Ivan Rabb remaining at Cal for another season
Just days after Jaylen Brown declared for the NBA Draft, Ivan Rabb finally made his choice and will be coming back to Cal for his sophomore season. The deadline to declare for the draft was Sunday at 8:59 p.m. PST.
“Ivan is an tremendous person and student-athlete to have on our team,” said Cal men’s basketball head coach Cuonzo Martin in a statement. “He and his family have put a lot of thought into making a decision that was right for him.”
Rabb was projected by most draft analysts to be chosen in the lottery, with ESPN’s Chad Ford having him slotted as the 11th pick to the Orlando Magic and Draft Express predicting Rabb to be the 14th pick, which belongs to the Chicago Bulls. This all comes after a season in which he averaged 12.5 points and 8.6 rebounds per game, the latter of which was best on the team.
He also helped lead Cal to its first NCAA Tournament berth since 2013 and its highest seed in program history. The Bears ended up being upset by 13-seeded Hawaii in their first game of the tournament despite a solid performance from Rabb, who tallied 13 points and 12 boards.
By coming back for another season, Rabb will get a chance to develop important aspects of his game, helping to push his draft stock even higher. He will likely need to add size to his thin frame, which was a main concern for most draft experts. Additionally, he may have time to add an improved jumper to his game. Rabb currently excels in the midrange, but expanding his shot to the three-point line would help push him even higher up the board.
Brown — who announced his plans to sign an agent and go to the NBA on Thursday — and Rabb committed to Cal last year, giving the Bears a pair of five-star recruits and one of the nation’s 10 best recruiting classes. Both excelled this season, as Rabb was one of the team’s most efficient players — he shot 61.5 percent from the field — and Brown one of its most electric. Brown won Pac-12 Freshman of the Year and earned first-team All-Pac-12 honors, with Rabb earning a spot on the second team. They were both chosen to be on the Pac-12 All-Freshmen team.
For the Bears, this decision brightens what had been a bleak outlook for the 2016-17 season. Rabb’s return helps bolster a Cal team that will have lost some of its key contributors. The Bears will be without Brown, who is expected to be a top-10 pick in June’s NBA Draft, and senior guard Tyrone Wallace, who were Cal’s top two scorers last season. So Rabb will be a centerpiece to a Bears’ offense that could look a lot different than it did this year. The forward will be a crucial inside source of offense and will be flanked by guards Jordan Mathews and Jabari Bird, who will provide spacing and perimeter shooting.
“(Rabb) is a talented basketball player with a very bright future, and we are excited to have Ivan continue as a member of our Cal basketball program,” Martin said.
Hooman Yazdanian is the assistant sports editor. Contact him at hyazdanian@dailycal.org. Follow him on Twitter @hoomanyazdanian