Can Cal Keep Jeremiah Wilkinson, Andrej Stojakovic from Transferring?

'Key players are going to be retained,' says Cal coach Mark Madsen, who notes that both players are 'huge priorities'.

Cal 6-foot-1 guard Jeremiah Wilkinson challenges Stanford's 7-foot-1 Maxime Reynaud / D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images

Perhaps the biggest question regarding the future of Cal basketball is this: Will freshman Jeremiah Wilkinson and sophomore Anrej Stojakovic be on the Golden Bears' roster next season?

"The phrase we'll use is this: Key players are going to be retained," Cal coach Mark Madsen said Monday.

In this era of massive movement in the transfer portal and the expected addition of revenue-sharing this summer when players will be able to receive direct paytments from their schools, keeping the team's top talent from one year to the next becomes a major priority.

Does Cal have the appeal and financial wherewithall to keep Wilkinson and Stojakovic in Berkeley?

Wilkinson has been an unexpected godsend for the Golden Bears. He was moved into the starting lineup nine games ago and is averaging 20.4 points over those nine games. His aggressiveness, confidence and physical presence suggest even better things lie ahead.

"He's really impressive, I can't deny that," Stanford coach Kyle Smith said of Wilkinson, who scored 19 points and led a Cal comback that fell short in Saturday's 66-61 Stanford victory. "Little bit like a coach in our league [Georgia Tech's] Damon Stoudamire.

"He's just a relentless lefty, constantly getting to the basket. Good luck trying to keep him from going left, but he does play with a certain swagger. He draw contact, puts your defense in a compromising position, and he's probably only going to get better."

Other teams would love to have Wilkinson. He said last week he is "comfortable" at Cal, but when he becomes aware of the money he can earn at another school with a high basketball profile, it may leave him with a difficult decision. He's from Georgia so he has no specific ties to the Bay Area.

Cal quarterback Fernando Mendoza and his parents seemed completely committed to Cal, but ultimately he chose to transfer to a strong, Big Ten football program.

Stojakovic is a little different. He transferred from Stanford to Cal after last season, and he might not want to transfer in consecutive seasons. Plus he is from Sacramento, and has spend both of his college seasons in the Bay Area, relatively close to home. His father, former NBA standout Peja Stojakovic, comes to virtually every Cal home game.

However, Stojakovic is a more attractive talent now than he was a year ago, when he averaged 7.8 points while starting 10 of the 32 games he played as a Stanford freshman after being a high school McDonald's All-American.

This season, at Cal, he is averaging 17.6 points, which is down slightly from a few weeks ago but still seventh-best in the ACC.

Neither Wilkinson nor Stojakovic seems ready to enter the NBA draft this year, so the chore for Madsen and Cal is to keep both players and have them on the Bears' 2025-26 roster.

Asked on Monday what he and Cal need to do to retain Wilkinson and Stojakovic, Madsen said this:

"They're both huge priorities. Jeremiah's one of the top freshmen in he country. Andrej is one of the top sophomores in the country, and we are going to do everything in our power to retain both of them.

"We have a very strong alumni base. We have a very strong donor base, and I'm not going to speak specifically about financials on that.

"The phrase we'll use is this: Key players are going to be retained. And every effort is going to be made to retain key players.

"This is going to be a lot of stake-holders locking arms and doing everything possible to get this done."

The immediate focus for Cal (12-15, 5-11 ACC) is to have enough success in its final four regular-season games to earn a berth in the ACC tournament (only the top 15 of the 18 ACC teams qualify for the conference tournament).

However, in the back of everyone's mind is whether Cal can keep its two stars for another year. Madsen will have to use his persuasive skills -- which are considerable -- and Cal must make the Cal experience appealing enough to keep Wilkinson and Stojakovic around for one more year.

After that, if both continue to ascend, the NBA may be waiting.

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