Jonathan Sze is a journalism senior and sports reporter and columnist for Mustang News. The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Mustang Media Group.
It was fun to dream of what the Cal Poly Men’s Basketball team would look like next year.
The 2025-26 season could have been the inflection point of the Mustangs becoming a yearly contender within the Big West scene. It was a young team led in large part by Hamad Mousa, Peter Bandelj and Cayden Ward, who were all sophomores.
Fellow sophomore Guzman Vasilic was also a major contributor, and freshmen like Jess Esso Essis, Troy Plumtree, Ali Assran and Austin Goode were key role players for the Mustangs. 77.6 of the team’s 82.1 points per game came from underclassmen last season.
Unfortunately, reality has come crashing down in San Luis Obispo. Mousa, Ward and Bandelj have all announced they are entering the transfer portal.
READ MORE: Cal Poly Basketball stars Cayden Ward,Peter Bandelj,Hamad Mousa to enter transfer portal
To be honest, this shouldn’t surprise anyone. Bandelj almost left last year in the portal, and Ward took a huge step up from his freshman campaign. Mousa had his name floated around as a potential NBA draft prospect but instead entered the portal looking for a new home for the second straight offseason.
As nice as it would have been to keep everyone around, it was a long shot in today’s era at a mid-major college.
“We’re in a different world now,” Head Coach Mike DeGeorge said previously to Mustang News after they were eliminated from the Big West tournament on March 11.
“One of the difficult things is these guys are constantly inundated with people telling them how much money they can make and agents reaching out to them even though they already have agents.”
The past two years have been unprecedented times in the NCAA. The transfer portal has been stripped of penalties and expanded to the point where it’s no longer used to get away from bad situations but instead for the players’ own gain.
The loosening of restrictions comes at a time where NIL has made it so that college athletes can be properly compensated for their contributions to the cashflow that universities enjoy from athletics. The majority of players throughout history (2017-18 Adidas scandal, SMU in the 1980’s, USC in the 2000’s for exceptions) were paid nothing except for an education.
Whether or not that was right or fair back then is a conversation for another time, but now the portal is being used primarily as a method for players to get the top dollar for their services.
Changes coming to Cal Poly
Mousa, Ward and Bandelj are all stars at Cal Poly with skills that translate very easily to any modern offensive system. That makes them targets for Power Five programs, all of whom likely have deeper pockets than Cal Poly can afford at this moment.
It’s possible that any of the three withdraw from the portal, Bandelj did so last year, but let’s assume all three are gone by the start of next season.
READ MORE: ‘Unfinished business’: Peter Bandelj’s sophomore stint
Cal Poly loses their top three scorers (48 points per game), most efficient three point shooter (min. 100 attempts), top three rebounders and their top two leaders in assists.
That’s a lot of production gone, it’s hard to replace all of that in just a single season. The great news is DeGeorge and Cal Poly have already done it. Coming into this season the Mustangs lost Mac Riniker, Owen Koonce and Jarred Hyder, who were their top scorers, rebounders and defenders in 2024-25.
Most of their replacements were incoming freshmen or already on the squad, only Mousa came through the transfer portal. A repeat is definitely in the cards when you look at the young talent the Mustangs have.
At the same time, it feels like there was a moment there for the Mustangs. A season after losing zero players to the transfer portal, this offseason looks like it will be a different story.
This is the reality that faces not just Cal Poly but mid-major programs across the country.
The future of West Coast college athletics
With the realignment of the Pac-12 and the subsequent realignment of the West Coast mid-major conferences, the Big West now sits at the bottom of the pecking order of the true West Coast conferences.
The Big West has already lost Hawai’i, UC San Diego, UC Davis and now UC Santa Barbara to the other mid-majors on the West Coast. UC Irvine may very well be on its way out as they were linked to moving to the West Coast Conference this past year.
READ MORE: Breaking: UC Santa Barbara to leave Big West for West Coast Conference in 2027
Cal Poly has connections to the Pac-12, being an affiliate member in men’s soccer and wrestling. If the Big West is truly sinking then jumping to the Pac-12 may be the best move for Cal Poly to make from an athletics standpoint.
Budget wise, it may not. Cal Poly and Cal States in general have seen the slashing of their budgets, including the cuts that claimed the Swimming and Diving program two years ago.
If Cal Poly were to receive an invite to another conference they might get paid to join, as UC San Diego is getting $10 million to join the WCC. If they get desperate to escape the Big West, then they might have to pay a large sum like Sacramento State did for their move to the Mid Atlantic Conference for football.
Cal Poly faces a decision on the horizon over their conference alignment that will determine the long term future of their athletics program. They can stick with the Big West in hopes that the conference stops bleeding members and can stabilize without diluting the quality of the conference, or attempt to jump ship at great financial cost and uncertainty.
