Cal's Joshua Ola-Joseph: `A Lot of People Will Be Shocked' by Bears

Golden Bears open Year 2 of the Mark Madsen era on Monday night vs. Cal State Bakersfield

Joshua Ola-Joseph / Photo by Jeff Faraudo

Year 2 of the Mark Madsen coaching era tips off Monday night when the Cal men’s basketball team opens its season against Cal State Bakersfield at Haas Pavilion.

With 16 new players, this will be a different team than fans saw a year ago.

“I feel like a lot of people will be shocked when they see us play,” said junior forward Joshua Ola-Joseph, one of nine Division I transfers on the roster.

The Bears went 13-19 in Madsen’s debut season, improving as the year progressed. They were 9-11 in the Pac-12, despite losing their final three regular-season conference games.

Cal produced an NBA first-round draft pick in guard Jaylon Tyson (19.6 points per game) and featured a co-leader in big man Fardaws Aimaq, who was tied for sixth nationally with 19 double-doubles.

This team may not have anyone quite like those two.

Depth and balance will be this squad’s hallmarks.

Madsen, who hadn’t settled on a starting lineup when he met with reporters this week, sees strength in numbers. Depending on the opponent and how things unfold in a particular game, he said he can envision using 10 or 11 players.

“I think we have multiple guys who can step into an elevated role on a night-in and night-out basis,” he said. “I view that as a strength because if you  have one or two main guys the defense can really key in on those guys. They’re not going to key in on any one guy because we have so many different threats. 

“There’s going to be better floor spacing. There’s going to be guys that can come off the bench and have really strong bursts on the defensive side and the offensive side. So that helps our team.”

Together with those qualities, Madsen says his team is unselfish and fiery.

Oakland-born Jovan Blacksher Jr., a graduate transfer from Grand Canyon University, was asked how minutes would be shared on a team with so many capable players.

“The coaching staff is doing well with it. They’re going to do what they’ve got to do for us to play the right way,” he said. “We have a team where everybody can do everything, a lot of depth.”

Beyond the depth, what will the Bears look like?

“You’re going to see a lot of energy, a lot of physicality. A hungry team, new and ready to play basketball,” said Blacksher, adding that team is not yet a finished product. “I feel like our potential is still there — we’re still growing. Ten, 11 new guys — I feel we can only go up.”

Ola-Joseph said the Bears showed progress in two closed scrimmages.

“The team’s in really good shape. We’re all jelling right now,” he said. “Obviously, none of us played together so we’re building chemistry with the two scrimmages we had. Going forward, I’m very excited.”

And what will it look like on Monday night at 8:30 p.m.?

“We should see a lot of highlight dunks, a lot athletes,” Ola-Joseph said. “A lot of people flying around — a defense-oriented team. Coach has put us together and prepared us pretty well so I feel like Monday we’ll show up and play really good.”