🏀 Virginia vs California, Wednesday, 7 January 2026, 2100, ACCN

Men's Basketball
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TV: ACCN

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Only second time this season Cal is leaving the Bay Area, and first road trip since playing at Kansas St on Nov 13.

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Yeah, UCLA was the same. Not a bad idea since they travel so much during conference season

Of course the whole thing is dumb, since they should mostly be playing other west coast teams in conference

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Dai Dai is going to go Dukes Miles Nuclear on us, isn’t he?

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Cal’s a good matchup for us:

They are pretty perimeter oriented in terms of their shot locations and not a good offensive rebounding team. They already take an above average number of mid range shots so our defense should be able to turn some of their 3PAs into midrange 2PAs, like we do with most teams.

On the flipside our offensive rebounding game should be able to get going.

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Dai Dai is going to take it to us, for sure. But prior to that, I hope he gets a warm welcome from the JPJ crowd.

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Oh he won’t. Same as Elijah Saunders. Which is/was weird.

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Dai Dai has the advantage of not having gone to Maryland. But yeah, I know you’re right.

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I think it’s hard for the fans to have a strong emotional attachment to a player who was here for only a year – and a year that most fans are trying to forget. Might be different with iMac.

That being said, the fans are the only ones who would have ANY kind of feeling toward last year’s players. The current coaches and players barely know them. Not going to be a lot of heartfelt hugs on the sidelines.

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He’ll get his because he’s one of their best players but he’ll do it on high volume.

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I hope there’s some positive acknowledgment of Isaiah Wilkins …

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If Louisville came to JPJ this year, I think iMac would get more boos than any of our former players.

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A little civil war here in our San Francisco household. Just told my Cal Bear wife, “Oh it’s on like Donkey Kong.”

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I think you’re right, but I’m not sure why. iMac was a loyal Hoo for three years, played hard, had a solid career (his Virginia stats are essentially the same as Kyle Guy). Everyone else in his recruiting class left Virginia before he did. He stayed a year even after the coach who recruited him – and promised he’d be there his entire career – retired. And even then, I think iMac would have stayed for his fourth year, but our new coach made it clear he didn’t want him – which is certainly his perogative, but hardly iMac’s fault.

Other than “we wanted him to be better than he was,” I honestly don’t understand why fans would boo him.

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I think I speak for most of hypothetical JPJ when I say I don’t care. Going outside the ACC would be fine, but you go to a different conference school (especially our “””rival”””) and you get booed. I don’t make the rules.

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I’m sorry but IMac didn’t break the social pact here UVA did, in multiple different ways. Booing him is shitty

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I don’t really consider Louisville our rival. Tech is our rival. Duke is our rival. UNC is our rival. I think even Maryland is more of a “rival” than Louisville. But I understand the in-conference thing. I guess it was the same with Morsell.

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It’s part of the game and crowd. I’ve been called every name and told so many things about my family I didn’t know lmao. No feelings either way

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Well the conference designated them as our Maryland replacement rival, so we have played them a lot. I just don’t have much animosity for them because we so reliably kicked their ass.

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I think it’s fair for any fan to feel any way they want about former players - wish them well, root against them… whatever it is. Sort of the whole nature of being a fan the “whys” and tastes are subjective.

What I would hope isn’t controversial is when the former player returns to our home court trying to beat us in a basketball game that we don’t give them a comfortable time doing so.

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