After Darius McNeill and Justice Sueing both announced their decisions to enter the transfer portal, there was hope that they may be the only Cal men’s basketball players to test the waters of college basketball’s version of free agency. Those hopes have officially been dashed as both freshman Connor Vanover and sophomore Juhwan Harris-Dyson have decided to enter the transfer portal as well. Jeff Goodman of WatchStadium.com was first to report the news. GoldenBearReport.com has since confirmed Goodman’s report. Sources have told us that both Vanover and Harris-Dyson are still considering Cal, but that they want to explore their options.

This mass exodus of players from Cal comes just 10 days after Mark Fox was introduced as head coach. Rather than being able to retain these players, Fox has been unable to do so. At least so far. Fox will have the opportunity to try to convince these players to change their minds, but given that they’ve already decided to enter/stay in the transfer portal after meeting with him, it’s hard to see any of them returning.

Unless any of the players entering the transfer portal decides to stay at Cal, the cupboard will be left really bare for Fox. Of the returning scholarship players, only Paris Austin, Matt Bradley, Andre Kelly, Jacobi Gordon, and Grant Anticevich have not chosen to enter the transfer portal as of now. That’s pretty frightening for Cal even if you assume the 2019 recruiting class holds, which is no guarantee considering how things are going.

The way in which Cal AD Jim Knowlton went about firing Wyking Jones and replacing him so quickly deserves to be scrutinized. While many considered it a no-brainer decision to fire Jones, Knowlton kept everyone in the dark about his decision for over a week after the conclusion of the Pac-12 tournament. Once he did decide to move on from Jones, he hastily hired Fox, relying heavily on a search firm that isn’t familiar with the ins and outs of Cal. As Jon Wilner wisely pointed out, Knowlton probably should have taken more time finding the right replacement for Jones than he did deciding whether or not to keep him.

At this point, the best that Cal fans can hope for is that Fox is able to sway at least a couple of players to return to the fold and keep the recruiting class intact. So long as the semester is still in session, Fox needs to be doing everything he can to convince players in the transfer portal to stay. If he’s not able to do that, next season projects to be really grim for the Golden Bears.