Cal basketball links: Mark Madsen looks to reboot program culture with optimistic outlook

The California Golden Bears have a lot of scar tissue to heal, and the new Cal coach wants to make that turnaround quick.

The Cal men’s basketball team seems happier these days.

Mark Madsen has been making the rounds in the offseason to get the excitement flowing for Cal men’s basketball after one of the bleakest eras in program history.

The good news for Madsen is he has the perfect attitude for a quick rebuild. More from Connor Letourneau from the San Francisco Chronicle.

Cal men’s basketball coach Mark Madsen stood in front of his old high school, pointing toward a small creek across the road.

There, in a wooded area near downtown Danville, he and one of his San Ramon Valley High buddies had saved a tree stump adorned with a carving of the school logo. Administrators planned to destroy it, so Madsen and his friend chopped it down and proudly carried it to a football game.

“Even back then, I’d hear about a problem, and I just wanted to fix it,” Madsen said. “I guess that’s just how I’m wired.”

Diablo (The East Bay Magazine of record) took note of Madsen’s comments from his press conference, highlighting him as one of the best of the East Bay.

So, in addition to the challenge of rebuilding the team into one that can compete in a reshaped Pac-12, Madsen is also being tasked with injecting some life into the program. Hence the nostalgia for better times. “Having grown up here, I truly believe that Cal is a sleeping giant in terms of men’s basketball,” Madsen told the crowd. “This is a program that can be a nationally ranked program year in and year out. That’s what I’m excited about.”

More Bears and Bytes

Devin Askew, who only played 13 games last season, has been cleared for practice.

In the the 13 games Askew was able to play in, he averaged a career-high 15.5 points per game, 3.4 rebounds and 3.0 assists with splits of 37.8 percent shooting from the field, 29.9 percent shooting from the three-point line and 86.5 percent shooting from the free-throw line. He started all 13 games he played in at a little over 31 minutes per game.

The Cal basketball highlights have been popping on Instagram and Twitter as of late, so you can get small snippets of what the Bears have been up to.

• Keonte Kennedy attacks the rim.

• Grant Newell is back in action, hoping that a sophomore leap is in the cards.

• How tall are the Bears (wrong answers only)?

• Rodney Brown connects with Devin Curtis.

Charmin Smith has been sticking with her Muay Thai regimen, competing in her second match earlier this summer.

"I love Muay Thai for me as a coach because it allows me to have a constant reminder of what it's like to be the athlete," Smith said.  "I always tell my players I will never ask them to do something that I am not willing to do myself. I'm still feeling what it's like to push yourself beyond what you think you are capable of physically, mentally and more. When I tell my players to get outside their comfort zone, to challenge themselves, I actually know exactly how they feel. On the days when I ask them to do more than they think they can, I know exactly where their mind is going and I remember the things that Jay tells me to keep me motivated.