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Cal has not had the type of season it wanted, but there have been bright spots for the Bears in Year 2 under Mark Madsen. Among the highlights of the season was the emergence of freshman guard Jeremiah Wilkinson who is now the second leading scorer for the Bears entering postseason play. Monday, the ACC revealed its postseason awards and Wilkins was named the ACC Sixth Man of the Year following his standout first season with the Bears.

Wilkinson did not start until the 19th game of the season, but he has been an important part of the rotation since the early going. In all, the Powder Springs, Georgia native has averaged 15.4 points in 31 games and 13 starts for Cal.

When leading scorer Andrej Stojakovic missed time with an injury, Wilkinson stepped up to become the top producer on offense for the Bears. He has scored in double figures in 25 games this season and has hit at least 20 points on 10 occasions.

Wilkinson is coming off his most productive performance in college after he scored a team-high 36 points in Saturday's four-overtime loss to Notre Dame. He has averaged 20.4 points since becoming a starter for the Bears.

The 6-foot-1 guard also earned a spot on the five-man ACC All-Rookie team and is the only player not from Duke or North Carolina to make the list. Cooper Flagg (Duke) Kon Knueppel (Duke), Khaman Maluach (Duke and Ian Jackson (UNC) round out the team.

In addition to Wilkinson's postseason accolades, Stojakovic earned an All-ACC honorable mention nod for his work this year in his first season with the Bears. The sophomore, who transferred from Stanford, led Cal in scoring during the regular season with an average of 16.8 points in 27 appearances.

Stojakovic missed a handful of games for the Bears while working through an injury but proved himself as a talented defender when returning to the lineup. He is second on the team with 1.3 blocks per game, fourth with 4.6 rebounds, tied for second with 1.8 assists as well.

Prior to his injury, Stojakovic was on fire as a scorer with nine games of at least 20 points including reaching the 30-point mark twice. He was stellar on defense late against Notre Dame and finished that loss with 6 blocks to go with 21 points.

The Bears hit the floor hoping to keep their NCAA Tournament hopes alive as they take part in the ACC Tournament on Tuesday. Cal, the No. 15 seed, will square off with 10th-seeded Virginia Tech in Charlotte in the opening round of the tournament. Tipoff is set for 1:30 p.m. PT.

Full list of ACC postseason awards

Player of the Year – Cooper Flagg, Fr., G/F, Duke
Defensive Player of the Year – Chucky Hepburn, Sr., G, Louisville
Rookie of the Year – Cooper Flagg, G/F, Duke
Most Improved Player – Donald Hand Jr., So., Boston College
Sixth Man of the Year – Jeremiah Wilkinson, Fr., G, California
Coach of the Year – Pat Kelsey, Louisville

2024-25 ALL-ACC TEAM
FIRST TEAM
Name, School, Points
Cooper Flagg, Duke, 400
Maxime Raynaud, Stanford, 392
Chucky Hepburn, Louisville, 364
Chase Hunter, Clemson, 328
Hunter Sallis, Wake Forest, 257

SECOND TEAM
RJ Davis, North Carolina, 241
Markus Burton, Notre Dame, 238
Ian Schieffelin, Clemson, 225
Kon Knueppel, Duke, 208
Jamir Watkins, Florida State, 150

THIRD TEAM
Terrence Edwards Jr., Louisville, 125
Tyrese Proctor, Duke, 72
Baye Ndongo, Georgia Tech, 72
Boopie Miller, SMU, 71
Jaland Lowe, Pitt, 62

HONORABLE MENTION
Matthew Cleveland, Miami, 49
Andrej Stojakovic, California, 48
Naithan George, Georgia Tech, 40
Isaac McKneely, Virginia, 38
J.J. Starling, Syracuse, 32
Donald Hand Jr., Boston College, 29
Cameron Hildreth, Wake Forest, 26
Khaman Maluach, Duke, 23
Viktor Lakhin, Clemson, 20
Eddie Lampkin, Syracuse, 19

As we did last year, we will use this space to keep track of all the transfer news for the Bears this winter. I am expecting Cal to be plenty active in the coming weeks, so there will be plenty of news to watch. This top post will be where I keep track of all the additions and departures for the Bears, so make sure to check back here to see what the overall picture looks like this transfer season.

Additions
– DL Tyson Ford (Notre Dame | Dec. 13)
– K Kyle Cunanan (Charlotte | Dec. 15)
– CB Jaden Mickey (Notre Dame | Dec. 20) [flipped to Boise State]
– CB Hezekiah Masses (FIU | Dec. 20)
– OL LaJuan Owens (New Mexico | Dec. 21)
– OL Tyson Ruffins (Nevada | Dec. 21)
– OL Lamar Robinson (Georgia State | Dec. 22)
– DB Tristan Dunn (Washington | Dec. 23)
– OL Leon Bell (Mississippi State | Dec. 27)
– ILB Buom Jock (Colorado State | Dec. 27)
– QB Jaron Sagapolutele (Oregon | Jan. 5)
– P Brook Honore Jr. (Arkansas State | Jan. 6)
– OL Jordan Moko (Charlotte | Jan. 6)
– OLB Jayden Wayne (Washington | Jan. 6)
– TE Mason Mini (Idaho | Jan. 8)
– LS Caleb Johnston (Washington | Jan. 8)
– WR Jacob de Jesus (UNLV | Jan. 10)
– WR Dazmin James (Arkansas | Jan. 13)
– DB Dru Polidore (Montana State | Jan. 17)
– QB Devin Brown (Ohio State | Jan. 21)

Departures
– OL Matthew Wykoff (Dec. 1) – committed to Houston
– TE J.T. Byrne (Dec. 2) – committed to Georgia Tech
– TE Nate Rutchena (Dec. 2) – committed to UC Davis
– DB Brooklyn Cheek (De. 5) – committed to Wyoming
– P Bobby Engstler (Dec. 5) – committed to Arkansas State
– WR Nyziah Hunter (Dec. 9) – committed to Nebraska
– QB Fernando Mendoza (Dec. 10) – committed to Indiana
– LS David Bird (Dec. 13) – committed to Alabama
– WR Josiah Martin (Dec. 19) – committed to Oklahoma
– WR Mikey Matthews (Dec. 23) – committed to UCLA
– K Derek Morris (Dec. 23) – committed to UMass
– DB Matthew Littlejohn (Jan. 3) – withdrew from portal
– QB Chandler Rogers (Jan. 6)
– QB CJ Harris (Jan. 17)
– OLB David Reese (Jan. 21) – committed to Syracuse

Cal is now settling into a rhythm in spring practice, and Monday brought Day 4 on the field for the Bears as they continue to push through the first half of the schedule. The Bears' defense closed out the first week with a strong performance, and that momentum carried over into the second week of the spring.

Golden Bear Report was there for all of it and here are the top notes and observations from Monday's practice.

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The Cal women's basketball team is headed to the NCAA Tournament as a No. 8 seed in Spokane Regional 4. The Bears will square off with ninth-seeded Mississippi State on Saturday at Galen Center in Los Angeles. A win over the Bulldogs would likely match up Cal with No. 1 seed USC in the second round.

Mississippi State finished the season 21-11 and lost in the second round of the SEC Tournament to rival Ole Miss after finishing 10th in the league during the regular season.

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I caught up with Julian Griffin over the weekend to discuss his move to Cal and get his early thoughts on the running back position. It was an enjoyable conversation and he shed some light on how the room will work under his watch. You can get a look at that one-on-one interview above.

Cal returned to the field Friday as the Bears push through their first week of spring practice. The weather was again not friendly as it was a cold and sometimes rainy practice for Justin Wilcox's team. Still, the two extended team periods provided some insight into the development of the group on both sides of the ball.

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Football is back! Cal held its first practice of the spring Wednesday and the rain stayed away just enough for the Bears to get in a full day of action. There were 12 team periods overall that included two team periods. The second team period went for 15 minutes giving me an opportunity to get a look at how the team is coming together this offseason.

Here are some quick notes about what stood out Wednesday on the first day of practice for the Bears.

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GAME INFO

Who: No. 15 Cal (14-18; last game: 82-73 2OT win over Virginia Tech) vs. No. 7 Stanford (19-12, last game: 68-48 loss to No. 14 Louisville)
When: 4:00 p.m. PT
Where: Charlotte, North Carolina | Spectrum Center
TV/streaming: ESPN2 | Kevin Brown (PxP), John Crispin (Analyst)
Radio: 810 AM | Justin Allegri (PxP)
All-time series: Cal leads 154-133
Odds: Stanford (-5.5), O/U (138.5) – via BetMGM

The Bears are back in action today as they square off with Stanford with a chance at the quarterfinals on the line in Charlotte. Follow along for updates and join the conversation as Cal takes on Stanford today in the second round of the ACC Tournament.

GAME INFO

Who: No. 15 Cal (13-18, 6-14 ACC; last game: 112-110 4OT loss to Notre Dame) vs. No. 10 Virginia Tech (13-18, 8-12; last game: 65-47 loss to Clemson)
When: 1:30 p.m. PT
Where: Charlotte, North Carolina | Spectrum Center
TV/streaming: ACC Network | Wes Durham (PxP), Cory Alexander (Analyst) & Jim Boeheim (Analyst)
Radio: 810 AM | Justin Allegri (PxP)
All-time series: Tied 1-1
Odds: Cal (-3.5), O/U (140.5) – via BetMGM

Cal opens spring practice on Wednesday, and Bears head coach Justin Wilcox plus inside linebacker Cade Uluave and tight end Jack Endries spoke with reporters Monday to look ahead to the first week and provide an outlook on a variety of topics as the team continues to gear up for the 2025 season. Wilcox addressed a variety of topics including the status of the defense without a coordinator heading into spring ball plus an update on the search for a GM, position breakdowns and more.

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Cam Bynum got a 4 year, $60M deal with the colts. Good for him! An OG Taker getting paid

Per Pete Thamel.

Quite a staff shakeup for Wilcox heading into 2025 ...

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What does everybody think about this?

I will be rolling out some position previews in the coming days ahead of spring practice that will begin Wednesday, and the first article will focus on the upcoming quarterback competition for the Bears. Devin Brown heads in as the favorite to take the field in August as the starter, but he will have some competition as well including freshman Jaron Sagapolutele.

Although it is good to see a settlement of FL State's and Clemson's lawsuit against the ACC, it would appear that Cal may pay a disproportionate amoount of the cost of such settlement. Cal already is taking a haircut on revenue that it is entitled to receive from the ACC, so the question is whether any loss revenue from such proposed settlement is compounding Cal's financial woes.

Jim Knowlton, please get Rich Lyons directly involved in the negotiations to protect us.

GAME INFO

Who: Cal (13-17, 6-13 ACC; last game: 85-68 loss to Louisville) at Notre Dame (13-17, 7-12; last game: 56-54 win over Stanford)
When: 1:00 p.m. PT
Where: South Bend, Indiana | Purcell Pavilion
TV/streaming: ACC Network | Matt Schumacker (PxP) & David Padgett (Analyst)
Radio: 810 AM | Justin Allegri (PxP)
All-time series: Tied 1-1
Odds: Notre Dame (-4.5), O/U (143.5) – via BetMGM

The Bears close out the regular season this afternoon with just the third-ever meeting with Notre Dame. Both teams are still jockeying for position in the ACC Tournament. Cal needs to win to avoid being the lowest seed (15th), which is where it currently sits going into Saturday's matchup in South Bend.

We'll have updates later on today once the game gets going but for now, here is Kenzo's latest article detailing the need for a knockdown outside shooter as the Bears look ahead into Year 3 under Mark Madsen.

The ACC will reveal its schedule Monday in a show on ACC Network that will begin at 6 p.m. PT. We already know the opponents for Cal in the upcoming season and the full nonconference slate was finalized a while back, but it will be nice to have an early jump on what the league schedule is gonna look like for the Bears heading into Year 2 in their new conference.

The teams in the league are announcing their openers today (though we already knew them), so Cal went ahead and put together a graphic for the Oregon State game that will open the season this summer.

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2025 nonconference schedule
08/30 - at Oregon State
09/06 - Texas Southern
09/13 - Minnesota
09/20 - at San Diego State

Conference opponents

Home: Duke, North Carolina, SMU, Virginia
Road: Boston College, Louisville, Stanford, Virginia Tech

Like most programs around the country, Cal is in the process of setting up official visits with its priority targets in the 2026 class. Every year it seems that official visits are taking place sooner and sooner, and this year sis no different. Here's a rundown of the recruits who have already announced their OVs with the Bears with dates ranging from early April through June.

The bigger visits are being slotted for later in the cycle closer to June, but there will be big weekends in each of the months during official visit season. As a reminder, recruits are allowed to take unlimited official visits but tend to still only take about 5 each. The official visit period runs from April-June and then picks up again during the season.

April 3

• Three-star OT Quinn Buckey (Bakersfield-Liberty HS) | Other OVs: Oklahoma State (4/17)
• Three-star WR Luc Weaver (Sherman Oaks-Notre Dame HS) | Other OVs: Utah (4/17), Kansas (5/30), Minnesota (6/13)
• Three-star DT Daryl Campbell (Katy, Texas) | Other OVs: Oklahoma State (4/25), Vanderbilt (5/30), Houston (6/5), Texas Tech (6/13), North Carolina (6/16), SMU (6/20)

May 29

• Four-star OT Tommy Tofi (San Francisco-Archbishop Riordan HS) | Other OVs: UCLA (5/8), Oregon (6/8), Tennessee (6/13), Ohio state (6/20)
• Three-star DE Dakota Dickson (Danville-Monte Vista HS ) | Other OVs: SMU (6/6), UNLV (6/13) Washington (6/20)
• Three-star LB Beau Jandreau (Chandler, Arizona) | Other OVs: Oregon State (5/2), Washington (5/30), USC (6/6), Oregon (6/13), Oklahoma (6/20)
• Three-star TE Taimane Purcell (Honolulu, Hawaii) | Other OVs: Oklahoma State (4/4), Stanford (4/24), SMU (6/6), USC (6/13), BYU (6/19)
• Three-star DT Nemyah Telona (Concord-De La Salle HS) | Other OVs: Arizona (5/23)
• Three-star DE David Schwerzel (Seattle, Washington) | Other OVs: Washington (5/2), Stanford (6/6), UCLA (6/14)

June 5

• Four-star CB commit Jayden Crowder (Rancho Santa Margarita-Santa Margarita Catholic HS) | Other OVs: North Carolina (TBA)
• Four-star DE Keytrin Harris (Harbor City-Narbonne) | Other OVs: ASU (5/2), UCLA (6/13), Arizona (6/20)
• Four-star RB Izayah Lee (Lancaster, Texas) | Other OVs: ASU (5/2), Kansas (6/13)
• Three-star EDGE Kamron Wilson (Miami, Florida) | Other OVs: Minnesota (5/30), Syracuse (6/13), NC State (6/20)
• Three-star WR Kai Meza (Draper, Utah) | Other OVs: Minnesota (5/30)
• Three-star LB Jaxon Pyatt (Aravada, Colorado) | Other OVs: TBD
• Unranked OT Khalil Sanogo (Mansfield, Texas) | Other OVs: UNLV (6/13)
• Unranked OT Koloi Keli (Honolulu, Hawaii) | Other OVs: Michigan State (5/30)

June 13

• Four-star DE Camron Brooks (Thomasville, Georgia) | Other OVs: Clemson (5/30), Florida State (6/6), Miami (6/20)
• Three-star EDGE Josiah Anyansi (Murrieta-Murrieta Valley HS) | Other OVs: UNLV (6/16), Boston College (6/20)
• Three-star OL Artem Korchagin (Thomasville, Georgia) | Other OVs: TBA
• Three-star OL Niniva Nicholson (Rancho Santa Margarita-Santa Margarita Catholic HS) | Other OVs: ASU (4/4), Stanford (5/15)
• Three-star LB Omari Stephenson (Thomasville, Georgia) | Other OVs: Liberty (6/6), Mississippi State (6/20)
• Three-star EDGE Ezaya Tokio (Oceanside HS) | Other OVs: ASU (4/25), UCLA (5/15), Michigan State (TBA)
• Three-star DE Fameitau Siale (Seattle, Washington) | Other OVs: ASU (5/16), Michigan State (5/30), Washington (6/6)

Cal has made a ton of moves this offseason to try and change the course of the program under Justin Wilcox. I wouldn't call it desperate, but it's clear the Bears want to see some kind of progress. I wrote about the changes the Bears have made this offseason in a column ahead of spring ball next week. Times are a changing, and Cal needs to start getting back on the winning track.

GAME INFO

Who: Cal (13-16, 6-12 ACC; last game: 82-71 win over Boston College) at No. 14 Louisville (23-6, 16-2; last game: 79-68 win over Pitt)
When: 6:00 p.m. PT
Where: Louisville, Kentucky | KFC Yum! Center
TV/streaming: ACC Network | Wes Durham (PxP), Cory Alexander (Analyst) & Jim Boeheim (Analyst)
Radio: 810 AM | Justin Allegri (PxP)
All-time series: Cal leads 1-0
Odds: Louisville (-14.5), O/U (153.5) – via BetMGM


Getting the game thread going early so that you all have time to read Kenzo's latest article look back on the win over Boston College and what it says about the Bears after they secured their spot in the ACC Tournament with the victory. Cal is currently slotted in as the No. 13 seed in the conference tournament and would play 12th-seeded Florida State next Tuesday but there is still much to be determined this week.

Join us later tonight as we update the game thread once the matchup tips off against the Cardinals.

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Tommy Tofi was one of the standout performers at the Rivals Camp LA stop yesterday, and he continues to look improved as a prospect. I spoke with him about the Bears and will have an update on him soon, but it is clear Cal has become a legitimate threat in his recruitment. He only lost a couple reps yesterday and really looks like the type of piece that could change things for Cal up front should he stay home.

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Cal has been releasing video interviews with new staff members as of late leading into spring practice, and the newest video was released Wednesday. New defensive backs coach Allen Brown is in focus for the episode as he dives into his history and outlook as he rejoins the Bears.