Mark Madsen continues to make an excellent first impression as the polar opposite of Mark Fox…he hosted a Zoom meeting with a number of former players including Ryan Jamison, Raymond “Circus” King, amongst others, openly asking for their involvement in the program and leaving a standing invitation to attend any practice come fall.
Mark Madsen continues to make an excellent first impression as the polar opposite of Mark Fox…he hosted a Zoom meeting with a number of former players including Ryan Jamison, Raymond “Circus” King, amongst others, openly asking for their involvement in the program and leaving a standing invitation to attend any practice come fall.
The program continues to be active in the portal in terms of recruiting…assistant coaches should be announced soon.
Yikes, MoriB maybe woke up on the wrong side of the bed today...;-)
Sure, not yet, but he is doing the basic, fundamental things a head coach NEEDS to do to be successful, things that have not been done for the past 6 seasons. He is recruiting nationally, meeting with donors, seeking the involvement of former players...Fox did NONE of these thing. This is the leadership that is needed.
well, kinda...I have been battling jet lag in Germany. so wrong side of the meridiem line? :-)
I was actually trying to channel my inner chitwood, tho.
agreed that those are all great things, but they're table stakes (albeit stakes that haven't been tabled in awhile).
all I'm doing is waiting to see Ws (or at least entertainment) on the court. in case this is all just performative...(he is a stanfurd alum, after all!)
Understood! I am really trying to be positive with this hire...admittedly not my strong suit when it comes to Cal sports!
However, I am firmly behind Madsen...think he brings a lot of good things, and think that while this roster is far from a tournament team, it's better than 3-29 ...I even donated to the Cal MBB Collective...we shall see.
I'm not gonna check, but when Madsen's name was first floated a week or so ago, I thought it got painted as "here we go again". and I thought you were in that camp. but maybe it was nick, etc.
And I'll yell it for the cheap seats. I have been behind the hire of Mark Madsen as the guy from day 1.
I questioned the process Knowlton followed in passing on Joe Pasternack and Amir Abdur-Rahim despite both of those candidates having major NIL backing. Knowlton did not involve those donors in the process for the 2nd consecutive hire, and thus Madsen was going to have to come in with not as much financial backing (tho word is he's done a great job addressing that already). THAT is what I questioned, plus the threat he is to leave Cal for Stanford, which I do not worry about as much now after the press conference.
But I was definitely not a "here we go again" in terms of MM.
Skulking in old DBDs, I see. Guess that’s what one does on weekends without fresh DBD available ;-)
Still some sleep issues, as can be seen with it being 0045 now.
Been nice overall. Ms MoriBear suggested a trip to Colmar (from Basel) for yesterday. “Ok, whatever”. Ended up being a lovely little gingerbread town in France. (And a place to burn some Euro cash…had brought too much. Credit cards were way more in vogue in Germany than I’d been led to believe.)
I need to do a vid of the train-ticket buying machine the French have. Gotta be old Soviet technology, both in UI (looks like a touchscreen, but it’s not…you use a dial) and in user-friendliness (you select English…with said dial…and three words on the next page are in English, but all 17 descriptions of ticket types are still in French).
At Basel station, I watched multiple people NOT buy tickets before I decided to use my ticket app.
When at Colmar station getting tickets back, I ended up also failing at the machine. So got them from a human at a booth. Where I found out that there’s a family ticket available, that was not offered by (third-party) app.
So tickets to Colmar had been €20 more than they needed to be. But we were running late, so i consider it the first actual “convenience” fee I’ve ever paid on tickets. (As opposed to the usual Fuck You monopoly fee.)
you must be really young to not know either Jamison or Circus. (Or it's just that I've gotten so old, that I feel that one *should* know them! ;-)
Jamison was a center who's main skill was getting the ball in the post and then bringing it down to his knees to give everyone on the other team a fair shot at stealing it.
EXACTLY!! Jamo, you're 6'11"....just f-ing dunk it, or at least go right back up....maddening.
Circus was once listed as the move overrated player in the Pac-10 by Street and Smith's (Bruce Pascoe wrote the blurb, IIRC), which struck me as odd, because he was nothing more than the 3rd or 4th option on the team...wasn't sure he was even "rated" enough to be overrated...
early 90s I think. I think Circus King was there when I was there since I remember seeing him play. Jamo was I think right after I graduated. He may have been on the team for Kidd's last year.
Circus King was contemporaneous with Madsen - Jamo was Cal fans least favorite basketball player since Kyle Campenelli, but I always thought it was unfair. He didn't have the greatest hands and was a little bit soft, but if he caught the ball, he had a decent post game. He was decent for 8ppg 6 rpg (off the top of my head, no idea how close that was to his career averages. He had a breakout game in Orlando in the 7-Up shootout vs Cincy.
Dammit - just checked - 4.5ppg, 3.5 rpg. Career highs of 7.5, 5.2 in his junior year so I remembered something correctly.
Two more points - he had an absolutely classic skit with Bear Territory where he was wandering around Steve's apartment changing light bulbs and getting things off high shelves and he turns to the camera and says "I'm not here just because I'm tall, am I?"
He was also supposedly the number 1 volleyball recruit in the nation at Middle Blocker out of Loyola in LA as well.
Mark Madsen continues to make an excellent first impression as the polar opposite of Mark Fox…he hosted a Zoom meeting with a number of former players including Ryan Jamison, Raymond “Circus” King, amongst others, openly asking for their involvement in the program and leaving a standing invitation to attend any practice come fall.
The program continues to be active in the portal in terms of recruiting…assistant coaches should be announced soon.
I forgot what it felt like to have a competent head coach for men’s basketball.
Right!?!?!!!
he hasn't coached yet!
Yikes, MoriB maybe woke up on the wrong side of the bed today...;-)
Sure, not yet, but he is doing the basic, fundamental things a head coach NEEDS to do to be successful, things that have not been done for the past 6 seasons. He is recruiting nationally, meeting with donors, seeking the involvement of former players...Fox did NONE of these thing. This is the leadership that is needed.
Has he managed to choke out a "Go Bears" yet because I've seen no evidence of one and he's still a furdie loser until he does.
and as I noted below, I've been Germany and Switzerland and worn my Cal hat a few times. And not once has Madsen given me a Go, Bears!
he still has a few days to make it happen!
I ask so little...
*ahem*
DAMN STRAIGHT! GIMME A GO BEARS ON THREE!!
1, 2, 3...!
GO BEARS
sorry you have to wait 55 min!
well, kinda...I have been battling jet lag in Germany. so wrong side of the meridiem line? :-)
I was actually trying to channel my inner chitwood, tho.
agreed that those are all great things, but they're table stakes (albeit stakes that haven't been tabled in awhile).
all I'm doing is waiting to see Ws (or at least entertainment) on the court. in case this is all just performative...(he is a stanfurd alum, after all!)
Understood! I am really trying to be positive with this hire...admittedly not my strong suit when it comes to Cal sports!
However, I am firmly behind Madsen...think he brings a lot of good things, and think that while this roster is far from a tournament team, it's better than 3-29 ...I even donated to the Cal MBB Collective...we shall see.
I'm not gonna check, but when Madsen's name was first floated a week or so ago, I thought it got painted as "here we go again". and I thought you were in that camp. but maybe it was nick, etc.
ABSOLUTELY NOT.
And I'll yell it for the cheap seats. I have been behind the hire of Mark Madsen as the guy from day 1.
I questioned the process Knowlton followed in passing on Joe Pasternack and Amir Abdur-Rahim despite both of those candidates having major NIL backing. Knowlton did not involve those donors in the process for the 2nd consecutive hire, and thus Madsen was going to have to come in with not as much financial backing (tho word is he's done a great job addressing that already). THAT is what I questioned, plus the threat he is to leave Cal for Stanford, which I do not worry about as much now after the press conference.
But I was definitely not a "here we go again" in terms of MM.
Get some rest my friend and enjoy the trip!!
ok, getting tired here in the Confederation Helvetica (we've moved south)...I'll try to have happy Cal dreams!
(I've worn a Cal hat a few days on the trip, but nary a Go, Bears has been heard :-(
How’s the trip going?
Skulking in old DBDs, I see. Guess that’s what one does on weekends without fresh DBD available ;-)
Still some sleep issues, as can be seen with it being 0045 now.
Been nice overall. Ms MoriBear suggested a trip to Colmar (from Basel) for yesterday. “Ok, whatever”. Ended up being a lovely little gingerbread town in France. (And a place to burn some Euro cash…had brought too much. Credit cards were way more in vogue in Germany than I’d been led to believe.)
I need to do a vid of the train-ticket buying machine the French have. Gotta be old Soviet technology, both in UI (looks like a touchscreen, but it’s not…you use a dial) and in user-friendliness (you select English…with said dial…and three words on the next page are in English, but all 17 descriptions of ticket types are still in French).
At Basel station, I watched multiple people NOT buy tickets before I decided to use my ticket app.
When at Colmar station getting tickets back, I ended up also failing at the machine. So got them from a human at a booth. Where I found out that there’s a family ticket available, that was not offered by (third-party) app.
So tickets to Colmar had been €20 more than they needed to be. But we were running late, so i consider it the first actual “convenience” fee I’ve ever paid on tickets. (As opposed to the usual Fuck You monopoly fee.)
Sorry you asked? ;-)
Oh, still no Go, Bears to be heard.
Wait, I don't know any of them. What era did they play?
you must be really young to not know either Jamison or Circus. (Or it's just that I've gotten so old, that I feel that one *should* know them! ;-)
Jamison was a center who's main skill was getting the ball in the post and then bringing it down to his knees to give everyone on the other team a fair shot at stealing it.
I'm old, but not that old. In my freshman year I had a geography class with a fellow freshman Leon Powe.
I'm lold. My summer before freshman year I did Subject A with Bill Elleby and Brian Hendricks.
Hendircks in the NIT vs U-Conn was my senior year. IIRC
Btw, I'm surprised at how far apart Powe (2003~2008) and Jamison were.(1991~1995). so a lot of room for "who's that?", @JustBear!
Btw: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-07-12-we-546-story.html
I don't even know who they are lol
Bill Elleby's son is CJ and played for wazzu.
EXACTLY!! Jamo, you're 6'11"....just f-ing dunk it, or at least go right back up....maddening.
Circus was once listed as the move overrated player in the Pac-10 by Street and Smith's (Bruce Pascoe wrote the blurb, IIRC), which struck me as odd, because he was nothing more than the 3rd or 4th option on the team...wasn't sure he was even "rated" enough to be overrated...
early 90s I think. I think Circus King was there when I was there since I remember seeing him play. Jamo was I think right after I graduated. He may have been on the team for Kidd's last year.
Thank you. So probably just a bit before Madsen's playing days in Pac10
Circus King was contemporaneous with Madsen - Jamo was Cal fans least favorite basketball player since Kyle Campenelli, but I always thought it was unfair. He didn't have the greatest hands and was a little bit soft, but if he caught the ball, he had a decent post game. He was decent for 8ppg 6 rpg (off the top of my head, no idea how close that was to his career averages. He had a breakout game in Orlando in the 7-Up shootout vs Cincy.
Dammit - just checked - 4.5ppg, 3.5 rpg. Career highs of 7.5, 5.2 in his junior year so I remembered something correctly.
Two more points - he had an absolutely classic skit with Bear Territory where he was wandering around Steve's apartment changing light bulbs and getting things off high shelves and he turns to the camera and says "I'm not here just because I'm tall, am I?"
He was also supposedly the number 1 volleyball recruit in the nation at Middle Blocker out of Loyola in LA as well.
Read this right after I posted.
I vividly remember the Cincy game in Orlando. "Why can't we have this guy all the time?!?"
But as much as I harshed on him above, never *never* would I tarnish him by putting him in the Kyle category!
Yeah I think that's about right.
Sounds like he gets it. Which is refreshing.
Really.