Cal Basketball: A Healthy Vibe Emerges From Golden Bears at Pac-12 Media Day
On preseason media day, everyone feels excitement and optimism.
Players are healthy, coaches see potential, record are spotless.
It was no different Wednesday for the Cal men’s basketball team at Pac-12 media day in San Francisco.
Oh sure, the Bears were picked to finish last in the annual media poll, but that wasn’t their concern in the least.
After a 2020-21 season in which COVID-19 and its fallout contributed to a 9-20 record and a last-place finish in the Pac-12, the Bears are looking forward.
“That’s why the rear-view mirror is smaller than the windshield,” Cal coach Mark Fox told reporters.
Beyond hope and optimism, the Bears are experiencing an unlikely emotion: Appreciation.
Andre Kelly
Pandemic restrictions a year ago prevented the Bears from enjoying anything remotely close to a normal offseason. No access to the Haas Pavilion in the summer or fall. No weight room. No locker room. No team meals.
“It was kind of humbling.” senior forward Andre Kelly said. “It made me grateful now and appreciative of practicing in Haas, being able to lift in the weight room and not having to lift outside and dribbling on tennis courts, on the concrete. Knees hurting.
“We can be around each other a lot more. It just helps our aura, being around one another.”
That aura, as Kelly called it, has Fox beaming.
“The vibe within our team, it’s healthy right now,” he said. “They have belief in each other. They have belief in the process. It’s cool to see every day. We’ve got a group, I think, that enjoys everything we’re doing and they enjoy each other. And that’s an advantage because not every locker room an have that connectivity.
“Every team needs emotional connectivity, they need to have gone through some trials and tribulations to have strong bonds. Much of this group has done that. Hopefully that will be something that’s an advantage for us because good teams have it.”
Grant Anticevich
Fifth-year senior forward Grant Anticevich, who overcame a mid-December emergency appendectomy last season, was re-charged by a month-long visit home to Australia in the offseason. He hadn’t been there in two years, mostly because of travel restrictions in and out of his homeland.
The 6-foot-9 forward called himself “very excited” by the prospect of the Bears’ Nov. 9 season opener against UC San Diego. He is confident this team — with 15 scholarship players — will be noticeably better.
“We’re feeling really great about ourselves.” Anticevich said. "A lot of guys on our team have matured and a lot of them have made a lot of improvements.
“As we’re starting to come together . . . it’s becoming evident that the improvements everybody has made individually are translating to the improvements we’re making as a team.”
Cover photo of Cal forward Andre Kelly by Darren Yamashita, USA Today
Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo
