5 NCAA Basketball programs ready to turn the page on 2022

California Golden Bears

There is no worse major conference program than the Cal Golden Bears right now. In fact, there may be no program period worse than Mark Fox’s team, which is having a year that may go down as one of the worst major conference programs of all time.

First, let’s give Cal some credit: they won their first game of 2022, a 24-point romp of Arizona State on January 2. Good job, Bears! They would win three more games for the rest of the 2021-22 season – who knew how good they had it.

This season, the Golden Bears lost their first 12 games of the season, the worst start to a campaign for a major program ever. Among the teams, Fox’s squad should’ve beaten, but didn’t: UC Davis, UC San Diego, Southern, Texas State, Eastern Washington, and perhaps Santa Clara, but we’ll give the Berkeley outfit a break on that.

Cal finally got its first win of the season on Dec. 21, topping UT Arlington by 22 points. It probably won’t be going into the new year on a high note, though, as Utah and Colorado still loom large before the calendar flips.

Injuries are certainly not helping, but Cal’s woes go much beyond that. Yet it hasn’t been an insane amount of time since the Golden Bears made the NCAA Tournament – their most recent appearance came in 2016.

Frankly, it’s hard to say there’s going to be much hope for Cal after the calendar turns to 2023. There’s a realistic shot this team doesn’t win a single game in Pac-12 play. But maybe it can inspire a better tomorrow by looking for a new coach when the season comes to an end, if not sooner.