Cal Adds Spanish Big Man
Jordi Geli Vilardell, a 6-9, 190-pound forward from Girona, Spain, will be a member of this season's California Bears, the school announced last week.
Vilardell spent the past five years playing with his club team, Girona Casademont. Last year, he averaged 11.1 points, 13.1 rebounds and 2 blocked shots, leading the squad to a No. 4 ranking in the Catalonia region.
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In other news from the Berkley campus, 6-10 center Gabe Hughes has changed his mind about transferring to Rutgers and will return to the PAC-10 school for his final two seasons of college eligibility.
Hughes averaged 2.1 points and 1.5 rebounds last season, while blocking 10 shots and shooting 70.4 percent from the floor. His best game came in a win at Washington State when he scored 10 points and grabbed six rebounds. As a freshman in 2000-01, Hughes averaged 0.4 ppg and 0.6 rpg in 19 games.
Hughes' return gives the Bears 13 scholarship players for this season. But that may be in danger according to yesterday's San Francisco Chronicle.
The Chronicle wrote, "Shantay Legans, Cal's starting point guard in each of his three seasons with the Bears, has asked for his release from his Cal scholarship with the intention of transferring, according to his mother."
Legans, who started 26 games last season, averaged 8.1 points, 3.8 assists, 2.1 rebounds and 1.2 steals during his junior campaign.