Counting Down Cal's Top-50 Transfer Athletes: No. 48 Mady Sissoko

We rank the mid-career arrivals in Berkeley who have had the greatest impact on the Golden Bears

Mady Sissoko | Photo by Jeff Faraudo

The transfer portal era in college athletics seems like it’s been with us forever. Likewise, most fans can recall less turbulent times when transfers happened, they simply didn’t look like a stampede to the 1849 California Gold Rush.

We thought it was time to rank the best transfers Cal teams have attracted, most of them in recent seasons but also including a few OGs from yesteryear. 

We limited our ranking to transfers from four-year colleges.

Here is the next athlete in our countdown: 

48. Mady Sissoko

Sport: Basketball 

Arrival year at Cal: 2024-25

Previous school: Michigan State (Played 124 games over four seasons with 59 starts through 2023-24. He averaged 2.8 points and 3.7 rebounds and shot 59.6 percent on Tom Izzo teams that advanced to the NCAA tournament all four years).

Contributions at Cal: 

— A 6-foot-9, 235-pound center who grew in a small rural village in the African nation of Mali, Sissoko started all 32 games in his lone season at Berkeley.

— Given greater opportunity under coach Mark Madsen than he had at Michigan State, Sissoko assembled career highs of 8.3 points and a team-best 8.4 rebounds, the latter number ranking No. 5 in the ACC. He shot 65.3 percent from the field — best in the ACC — and blocked 36 shots to lead the Bears in both statistical categories.

— He had 11 games of 10 or more rebounds, including a 14-point, 13-rebound performance in a 77-68 victory over Florida State. His stat line vs. the Seminoles also included a season-high five blocked shots.

— Sissoko had 16 points on 8-for-9 shooting and eight rebounds in the Bears’ 79-53 loss to North Carolina on Jan. 15.

— His March numbers were impressive: 13.2 points and 11.8 rebounds in five outings, including a stretch of three consecutive games where he totaled 41 rebonds.

Standout performance: Sissoko paired 21 points and 15 rebounds — both career bests — while making 9 of 10 shots from the floor in an 82-71 home victory over Boston College on March 1, 2025.

Impact on his team: Sissoko provided the Bears with stability in the paint and a presence with a history of winning at Michigan State. He was at his best late in the season, averaging 13.7 points and 11.2 rebounds while shooting 71.8 percent (28 for 39) from the floor over Cal’s final six games.

Previously on our list: 

No. 49: Kayla Williams

No. 50: Georgia Hunter Bell

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