I know; just thought the timing was interesting.

You don’t suppose Cooper is planning to play for his dad:

https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2026-04-08/lakers-great-michael-cooper-cal-state-la-basketball-coach

As for Les v Taylor, there were a couple games a few years back when both staffs got very heated with each other. I think Taylor took the Davis game personally and often let his emotions show.

for those keeping track at home, Jac Mani is one of the 11 (yep, 11) Fresno State players to enter.

i think as we get closer to Give Day(s), they will ramp things up. I haven't seen much of anything out there among the many UCD mailers/emails/socials i have access to.

i think the reality is that we are in no position to compete financially, especially moving into a conference where many of the schools have resources to spend. Until we start to get some conference money, we're definately going to struggle in this environment. I won't be surprised to see Wilson and Cooper move up to a better spot, both in terms of conference quality and dollars. Not sure about Stokes (i don't think he was highly recruited out of high school and his freshman year was decent). The others? Lost in the ether.

I don't follow the portal, so i have no idea how our former Big West teams are doing with regard to losing guys. I suspect all but UCI, UCSB and UCSD (i know, no longer BWC) are losing key players.

I wouldn't be surprised if Les decides enough is enough and heads off into the sunset after this season.

i honestly thought he was just a practice player that we threw in for a few minutes here and there. I guess i need to learn our roster better!

My wishful thinking is that this means Wilson and Fagbemi are both back. Connor will almost certainly return so there’s still a logjam at guard.

he was such a turnover machine, it was hard to keep him out there. Seemed like teams would attack him whenever he got in and bad things happened.

The portal is only going to get worse as high level teams use it more and more successfully. Michigan just won a title with an all transfer starting lineup.

Local schools like Cal and St Mary’s took big hits in day one of the open portal.

we’ve had a number of guys who are end of rotation players who leave and end up at obscure schools - makes me wonder if the transfer is a mutual decision, or if the player doesn’t feel like the school is a great fit. It’s a tough school especially when you have to devote so much time to basketball.

hmmmm…I don’t see him finding a better spot. Makes you wonder if the school isn’t a great fit.

I’m not entirely sure where I got the $250k - I swear I saw that when I was looking. But there’s something like $60k listed in gifts that get unlocked at 300-350 donors.

Remember, it’s the number of donations that really matter here. If you want to donate $50, better to use two email addresses and donate $25 each.

350 donations unlocks a $250k gift. So, give often!

worked for me

I was told MWF are 8-11 with meetings and practices, but some might end earlier.

Stokes transferring is a hit but that was the guy I was most worried about. Not sure who else offered him out of high school, but he was a high level player at Daugherty Valley. Worried me that it took awhile for him to get significant minutes before he became a starter. Woolf t be shocked to see him in the WCC.

Give Day is officially April 17-18, so this is the early period - they’ll make the big push closer to that day. I’m guessing they’ll make it easy to donate at the Spring Game.

There’s a big gift ($250k) that gets unlocked with the 350 donors AgAlum mentioned. There are several other lesser ones that open up as the numbers grow. As others mention, the amount doesn’t matter (give $25!), just the number. And you can be anonymous if you like.

I’m not big on things like body language - all I can go on is what I actually saw and that was the trainer trying to wrap what looked like a groin injury in a home game where he started hot and sat most the second half. That’s just before he had a big road game vs Fullerton and sat the rest of the season. There was definitely an injury. I don’t think we make a habit of disclosing injuries.

As for an ‘agreement’, I don’t think he’d have travelled to Henderson if it was an accepted fact.

me too. i didn't see him as a probable candidate to leave since his playing time reduction was due to injuries (mostly). he was showcased in the offense quite a bit. maybe he'll be like Tomba and end up in a power-4 conference as a starter.

Disappointing to hear.