Check out our entire college basketball season preview!
The college basketball season is less than two weeks away, and here at FTN Fantasy we have you covered for what promises to be another thrilling year of upsets and incredible finishes. We will be previewing each team from all of the major conferences along with some mid-majors as well. We will recap betting trends from last season, list projected starters, preview the season and talk about any key players for that program.
The ACC is home to some of the most storied programs in the history of college basketball. Lately, the Final Four champion has come out of the Big East or the Big 12, but the ACC has a great chance to reclaim the title of the best conference in CBB. There has been an influx of talent via the transfer portal, good old fashioned recruiting and the additions of SMU, Stanford and Cal.
Let’s take a look at the California Bears.
2024-25 College Basketball Season Preview: California Bears
Conference: ACC
Head Coach: Mark Madsen (2nd season)
2023-2024 Record: 13-19}
ATS: 16-20
O/U: 19-13
Projected Starters: G Christian Tucker, G Andrej Stojakovic, G Jovan Blacksher, F BJ Omot, F Rytis Petraitis
Coach Madsen experienced a tough Year 1 at Cal, but they suffered a lot of close losses and I won’t be surprised to see this team be competitive once again. They are basically rolling out an entire new roster after most of their relevant players graduated or moved onto a new school.
The new rotation will feature BJ Omot (16.7 PPG at North Dakota), Rytis Petraitis (15.7 PPG at Air Force), DJ Campbell (11.6 PPG at Western Carolina), Christian Tucker (11.3 PPG at UTSA), Andrej Stojakovic (7.8 PPG at Stanford), Jovan Blacksher (4.8 PPG at Grand Canyon), Joshua Ola-Joseph (7.5 PPG at Minnesota), Mady Sissoko (3.3 PPG at Michigan State) and Lee Dort (1 PPG at Vanderbilt).
Key Player: Rytis Petraitis
Rytis averaged a career-high 15.7 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 3.7 APG and 1.6 SPG in his second season with Air Force. He will absorb the production left behind by Fardaws Aimaq and could wind up being a 20 PPG scorer when you consider the composition of this roster. He also has experience playing with the Lithuanian National Team in friendly international competition, so he has a vast amount of experience from a competitive standpoint.
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