20 Comments

A phenomenal athlete

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Wow, dude has quick feet w the ball in his hands! Does years of eligibility even WORTH asking about these days, since recruiting the roster seems to be an annual chore? Well done Mad Dog Mark!

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Nwankwo Looks like a three level scorer with high ups inside. I like how Madsen brings in athletes that can put a lot of pressure on defenses with his NBA style offense

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Does he have two or three years of eligibility?

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With the transfer rules in place, does it really matter all that much? ;-)

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We're starting to see Madsen recruit a more specific type of player now that he has a full recruitment runway. It's Year One version 2.0. We're seeing tough, strong, defense-minded players who can be explosive when necessary. Maybe players who see themselves as underdogs.

It was SO easy to root for last year's team. Looking like next year's will also be easy to love.

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AK, appreciate your updates. Thanks for the great work!!

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Keep it coming, because the ACC will be as tough as the Pac-12 used to be.

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If iron sharpens iron, the ACC is gonna make us surgically sharp.

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Hopefully surgically sharp iron defends the 3 well and rebounds better….

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Tougher.

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Madsen is a recruiting beast! He needs a little work, but he has star written all over him.

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This kid has serious upside and brings a level of athleticism Cal really doesn’t feature all that often. A great add.

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Reminds me of the game against Dayton 10 or so years ago during a pre-season tournament. I think it was Monty's last year and we had a roster of finesse athletes (Bird, Wallace) and scrappy guys (Kravish, Kreklow, Mathews), and they just brutalized us with explosive, strong 6'7 guys who could all run, jump, and shoot. Like, everybody but Cobbs was shellshocked by the physicality. I know it's Juco but watching his drives you get that same sense of athleticism and strength. He explodes past his defenders and then just doesn't get moved by contact.

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Apr 14·edited Apr 14

Great call! The football background serves him well. I remember that USF Play-In game too - they extended the D and we were simply lost. We need length, lateral quickness and hops.

Always thought Kuany could’ve been such a better ballplayer with a competent Head Coach/staff…that’s the type of bodies we need…

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Congratulations Coach Madsen & staff for reeling in these two great and awesome players. More are coming and this year could be even more exciting & explosive than last year. So FUN !!!

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Furthermore, I happen to have heard that BYU did just offer Mark their head coaching job but, he turned it down because Cal folks have been so awesome to him and to his family. Cal Bear people are truly such gifted and awesome people. Have I mentioned our son-in-law, Jed Johnson achieved his phD in physics from Berkeley? That was one of the proudest days of my life. I went right to the book store and bought 20 Cal/Berkeley r-shirts. So so awesome.

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Oh dear, I’ve been corrected, I don’t know how to edit what I wrote. So I will correct myself to say this: BYU reached out to Mark with the strongest interest & intentions but Mark immediately squashed their inquiries saying how loyal he wanted to be to the Cal folks who believed in him. So the actual offer was not extended.

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We understand completely the wink and nod that is the fine line between the two. We're glad Mark was clear enough about his commitment to Berkeley that BYU knew to look elsewhere.

I've been following Mark's career for over 20 years, since he was a sworn (but respected) enemy at Stanford and a well-loved Laker. It's not QUITE as long as you've known him but long enough to trust him and his ability.

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I can’t overstate how much the Cal community loves having your son as our head coach AND loves your comments. I check every basketball post multiple times to see your comments.

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