AZTECS GET TOP TRANSFER
Cal’s Bradley coming to SDSU; Boogie Ellis decides to go to USC
Cal junior Matt Bradley entered the Division I basketball transfer portal last week. His phone started blowing up with some of the biggest programs in the nation — Gonzaga, Kentucky, Kansas, Oregon, USC — but he already knew where he wanted to go.
He made it official Monday night, committing to San Diego State and providing the Aztecs with an instant injection of offense and defense following the departures of seniors Matt Mitchell and Jordan Schakel.
“I kind of had in mind where I wanted to head to,” said Bradley, who has two years of eligibility remaining. “Before I even reached out to San Diego State, that was a place where in my mind I could see myself playing and establishing myself.”
He and Mitchell share more than the same name. They’re both from the Inland Empire — Mitchell from Riverside, Bradley from San Bernardino — and played on the same AAU club. They’re both also thick, strong, physical players who can score at three levels.
Bradley was a second team all-conference selection in his sophomore and junior seasons at Cal after averaging 17.5 and 18.0 points (the latter ranking third in the Pac-12 last season). He’s a career 40.2 percent shooter behind the arc, has a lethal midrange game and at 6-foot-4, 230 pounds can finish through contact at the rim.
He scored in double figures in all but one game last season and 11 times was in the 20s despite missing seven games with an ankle injury. He had 29 points against Colorado, and 26 points and 10 rebounds against Arizona State.
Aztecs fans might remember him from early in his freshman season, when he had 11 points and four rebounds in an 89-83 Cal win in Berkeley. Bradley made the decisive 3 with 32 seconds left in a tie game.
SDSU recruited him out of high school as a consensus top-100 recruit, and those prior relationships played a role when he popped into the portal. But the connections go deeper than that.
Bradley has remained close to Mitchell, who told him to ask him anything about the program. Bradley would text a question, and Mitchell would reply with long blocks of text.
“It was genuine,” Bradley
said. “He wasn’t just saying it, because he’s not even coming back. It wasn’t so he’d play with me. It was that he genuinely loves the university and loves what the program has done for him. If it worked out for him, hopefully it could work out for me as well.”
He also spoke with another Mountain West player of the year from SDSU: Jamaal Franklin, whom Bradley met through mutual friends.
“Jamaal speaks his mind,” Bradley said. “He gave me the real.”
He’s family friends with Aztecs great Michael Cage as well.
Bradley fits SDSU’s mantra of positionless basketball, able to switch screens onto bigger or smaller players and able to flow from the perimeter to the post on offense. But he admits he was less concerned about Xs and Os than intangibles.
“It’s a really genuine relationship they have with their players,” Bradley said. “Everybody on their team gets along, they fight for each other, they go in the JAM (Center), they go hard. As far as the playing style, that wasn’t really as much my concern as the personal things like relationships and work ethic. That’s what I’m really excited to be a part of.”
It was a crazy night for West Coast players in the transfer portal, with three
high-profile guards committing to new schools in rapid fire.
Jemarl Baker went from Arizona to Fresno State. Then Bradley picked SDSU. Then Mission Bay High alum Boogie Ellis announced he’s headed from Memphis to USC.
SDSU had been linked to Ellis and Baker. Ellis is from San Diego. And Baker, a high school teammate of Mitchell’s, was recruited by SDSU out of Roosevelt High when he initially picked Cal, then decommitted after coach Cuonzo Martin left and picked Kentucky instead. When the 6-3 Baker
transferred from Kentucky, it came down to Arizona and SDSU.
Baker to SDSU was an obvious connection, but sources said the Aztecs had other guards higher on their list and passed. Bradley’s commitment confirmed that.
Still uncommitted is allconference Utah small forward Timmy Allen, who appeared alongside Bradley on lists of the top available transfers. Allen is hearing from some of the biggest programs in the nation as well, but now making calls on SDSU’s behalf is Bradley.
They’re good friends.
“He’s the ultimate competitor,” Bradley said. “He’s the most competitive person in the Pac-12 that I had to go against, highly skilled, just a winner. We have built a respect for each other from playing against each other. I’ve talked to him over this process. I told him it would be a crazy sight if we did this.
“He has to do what he feels best. I just keep in contact with him. He’s been hit up by everybody in the country. What he might be looking for might be a little different from me, but I think San Diego State has a chance.”