Cal and Stanford didn’t get into the Big Ten in 2023’s Great Reshuffling of college sports, but that isn’t stopping their athletes from moving into a top-tier league.
Andrej Stojakovic, the star guard who transferred from Stanford to Cal in 2024, is leaving Berkeley for Illinois. He reportedly considered returning to Stanford in the transfer portal, and North Carolina was also deemed a finalist in his quasi-free agency in the name, image and likeness era.
Stojakovic, a 6-foot-7 rising junior, averaged 17.9 points per game for the Bears in his one season as a Cal player under Mark Madsen. He was a McDonald’s All-American out of Jesuit High School near Sacramento when he chose Stanford, but his freshman year on The Farm was a bit muted, scoring 7.8 points per game.
More minutes (33.4 per game) and a larger role in the Bears’ attack followed his cross-bay transfer, but Cal underwhelmed in 2024-25 after showing promise in Madsen’s first season. They finished just 14-19 overall and 6-14 in league play in their first season as an ACC school, losing to Stanford in the conference tournament.
Stojakovic cited Illinois’ ability to develop big guards under coach Brad Underwood as a key to his decision.
“I’m looking forward to being part of a team where I can bring the ball up and have shooters all around,” Stojakovic told ESPN. “I can also be a shooter, play on the wing, when someone else is bringing the ball up.”
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The Bears also lost breakout freshman Jeremiah Wilkinson to Georgia in the transfer portal. The Atlanta-area native averaged 19.5 points over the final 14 games after becoming a starter. Cal has brought in some reinforcements, including former De La Salle forward Chris Bell from Syracuse and Justin Pippen, the son of former NBA star Scottie, from Michigan.
Cal has recently lost a number of football stars in the transfer portal to schools in the Big Ten and SEC, the two most powerful conferences in the sport. Running backs Jaydn Ott and Jaivian Thomas are heading to Oklahoma and UCLA, respectively, while breakout tight end Jack Endries has committed to Texas and quarterback Fernando Mendoza transferred to Indiana over the winter.
