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

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

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.

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Cal cornerback commit Jayden Crowder was the first member of the Bears' 2026 recruiting class. He still remains firm in his pledge, but North Carolina has become heavily involved in pursuing the Santa Margarita Catholic standout junior. Crowder, who was bumped up to a four-star recruit this week, was one of the participants at the Rivals Camp stop in LA over the weekend and I spoke with him about the state of his commitment, the push from North Carolina and more.

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GAME INFO

Who: Cal (12-16, 5-12 ACC; last game: 81-77 loss to SMU) vs. Boston College (12-6, 4-13; last game: 78-60 loss to Stanford)
When: 7:00 p.m. PT
Where: Berkeley, California | Haas Pavilion
TV/streaming: ESPNU | Dave Feldman (PxP) & Jerod Haase (Analyst)
Radio: 810 AM | Justin Allegri (PxP) & Theo Robertson (Analyst)
All-time series: BC leads 3-0
Odds: Cal (-8.5), O/U (144.5) – via BetMGM

Cal heads into a critical game tonight as the Bears cling to the last spot in the ACC Tournament right now. They need to win over Boston College to create some breathing room with two road games still to go to close out the regular season. End-of-game situations have become an issue for the Bears as of late, and Kenzo took some time to assess how things have gone wrong for Mark Madsen's team in that area ahead of Saturday's matchup at Haas Pavilion.

GAME INFO

Who: Cal (12-15, 5-11 ACC; last game: 66-61 loss to Stanford) vs. SMU (20-7, 11-5; last game: 79-69 loss to Clemson)
When: 8:00 p.m. PT
Where: Berkeley, California | Haas Pavilion
TV/streaming: ESPNU | Eric Rothman (PxP) & Corey Williams (Analyst)
Radio: 810 AM | Justin Allegri (PxP) & Theo Robertson (Analyst)
All-time series: SMU leads 2-0; last meeting: SMU win, 76-65 (Jan. 29)
Odds: SMU (-3.5), O/U (153.5) – via BetMGM

Cal and SMU will link up for the first time in Berkeley Wednesday evening when the Bears look to get back on track following four consecutive losses. The Bears are currently sitting in a tie with Syracuse for 14th place in the ACC standings and need to avoid falling below 15th to secure a spot in the postseason conference tournament.

The last four games of the season feature two teams (SMU, Louisville) in the top half of the standings and two teams (Boston College, Notre Dame) in the bottom half, so it is not an impossible task for Mark Madsen's team to remain in position to snag a spot in the ACC Tournament. A win over the Mustangs would certainly go a long way towards helping do that Wednesday night.

Cal was competitive early in the last meeting with the Mustangs but a 22-8 run ultimately put the Bears in too big of a hole to climb out of without leading scorer Andrej Stojakovic who was working through a hip injury at the time. Since then, Stojakovic has returned to the lineup, but the Bears are struggling to string together wins right now with some lackluster play on the offensive end of the floor at times and continued issues defensively.

The Bears were able to find some success on defense by utilizing a press defense against the Cardinal giving Madsen some optimism that his team can regroup and break out of its funk that has resulted in a four-game losing streak.

Cal has lost five of its last six games following the defeat in Dallas to Andy Enfield's squad.

"This week is going to be absolutely huge," Madsen said this week about the pivotal stretch for the Bears. "SMU, who we've already played and so we have some familiarity with them. We've studied the film since we've played them, and they're a strong team. They're a very, very talented team. They've got good size up front, they've got shooting on the perimeter and they change their defenses. They play fast, they could play slow. So, that's gonna be a huge game."

Wednesday's game will mark the first home game for the Bears since a matchup against Wake Forest on Feb. 8. It will be the start of the final home stand of the season for Cal before it heads on the road to close out the regular season against Louisville and Notre Dame. Madsen's squad is 10-5 at home this season while SMU has been a solid road team with six wins and two losses.

"Right now, we're focused very much on every game being a one-game series," Madsen said. "I thought at Georgia Tech, we played them very tough on the road and they made the plays late — we lost in overtime. At Stanford, it was a tie game with 35 seconds left. We put them on the free-throw line and they knocked down their free throws. Our competitive spirit right now, and our competitive nature is all there. We've gotta correct some execution things, and we're gonna do that.

"We're gonna correct those execution things, and we're gonna take every single game as a one-game series. And, we're gonna go with that mentality again with our goal of having a deep run in March."

A look at some big names here:

Interesting and likely the basis for Jeff Farudo's article today in the East Bay Times

Bernard Muir, the AD at Furd for quite some time, is reported to have resigned. Such report referenced that the hiring of Andrew Luck to oversee football, the most important and key revenue generating program, as a clear indicator that such AD was disfavored and on his way out. By analogy, does the hiring of Ron Rivera forecast a similar outcome at Cal?

GAME INFO​

Who: Cal (12-14, 5-10 ACC; last game: 90-88 OT loss to Georgia Tech) at Stanford (16-10, 8-7; last game: 106-70 loss to Duke)
When: 7:00 p.m. PT
Where: Stanford, California | Maples Pavilion
TV/streaming: ESPN2 | Roxy Bernstein (PxP) & Scott Williams (Analyst)
Radio: 810 AM | Justin Allegri (PxP), Theo Robertson (Analyst)
All-time series: Cal leads 154-132; last meeting: Stanford win, 89-81 (Dec. 7)
Odds: Stanford (-6.5), O/U (148.5) – via BetMGM

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Jayden Crowder won the DB MVP award at the Rivals Camp in LA back in the spring and it put him on the radar for many programs around the country. Tennessee, Penn State, Washington, SMU, Miami, Duke and Syracuse were just some of the teams that became involved in the process with offers. He's emerged as one of the top defensive backs in the state and now he'll play at Cal.

Crowder spoke with me about his decision and why the win over Stanford (highlighted by the player/coach reaction following the visit) helped pushed Cal ahead of those other schools.

"My past visits were incredible, and they truly made my family and I feel like part of the program," Crowder said. "The staff went above and beyond to ensure we felt comfortable and welcome. This week only reinforced my positive impression, especially seeing the team’s strong win over Stanford and witnessing the close bond between the players and coaches."

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Per Rivals analyst Sam Spiegelman, Cal has set up June official visits with a pair of recruits from Thomas Central County High School today. The Bears offered four-star offensive lineman Artem Korchagin back in the fall to become just the second program on his list, and high three-star edge rusher Omari Stephenson added an offer from the Bears this month. The two teammates have now set their official visits to Cal for the same weekend, June 13.

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