Cal Basketball Expects to Start Faster in Mark Madsen's Second Season

Bears debut vs. Cal State Bakersfield in doubleheader at Haas Pavilion after women face Saint Mary's

Mark Madsen / Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

Coach Mark Madsen is looking for a faster start to the season from his Cal basketball team than a year ago, and that begins with Monday night’s season opener against Cal State Bakersfield.

The Bears and Roadrunners will tip off at approximately 8:30 p.m. at Haas Pavilion, or 40 minutes after the conclusion of the Cal women’s game. The women face Saint Mary’s in the first game of the doubleheader at 6 p.m.

The purchase of a ticket to the men's game gives fans admission to the women's game as well.

Madsen expects his team, featuring 11 scholarship newcomers including 10 transfers, to get off to a faster start than the 2023-24 Bears.

A year ago, in Madsen’s first season as coach at Cal, they struggled to find rhythm early. The Bears started 2-5, were 3-7 at one point and 4-10 before going 9-9 the rest of the way to wind up at 9-13. Cal was 3-29 the year before Madsen’s arrival.

Those early struggles last season included a four-game losing streak in which the Bears lost three times by three points and once in overtime.

Madsen is confident this team will come together more quickly. 

“I do think we’re further ahead this year than we were last year,” he said.

Madsen said accelerating the learning curve was an emphasis. The coaching staff even created teaching videos that were available for players to voluntarily watch on their own time to aid in the process.

“Now we’ve had a summer to put in our system, our sets, our terminology. The guys have embraced it,” he said. “The team’s really been coming together and I’m incredibly excited about the year.”

Madsen has not shared his starting lineup and said he envisions a rotation of 10 or 11 players. Among the transfer newcomers are Andrej Stojakovic (Stanford), Jovan Blacksher Jr. (Grand Canyon), Mady Sissoko (Michigan State), Joshua Ola-Joseph (Minnesota), DeJuan Campbell (Western Carolina) and Rytis Petraitis (Air Force).

Asked what he wants to see from his squad on opening night, Madsen pointed to defense and sharing the basketball.

“I think if we play tremendous defense and the ball is moving,” he said, “it keeps everyone in involved and I think it will help us win.”

 

The Bears beat Bakersfield 83-63 a year ago, but both teams have experienced wholesale makeovers of their rosters. The Roadrunners wound up with the same overall 13-19 record as the Bears last season and were 8-12 in the Big West Conference.

Cal women debut

The Bears’ women will try to build on last season’s 19-15 campaign, their best in five seasons under coach Charmin Smith. 

While the men have rebuilt their roster through the transfer portal, the women feature a small core of returnees, led by Ioanna Krimili, Marta Suárez and Michelle Onyiah.

Newcomers include four freshmen, including a pair who were ranked ESPN HoopGurlz Top 100 — Kamryn Mafua (No. 54) and Zahra King (No. 76). Among four transfers are a pair from former Pac-12 rival schools, Jayda Noble (Washington) and Kayla Williams (USC).