Cal Just Landed An Early Recruiting Win That Could Snowball

Cal Basketball lands a major coup with the commitment of highly-touted guard Gene Roebuck for the class of 2027.

Mark Madsen has his first piece for Cal’s 2027 class, and it’s a major one.

Gene Roebuck, a four-star guard from La Mirada, California, announced over social media over the weekend that he is headed to Cal. The commitment gives the Bears an early win on the recruiting trail with one of the top guards in the country.

Roebuck is ranked No. 45 nationally by On3/Rivals, No. 46 by 247Sports and No. 71 by ESPN. Cal beat out Gonzaga and Washington for his pledge, and his offer list also included Baylor, Kansas, Mississippi, UCLA, Virginia, Cincinnati and Arizona State, among others.

The visit that helped set things in motion came on September 25, when Roebuck was on campus between trips to Washington and Gonzaga.

His production backs up the ranking. As a sophomore, Roebuck averaged 19.2 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.1 assists while shooting 52 percent from the field. As a junior, he took another step, putting up 22.5 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game while making 55 percent of his shots overall and 37 percent from three-point range.

Cal is still involved with another elite 2027 target in Lewis Uvwo, the nation’s top center prospect. The five-star big man was slated to visit last month, and Cal is among the schools in the mix with Kentucky, Baylor, LSU and Providence for his services.

The Bears will open the 2026-27 season with exhibition road games against Loyola Marymount on October 16 and Oregon State on October 24 before returning home for their first regular-season game on November 2 against Adams State.

Cal is coming off a 22-12 season that ended with a trip to the second round of the National Invitation Tournament.

In Other News...

Cal Faces One Huge Question Before Another Tough Home Test

Cals upset of Virginia Tech gave the Bears a much-needed lift, but it also set up another difficult home assignment with far less certainty attached to it. Wake Forest arrives ranked No. 21 and carrying the profile of a team that has handled ACC competition well, while Cal is trying to build on one of its best wins of the season and keep momentum from getting lost in the shuffle.

The bigger question for the Bears is whether some of their most important pieces can be back in the lineup. Quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele and safety Kingson Lopa were nearly cleared last week and are now being watched closely heading into another test against a team that has been piling up quality wins. Even with the confidence that comes from the Virginia Tech result, Cals margin for error is thin with a 9.5-point underdog standing across from it. [Read more 🡒]

Cal Faces A Brutal ACC Road Twist Before Ranked SMU Trip

Cals next ACC road assignment comes with a tricky schedule wrinkle, as the league announced that the Bears Oct. 24 game at No. 24 SMU will kick off early in the day. Cal is coming off a win over Virginia Tech and still has a ranked night game against No. 21 Wake Forest ahead of it, so the trip to Dallas will arrive with little time to reset before another major conference test.

SMU has also made itself a difficult place to visit since entering the ACC before the 2024 season, with a strong home record and no conference home loss to date. For Cal, the challenge is not just the opponent but the timing, with the Bears staring at a short turnaround and a road game against one of the leagues tougher home teams. [Read more 🡒]

Cal Still Has One Big Problem With A Brutal Stretch Ahead

Cal left Blacksburg with another sign that this season is moving in a different direction than last year, improving to 3-3 overall and 2-1 in ACC play after beating Virginia Tech. There is more stability, better results and a sense that the Bears are at least competing in games they were not consistently handling a season ago, even as the same familiar issues keep showing up in stretches.

The next month will test how real that progress is, because the schedule tightens quickly with ranked opponents and multiple road trips ahead. Cal still has to clean up its rushing offense and hold up defensively against better teams, and the quarterback situation adds another layer of uncertainty as the Bears navigate the stretch run. [Read more 🡒]