Mark Madsen doesn’t sound like a coach easing into a rebuild. He sounds like someone who thinks Cal is sitting on something real.
The Bears are coming off a 22-win season, their best mark in 10 years, but the roster looks different now. Two starters are gone, and guards Dai Dai Ames and Justin Pippen transferred to Tennessee and Ohio State after averaging 16.9 points and 14.9 points with 4.6 assists, respectively. Even with that turnover, Madsen said the mood around the program is strong.
“Excitement would be an understatement for us right now.”
Madsen made those comments Tuesday during the annual ACC media day in Charlotte, NC, appearing remotely from Berkeley while he recovers from knee surgery. The Cal coach said doctors removed 11 “loose bodies” from his knee joint in a procedure performed two weeks ago.
“I’m still hobbling a little bit, but I’m able to run practice and be out there with the players a bit,” he told the ACC Network hosts from Berkeley. "I’m glad I was able to get it done.”
That health update came alongside a bigger basketball message: Cal believes it has kept a strong core and added enough new pieces to keep climbing. The Bears retained six returning scholarship players, with starting center/forward Lee Dort front and center.
Dort averaged 8.1 points and 7.8 rebounds last season, then spent the summer with the Haitian national team and put up 10.1 points and 13.8 rebounds in four FIBA AmeriCup prequalifying games. One of those outings was a 22-rebound performance in a win over St.
Vincent and the Grenadines.
“He had some huge, monster games for them and really got to play against other grown men at the international level,” Madsen said, adding that he sees NBA potential in Dort. “Lee is an absolute anchor for us. He’s one of the key guys we were able to retain.
Cal also brought in five transfers and four freshmen recruits as it tries to replace 75 percent of its scoring from last season.
Among the newcomers is Jordan Ross, a 6-3 senior guard from Georgia who spent his first two seasons at Saint Mary’s. He started 25 games last season, averaging 6.7 points and 2.3 assists, and played on NCAA tournament teams in each of the past two years.
Jake Wilkins, a 6-9 sophomore forward from Georgia and the son of Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins, is another addition Madsen is clearly excited about.
“Jake can impact the game in so many ways,” Madsen said. “He finishes everything at the rim, he’s a walking deflection, he blocks shots, get steals, he gets rebounds, he can handle the ball, he’s a high flyer.
And he’s just an absolutely pleasure to be around. His teammates love him.
Jake is going to have a huge year for us.”
Nojus Indrusaitis, a 6-5 junior guard fro Pitt, averaged 14.3 points over the final seven games last season, and Madsen said the production has carried over.
“He was really starting to peak. He was kind of terrorizing the ACC,” Madsen said. “We’ve seen a continuation of that.”
Michael Cooper, a 6-3 sophomore guard from Wright State, arrived after earning all-freshman honors in the Horizon League with a 13.4-point average. Madsen said Cooper had surgery on his right thumb after getting to Berkeley.
The last of the transfer additions is Amier Ali, a 6-8 junior wing who played the past two seasons at Mississippi State and Arizona State. He made the game-winning 3-pointer against New Orleans for Mississippi State last season.
Madsen’s message to his team is simple: last season matters, but it only counts if Cal builds on it.
“The message to the team is: Yes, we had a good season last year. But we have to take care of all the steps and do all the things that can hopefully allow us to surpass that in the coming year.”
The Bears open the season Nov. 2 against Adams State at Haas Pavilion.
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Virginia Tech coach James Franklin acknowledged the uncertainty around what Cal might do next, pointing both to the change in who is calling the plays and to the absence of several key players from the Bears roster. For Cal, the question is no longer whether the offense can look more productive than it did early against UNLV. It is whether that second-half burst was a one-game adjustment or the start of something more stable when the Bears take the field again. [Read more 🡒]
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The timing only added to the sense of pressure around the decision, with Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele exiting after a concussion and athletic director Ron Rivera acknowledging the offense had fallen short of what the program wanted. McCanns adjustment did help Cal briefly wrest control back, even if the finish still went UNLVs way, and it leaves the Bears with an obvious question hanging over the next stretch: whether this was a one-game rescue or the start of something more permanent. [Read more 🡒]
Cal Faces A Huge ACC Test That Could Define Its Race
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For Cal, the timing of its next test matters almost as much as the opponent. The Bears have one victory over an FBS team, so there is little margin for error if they want to keep their path toward the upper tier of the ACC alive. In a league where the standings can flip quickly and the championship picture is still wide open, this stretch may tell a lot about whether Cal can turn itself into more than a spoiler. [Read more 🡒]