Cal Set to Face UNC on Second of Five Trips East for ACC Play
As Cal prepares to face six-time national champion North Carolina on Wednesday night at Chapel Hill, N.C., coach Mark Madsen also is wrestling with how his program can mitigate the challenges of increased travel as a first-year member of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
“We’re expecting an unbelievable atmosphere, playing against a well-coached, talented team,” Madsen said of the chance to play one of the ACC’s most established blue-blood programs. “It’s going to be a great test for our group.”
Cal (8-8, 1-4 ACC) is 2-7 since starting the season 6-1 while UNC (11-6, 4-1) has won three in a row and five of six after a 6-5 start that included four defeats to AP Top-10 opponents.
Madsen discusses the Bears' problems with consistency in the video above in remarks he made after Saturday's loss to Virginia Tech.
The Tar Heels, under coach Hubert Davis, feature 2024 consensus All-America point guard R.J. Davis (no relation), who has compiled career totals of 2,390 points and 501 assists.
This week brings the second of five cross-country trips that will take the Bears to 10 schools in eight states through the first week of March. And Madsen said the whole thing has a familiar feel to it.
“It feels a lot to me like an NBA travel situation. The only difference is in the NBA when you go east, typically you have five or six games on the East Coast,” said Madsen, who played nine NBA seasons after his college career at Stanford. “We’re going back and forth every (other) week, so in some ways it’s more challenging than an NBA schedule.”
Those long trips and the time it takes away from classes and practice have convinced Madsen to tweak his approach to preparing his players.
“This travel can wear players down. I know if I’m tired and I don’t have to play a single minute, I know the players are feeling tired,” he said. “But there’s a lot of ways around it.”
In an effort to be more efficient with practices, Madsen plans to utilize more individual film sessions and technique work.
“I was talking to someone from a top organization two days ago and he said, 'In the NBA, there’s no practice anymore. It’s all individual work.’ "
Madsen has no plans to scrap team workouts. He said the Bears need time on the court together as they try to mesh players, especially those who have missed practice time due to early-season injuries.
Madsen has two possible remedies in mind that could address the wear and tear of travel, but he acknowledges one of them is unlikely to be adopted.
“My biggest suggestion — but the other teams, there’s no way they’ll sign off on it — we’d love to go out there for a four-game stretch or a six-game stretch,” said Madsen, arguing for an NBA-style road trip.
“But why would North Carolina or Duke or NC State or Syracuse agree to that? Then that gives us an advantage, going out there and getting adjusted. They’re not going to agree to that.”
Short of that, Madsen said the ACC needs to allow Cal and Stanford to make their first two road trips during the break between academic terms, which would minimize the stress of missing classes.
“That should absolutely be in place every single year,” Madsen said.