Cal Sports Report

Report: Andrej Stojakovic Considering a Return to Cal

Stojakovic visited Illinois on Tuesday, but On3's Joe Tipton reported Wednesday that several schools are still in contention for him
Jake Curtis|
Andrej Stojakovic
Andrej Stojakovic | Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

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California Golden Bears

Joe Tipton of On3 posted an intriguing Twitter message on Monday regarding Cal basketball standout Andrej Stojakovic, who entered the transfer portal last week.

Tipton noted that Stojakovic was scheduled to visit Illinois on Tuesday, but he then added another twitter message that read, “A potential return to Cal remains in consideration.”

Multiple reports on Wednesday say Illinois is the frontrunner to land Stojakovic, but Tipton posted a twitter message Wednesday afternoon stating that several schools remain in contention for Stojakovic's services. Various reports suggest Gonzaga, North Carolina, Alabama, Florida, LSU and Cincinnati may be among the other schools interested in Stojakovic.

Seldom does a star player who has entered the transfer portal withdraw from the portal and stay with his original team, but it does happen occasionally. ESPN ranks Stojakovic as the 31st-best player in this year's transfer portal, and the basketball transfer portal window closed Tuesday night. (Jeremiah Wilkinson is ranked 77th)

While Stojakovic is in the portal, Cal can continue to talk to him, hoping to convince him to stay in Berkeley. It would be a major accomplishment for Mark Madsen if Stojakovic would return to Cal for his junior season.

Cal has already lost several key members of its 2024-25 roster. Freshman Jeremiah Wilkinson has transferred to Georgia, and BJ Omot transferred to Minnesota. Joshua Ola-Joseph, Spencer Mahoney and Christian Tucker are in the transfer portal.  Jovan Blacksher Jr. is out of college eligibility, and Mady Sissoko also appears to be out eligibility.

Mark Madsen has added five transfers this offseason – Grand Canyon transfer Sammie Yeanay, Delaware transfer John Camden, Loyola-Maryland transfer Milos Ilic, Campbell transfer Nolan Dorsey and Virginia transfer Dai Dai Ames.

We can only speculate on why Stojakovic might want to stay at Cal.

One of the reasons Stojakovic transferred to Cal from Stanford after his freshman season was that he saw the success Jaylon Tyson had in his one year at Cal under Mark Madsen, helping Tyson become a first-round NBA draft pick.  Stojakovic’s scoring increased from 7.8 points per game as a Stanford freshman to 17.9 points this past season as a Cal sophomore.

The Bears finished 14-19 overall and 6-14 in the ACC this past season, but Stojakovic made a lasting impression in the Golden Bears’ final game of the season. 

With Cal playing without Wilkinson and starting point guard Blacksher, Stojakovic poured in 37 points to keep Cal in its second-round ACC tournament game against Stanford. Cal lost the game by five points, but Stojakovic scored nine points in the final 3:36 and got the Bears within one point with 1:03 remaining.

A Big Ten team such as Illinois offers more exposure. The Illini have been to the NCAA tournament each of the past five seasons. Cal has not been to the NCAA tournament since 2016.

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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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