Madsen Ready to Tip Off Season

Heading into Monday’s basketball season tipoff, one of the top offseason stories centers on Texas Tech transfer wing Jaylon Tyson‍. The versatile addition to the team heard back last week on his waiver request to play this season without sitting out for his second transfer and the initial answer was no. Still, Madsen noted that he’s hopeful and expectant that Tyson’s appeal will be successful. Word is expected within the week.

"The NCAA has set forth the criteria," Madsen said. "I've looked at the waiver material. I've been looking at it for months. And obviously, It will be extremely important for Jalen Tyson to be granted this second waiver, not only for himself, but for every other student-athlete who finds himself in a situation like this in the future.

"As far as why a waiver is denied, I do not have the information to talk about that, because I wasn't in the decision-making room. But as far as why it should be approved, I've seen the content of the material in the waiver. And I believe that this falls within the guidelines that the NCAA has set forth.

"I'm extremely hopeful that they will (approve the appeal) because of what Jaylon experienced in previous situations, so I'm extremely hopeful that whatever reasons factored into the denial of Jaylon's waiver, I'm truly hopeful that people will look at this very objectively and say, 'Okay, we need to take a hard look. Because if you set this precedent, that is not a good precedent to set.'

“I'm not presenting any information whatsoever. I'm simply saying that I was disappointed that the waiver was denied. And I'm very hopeful that upon appeal, he will be granted
the waiver. I'm very hopeful that cooler heads prevail and that Jaylon will receive his waiver.”

Since his arrival, Tyson’s been a catalyst for the team in every way in practice: Offense, defense, leadership and passion for the game so his clearance will have a major impact on this season.

"Jaylon Tyson since he got here to campus has been a fantastic basketball player because he's been a fantastic teammate," Madsen said. "He's been a fantastic part of this community. He's incredibly talented on the court. He's a phenomenal teammate, and he's done everything asked by his teammates, by the coaching staff, by this community here. He's been a pleasure to have on this campus representing Cal.

"Jaylon Tyson is a leader. He's great on both sides of the ball. He's someone who will get after his teammates and hold them accountable. Jaylon is a tremendous basketball player in terms of instinct, in terms of talent, shooting ability, rebounding. Jaylen Tyson's a great passer. So he has just been fantastic here at this program.

"He's got the intangibles. He's in phenomenal shape. We did our conditioning test about a month ago. He was right at the front with one other player so he's just been kind of the epitome of professionalism. Since he's been here at Cal."

As far as how Tyson’s absence might affect the team should his appeal be denied?

"Well, I'm not going to try to speculate on that," Madsen said. "I'm just going to try to tell you that as a program, as a team, we're gonna do everything possible to support Jaylen Tyson to help him as he goes through this appeals process and to hopefully get a positive resolution."

Having had the chance to observe the team’s development through offseason workouts and practice heading into the season, Madsen likes what he sees from his new team so far.

"What I really like is the ball movement," Madsen said. "Our guys are very unselfish. The ball has been moving. Guys have been sharing opportunities on the court. We have a lot of different ways to attack. We have lots of guys that can score in different ways on the defensive side of the ball. We have great rebounding, and we have the ability to play strong transition defense. Deflections will be something that I think will be up this season."

With a very new roster compared to last season, Madsen has seen the growth in skill sets from several players.

"I think in a way, a lot of different players have surprised," Madsen noted. "We value skill development. And we've really seen a number of players take a step upwards this summer. I think Fardaws Aimaq has been a really strong catalyst for this team. He's in world-class shape. He's added to his game. And he's a guy that I know well from Utah Valley, but I think he'll be ready to have a really strong year.

“Devin Askew is completely healthy and Devin's just been - I can't say enough about Devin Askew's performance on the court, who he's been off the court. His basketball IQ, he probably has one of the best basketball IQ's that I've been around in my career. Jalen Celestine coming back from injury, makes the big shots, especially lately in scrimmages against other teams and also scrimmages against ourselves. Looking at a guy like Grant (Newell) who has expanded his game, Jalen Cone is someone who is a point guard  who can do so many different things on the court, the leadership, the shooting, ability to penetrate in the paint and make his teammates better."

For now, Madsen is non-commital about how many players fans can expect to see in the regular rotation. 

"At this point, we definitely have a rotation that we try to stick to,” Madsen noted. “And that being said, I've told our players, 'Guys, no matter what the rotation ends up being, whether it's 7, 8, 9, or 10, everyone is going to be able to contribute to winning on this team. Whether it's on the court in key situations, whether it's in practice, every single player is going to be able to contribute.’

Just like the coaching staff, which expanded from three bench coaches to five, the team’s walk-on roster expanded as well, with three new additions from campus joining the team in a scout role. 

"We have a number of walk-ons,” Madseon noted. “We have six walk-ons. And each walk-on brings something different to the table. Start with Gus (Larson). Gus is a veteran player. He's played Division One basketball (at Penn) for a couple of years. He can go out there and he's not afraid to mix it up. He can make the three. He gets a lot of putbacks and puts them right back in. You got Jack (wing Jack McCloskey), kind of a heavy, strong player, shoots the three, can get into the paint. Jack brings kind of that experience from Mater Dei. You got Wrenn (Robinson) who stepped up in key situations last year for Cal. He can just shoot the ball, great three-point shooter. We have three additional players who just joined the roster from an open tryout here at Cal, which is important to me as a coach to give people the opportunity to come out. There'll be primarily scout team players to begin with, they could grow into more (SF Adrian Claiborne and guards Jayden Karapetian and Matt Desler)."

Another key addition in the offseason was point guard Jalen Cone, a player Madsen saw up close and personal several times last season.

"We played we Northern Arizona twice and each game could have gone either way," Madsen said. "Cone is someone when he steps onto the court, he commands so much gravity because of his abilities. Again, as a point guard, he leads, he distributes, he can make a shot from anywhere on the court. Jalen Cone's leadership has been outstanding. He's not the largest in stature. You can't measure the size of someone's heart. Jalen Cohn has a huge heart. Got a lot of Jalen's on this team."

A wildcard for the team this year is combo guard Devin Askew. A 5 star player at Mater Dei in high school, Askew graduated early to play for Kentucky and never fully found his rhythm there or at his next stop in Texas. Last season, Askew was given the keys to run the car at Cal but ultimately had to shoulder too big of a load with a talent deficit around him while also playing injured much of the season. Askew is healthy now and standing out at both ends of the court in practice and in scrimmages so far.

"Devin Askew can play multiple positions," Madsen noted. "He can play point guard, he can play the two. He can even slide into the three at times. And he knows all the different positions. His attitude has been outstanding. His play on the court has been outstanding. We're expecting great things from Devin Askew this year. He's shooting the ball even better than shot last year.

The Bears will kick off the season next Monday night against St. Thomas at 6 pm at Haas Pavilion and will be covered on the Pac-12 Network as well.

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