Berkeley >> Maybe this is a Bears thing.

The Baylor Bears, who advanced to the second round of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament last month, subsequently lost nine players to the transfer portal. Four others ran out of eligibility and one entered the NBA draft, leaving their roster bare.

This wasn’t supposed to happen to the Cal Bears. At least that’s what we were told.

Cal basketball coach Mark Madsen ended last season with this promise: “Key players are going to be retained.” Football coach Justin Wilcox after Saturday’s final spring practice, said, “I feel really good about where the team can be . . . I’m very confident.”

That optimistic vibe has evaporated as both programs have been hit hard by departures to the transfer portal.

Just this week at least 11 football players have opted out. Five Cal running backs will have a new football address next fall, including star senior Jaydn Ott, who rushed for 1,315 yards in 2023, and junior Jaivian Thomas, who filled in capably last season when Ott struggled with a nagging ankle injury.

Also gone is Jack Endries, an East Bay native and one-time walk-on, who last fall was an All-ACC honorable mention pick after becoming the first tight end to lead the Bears in pass receptions since 1982.

Ott announced Tuesday — one day before the 10-day spring transfer portal window officially opened — that he will play at Oklahoma. Endries reportedly is expected to sign with Texas. Thomas, who came out of Oakland’s McClymonds High School, has not revealed his destination.

All of this came in the wake of starting quarterback Fernando Mendoza transferring to Indiana after the 2024 regular season.

Cal basketball has suffered comparable losses, with eight scholarship players defecting. The two big ones: freshman guard Jeremiah Wilkinson, who averaged 19.5 points over the final 14 games after becoming a starter, and sophomore guard Andrej Stojakovic, an honorable mention All-ACC pick who led the Bears at 17.9 points per game.

The women’s team, fresh off its first NCAA tournament appearance since 2019, lost two-year starting forward Marta Suarez to TCU.

All of this is unfolding against a backdrop of seismic change in college sports. Relaxed transfer rules and NIL money have created an atmosphere where players routinely seek greener pastures. According to 247Sports, more than 3,900 football players had entered the portal by the end of Wednesday.

Also at play is the pending final approval of the $2.8 billion House settlement that will allow power conference schools to spend $20.5 million per year in direct revenue-sharing payments to athletes, most of that to football players.

When that happens, NIL arrangements from third-party collectives that exceed $600 will have to be reported and could count against the revenue-share total. For now, athletes can negotiate rich deals before what is effectively a salary cap goes into effect.

Cal officials have said they were prepared for the new fiscal realities, but there may be other factors at play. That incudes the status of coach Justin Wilcox, who has guided the Bears to back-back bowl games but hasn’t produced a winning season since 2019.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported that two heavy-hitter donors said they will stop giving to Cal athletics unless new football general manager Ron Rivera is given greater control over the program.

In the case of Ott and Cal’s running backs exodus, offseason changes on Wilcox’s offensive coaching staff may have had a more direct impact. Running backs coach Aristotle Thompson was a casualty in the transition to new offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin, and Ott had a close relationship with Thompson.

The only running back still on the roster who played last year is redshirt freshman Jamaal Wiley, a 6-foot, 220-pound former three-star recruit who had six carries last season.

On the basketball front, coach Mark Madsen already has commitments from six transfers, including Michigan freshman guard Justin Pippen, the son of Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen, and Grand Canyon power forward Sammie Yeanay, a former four-star prospect.