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As I mentioned in the other thread, I am in Hawaii this week for the Polynesian Bowl. Arrivals begin today but for Cal that means two guys just have to pop over to Waikiki since they are already on the island, and the other one has already made his way back home from Berkeley for the game. The Bears will be represented by three players in the game, which will take place Friday, with quarterback transfer/freshman Jaron Sagapolutele being the top name on the list. Fellow 2025 recruits Aiden Manutai and Lebron Williams will also participate in the event this week.

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Another name to know will be defensive back Madden Soliai who plays at Kahuku HS with Manutai and Williams and is a member of the 2026 class. There are going to be 20 underclassmen participating in the event this year for the first time.

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I'll be tracking all the Cal commits this week in practice and will provide updates here. Today is the check-in day so no field work but will try and grab all three for interviews.

Today’s game just was unacceptable for a variety of reasons and very hard to watch as a Cal fan and as a game that featured the same bad and reoccurring problems just like those that occurred in earlier games from which we should have learned more than a few lessons. I mentioned to seatmate Gen4 and my guest before the tipoff that it was a mistake to start Blacksher instead of Wilkinson and that perhaps JOJ should be starting in the place of Rytis (although that admittedly is a close call). Instead, Mark continued to start Blacksher, and once again we get off to another rotten start which ultimately cost us the game. When things are not working very well with a starting lineup, why not try to fix the issue with a different starting lineup? Blacksher’s +/- was a very poor (our team’s worst) -15, and Wilkinson’s +/- was a team best + 6. Blacksher shoots a miserable 2-9 from the field (1-7 from the 3-point line) and as a PG running our offense, he had a grand total of just 1 assist as he dribbles around aimlessly). In stark contrast, Jeremiah went a respectable 6 for 13 from the field and 1 for 3 from the 3 point line. Those stats scream out why Jeremiah needs to start and play significantly more minutes instead of Blacksher. If Blacksher is not right physically, then that factor may also suggest that change is needed ASAP. Even though JOJ versus Rytis seem to be a push due to their respective strengths and weaknesses, it seems like we could use more scoring threats on the court at the game’s start (Rytis was 0-5 from the field, with JOJ going 2-6); our game's starting scoring drought is seemingly a glaring deficiency that JOJ can help solve, while playing decent defense and rebounding well as a very athletic player. We also seem to have to try to get Andrej more involved in our offense in the first half, because during the last two games we have seen a different and better Andrej in the second half and a challenged Andrej in the first half for reasons that are unapparent to me. IMO, if we are going to win as many games (13) as last year, Mark and his staff need to change the way that they are preparing for games and coaching during games.

Matt has the story on the German prospect!