OT-ish: Ivan Rabb Commits to Cal
Ivan Rabb, the nation's #7 basketball recruit in 2015, per 247, has committed to Cal-Berkley tonight. Cal is a finalist for Jaylen Brown, so this will likely move them up the list.
I am excited to announce that I will be attending the University of California,Berkeley next year ! #GoBears
April 13th, 2015 at 10:46 PM ^
April 13th, 2015 at 11:23 PM ^
April 13th, 2015 at 10:51 PM ^
Cal hasn't won a conference title since 1959. Why in God's name would any top recruit want to play there?
April 13th, 2015 at 10:55 PM ^
April 13th, 2015 at 10:57 PM ^
Mike Montgomery had a winning record in Pac-12 play in each of his 6 seasons at Cal. He managed the same feat in his last 11 seasons at Stanford before that.
Cuonzo Martin posted a losing record in his first and only season at Cal immediately following Montgomery's retirement.
So it would appear you know little to nothing about Cal specifically or Pac-12 basketball in general.
April 14th, 2015 at 11:22 AM ^
did not post a losing record. They were 18-15 last season. Nothing spectacular, but still above the .500 mark.
He did have a losing record in the Pac 12 at 7-11. Maybe you just meant the Pac 12 record and not the overall.
April 14th, 2015 at 12:13 PM ^
the year before, Martin took UTenn to the Sweet 16 as we know. He left UTenn, in part, because he wasn't Bruce Pearl and, in part, because he wouldn't do what Pearl was willing to do. How about Martin just did a good job of recruiting a kid already on the West Coast.
I suspect that when Stauskas, GRIII and particularly McGary signed other blogs may have been asking why they would go to a program that had done little in 15 years.
They replaced Cuonzo Martin?
I keed, I keed.
April 13th, 2015 at 10:58 PM ^
I believe he's from Oakland.
April 13th, 2015 at 10:58 PM ^
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April 13th, 2015 at 11:20 PM ^
I'm not one to talk bad about places...however...Berkeley was one of the dirtiest places I've ever been. Of course I'm comparing it to AA.
Dirty in what way B.S.?
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April 14th, 2015 at 10:35 AM ^
I don't think he has ever been there. He is probably going on the notion of unbathed hippies on Haight Ashbury that he saw on the news. But on a comparitive note my Dad wears Black Socks. Wait! Dad???
April 13th, 2015 at 10:53 PM ^
It must suck to be a Cal fan. Northwestern of the west. They never win anything.
April 13th, 2015 at 11:28 PM ^
water polo once, but the horse drowned.
April 14th, 2015 at 10:30 AM ^
as well.
April 13th, 2015 at 10:59 PM ^
April 13th, 2015 at 11:11 PM ^
Yes, of course it's a great school, and you can't ask for a better location, but to my estimation, Cal has been a basketball doormat for years. What happened that's made top kids seemingly want to come there overnight?
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April 13th, 2015 at 11:14 PM ^
As many have said, they have a solid coach now in Cuonzo Martin. And Rabb is from the area, so that helps. Of course, once you get one elite recruit, many want to follow. It's the landscape of recruiting these days, many of these kids come in package deals. I don't like it personally, but it is what it is.
Cuonzo Martin is not a solid coach. His teams at Tennessee underperformed given the amount of talent they had. Two NIT's and a Sweet 16 loss to Michigan was not good enough.
April 13th, 2015 at 11:32 PM ^
April 13th, 2015 at 11:49 PM ^
Their athletic program is in no way similar to Michigan. Cal is more Northwestern than Michigan.
April 14th, 2015 at 12:06 AM ^
It's not really similar to either one (Northwestern or Michigan). Cal is excellent at a lot of sports other than football and basketball, sometimes pretty good at football and/or basketball, and rarely great at either.
I think it's hard to find a good comparison for them, but if anything, I'd say Cal is the West Coast's University of Virginia.
April 14th, 2015 at 12:20 AM ^
Well, admittedly I know nothing about Cal's sports other than football and basketball. Same for Northwestern. All I know is they very occasionally have good teams in football and basketball, but it's been rare recently.
April 14th, 2015 at 12:13 AM ^
They have 2 Pac 12/10 football titles since 1960 and 0 Pac 12/10 basketball titles since 1959 and no final fours since 1960. The last couple of years from 2008-2015 that we've bitched about would probably have been their best stretch since 1960 with the final four and 2 conference titles. The only thing we share in common with Cal is strong academics and swimming teams.
Cal won the outright Pac-10 basketball title in 2009-2010. It was, however, their first title since the 1959-1960 season.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Pacific-12_Conference_champions#Me…
April 14th, 2015 at 11:27 AM ^
Must be the money.....
April 14th, 2015 at 12:16 AM ^
you guize understand jabari and ivan are local kids, right?
Did you really type "guize"?
As a lifelong Michigan fan, but Cal grad I have to say it's pretty amazing what Cal was able to do under Tedford, especially with dilapidated facilities (until recent overhaul). They couldn't quite get to the top with USC and then Oregon blocking them, but I believe there are more Cal players in the NFL than Michigan at the moment. Aaron Rodgers, Marshawn Lynch, CJ Anderson, Desean Jackson, Keenan Allen, Shane Vereen to name a few.
Basketball has also had good success under Montgomery, and it seems like Cuonzo has got recruiting on the upswing. So I believe the comparison to UVA, Michigan, or a UCLA and not just a Northwestern is valid.
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April 14th, 2015 at 10:48 AM ^
Wow, I was wrong! Not surprised that I am wrong but surprised that California has so many pros. I stand corrected!
I too am dying for Jaylen Brown to suit up for the Wolverines next year, and really feel like Bielein can develop his game to his full potential. But if he doesn't pick Michigan I do hope he winds up at Cal so I can catch him in action.
If Rabb was from Michigan or Ohio or Illinois it would be puzzling or maybe even concerning that he turned down Beilein for Cal, but given the proximity of Berkeley to Oakland this should have been expected.
I raise my eyebrow at this development
Brown's decision aside for a moment, I think you have to like this if you're a college basketball fan and you're _not_ a fan of concentrated power.
Notice that he had Kentucky and Kansas in his list and that he had visited both schools:
http://sports.yahoo.com/cal/basketball/recruiting/player-Ivan-Rabb-1305…
Did anyone want him going to either of those 1-and-done factories?
Balance of power ... much better, I say.
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Man, Cal is recruiting hard. They got Ivan Rabb and they actually were the front runner for Caleb Swannigan or Diamond Stone (can't remember which one right now) now it's possible they might land Jaylen Brown(sp?) also. wow.