There were enough good questions asked that my responses to each question should suffice for the breakdown. I'll answer each question in order of when they were asked.
"Are there any recruits that Fox and his staff are gaining traction with? Or are most still in wait and see mode, and want to see how the season goes?"-dannyroe (@dannyroe)
For 2020, Cal is gaining traction with the following kids: 4-star power forward Keon Ambrose-Hylton, who included Cal in his Top 10 (Read more about him here); 3-star small forward Brandon Angel, who has Cal in his top four along with Utah, Wisconsin, and Stanford; 4-star shooting guard Jamal Mashburn, Jr. who is taking an official visit to Cal at the end of the month; 2020 3-star small forward Kerwin Walton (read more about him here); and 2020 3-star power forward Noah Collier, who is also visiting Cal at the end of the month. Pitt and Clemson round out his top 3. 5-star center Walker Kessler is sort of a wild card right now. At the moment, he appears much more likely to go to Auburn, Duke, or somewhere else, but he did include Cal in his top six, so you can't totally count them out. It's still not certain if he'll take an official visit to Cal or not. My gut tells me Cal doesn't have much of a shot, but the relationship he and his family has with Mark Fox can't totally be counted out. It's possible others emerge, but this appears to be the group at the moment.
As for 2021 and beyond, it's too early to tell who Cal will gain traction with, but given his academic pedigree, 2021 4-star guard Kennedy Reese Dixon appears to be a guy who they should be able to land (Read more about him here).
"Who will be the first recruit to commit for 2020? What positions are the coaching staff looking for?"-Gkhoury2325 (@Gkhoury2325)
The 2020 recruit who I feel most optimistic about is Brandon Angel. He's a So Cal kid and a really good student. He seems to value the academic component that Cal offers. While Stanford is a legit threat academically, their coaching situation is uncertain. I think Jerod Haase is losing steam among recruits and I don't think his job is all that secure right now. I think that gives Cal the inside track to land Angel. If Stanford was a popping program right now, I think the Cardinal would be a much bigger threat.
As for what positions the staff is looking for, they seem to be eying all positions. Walker Kessler is a center, Angel is a wing, Mashburn is a combo guard, Ambrose-Hylton is a small forward with the potential to play power forward, Walton is a wing, etc. They've offered some point guards like @Marc Tausend favorite Hassan Diarra, but so far haven't been able to gain as much traction at that position. Maybe in part because of the presence of Joel Brown. But all in all, I really feel like they're looking to get better at all positions. If I could narrow it down to one or two positions, I would say they are really looking at guys who have the ability to play both out on the wing and in the post bit. Guys with stretch forward potential seem to be a priority.
"Do you have inside knowledge whether the coaching staff is recruiting locally? How well can they recruit California? I see a lot of offers from the Midwest."-Gkhoury2325
They are recruiting some California guys like Brandon Angel, Kennedy Reese Dixon, and Obinna Anyanwu (2021), but overall you are correct that this staff has extended most of their offers to guys outside of California (E.g. Minnesota). A lot of the California guys with offers were actually offered by the previous staff, though the three I listed above were all offered by this current staff.
Personally, I think this is a big question mark of this staff. If you want to recruit well to Cal, you have to recruit well within the state of California. This is true for football and basketball. I would like to see them focus more on California recruits. Especially ones in Nor Cal.
One indicator of this was the fact that I didn't go to the Nor Cal Clash this year due to the lack of Cal recruits playing in the game. It was my first year not going, which felt odd. Typically, there's at least a few Nor Cal guys Cal is eying, so it is kinda weird to see a Nor Cal All-Star game without any Cal targets playing in it. That could also be a reflection of the lack of talent in this year's game, but I still thought it was interesting.
Ultimately time will tell on this and hopefully we'll see them offer more guys like Angel and Dixon. But for now, I think the jury is still very much out on their ability to recruit well within California. If they are able to do so, they should be fine. If they're relying on out-of-state and international guys year in year out, it could be tough for them to field a competitive team.
"Prioritizing local, national or international recruits this year?"-bjorn91 (@bjorn91)
As of now, it seems much more national, though they do appear to be in a good spot with Brandon Angel who is a California guy. They're really hoping for Andrew Francis' Midwest connections to yield some fruit and for Chris Harriman's international chops to hit pay dirt. So as of now, local recruiting seems to be less of a focus than national and international.
I think this staff wants to find the best players they can and don't really care where they get them as long as they come to Cal. But, as I said above, I think it's hard to recruit well to Cal if you are mostly relying on out-of-state/international guys. You should first try to recruit well locally and then build out from there. Not the other way around. Given that these coaches have most of their recruiting ties outside of California, it's not surprising that we'd see more offers out-of-state than in California. Hopefully, as they go along they'll begin to develop a better foothold in California so they can land some of the homegrown talent.
One final note: The reason why local recruiting is so important is because Cal has a much bigger name brand within California than anywhere else. Even though UC Berkeley is a globally recognized university in the academic community going toe-to-toe with Stanford and other Ivy League schools, when it comes to recruiting athletes, that brand doesn't seem to sell as well outside of California. I don't know why that is, but if you look at past Cal teams, you'll notice this is typically the case. I'm not saying Cal can't have success recruiting out-of-state or internationally, but relying heavily on those two pools would deviate from what has brought Cal the most recruiting success over the years.
"What can you find out about the staff and how they plan to play schematically on offense and defense?"-petalumabear (@petalumabear)
Trace and I have both been trying to set up interviews with Mark Fox and other members of the staff, but so far they haven't made themselves available to us. Hopefully that changes soon so we can ask them some questions about how they plan to play, what their philosophies are, etc.
"Are there any recruits that Fox and his staff are gaining traction with? Or are most still in wait and see mode, and want to see how the season goes?"-dannyroe (@dannyroe)
For 2020, Cal is gaining traction with the following kids: 4-star power forward Keon Ambrose-Hylton, who included Cal in his Top 10 (Read more about him here); 3-star small forward Brandon Angel, who has Cal in his top four along with Utah, Wisconsin, and Stanford; 4-star shooting guard Jamal Mashburn, Jr. who is taking an official visit to Cal at the end of the month; 2020 3-star small forward Kerwin Walton (read more about him here); and 2020 3-star power forward Noah Collier, who is also visiting Cal at the end of the month. Pitt and Clemson round out his top 3. 5-star center Walker Kessler is sort of a wild card right now. At the moment, he appears much more likely to go to Auburn, Duke, or somewhere else, but he did include Cal in his top six, so you can't totally count them out. It's still not certain if he'll take an official visit to Cal or not. My gut tells me Cal doesn't have much of a shot, but the relationship he and his family has with Mark Fox can't totally be counted out. It's possible others emerge, but this appears to be the group at the moment.
As for 2021 and beyond, it's too early to tell who Cal will gain traction with, but given his academic pedigree, 2021 4-star guard Kennedy Reese Dixon appears to be a guy who they should be able to land (Read more about him here).
"Who will be the first recruit to commit for 2020? What positions are the coaching staff looking for?"-Gkhoury2325 (@Gkhoury2325)
The 2020 recruit who I feel most optimistic about is Brandon Angel. He's a So Cal kid and a really good student. He seems to value the academic component that Cal offers. While Stanford is a legit threat academically, their coaching situation is uncertain. I think Jerod Haase is losing steam among recruits and I don't think his job is all that secure right now. I think that gives Cal the inside track to land Angel. If Stanford was a popping program right now, I think the Cardinal would be a much bigger threat.
As for what positions the staff is looking for, they seem to be eying all positions. Walker Kessler is a center, Angel is a wing, Mashburn is a combo guard, Ambrose-Hylton is a small forward with the potential to play power forward, Walton is a wing, etc. They've offered some point guards like @Marc Tausend favorite Hassan Diarra, but so far haven't been able to gain as much traction at that position. Maybe in part because of the presence of Joel Brown. But all in all, I really feel like they're looking to get better at all positions. If I could narrow it down to one or two positions, I would say they are really looking at guys who have the ability to play both out on the wing and in the post bit. Guys with stretch forward potential seem to be a priority.
"Do you have inside knowledge whether the coaching staff is recruiting locally? How well can they recruit California? I see a lot of offers from the Midwest."-Gkhoury2325
They are recruiting some California guys like Brandon Angel, Kennedy Reese Dixon, and Obinna Anyanwu (2021), but overall you are correct that this staff has extended most of their offers to guys outside of California (E.g. Minnesota). A lot of the California guys with offers were actually offered by the previous staff, though the three I listed above were all offered by this current staff.
Personally, I think this is a big question mark of this staff. If you want to recruit well to Cal, you have to recruit well within the state of California. This is true for football and basketball. I would like to see them focus more on California recruits. Especially ones in Nor Cal.
One indicator of this was the fact that I didn't go to the Nor Cal Clash this year due to the lack of Cal recruits playing in the game. It was my first year not going, which felt odd. Typically, there's at least a few Nor Cal guys Cal is eying, so it is kinda weird to see a Nor Cal All-Star game without any Cal targets playing in it. That could also be a reflection of the lack of talent in this year's game, but I still thought it was interesting.
Ultimately time will tell on this and hopefully we'll see them offer more guys like Angel and Dixon. But for now, I think the jury is still very much out on their ability to recruit well within California. If they are able to do so, they should be fine. If they're relying on out-of-state and international guys year in year out, it could be tough for them to field a competitive team.
"Prioritizing local, national or international recruits this year?"-bjorn91 (@bjorn91)
As of now, it seems much more national, though they do appear to be in a good spot with Brandon Angel who is a California guy. They're really hoping for Andrew Francis' Midwest connections to yield some fruit and for Chris Harriman's international chops to hit pay dirt. So as of now, local recruiting seems to be less of a focus than national and international.
I think this staff wants to find the best players they can and don't really care where they get them as long as they come to Cal. But, as I said above, I think it's hard to recruit well to Cal if you are mostly relying on out-of-state/international guys. You should first try to recruit well locally and then build out from there. Not the other way around. Given that these coaches have most of their recruiting ties outside of California, it's not surprising that we'd see more offers out-of-state than in California. Hopefully, as they go along they'll begin to develop a better foothold in California so they can land some of the homegrown talent.
One final note: The reason why local recruiting is so important is because Cal has a much bigger name brand within California than anywhere else. Even though UC Berkeley is a globally recognized university in the academic community going toe-to-toe with Stanford and other Ivy League schools, when it comes to recruiting athletes, that brand doesn't seem to sell as well outside of California. I don't know why that is, but if you look at past Cal teams, you'll notice this is typically the case. I'm not saying Cal can't have success recruiting out-of-state or internationally, but relying heavily on those two pools would deviate from what has brought Cal the most recruiting success over the years.
"What can you find out about the staff and how they plan to play schematically on offense and defense?"-petalumabear (@petalumabear)
Trace and I have both been trying to set up interviews with Mark Fox and other members of the staff, but so far they haven't made themselves available to us. Hopefully that changes soon so we can ask them some questions about how they plan to play, what their philosophies are, etc.
