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Cal Basketball

Bears Make Another Portal Addition in Portland Guard Mike Meadows

May 1, 2023
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The Bears continue to add perimeter firepower with the commitment of 5th year Portland guard Mike Meadows‍ today. The 6-2/175 sixth year senior redshirted his 2018-19 freshman year and will bring a level of additional maturity to a reshaped roster featuring significant numbers of seasoned veterans.

"Mike is a great addition to our program who will bring poise, maturity and skill to the backcourt," Bears head coach Mark Madsen said in a statement provided by the team. "He'll fit naturally in our system and is a proven winner who has played for quality programs throughout his college career. Mike averaged double-figure points in each of the past three seasons but will bring much more than scoring to the table; Mike has a knack to make everyone around him better while doing so with incredible leadership. We are excited to welcome Mike and his family to Berkeley."

Meadows earned all-league honors all four years of high school playing for Campbell Hall High School in Studio City and led his squad to the 2018 CIF Division 2AA Southern Section Playoffs quarterfinals before signing with Eastern Washington and former Cal point guard Shantay Leggans where he averaged 10.5 points as a redshirt soph in 2020-21, shooting 46.2 from the floor and 36.8% from 3 along with  88.9% from the line, with fairly comparable numbers in 2021-22. His redshirt junior season, Meadows made the move with Leggans to Portland where he averaged 11 points per game while shooting 45.7% from the field and 35.9% from the arc.

He’ll have one year to play one season at Cal as a grad transfer.

Related:

Aimaq Ready to Turn Cal Program Around

Cone Excited to Rebuild Cal Hoops

Discussion from...

Bears Make Another Portal Addition in Portland Guard Mike Meadows

7,967 Views | 16 Replies | Last: 11 mo ago by calumnus
KoreAmBear
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Damn Mad Dog is just kicking azz.
GoOskie
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Reminds me a bit of Justin Cobbs.
KenBurnski
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Right?! Would love to see some Sluggo analysis on the additions.
calumnus
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He started 12 of 21 he played in last year (might have been injured?) but clearly played behind 6'6" 200 lb PG Tyler Robertson (15.6 pts 5.5 reb and 5.3 assists) originally from.Australia, who was also recruited by and followed Legans from Eastern Washington. I see him as adding depth, but he was mostly a solid bench player for Legans and the Portland Pilots last year.

That said, he started and scored 39 against Santa Clara last year, so there is some obvious upside. Will definitely be in the mix with Askew, Cone, et al.
Bearly Clad
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Definitely more firepower and depth but I also think he could be a sneaky good addition (to anyone just looking at raw stat averages) due to the context of last season for him. Excerpt from another article:

"Meadows missed close to a month of the season with an injury, but he scored 29 points in his first game back and showed a knack for offensive explosions. He racked up 39 points in a late-season loss to Santa Clara and scored in double figures in nine games throughout the year."

Seems like he could be a microwave scorer off the bench and every team needs those, especially with the free flowing offense and pace Madsen will be instituting. He seems likely to exceed many people's expectations (very possibly including my own) but I see him playing a vital 6th man role for us.

Regardless he's a great addition to the team and couldn't be happier to have him in the Blue and Gold. Welcome to The University of California to Mike and his family! Roll on you Bears!
graguna
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Nice piece to what's shaping up to be a solid roster.
75bear
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Congrats, Mike, welcome aboard!

Two small nits with the article. The school he attended is called Campbell Hall. And it's in Studio City.

Source: I grew up two blocks away from there.
bearmanpg
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I've watched Meadows for several years starting with his time at EWU....He's got talent...My only complaint is he is not really consistent...He will give you a monster game then disappear for a game or two...He is definitely an upgrade at point from last year...Hope he has gained some consistency as then he would be a BIG get....
MoragaBear
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Staff
75bear said:

Congrats, Mike, welcome aboard!

Two small nits with the article. The school he attended is called Campbell Hall. And it's in Studio City.

Source: I grew up two blocks away from there.

Neither sounded correct to me but that's what his bio said
MoragaBear
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Staff
bearmanpg said:

I've watched Meadows for several years starting with his time at EWU....He's got talent...My only complaint is he is not really consistent...He will give you a monster game then disappear for a game or two...He is definitely an upgrade at point from last year...Hope he has gained some consistency as then he would be a BIG get....
Looks like he had 5 or 6 rougher games last year.

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/player/gamelog/_/id/4339478/mike-meadows
RedlessWardrobe
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Based on the video, it appears that the emphasis of his offensive game is driving to the hoop. Definitely looks like he'll get minutes, though it will probably be coming off the bench.
oskidunker
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RedlessWardrobe said:

Based on the video, it appears that the emphasis of his offensive game is driving to the hoop. Definitely looks like he'll get minutes, though it will probably be coming off the bench.
Yes but unlike Joel Brown he can make free throws.
Go Bears!
6956bear
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RedlessWardrobe said:

Based on the video, it appears that the emphasis of his offensive game is driving to the hoop. Definitely looks like he'll get minutes, though it will probably be coming off the bench.
He is a decent 3 pt shooter as well. Madsen likes to space the floor and have drivers that can finish inside, hit short runners or kick to 3 pt shooters. He looks like a good fit for what Madsen likes to do. Madsen also will play a deeper rotation of players than many coaches.

BC Calfan
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We needed guard depth for ballhandling and shooting and got one in Meadows. Very nice addition. I like the microwave description. Our 3 guard lineup of Cone, Askew and Meadows is looking nice.
sluggo
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KenBurnski said:

Right?! Would love to see some Sluggo analysis on the additions.
You called? My weird passion is rating high school players, since stats are not meaningful and there is a lot of projecting. Transfers are very much who their stats say they are. Nevertheless, I may did a little deeper during the long offseason.

My first pass impression of Meadows is that I am happy he has joined. He should provide good depth. He has real basketball skills and is a semi-efficient shooter. He seems like someone who would have contributed to a team that would beat Cal in the preseason with players that Fox would not recruit because he confused basketball with team handball.

But his size/athleticism is just okay, and he is a bit underweight. He is coming up in competition level, so his semi-efficient shooting would be expected to dip slightly. His scoring is good, but his assists/minute is low, so I wonder how good he is as a creator. I think he will be needed because Madsen likes to play fast, but if Rodney Brown beats him out, Cal will have a higher ceiling. It will be interesting to see how he compares to Askew, he is a better natural shooter.
calumnus
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And now we added Kennedy. What is most interesting to me is we have 7(?) scholarship guards now, 3 are combo guards and the rest are clearly 2s. Everyone can score, everyone Madsen brings in can shoot.

We are definitely not going to be the lowest scoring team in the country again.
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