Cal Basketball Video: Back in Berkeley, Matt Bradley Was Too Comfy at Home

Matt Bradley, who led the Cal basketball team in scoring this past season as a sophomore, headed home to San Bernardino in March after the season was suddenly cut short by the budding coronavirus pandemic.

It wasn’t long before Bradley returned to Berkeley.

“Just too comfortable,” he said during a Zoom interview this week. “I was getting meals catered to me, lounging around. I wanted to come back here and be a little bit more independent. (But ) it was nice.”

The cozy, casual lifestyle at home sounds like it wasn’t ideally conducive to finishing the academic year, which immediately was transformed to students taking classes online. Bradley decided being back at his own place would better allow him to avoid distractions and pay attention to his primary task.

“After a while I just realized it was time to reboot my focus on my academics and really lock in back in Berkeley, even though there’s nothing going on,” he said. “I felt more comfortable here doing my work.”

Classes are done for spring semester and Bradley said is concluding final exams.

And while he misses the freedom to get his hair cut or hang out with friends, the Bears’ second-team All-Pac-12 selection also seems to be adjusting.

“I’m growing accustomed to this new lifestyle. At first it was really rough. But now it seems like the new normal even though it hasn’t been that long, which is really weird,” Bradley said. “I hope for things to go back quickly . . . but no rush.”

Bradley said everyone in his family is healthy and safe, but there are some concerns.

His younger brother serves in the U.S. Air Force and is stationed in Italy, where the coronavirus has hit particularly hard.

“That was a little risky, that was a little dangerous,” Bradley said. “We were kind of worried for him, but he’s been healthy.”

Meanwhile, Bradley’s sister is pregnant, so she is a family priority.

“We just want to make sure she doesn’t get sick.”

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