Cal Exceeds Season Expectations, Even With a Difficult Defeat

Sunday’s crushing loss against Saint Joseph’s in the NIT brought Cal’s season to an anticlimactic end. The Bears held a 19-point lead in the second half, but a Hawks’ three with under two minutes to go gave them the lead and eventually the win. 

"I'm proud of this group of players because a lot of people wrote off a lot of these players. A lot of people wrote off our team. We did things as a team that have not been done here at Cal for a long time,” Coach Mark Madsen said after that game. 

Despite Sunday’s disappointing end, the game — and the season overall — had a lot of positive points. Madsen and company’s work this season will likely translate to more success next year.

Dai Dai Ames hit his 1,000 points career mark against Saint Joseph’s, and he reached double-figures for the 29th time this season. Similarly, Chris Bell — who led the Bears in scoring with 23 points — reached double-digits for the 26th time this season including 10 games at Cal with 20 or more points. Justin Pippen finished the season with the fourth most steals by a Bear in a season (61). John Camden, who missed Sunday’s game, made 87 threes this year, third most all-time for Cal and Cal’s 22 season wins were the most in a decade. 

Relatedly, this was the first season Mark Madsen reached 20 wins in his three years at Cal. His first two years were tough as the Bears failed to reach .500. The 2024-2025 season was Cal’s first in the ACC and it was a dramatic change compared to the smaller, localized Pac-12 conference. That being said, the 22 wins is made that much more impressive by the fact that Madsen and company achieved the record in college basketball’s premier conference. 

Throughout the season, Madsen was candid about his desire to make the Bears a tournament team. And while that goal has not quite been reached, Cal is well on its way under Madsen’s direction. 

This season was difficult in part because the Bears put together solid wins against ranked opponents (UCLA on Nov. 25 and UNC on Jan. 17) and swept archrival Stanford. Unfortunately, they dropped some key games late in the year (Pitt on Feb. 28 and Wake Forest on March 7) that supremely hurt their chances for a bid to the big dance. 

Cal came into the season with an almost entirely new roster after losing players in the transfer portal. Despite the new scenery for some and new teammates for others, they played well together and averaged just under 14 assists per game including three games with more than 20 assists. 

Ames and Pippen were an impressive pair in the backcourt. 

Pippen has a knack for drawing contact and getting to the free throw line but he’s an excellent distributor as well as perimeter defender. Pippen’s defensive intensity (as shown by his hallmark season steal total) was noticeably more pronounced this season. His stats jumped tremendously since last year, in no small part because he played nearly 25 more minutes a game compared to this time at Michigan. 

Ames is one of the most dynamic scorers in college basketball as he’s a threat from anywhere on the court and handles the ball with precision. His stats also jumped exponentially compared to last season (8.7 ppg in ‘24-’25 compared to 16.9 this season) with shooting percentages rising across the board. Ames also found a more fitting home at Cal than with Virginia. His scoring and playmaking ability meshed well with the Bears’ shooters on the wings. 

Both Chris Bell and John Camden made remarkable strides. 

Bell was more effective from the field and the free throw line than in any of his previous seasons at Syracuse. His three point percentage was still 40 percent even with nearly six attempts a game and his effective field goal percentage (57.4 percent) was the highest of his career. 

Camden, who came from a smaller CAA school, put up similar numbers to his previous season’s output. He was a critical part of Cal’s one-two punch from the wing this season and helped space the floor for Ames and Pippen to attack the key. His offense was critical in some of the early wins and he showed a high basketball IQ with his off ball movement. Several times throughout the year, whether it was Milos Illic, Ames, Pippen or another distributor, Camden found easy layups thanks to his back cuts. 

Despite missing seven games this year, Lee Dort also put together an impressive season. He increased his stats across the board, including rebounding average as well as his effective field goal percentage. He also averaged nearly one block per game this season, cementing himself as a presnce down low. 

Cal’s bench has some limited contributors, too. The aforementioned Ilic filled in while Dort was out with an injury. He was very effective offensively, helping to swing the ball and find cutters. TT Carr had multiple games with five or more assists and was coming into his own handling and distributing. DJ Campbell and Sammie Yeanay both put up consequential minutes at the end of the season as well. 

To continue the positive momentum from this season, the Bears will need to retain some key players and bolster personnel. To the first point, Ames indicated after the NIT loss that he would likely return for another season and Pippen and Dort still has eligibility if they can retain Thm. The three other starters will be goneCamden and Bell are out of eligibility, but Cal’s bench showed some promise this year, especially as players went out with injury. 

Secondly, Cal needs a general manager both to guide the program broadly and help traverse the convoluted transfer portal. As Ron Rivera does for football, a basketball GM would undoubtedly help stabilize the program and make the eligibility transitions much easier. There are signs that there’s been progress on that front.

Overall, this was an impressive season for Cal. They put up their best record in a decade when they were picked to sit near the bottom of the conference. They bested some impressive teams and played unselfish, winning basketball for 22 games this year. In general, the Bears exceeded pre-season expectations by a country mile. 

Whether or not they can keep moving towards tournament contention in the ACC has yet to be seen but the building blocks are there for a lasting and successful program.