nick Kranz
Back in February when the winter transfer portal carousel was calming down, I put together a summary of comings and goings, with the naïve hope that Cal’s spring activity would be much more muted. So much for that. When we looked at the portal back in February, for the most part Cal had positionally replaced what they had lost to graduation/portal departures. This time around . . . not so much. Let’s get this over with.
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2 months ago | 
writeforcalifornia.com | Nick Kranz
In 2023-24, Mark Madsen had no choice but to recruit nearly an entirely new roster. In the subsequent season a shallow roster showed occasional flashes but struggled to gel for half a season and ended up below .500. In 2024-25, Mark Madsen had no choice but to recruit nearly an entirely new roster. In the subsequent season a mismatched roster showed occasional flashes but never gelled defensively and ended up below .500.
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2 months ago | 
writeforcalifornia.com | Nick Kranz
There must be something in the Kool-AidCruising through the doom daysHere’s the thing: I think Cal sports will fail. It’s something I’ve thought about for a long time. I don’t think it’s fait accompli or anything. I’ve gone back and forth on it over time as circumstances change, but the idea that Cal sport could fail has been an ever-present concern in the back of my mind for the better part of a decade. When Cal got relegated to the ACC, I was pretty confident Cal sports would fail.
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2 months ago | 
writeforcalifornia.com | Nick Kranz |Nick Kranz
Another year, another heavy dose of departures and arrivals. The Bears were going to lose Jovan Blacksher and Mady Sissoko, but additional transfer departures from Jeremiah Wilkinson, BJ Omot, Joshua Ola-Joseph, Christian Tucker, and Devin Curtis means that plenty of scholarship spots opened up. And like prior years, Mark Madsen has wasted little time turning over Cal’s roster.
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2 months ago | 
writeforcalifornia.com | Nick Kranz
Some background to begin, because this latest round of news all begins because of Cal’s Football’s confusing new leadership structure. Head football coach Justin Wilcox reports to Jim Knowlton. Football general manager Ron Rivera reports to Chancellor Rich Lyons. Justin Wilcox’s job is to win football games. Ron Rivera’s job is, per Cal, to “focus on revenue generation and fund raising.”You can understand why there might be confusion.
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Mar 24, 2025 | 
writeforcalifornia.com | Nick Kranz
photo via calbears.comI have a love/hate relationship with the NCAA tournament. I love the NCAA tournament because the basic format ramps the excitement, tension, and potential for chaos up to 11. I hate the NCAA tournament because everything that happen for three weeks in spring (and really, in one weekend in mid-March) completely subsumes the rest of the season.
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Mar 17, 2025 | 
writeforcalifornia.com | Nick Kranz
At Saturday, 2:30 PT on ESPN2, Cal will finally return to the NCAA tournament when they take on the 9 seed Mississippi State Bulldogs in the Galen Center in Los Angeles. While it’s tempting to think about certain possible match-ups further down the line in the tournament (and while certain teams complain about how cruel and unfair life is for the elite), it’s time to focus on the task at hand.
