NCAA Basketball: 20 early team winners of 2023 transfer portal offseason

2. Cal Bears

While Louisville rightfully got destroyed as the laughingstock of NCAA Basketball, Cal had actually won one fewer game than them last season. The Bears went 3-29 (2-18 Pac-12) and it was finally enough, firing head coach Mark Fox and replacing him with Mark Madsen of Utah Valley.

It’s instantly worked out for the program, as Coach Madsen has already brought in two players better than anyone they had on the roster this past season. The first player was Fardaws Aimaq, who was limited to just 11 games this past season due to injuries, averaging 11.1 ppg and 7.9 rpg. He’s a former WAC Player of the Year back at the Wolverines with Coach Madsen a couple of years ago so look for them to get the magic back at the Pac-12 level.

The other pickup was Jalen Cone, who has been dominating the Big Sky in the past two seasons. He averaged 17.6 ppg and 2.5 apg this past season at Northern Arizona, making 40% of his three-point attempts. And he averaged 9.0 ppg off the bench in his first two seasons at Virginia Tech so we know he can play at the power conference level.

It’s not easy to get players in Cal so this is a good haul early on for Coach Madsen. If they can get a couple more starting-caliber players, they’ll be able to make a big jump in the Pac-12 next season.