Stojakovic, Jeremiah Wilkinson 2 of 5 Ex-Cal Players in NCAA Tournament

Cal won't be in the NCAA tournament, but three players on NCAA tournament teams and two head coaches of teams in the field played at Cal.

Two of the three players played for Cal last season, and the other has played seemingly everywhere, including two seasons at Cal.

And by the way, former Cal head coach Mark Fox is in the NCAA tournament as an assistant coach at Kentucky. He didn't come close to making it to March Madness as Cal's head coach from 2019-20 to 2022-23.

Here are the five former Cal players in the 2026 NCAA tournament:

Andrej Stojakovic

Andrej Stojakovic was Cal's leading scorer last season, but this season he is the second-leading scorer on an Illinois team that faces ... to begin the NCAA. Stojakovic, who averaged 17.9 points last year as a sophomore at Cal, is averaging 13.4 points and 4.6 rebounds while making 49.1 percent of his field goal attempts for the Fighting Illini this season as a junior.

He scored 20 points or more seven times this season, including a season-high 30 points against Maryland.

Illinois faces Penn in its NCAA tournament opener

Jeremiah Wilkinson

Jeremiah Wilkinson was a surprise star as a freshman at Cal last season, but this season he is the leading scorer on a hot Georgia team that is seeded .... and is matched up against .;.....in opening NCAA tournament game.

Wilkinson averaged 15.1 points for Cal last season, but he has raised that to 17.0 points this season for the Bulldogs. His field-goal percentage of 39.9 percent is not great, but he scored 20 points or more nine times this season, including two games in which he scored more than 30 points -- 31 against Auburn and 32 against Mississippi.

Georgia faces Saint Louis in its NCAA tournament first-round game.

Devin Askew

Devin Askew spent two injury-riddled seasons at Cal and he's been around, but he is an important part of this year's Villianova team that is a No. ....seed in the NCAA tournament and will play ......in the first round..

This is Askew's sixth season of Division I basketball, and this will be his second NCAA tournament experience.

He played the 2020-21 season at Kentucky, was a member of the Texas team that lost in the second round of the NCAA tournament in 2022, then was a member of the Cal team for two season. He played just 13 games for the Bears in 2022-23 when he averaged 15.5 points, then played only six games for Cal the next year, when he averaged 6.2 points in Mark Madsen's first year as Cal's head coach.

Last season, Askew averaged 18.9 points for Long Beach State, and he is averaging 10.0 points while hitting 40.9 percent of his three-point shots this season at Villanova. He has started only two games for the Wildcats but he has scored 20 points or more four times this season.

Villanova opens NCAA tournament play against Utah State.

Alex Pribble

Alex Pribble came to Cal as a walk-on player under Ben Braun, but now he is the head coach at Idaho, which is seeded .... and will play ...in its first NCAA tournament game.

Pribble earned a scholarship during his four years at Cal, and he started eight games as a senior in 2006-07, but he never averaged more than 0.8 points in a season for the Bears.

In his third season as Idaho's head coach, Pribble's 2025-26 team won the Big Sky tournament and earned its first NCAA tournament berth in 36 years. The Vandals went just 9-9 in conference play but defeated Sacramento State, second-seeded Montana State, third-seeded Eastern Washington and fourth-seeded Montana in succession in the conference tournament.

Idaho faces second-seeded Houston in the first round.

Dennis Gates

Dennis Gates started 38 games for Cal from 1998-99 to 2001-02, and now he is in his fourth season as head coach at Missouri, which is the No. ...seed in this year's NCAA tournament and will face....in its opener.

This is Gates' fourth time in the NCAA tournament as a head coach, making it in 2021 as the head man at Cleveland State, and getting there for the third time in four seasons at Missouri. He also got to March Madness in 2023 and 2025 with the Tigers.

Missouri goes up against Miami-Fla. in the first round.

We did not consider assistant caches who played at Cal.