Cal Basketball: One of Top Grad Transfers Available Is Considering Cal

Jalen Coleman-Lands, a DePaul guard rated as the second-best grad transfer still available by ESPN.com, has Cal among the five schools he is considering for his transfer destination.

North Carolina State, Iowa State, Michigan and USC are the other schools Coleman-Lands is considering.

JUST NOW: Former DePaul guard Jalen Coleman-Lands has taken to Instagram for a transferring update. He has narrowed down his list of schools to California, Iowa State, NC State, Michigan, and USC. pic.twitter.com/5ORwnynTmo
— Xavier Sanchez (@Xavier_Sanchez4) May 9, 2020

The 6-foot-4 Coleman-Lands is ranked as the 36th-best grad transfer this year by ESPN, but the only grad transfer ranked higher who has not yet committed to a new school is Ray Salnave of Monmouth.

Coleman-Lands' biggest asset is his shooting ability, and few teams need shooters more than Cal, which made just 160 three-pointers in 2019-20, the fewest in the Pac-12. Part of that low rate resulted from the slower pace of Cal's offense, but some of it was because the Bears lacked outside shooters. And Kareem South, who ranked second on the team in three-pointers made, is gone after his one season as a grad transfer.

Cal already has two transfers coming in--Penn grad transfer Ryan Betley, who will be eligible this coming season, and Fresno State guard Jarred Hyder, who will probably have to sit out the 2020-21 season.

In it's one-paragraph assessment of Coleman-Lands, ESPN.com says:

Received a sixth year of eligibility from the NCAA earlier this spring, but won't use it to play for the Blue Demons. Averaged 11.1 points and is known for his shooting prowess, although his percentages wouldn't back that up.

Indeed, Coleman-Lands lived behind the three-point line while averaging 11.1 points and starting all 32 games this past season. He attempted 322 shots, and 196 of them--or 60.9 percent--were from three-point range. He made 63 of his shots from deep, most on the team, but he shot just 32.1 percent from long range and just 36.3 percent overall. As a team DePaul shot just 31.3 percent from beyond the arc, part of the reason it finished 16-16, including 3-15 in the Big East.

Coleman-Lands' two best scoring games this past season were a 21-point performance in a win over Central Michigan and a 20-point game (3-for-5 three-point shooting) in an upset of then-No. 5 Butler.

In 2018-19, Coleman-Lands made just 25 percent of his three-pointers (14-for-56) and 33.3 percent of all of his field-goal attempts, but he played in just nine games before breaking his left (non-shooting) hand, putting him out for the season. Because of that shortened junior season, Coleman-Lands was granted another year of eligibility, which is why he is looking elsewhere for his one remaining year of college ball. He will turn 24 in July.

(Click here or here to see video of Coleman-Lands in action for DePaul. You will note that one of Coleman-Lands' teammates is Charlie Moore, who began his college areer at Cal.)

He has been a starter in his two seasons at DePaul, and was an occasional starter in his two seasons at Illinois before that.

***Jalen Coleman-Lands (5) had his best season as an Illinois freshman

He started 15 of 35 games he played for the Illini in 2016-17, averaging 8.0 points and shooting 38.0 percent on threes. His best season as a shooter came in his freshman year at Illinois, when he made 42 percent of his shots from deep and averaged 10.3 points while starting 24 of the 35 games he played.

He transferred to DePaul after Illinois coach John Groce was fired and sat out a year as a transfer.

Bustingbrackets.com gave an assessment of how Coleman-Lands might fit in with each of the five schools he is considering. Here is what it said about Cal:

One of the worst scoring teams this past season (332nd overall with 63.2 ppg), Cal loses two of their top scorers (Paris Austin and Kareem South), who was their starting backcourt. Leading scorer Matt Bradley (17.5 ppg) is coming back but could use a lot more support. Penn grad transfer Ryan Betley is coming aboard, while Fresno State guard Jarred Hyder will likely have to sit out next season.

Coleman-Lands would have a big role with the Bears in his final season and definitely be a starter. He’d be a nice one-year rental addition for Coach Mark Fox as the program continues their rebuild but the grad transfer would likely not make the NCAA Tournament.

Follow Jake Curtis of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53

Click the "follow" button in the top right corner to join the conversation on Cal Sports Report on SI. Access and comment on featured stories and start your own conversations and post external links on our community page.