Report: Cal Hired NASA Specialist for Travel Issues in ACC

Bears basketball coach Mark Madsen expressed concern about long-distance flights

Mark Madsen during the ACC Tipoff / Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

Cal basketball coach Mark Madsen said at Thursday’s ACC Tipoff day in Charlotte, N.C., that he is concerned about the travel involved, and he told ESPN that athletic director Jim Knowlton invited a NASA specialist to speak to Cal’s sports teams.

"He specialized in recovery across time zones. How the body can recover under duress. It was very informative," Madsen told ESPN. "We were there with all the head coaches. A lot of great information was shared. The bottom line is we'll come out during conference play, we'll come out either two days early or one day early, depending on the academic workload.

"We're not going to leave a single stone unturned. If it means one or two additional wins across 10 different teams, the preparation level, we're going to do it."

Madsen has done some research of the increased travel and said that drinking more water during flights may help.

"I'm absolutely concerned about the travel," Madsen said Thursday at ACC Tipoff.

ACC commissioner Jim Phillips talked about the travel issue on Wednesday, noting that scheduling for fall sports provided an example of how travel will work.

"In the end, I really feel we've scheduled well. We've come up with travel partners for the first time, so when you go out to California, the teams that are on the East Coast, they'll play two games. When Cal, Stanford come in this direction, they'll play two games," Philips said, according to ESPN. "I think it makes a lot of sense to do that. We've gotten an early kind of snippet view with our Olympic sports. I think it's worked out pretty well, but I'm sure it won't be perfect. I just know that because we've gone now outside of our footprint that we had for 71 years.”

Cal's football team is making its third crosscountry trip of the season this week when it plays at Pittsburgh.

The Bears' men's basketball team will travel to Nashville, Tennessee, for a nonconference gme against Vanderbilt on November 13. Cal's first ACC road trip will be on January 1 and 4, when the Bears' play a road game against Pitt on January 1, then travel to Clemson three days later for a game at Clemson. Pitt and Clemson are about 470 miles apart.

Cal also has road trips against North Carolina and North Carolina State January 15 and 18, against Duke and Georgia Tech Feburary 12 and 15, and against Louisville and Notre Dame on March 5 and 8. The Bears have a one-game road trip to SMU on January 29.

The Cal women's basketball team opens ACC play with a road trip to Clemson and SMU on January 2 and 5, and those two sites are more than 800 miles apart.

Follow Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53

Find Cal Sports Report on Facebook by going to https://www.facebook.com/si.calsportsreport