Cal Basketball

Cal Signs Nicolas Mitrovic For 2026-27 Roster

The 7-Foot Post Player Attended High School In Massachusetts
By Cal Athletics
May 1, 2026
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14 Comments
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California men's basketball head coach Mark Madsen has signed another young talent in freshman post player Nicolas Mitrovic. He will join the Golden Bears for this coming 2026-27 season.

Mitrovic comes to Cal by way of Cambridge Arts, Technology and Science in Massachusetts, where he earned top-50 prospect rankings from Rivals. The 7-foot post averaged 5.7 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game last season with CATS. He also competed with Expressions EYBL.

“Nicolas is one of the most exciting young big men in the country,” Madsen said of Mitrovic. “He has tremendous skill for his size and length. This makes him a true threat inside and out on both ends of the floor. We are ecstatic to add Nicolas to the Cal family!”

Mitrovic joins a Cal program that made big strides in 2025-26 in recording the most wins in a season (22) since 2016 and its first postseason win since 2014. Last season's squad also recorded eight games with 90-plus points scored and had five players ranked in top-100 national statistical categories.

Currently, Mitrovic is one of six newcomers officially signed on for 2026-27, joining incoming freshman Dionycius Bakare along with transfers Michael Cooper, Nojus Indrusaitis, Jordan Ross and Jake Wilkins.

Related:

Bears Pick Up Commitment From 2026 Serbian C/F Nicolas Mitrovic

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Cal Signs Nicolas Mitrovic For 2026-27 Roster

3,785 Views | 14 Replies | Last: 2 days ago by HearstMining
Eastern Oregon Bear
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1:47p, 5/1/26
Wow! A 7 foot center that is a top 50 recruit? Pinch me. I must be dreaming!
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BearForceOne
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In reply to Eastern Oregon Bear • 10:31p, 5/1/26
Eastern Oregon Bear said:
Wow! A 7 foot center that is a top 50 recruit? Pinch me. I must be dreaming!


Let us not wake up from this dream…

Welcome to Cal, Nicolas! Go Bears!
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barsad
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In reply to BearForceOne • 10:51a, 5/4/26
Very interested to see how he does compared to Dort in summer practice. I know everyone's saying "too skinny", and "needs development." But in an era when you only get a good player for a year until the next portal, I say put him in, sink or swim, on Opening Day.
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Cal Junkie
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In reply to barsad • 1:21p, 5/5/26
barsad said:
Very interested to see how he does compared to Dort in summer practice. I know everyone's saying "too skinny", and "needs development." But in an era when you only get a good player for a year until the next portal, I say put him in, sink or swim, on Opening Day.


Agree and Dort could possibly rotate over to a PF4 role if we need to 'go big' vs. a tall, athletic team like Florida which frustrates many opposing teams with its length.
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Oakbear
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6:11p, 5/5/26
I am cautiously optimistic When I saw he had went from the 27 class to the 26 class I thought he might be young but it turns out he turns 19 in July so is actually the age of a lot of college sophomore Which means he might be more developed
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CNHTH
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10:36p, 5/5/26
I've watched a lot of his tape and he's underrated imho. He should be top 15 at least.
He can spot up from anywhere. Can put the ball on the floor when needed. Moves well off the ball. And above all else looks to have serious elite level skills as a rim protector and looks extremely gritty diving into the stands for loose balls at 7 feet tall.

I was super excited about Jeremiah when he came in as a 3 star nobody knew about 2 years ago. I am 10x more excited about Mitrovich. In my eyes he looks like he is a 'one and done' caliber talent we haven't seen since Brown.
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BC Calfan
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In reply to CNHTH • 7:32a, 5/6/26
CNHTH said:
I've watched a lot of his tape and he's underrated imho. He should be top 15 at least.
He can spot up from anywhere. Can put the ball on the floor when needed. Moves well off the ball. And above all else looks to have serious elite level skills as a rim protector and looks extremely gritty diving into the stands for loose balls at 7 feet tall.

I was super excited about Jeremiah when he came in as a 3 star nobody knew about 2 years ago. I am 10x more excited about Mitrovich. In my eyes he looks like he is a 'one and done' caliber talent we haven't seen since Brown.

Wow, that's a glowing review. Do you think his advanced skills will offset his lack of strength? Is he that good?

Perhaps a bad comparison but if Mitrovic can duplicate Kravish's freshman #s of 7 pts & 5.5 reb per game, I will be quite the happy camper.
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Civil Bear
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In reply to CNHTH • 8:35a, 5/6/26
CNHTH said:
I've watched a lot of his tape and he's underrated imho. He should be top 15 at least.
He can spot up from anywhere. Can put the ball on the floor when needed. Moves well off the ball. And above all else looks to have serious elite level skills as a rim protector and looks extremely gritty diving into the stands for loose balls at 7 feet tall.

I was super excited about Jeremiah when he came in as a 3 star nobody knew about 2 years ago. I am 10x more excited about Mitrovich. In my eyes he looks like he is a 'one and done' caliber talent we haven't seen since Brown.

I've seen no tape, but was wondering how he got into the top 50 averaging 5.7 points and 3.1 rebounds per game last season.
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stu
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In reply to BC Calfan • 9:47a, 5/6/26
BC Calfan said:
Perhaps a bad comparison but if Mitrovic can duplicate Kravish's freshman #s of 7 pts & 5.5 reb per game, I will be quite the happy camper.
Kravish came in with no body but exceptional skills and BBIQ. IRRC he was not a highly regarded recruit but he helped us immediately.
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MilleniaBear
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In reply to Civil Bear • 10:23a, 5/6/26
There is stuff on youtube for him:



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calumnus
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In reply to MilleniaBear • 1:23p, 5/6/26
MilleniaBear said:
There is stuff on youtube for him:





Wow. He definitely needs to play, whether he is the C or PF doesn't matter. Get him on the court.
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Big C
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In reply to MilleniaBear • 1:23p, 5/6/26

Wow, he looks skilled for a young big! I could see him playing the 5 when Dort's not in and also the two of them sharing some minutes on the court together. Throw in the Euro (hopefully) and we might have our strongest frontcourt in a while!
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CNHTH
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In reply to BC Calfan • 7:27p, 5/6/26
BC Calfan said:
CNHTH said:
I've watched a lot of his tape and he's underrated imho. He should be top 15 at least.
He can spot up from anywhere. Can put the ball on the floor when needed. Moves well off the ball. And above all else looks to have serious elite level skills as a rim protector and looks extremely gritty diving into the stands for loose balls at 7 feet tall.

I was super excited about Jeremiah when he came in as a 3 star nobody knew about 2 years ago. I am 10x more excited about Mitrovich. In my eyes he looks like he is a 'one and done' caliber talent we haven't seen since Brown.

Wow, that's a glowing review. Do you think his advanced skills will offset his lack of strength? Is he that good?

Perhaps a bad comparison but if Mitrovic can duplicate Kravish's freshman #s of 7 pts & 5.5 reb per game, I will be quite the happy camper.

He didn't look all that weak from what I saw. Yes he's lanky and obviously lacks the girth of a guy like Dort but nobody plays back to the basket post up basketball at any level anymore except for maybe the Nuggets occasionally with Jokic and Valencunis. Gone
are the days of bigs catching the ball at the elbow and backing down into the paint. Instead 7 footers are expected to be athletic enough to catch it on the perimeter as a wing / position neutral player and I'd say are probably also expected to fill any of 2-5 in college and probably 1-5 in the NBA.

As for Pitrovich…yes he's lanky for a traditional 5
but I think that's too his benefit in this era. His off ball movement, shooting, and competitive edge are next level imho. The only thing I couldn't really get a good read on was his rebounding so maybe he'd be a liability in that regard but honestly he's 7 feet tall so I doubt he's anything less than a journeyman in that regard.
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HearstMining
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In reply to CNHTH • 7:42p, 5/6/26
CNHTH said:
BC Calfan said:
CNHTH said:
I've watched a lot of his tape and he's underrated imho. He should be top 15 at least.
He can spot up from anywhere. Can put the ball on the floor when needed. Moves well off the ball. And above all else looks to have serious elite level skills as a rim protector and looks extremely gritty diving into the stands for loose balls at 7 feet tall.

I was super excited about Jeremiah when he came in as a 3 star nobody knew about 2 years ago. I am 10x more excited about Mitrovich. In my eyes he looks like he is a 'one and done' caliber talent we haven't seen since Brown.

Wow, that's a glowing review. Do you think his advanced skills will offset his lack of strength? Is he that good?

Perhaps a bad comparison but if Mitrovic can duplicate Kravish's freshman #s of 7 pts & 5.5 reb per game, I will be quite the happy camper.

He didn't look all that weak from what I saw. Yes he's lanky and obviously lacks the girth of a guy like Dort but nobody plays back to the basket post up basketball at any level anymore except for maybe the Nuggets occasionally with Jokic and Valencunis. Gone
are the days of bigs catching the ball at the elbow and backing down into the paint. Instead 7 footers are expected to be athletic enough to catch it on the perimeter as a wing / position neutral player and I'd say are probably also expected to fill any of 2-5 in college and probably 1-5 in the NBA.

As for Pitrovich…yes he's lanky for a traditional 5
but I think that's too his benefit in this era. His off ball movement, shooting, and competitive edge are next level imho. The only thing I couldn't really get a good read on was his rebounding so maybe he'd be a liability in that regard but honestly he's 7 feet tall so I doubt he's anything less than a journeyman in that regard.

I liked his footwork on a couple of spin moves. Even though most 5s no longer camp around the key, having one or two inside moves to get shots off is still important. I do hate seeing kids that young wearing a knee brace, though. Hope it's nothing chronic.
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