Cal Sports Report

Cal Men's Basketball Signs One Player; Cal Women Sign Two for 2026

None of the three players Cal signed to basketball financial agreements is from the United States
Jake Curtis|
Cal basketball head coach Mark Madsen
Cal basketball head coach Mark Madsen | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

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California Golden Bears

The Cal men’s basketball program announced Thursday that it has signed one player for the class of 2026, and the Bears women's program announced the signing of two players to financial agreements, formerly known as a letter of intent.

None of the three players is from the United States.

Dionycius “Nyce” Bakare, an explosive, 6-foot-5, three-star small forward from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, signed with the men’s program on Wednesday.

Cal women's coach Charmin Smith announced the signing of two players from Australia -- Ruby Perkins, a 5-foot-8 guard, and Zara Russell, a 6-foot-2 forward. Both are currently playing in the WNBL, the top professional league in Australia.

Bakare is attending Bella Vista Prep in Scottsdale, Arizona, this year after transferring from Phelps School in Malvern, Pennsylvania.

He verbally committed to Cal on October 23 after decommitting from Penn State. Bakare is ranked as the nation's 153rd-best prospect in the class of 2026 by 274Sports Composite, and he had offers from Alabama, Illinois, USC, SMU, Washington, Seton Hall and South Florida as well as Penn State and Cal.

Bakare averaged 16.4 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.1 steals in 20 games while playing for UPLAY Canada in the Elite Youth Basketball League (EYBL)  this past season.

"Dionycius possesses a unique skill set that allows him to use his athleticism to get to the rim at will while also being able to knock down shots from the perimeter,” Madsen said of Bakare in a statment provided by Cal. “‘Nyce’ also makes his presence felt defensively as an extremely active defender. These attributes have helped him to make one of the largest rises in the recruiting rankings this summer and become one of the most efficient players in the Nike EYBL Circuit. On top of all of this, Nyce is an outstanding teammate and student."

On the women’s side, Cal added Perkins, who is from East Killara, Australia, and Russell, who is from Canberra, Australia.

Perkins averaged 10.7 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.7 assists while playing for Australia in the Under-17 World Cup in 2024. She had 25 points and seven assists in a game against Croatia. 

More recently she led New South Wales to the Under-20 Australian national championship, averaging 21.3 points and being named the tournament’s MVP. Perkins scored 18 points in the third quarter of the championship game.

She also was named to the all-tournament team at the Nike Tournament of Champions in Phoenix, Arizona, and was named to the Australian Gems squad for the Under-19 World Cup.

"Ruby is a quick guard who plays with tenacity on both ends of the floor," Smith said in a statement provided by Cal. "She does a great job of setting up her teammates for easy buckets and can create opportunities for herself as well. She is a menace on the defensive end of the floor and will pick up 94 feet. I love the competitive energy that she brings every time she steps on the court."She is effective off the dribble and is a accurate perimeter shooter.

Russell was Perkins' teammates at the 2025 FIBA Under-19 World Cup, and Russell averaged 7.2 points and shot 60% on three-pointers in that event. Russell committed to Cal in October.

"Zara is an extremely versatile player with great size and athleticism," Smith said in a statement issued by the school. "Her ability to stretch the floor and score in the paint creates matchup problems for opponents. Zara is also committed to the defensive side of the ball and accepts the challenge of locking people up. I'm excited about adding someone of Zara's caliber to our circle."

The early signing period for basketball started on Wednesday (November 12) ends November 19, although no other players have committed to the men’s program for 2026.

The early signing period for football begins December 4.

The Cal men's basketball team has a 3-0 record heading into its first significant test of the season -- a road game against Kansas State on Thursday evening.

The Cal women are 2-1 after beating Pacific on Tuesday, and host a four-team tournament over the weekend.

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Jake Curtis
JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.

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