Men's Basketball

The announcement comes just days before the new school year, as Pavlovic joins a newcomer class of two freshmen signees and four transfers.

While the Bears have been off the court during his first few months in charge, Madsen oversaw massive squad turnover. With eight outgoing and five incoming transfers, Cal will look like a completely different team next season.

Born in Walnut Creek, Madsen is an East Bay local. Madsen is coming off a 28-9 season as head coach of Utah Valley — the winningest in school history.

Following Joel Brown and Kuany Kuany’s transfer announcements, senior Lars Thiemann and sophomore Sam Alajiki are entering the transfer portal as well.

The pair arrived at Cal in 2019 from Canada and Australia, respectively. Their departure will further entrench Cal’s dire scoring struggles and represent significant loss for an already-feeble Cal team.

The 1959 championship remains the only title in Cal basketball’s storied history. Like most good things in Cal Athletics history, it came well before many of us were born. 

In a game that was truly reflective of their year, the Bears just did not have it in them to compete with Washington State. The Bears finished the season with an all-time low 3-29 record, going 2-18 in Pac-12 play and ending the year on a 16-game losing streak.

The move was announced by Cal Athletic Director Jim Knolwton on Thursday, just one day after the Bears crashed out of the Pac-12 tournament in a 69-52 loss to Washington State.

Somehow, Cal is in the tournament, and even if it may seem like it’ll need divine intervention or Jaylen Brown in disguise to help win a game, never say never.

Unsurprisingly, the Bears dropped their final two games of the regular season against both the Ducks and the Beavers, losing by 33 and 3 points, respectively.