Cal: Cuonzo Martin, left, and his team face offseason of uncertainty.
SPOKANE, Wash. — Friday marked more than the end of a oncepromising season for the Cal men’s basketball team. When the potential of a loaded roster went unrealized, the Bears were left wrestling with difficult questions: How many players will they lose? Will next year be any better? Has Cuonzo Martin coached his last Cal game?
This was supposed to be his breakthrough season with the Bears, who boasted an all-Pac-12 point guard, two five-star freshmen, a deep bench and healthy big men. Getting heralded individuals to put aside the ego was Martin’s primary task.
Less than a week ago, Cal was finally living up to the preseason hype. It was back in the Associated Press Top 25. It had won nine of its past 11 games. It owned its best NCAA Tournament seed in program history.
“We were in a great position,” freshman forward Ivan Rabb said. “Then stuff started falling apart.”
Monday morning, after a seven-month campus probe into allegations that he repeatedly sexually harassed a female reporter, assistant coach Yann Hufnagel was fired. Cal announced Tuesday night that it was looking into whether Martin fulfilled his duty as a mandatory reporter of the allega- tions against Hufnagel.
During practice Wednesday, leading scorer Tyrone Wallace suffered a season-ending hand injury. The Bears’ only senior rotation player didn’t travel for the NCAA Tournament. Friday morning, moments before tip-off, guard Jabari Bird headed to the locker room with back spasms. Players later conceded that losing Bird so close to game time factored into their lackluster performance.
The setbacks might not be over.
Rabb and fellow freshman Jaylen Brown, both potential lottery picks, have until May 25 to declare for the NBA draft. If those two join the team’s seniors in leaving, Cal will slog forward without players who accounted for at least 54 percent of its points this season.
Martin has hardly built on last year’s top-10 recruiting class. Less than a month before the start of the late signing period, three-star shooting guard Tyson Jolly and junior college point guard Dontae Coleman are the Bears’ lone 2016 pledges. Losing Hufnagel, a prized recruiter, could hurt their chances of adding anyone else.
Of course, it is far from guaranteed that Martin will stick in Berkeley. If the campus investigation into him yields troubling findings, Martin could face disciplinary action. UC Berkeley President Janet Napolitano is working to dispel the notion that the university takes a lighthanded approach to sexual-harassment in- cidents.
Martin, who has yet to sign a contract with Cal, could leave Berkeley before the probe is completed. When asked Friday about his future with the program, he had a telling response: “Well for me, I’m fine. My situation will be what I determine it will be, so I am fine.”
Getting upset in the first round of the NCAA Tournament makes him a less appealing target for coaching vacancies. But Martin’s track record of late-season turn- arounds, academic success and fundraising could put him in the mix for jobs. Oklahoma State, Rutgers and UNLV, among others, have openings.
“Obviously a lot has changed,” center Kingsley Okoroh said. “We’re looking forward to things settling down a bit.”