This week on the 3-2-1, we're looking at the potential for the light at the end of the tunnel, men's basketball finishing their roster, and the UC system dropping the SAT/ACT requirements, among other things

Makale Foreman coming to Cal completes the Bears Roster for 2020-21 (Story on Foreman here)

Mark Fox and company finished up the roster for the 2020-21 season with the addition of Stony Brook grad transfer Makale Foreman. Foreman, a 6'1" guard from Kingsport, Tennessee, gives the Bears a backup to Joel Brown and another shooter on a team that desperately needed shooting a year ago.

Foreman had the green light at Stony Brook playing in the most uptempo offense in the America East conference. He took 278 three point attempts on his own (Cal as a whole took 477), shooting 36.7% from beyond the arc while creating a lot of his own shots. With Cal adding Foreman and Ryan Betley (128 3pt attempts, 35% from beyond the arc) as grad transfers, they're adding more potential for spacing as a team. Paris Austin and Kareem South took 147 three point attempts combined in 2019-20.

This season will be a test for Fox and company, as Fox's teams have only shot 3s at or above the national frequency twice over his tenure of coaching. He now has four guys in Foreman, Betley, Matt Bradley and Grant Anticevich that have shot 35% from beyond the arc in a season to work with, along with Kuany Kuany, whose shooting stroke is starting to develop. Molding scheme to personnel will be important for the Bears, especially depending on when the team can get back in the gym with COVID-19 restrictions.

Why Football for DeRuyter, Browning, and Patrick Hisatake

With these columns, I've been asking people I've interviewed 'why football' over the last couple of months, this week, I have responses from Co-DC/OLB coach Tim DeRuyter, DL coach Andrew Browning, and OLB target Patrick Hisatake

DeRuyter

I could talk about that forever. I think our country needs football. I don’t think there’s another sport that develops character, persistence, grit, the things that make our country great, like football. Is it perfect? No, nothing’s perfect, but I think there’s no better way, other than maybe having people go into the military, to bring young men, to have them grow personally into men of character and guys who are going to be able to achieve and do it the right way. I think football drives that if coached and taught the right way.

It’s a fantastic team sport and I think the popularity of it is driven by the fact that people can relate to all those values. It’s obviously an exciting television product, but that’s a side issue. For me, it’s all the intrinsic value of the sport, it’s the ultimate sport where you take big guys, small guys, fast guys, slow guys, it doesn’t matter what race you are, it doesn’t matter who you love, it’s all about production, what you bring to the party, and how you make the team better. To me, that’s America and why it’s America’s sport

Browning

It’s the ultimate team sport, truly a sport where you have to count on your teammates, you have to trust, and it’s toughness, physicality, effort, it’s the greatest game, I’ve always gravitated toward that and I’ve been passionate about football ever since I started playing it back in the third grade, and the camaraderie, which is a huge part of it as well.

Hisatake

I have fun playing it, it makes me happy when I’m playing it. Also, the opportunity that football has given me is amazing, but the biggest thing is that I have fun playing it, I’m happy, I can’t go a day without playing football, it’s not like a hobby for me, it’s a way of living.

The Light at the end of the tunnel

The Pac-12 CEO group is set to decide next week on whether voluntary workouts should resume for their member schools, not long after the NCAA ruled that men's and women's basketball and football can come back for voluntary workouts starting on June 1st. The SEC then announced this morning that they will allow voluntary athletics activities starting June 8th, at the discretion of each school, given specific health and safety measures.

- Enhanced education of all team members on health and wellness best practices, including but not limited to preventing the spread of COVID-19

- A 3-stage screening process that involves screening before student-athletes arrive on campus, within 72 hours of entering athletics facilities and on a daily basis upon resumption of athletics activities

- Testing of symptomatic team members (including all student-athletes, coaches, team support and other appropriate individuals)

- Immediate isolation of team members who are under investigation or diagnosed with COVID-19 followed by contact tracing, following CDC and local public health guidelines

- A transition period that allows student-athletes to gradually adapt to full training and sport activity following a period of inactivity

In addition, Big 10 schools Ohio State and Illinois have put out their own plans as to coming back to voluntary workouts (which can only be supervised by strength and conditioning personnel), which may push the Pac-12 back toward voluntary athletic activities, which puts teams on a path toward athletic competition. That includes Cal, as the program feels there's the momentum to make the next step.

Every Pac-12 coach on last week's webinar series stated that they'd need at least six weeks to get their teams ready. This puts those teams on the path, depending on what date the Pac-12 CEO group decides upon.

What effect does the SAT/ACT requirements being dropped have?

The University of California regents voted Thursday to drop the SAT and ACT requirements for admission, making having the test optional in admissions for the next two years, not using test scores for admission in 2023-24 (only for scholarship/course placement purposes), before either replacing those tests with a UC specific test or dropping a standardized testing requirement altogether.

These could be interesting changes for the NCAA as a whole, as the governing body uses a sliding scale to determine eligibility, but the COVID-19 pandemic has caused schools nationwide to drop the standardized testing requirement for 2021 anyway.

On the Cal side, there's a 3.0 requirement for 80% of any given recruiting class, as the UC- wide requirement for in-state applicants is at least a 3.0 (out of state is a 3.4). Dropping a testing requirement may open things up more for those who are disadvantaged due to socioeconomic status.

Considering that one of the biggest things the Cal staff looks for in recruiting is the ability for a recruit to handle their business in the classroom, the standardized testing has played a part in that. It doesn't have to though.. Work ethic can be seen in other ways, and that's what's going to be interesting moving forward.

What effect do

If you've been on social media and following Cal football, which by reading this column, you most likely are, you've seen the video below, a video put out by a number of Cal coaches, recruiting assistants, current players and current/former NFL pros who went to Cal.

There's a growing belief that this is a year for Cal to take a step forward, and the great involvement of prominent alums, like Lorenzo Alexander, Cam Jordan, Shane Vereen, Marshawn Lynch, and a number of others is more prevalent on a direct level. A lot of that ties back to Justin Wilcox, who has made football alumni inclusion a priority over his four years.

This is something a number of different schools are doing, but at Cal it's becoming a bigger piece of selling their program. The inclusion matters, especially when it comes to selling a program that hasn't had as much success over the past decade as many of their Pac-12 peers.

A starting five for 2020-21?

With Cal finishing out their roster on the men's basketball side there's a conversation on the Bear's Lair forum about Cal's starting five for 2020. With Fresno State transfer Jarred Hyder likely sitting out with the NCAA tabling the one-time transfer exception, Cal has 12 scholarship pieces to work with.

At this point, considering what Mark Fox said during the mid-March recap, of a want to put Matt Bradley at his natural 2-guard spot and getting Joel Brown more time as the starting point guard, here's my best guess.

PG - Joel Brown, as Brown is more in the 'pass-first' point guard as opposed to the shooter that Makale Foreman is

SG - Matt Bradley, as the top option for the Bears moving forward

SF - Kuany Kuany, length on the outside, shooting skills that are improving and filling a role that no one else on the team does

PF - Grant Anticevich, a floor spacing big who started every game for the Bears in 2019-20

C - Andre Kelly, probably the best post/rebounding option the Bears have, with an improving offensive game