Ok, it is time for me to provide the Cal hoops recruiting breakdown going into January, 2021. Rather than answering each question individually, I'll respond to all of them as a holistic essay of sorts. If anyone has any follow up questions, feel free tor respond.
Cal has offered the following point guards in the 2022 class: 5-star Keyonte George (Lewisville, TX) 4-star Dylan Andrews (Los Angeles, CA), 4-star Richard Isaacs (Mt. Pleasant, UT), 4-star Aidan Mahaney (Moraga, CA), 3-star Christian Watson (Los Angeles, CA), 3-star Milos Uzan (Las Vegas, NV), 3-star Noah Shelby (Addison, TX), and unrated Elmarko Jackson (Richland, New Jersey).
George has a Future Cast in for Texas Tech, so that's where he probably ends up. Andrews, Issaacs, and Mahaney all have tons of programs after them. Of those three, Mahaney is definitely the top target just because he's a Bay Area guy and he's also the lowest rated out of the three with less schools on him. Honestly, it's a little surprising he doesn't have more offers: Cal, Stanford, Arizona, LMU, Hawaii, San Francisco, and Northern Arizona. So, if Cal's going to land a 4-star point guard, it's likely going to be Mahaney. Mahaney so far at least, seems to be the most interested in Cal out of that group and also is the one who Mark Fox is most aggressively recruiting. Fox and his staff are making Mahaney their top priority in this class from what I've gathered.
That isn't to say Andrews and Issacs aren't realistic candidates. Issacs plays at the same program Matt Bradley did at Wasatch Academy in Mt. Pleasant, UT. So, maybe that connection pays off. But, both Isaacs and Andrews are much more coveted guards right now. Issacs has been offered by the likes of Kansas and Arizona while Andrews has been offered by the likes of Kansas, Arizona, and UCLA. So, those guards are gonna be tougher for Cal to land.
If Mahaney, Isaacs, and Andrews all go elsewhere, then Cal will be looking at Watson, Uzan, Shelby, and Jackson as possible options. One thing I'll say about Watson is his brother brother Peyton is committed to UCLA, so it stands to reason that Watson will likely follow his brother to UCLA as well. But we'll see.
Looking more broadly, a couple other 2022 names to keep an eye on is 4-star small forward Prince Aligbe (Minneapolis, MN) and 4-star small forward Jordan Walsh (Dallas, TX). Walsh I've interviewed before and he seemed to have good things to say about Cal. Aligbe I haven't gotten a hold of yet, but I do know that Andrew Francis on him hard and has a good relationship with him. Of course, surprises may come, but at the moment, the most ideal class Cal can hope for would consist of Mahaney and then either Walsh or Aligbe. If Cal could get a package like that to Haas, then they'd really be cooking with gas.
Quick note on Mor Seck, he doesn't have an offer, but if Cal does look to add a big in the 2022 class, he would certainly make sense for them to purse. It's just a question of as to whether or not Cal wants to add a big in that class. Most of the offers have been to guards and wings. As a matter of fact, all of the offers made by this staff in 2022 have been to guards and wings.
As for 2022 4-star wing Chris Bunch out of De La Salle, he doesn't hold an offer from Cal at this time, but it doesn't mean the staff isn't on him. I can certainly get in contact with him to see what the deal is there. On the surface it's a little odd he hasn't been offered given that wing is a position that this staff is targeting in the 2022 class. It could be grades. But, let me check around and see what I can find out.
As far as the general recruiting strategy is concerned, this is something that is under a lot of scrutiny. At least from myself. Chris Harriman came to Cal lauded for his international recruiting prowess and so far has pulled in Kuany Kuany and Lars Thiemann. That's it. Andrew Francis helped land Jalen Celestine and Sam Alajiki with his East Coast connections, but he hasn't been able to pull in any elite talent yet. Marty Wilson isn't known for his recruiting chops and is more of an all-around assistant, so it's a little odd that he's still at Cal considering the visible need for a West Coast recruiting ace. I'm not sure how long the assistants are signed for, but from my knowledge of how college hoops works, if Mark Fox really wanted to make a shakeup on staff, he could get it done. Wilson is of course the most obvious odd man out just because he's the one guy on staff who is carryover from the Wyking Jones era.
Touching on Trent Johnson, I think everyone tends to overthink his role. He's basically another assistant coach, except I don't believe he goes out and recruits. But, he's there during the games, assists with game planning, coaching up the players, etc. One thing that is interesting is this staff doesn't have an associate head coach. I've always thought that Trent Johnson is filling that role minus the recruiting side of it. While Fox has been cagey about Johnson's role, from what I've gathered and observed, he's very much involved with the game planning, scouting, and strategy side of it. He's really there because of his coaching expertise, so my assumption is Fox is trying to get as much wisdom from him as possible. He's kinda like the Yoda of this team. He's definitely doing more than bed checks and making sure players are eating their veggies.
One thing I will say is that I think Fox is all about finding guys who he feels fit his style and fit the type of program that he wants to build. So, I don't think he's as concerned about star ratings as I am. I think he's pretty confident in his ability to take some under the radar guys and build them up into something better than expected. I also think Fox is seeing the value of landing local kids as is evident by Monty Bowser, Marsalis Roberson, and also his pursuit of Aidan Mahaney and Jalen Lewis. Though at the same time, as is evident by the location of guys they are recruiting, Fox is seeking to cast a wider net than just the state of California to find talent. I do think they'd like to land an international recruit if possible. Just because that's supposedly Chris Harriman's forte. They haven't made as much from those connections as they would like. In regard to transfers, Fox has recruited pretty heavily out of the transfer market thus far with Kareem South a year ago and Ryan Betley, Makale Foreman, and Jarred Hyder for this year. So, I do think we'll see more action in the transfer market in the future for sure.
In regard to a practice facility, the latest I heard (2-3 months ago) was that it's on their list of things to do, but there are no active plans to get one built. I think they know they need to have one, but due to financials and also figuring out a location, they're putting that on the back burner for the time being. But yes, it is definitely on Cal's radar.
Do I think the practice facility is overblown? Kinda. Just because I sincerely believe Cal has a lot offer independent of a practice facility: #1 public university in the world, beautiful campus, great weather, it's in the Pac-12, California as a whole is an attractive place for recruits, it's a place that wants to succeed and be competitive, and Haas Pavilion in and of itself is a very nice arena.
That said, I do know that a lot of recruits value the practice facility. With the case of Jordan Brown, his mom was asking about it the whole visit and Cal basically took him to the football facility hoping that would throw him off the scent, lol. So, Cal definitely should be looking to get a practice facility. But in the mean time, the way they have to handle it is two fold: Explain that they do have plans to get one. And that while they don't currently have one right now, there's a bunch of other awesome things they have that other schools don't.
Take Washington State for example. They have a practice facility. That's a plus for them. They're also located in Pullman where it's frigid cold and nobody knows how to find it. So, that's how you have to sell it, I think.
Cal has offered the following point guards in the 2022 class: 5-star Keyonte George (Lewisville, TX) 4-star Dylan Andrews (Los Angeles, CA), 4-star Richard Isaacs (Mt. Pleasant, UT), 4-star Aidan Mahaney (Moraga, CA), 3-star Christian Watson (Los Angeles, CA), 3-star Milos Uzan (Las Vegas, NV), 3-star Noah Shelby (Addison, TX), and unrated Elmarko Jackson (Richland, New Jersey).
George has a Future Cast in for Texas Tech, so that's where he probably ends up. Andrews, Issaacs, and Mahaney all have tons of programs after them. Of those three, Mahaney is definitely the top target just because he's a Bay Area guy and he's also the lowest rated out of the three with less schools on him. Honestly, it's a little surprising he doesn't have more offers: Cal, Stanford, Arizona, LMU, Hawaii, San Francisco, and Northern Arizona. So, if Cal's going to land a 4-star point guard, it's likely going to be Mahaney. Mahaney so far at least, seems to be the most interested in Cal out of that group and also is the one who Mark Fox is most aggressively recruiting. Fox and his staff are making Mahaney their top priority in this class from what I've gathered.
That isn't to say Andrews and Issacs aren't realistic candidates. Issacs plays at the same program Matt Bradley did at Wasatch Academy in Mt. Pleasant, UT. So, maybe that connection pays off. But, both Isaacs and Andrews are much more coveted guards right now. Issacs has been offered by the likes of Kansas and Arizona while Andrews has been offered by the likes of Kansas, Arizona, and UCLA. So, those guards are gonna be tougher for Cal to land.
If Mahaney, Isaacs, and Andrews all go elsewhere, then Cal will be looking at Watson, Uzan, Shelby, and Jackson as possible options. One thing I'll say about Watson is his brother brother Peyton is committed to UCLA, so it stands to reason that Watson will likely follow his brother to UCLA as well. But we'll see.
Looking more broadly, a couple other 2022 names to keep an eye on is 4-star small forward Prince Aligbe (Minneapolis, MN) and 4-star small forward Jordan Walsh (Dallas, TX). Walsh I've interviewed before and he seemed to have good things to say about Cal. Aligbe I haven't gotten a hold of yet, but I do know that Andrew Francis on him hard and has a good relationship with him. Of course, surprises may come, but at the moment, the most ideal class Cal can hope for would consist of Mahaney and then either Walsh or Aligbe. If Cal could get a package like that to Haas, then they'd really be cooking with gas.
Quick note on Mor Seck, he doesn't have an offer, but if Cal does look to add a big in the 2022 class, he would certainly make sense for them to purse. It's just a question of as to whether or not Cal wants to add a big in that class. Most of the offers have been to guards and wings. As a matter of fact, all of the offers made by this staff in 2022 have been to guards and wings.
As for 2022 4-star wing Chris Bunch out of De La Salle, he doesn't hold an offer from Cal at this time, but it doesn't mean the staff isn't on him. I can certainly get in contact with him to see what the deal is there. On the surface it's a little odd he hasn't been offered given that wing is a position that this staff is targeting in the 2022 class. It could be grades. But, let me check around and see what I can find out.
As far as the general recruiting strategy is concerned, this is something that is under a lot of scrutiny. At least from myself. Chris Harriman came to Cal lauded for his international recruiting prowess and so far has pulled in Kuany Kuany and Lars Thiemann. That's it. Andrew Francis helped land Jalen Celestine and Sam Alajiki with his East Coast connections, but he hasn't been able to pull in any elite talent yet. Marty Wilson isn't known for his recruiting chops and is more of an all-around assistant, so it's a little odd that he's still at Cal considering the visible need for a West Coast recruiting ace. I'm not sure how long the assistants are signed for, but from my knowledge of how college hoops works, if Mark Fox really wanted to make a shakeup on staff, he could get it done. Wilson is of course the most obvious odd man out just because he's the one guy on staff who is carryover from the Wyking Jones era.
Touching on Trent Johnson, I think everyone tends to overthink his role. He's basically another assistant coach, except I don't believe he goes out and recruits. But, he's there during the games, assists with game planning, coaching up the players, etc. One thing that is interesting is this staff doesn't have an associate head coach. I've always thought that Trent Johnson is filling that role minus the recruiting side of it. While Fox has been cagey about Johnson's role, from what I've gathered and observed, he's very much involved with the game planning, scouting, and strategy side of it. He's really there because of his coaching expertise, so my assumption is Fox is trying to get as much wisdom from him as possible. He's kinda like the Yoda of this team. He's definitely doing more than bed checks and making sure players are eating their veggies.
One thing I will say is that I think Fox is all about finding guys who he feels fit his style and fit the type of program that he wants to build. So, I don't think he's as concerned about star ratings as I am. I think he's pretty confident in his ability to take some under the radar guys and build them up into something better than expected. I also think Fox is seeing the value of landing local kids as is evident by Monty Bowser, Marsalis Roberson, and also his pursuit of Aidan Mahaney and Jalen Lewis. Though at the same time, as is evident by the location of guys they are recruiting, Fox is seeking to cast a wider net than just the state of California to find talent. I do think they'd like to land an international recruit if possible. Just because that's supposedly Chris Harriman's forte. They haven't made as much from those connections as they would like. In regard to transfers, Fox has recruited pretty heavily out of the transfer market thus far with Kareem South a year ago and Ryan Betley, Makale Foreman, and Jarred Hyder for this year. So, I do think we'll see more action in the transfer market in the future for sure.
In regard to a practice facility, the latest I heard (2-3 months ago) was that it's on their list of things to do, but there are no active plans to get one built. I think they know they need to have one, but due to financials and also figuring out a location, they're putting that on the back burner for the time being. But yes, it is definitely on Cal's radar.
Do I think the practice facility is overblown? Kinda. Just because I sincerely believe Cal has a lot offer independent of a practice facility: #1 public university in the world, beautiful campus, great weather, it's in the Pac-12, California as a whole is an attractive place for recruits, it's a place that wants to succeed and be competitive, and Haas Pavilion in and of itself is a very nice arena.
That said, I do know that a lot of recruits value the practice facility. With the case of Jordan Brown, his mom was asking about it the whole visit and Cal basically took him to the football facility hoping that would throw him off the scent, lol. So, Cal definitely should be looking to get a practice facility. But in the mean time, the way they have to handle it is two fold: Explain that they do have plans to get one. And that while they don't currently have one right now, there's a bunch of other awesome things they have that other schools don't.
Take Washington State for example. They have a practice facility. That's a plus for them. They're also located in Pullman where it's frigid cold and nobody knows how to find it. So, that's how you have to sell it, I think.
