Hey guys,

I just came back from our "Meet Coach Madsen" event in Singapore. I'm 4 highballs in, but wanted to share the experience while it's still relatively fresh.

Overall, it was great! Not only did a bunch of Cal fans/alums come out, but also kids of fans/alums who were really excited to meet a real life former Laker who played with Kobe and Shaq. Saw a few basketballs being signed.

Madsen's whole Asia trip will be a total of 7 days. He landed in Singapore 6am this morning, came to our event this evening and spent a few hours with us, and will fly out to Korea later tonight at 2am. He will then be at the annual Berkeley gala in Hong Kong on June 15th. What a machine!

Some interesting tidbits Madsen shared, in no particular order.

• If Jaylon Tyson wasn't going to the draft, he would have definitely come back to Cal despite having a 7-figure NIL market value.
• Said Cal's NIL level in basketball is in the bottom 1/3rd of the ACC. Unfortunate, but will hopefully improve as we win more. Mentioned Cal Legends by name as the place to donate to effect the most positive change possible.
• After Jerod Haase was fired, Stanford did NOT try to poach him. The only school that did was BYU, but he and his family are very happy living in the Bay Area and so it was always kind of a non-starter.
• He saw a Chinese player playing for the China team recently at the World Championships in Europe that he really wanted to recruit to Cal. Said he was amazing, and that his play was like Nikola Jokic. He reached out to the CBA team manager(?, I forget the exact title) to see if they would let this player out of his contract. Unfortunately, they wouldn't. Who was one of those decision makers? Former Cal basketball player Max Zhang.
• He shared a story about Kobe with us about player growth. Talked about how early in his NBA career, Kobe had once in the locker room said that the only players who deserved to be paid was him and Shaq. Basically kind of a dick. But later in his career, Kobe had grown and learned to be protective and supportive of ALL his teammates, even describing one time when Kobe came to Adam Morrison's defense when his play and even role on the team was criticized.
• Confirmed that Celestine and Brown left because Baylor and VTech were willing to pay them more than Cal was. No surprise there.
• One of our current transfer portal recruits came to Cal despite another major program offering him significantly more money. He came to Cal though because he felt he had more of an opportunity to play. I asked him if because of this he felt pressure to start this recruit. Madsen straight out said, yes he did feel that pressure, but at the same time, he was honest with this recruit (and all recruits) that nothing is guaranteed, and that while other schools will promise everything under the sun to get the kid to sign whereupon those promises fall by the wayside, he/Cal does not do that.
• He's really really bullish on Andrej Stojakovic's potential as a player despite a lackluster statistical freshman season at Stanfurd. I commented how I was amazed at his athleticism on some plays at the Stanfurd @ Cal game last season and without missing a beat he said "oh like when he went for that dunk against us?!" and I was like "Yes! Exactly!"
• Speaking of Stojakovic, he shared a funny story during Andrej's recruiting process. So, back when the Lakers were battling the Kings in the finals, Shaq was quoted as saying "we're not worried about the Sacramento QUEENS." So while Madsen was visiting the Stojakovic residence, he made a joke about he played for the Lakers while Andrej's dad played for the Sacramento Queens. He expected big laughs all around but Peja's face did NOT look amused. Thought he bombed the recruitment, but in the end, everything turned out okay haha.
• Madsen brought with him Shaq's and Kobe's shoes, and we were all amazed at huge Shaq's shoe was and took pics with it. It was about the length of most of our forearms. He also brought his two NBA championship rings and we all had a blast wearing and taking pics with them as well.
• Mentioned that he'd love to do an international trip with the players which Cal allows every four years. He asked our opinion where in Asia they should go if they do go to Asia and several people suggested Taiwan as being one of the more talented basketball Asia regions. Definitely not Singapore as the national basketball team here would probably not even give Cal a decent warmup. But Europe is also in the running so all this is still TBD anyhow.
• As a token of our appreciation for his coming to Singapore, we got him a custom Cal mahjong set to remember his Asia trip. He seemed to get a kick out of it.

Anyways, that's all I can remember at the moment. Hope this was interesting!

Photos:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1d6ccaM7kFCRQ-1Lok5lOXvyAVHKbAeJ3?usp=share_link

Great report! Sounds like there is still [much] work to be done with our Cal Legends contributions.

edwinbear said:

---

Hey guys,

I just came back from our "Meet Coach Madsen" event in Singapore. I'm 4 highballs in, but wanted to share the experience while it's still relatively fresh.

Overall, it was great! Not only did a bunch of Cal fans/alums come out, but also kids of fans/alums who were really excited to meet a real life former Laker who played with Kobe and Shaq. Saw a few basketballs being signed.

Madsen's whole Asia trip will be a total of 7 days. He landed in Singapore 6am this morning, came to our event this evening and spent a few hours with us, and will fly out to Korea later tonight at 2am. He will then be at the annual Berkeley gala in Hong Kong on June 15th. What a machine!

Some interesting tidbits Madsen shared, in no particular order.

• If Jaylon Tyson wasn't going to the draft, he would have definitely come back to Cal despite having a 7-figure NIL market value.
• Said Cal's NIL level in basketball is in the bottom 1/3rd of the ACC. Unfortunate, but will hopefully improve as we win more. Mentioned Cal Legends by name as the place to donate to effect the most positive change possible.
• After Jerod Haase was fired, Stanford did NOT try to poach him. The only school that did was BYU, but he and his family are very happy living in the Bay Area and so it was always kind of a non-starter.
• He saw a Chinese player playing for the China team recently at the World Championships in Europe that he really wanted to recruit to Cal. Said he was amazing, and that his play was like Nikola Jokic. He reached out to the CBA team manager(?, I forget the exact title) to see if they would let this player out of his contract. Unfortunately, they wouldn't. Who was one of those decision makers? Former Cal basketball player Max Zhang.
• He shared a story about Kobe with us about player growth. Talked about how early in his NBA career, Kobe had once in the locker room said that the only players who deserved to be paid was him and Shaq. Basically kind of a dick. But later in his career, Kobe had grown and learned to be protective and supportive of ALL his teammates, even describing one time when Kobe came to Adam Morrison's defense when his play and even role on the team was criticized.
• Confirmed that Celestine and Brown left because Baylor and VTech were willing to pay them more than Cal was. No surprise there.
• One of our current transfer portal recruits came to Cal despite another major program offering him significantly more money. He came to Cal though because he felt he had more of an opportunity to play. I asked him if because of this he felt pressure to start this recruit. Madsen straight out said, yes he did feel that pressure, but at the same time, he was honest with this recruit (and all recruits) that nothing is guaranteed, and that while other schools will promise everything under the sun to get the kid to sign whereupon those promises fall by the wayside, he/Cal does not do that.
• He's really really bullish on Andrej Stojakovic's potential as a player despite a lackluster statistical freshman season at Stanfurd. I commented how I was amazed at his athleticism on some plays at the Stanfurd @ Cal game last season and without missing a beat he said "oh like when he went for that dunk against us?!" and I was like "Yes! Exactly!"
• Speaking of Stojakovic, he shared a funny story during Andrej's recruiting process. So, back when the Lakers were battling the Kings in the finals, Shaq was quoted as saying "we're not worried about the Sacramento QUEENS." So while Madsen was visiting the Stojakovic residence, he made a joke about he played for the Lakers while Andrej's dad played for the Sacramento Queens. He expected big laughs all around but Peja's face did NOT look amused. Thought he bombed the recruitment, but in the end, everything turned out okay haha.
• Madsen brought with him Shaq's and Kobe's shoes, and we were all amazed at huge Shaq's shoe was and took pics with it. It was about the length of most of our forearms. He also brought his two NBA championship rings and we all had a blast wearing and taking pics with them as well.
• Mentioned that he'd love to do an international trip with the players which Cal allows every four years. He asked our opinion where in Asia they should go if they do go to Asia and several people suggested Taiwan as being one of the more talented basketball Asia regions. Definitely not Singapore as the national basketball team here would probably not even give Cal a decent warmup. But Europe is also in the running so all this is still TBD anyhow.
• As a token of our appreciation for his coming to Singapore, we got him a custom Cal mahjong set to remember his Asia trip. He seemed to get a kick out of it.

Anyways, that's all I can remember at the moment. Hope this was interesting!

Photos:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1d6ccaM7kFCRQ-1Lok5lOXvyAVHKbAeJ3?usp=share_link

---

I was hoping to catch him in Korea, but I will be back there next week and will miss him,

If he goes to Taiwan he should look up Richard Chang who played for Cal in the 80s (and the Taiwan national team) and is vice president and GM of Costco Asia.

Intuit said:

---

Richard Chang (Costco) - Wikipedia

---

President of the Berkeley Club of Taiwan as well.

edwinbear said:

---

Mentioned that he'd love to do an international trip with the players which Cal allows every four years. He asked our opinion where in Asia they should go if they do go to Asia and several people suggested Taiwan as being one of the more talented basketball Asia regions. Definitely not Singapore as the national basketball team here would probably not even give Cal a decent warmup. But Europe is also in the running so all this is still TBD anyhow.

---

I appreciate the report, edwinbear. Exclusive dispatches like this make the board a better place.

Unless the NCAA changes its rule -- and they should -- the Cal men's basketball team is unable to take an overseas trip until 2026, because they went to Europe in 2022. There is an exception to that rule, however, in which a team can take a trip if they represent the USA in an international competition.

Lo and behold, there's a basketball tournament called the William Jones Cup that occurs annually in Taiwan. Last year there were 9 teams from 8 different countries: Iran, Japan, Phillippines, Qatar, South Korea, United Arab Emirates, plus 2 from Taiwan, and UC Irvine representing the United States. The Anteaters won.

This year's tournament is about a month away. I haven't come across much information for it, and it's probably too late to get involved now, but it's something to consider for 2025.

Elsewhere in Asia is the World University Basketball Series in Japan. Radford University represented the USA last year and finished 3rd, but from what I can tell, there will be no American representative this August. Tulane played the World University Games in China; that tournament is every two years and changes locations.

As for regular basketball team trips to Asia without a tournament, the Hawai'i men went to Japan last year, and the Hawai'i women are there now. Last summer the Arizona men and Kansas State men took a trip, more or less together, to Israel and the UAE.

Thanks so much for this report Edwin. The recruit seems to be Petraitis as I heard Texas offered him a bag, but came to Cal. Cal and Texas was his final 2. Excited to see Stojakovic play this year plus the rest of the team!

Johnfox said:

---

Thanks so much for this report Edwin. The recruit seems to be Petraitis as I heard Texas offered him a bag, but came to Cal. Cal and Texas was his final 2.

---

I don't think he will be disappointed by his decision then. He's about as pencil-into-the-starting-lineup as it gets with this transfer class. He does everything at an average to above average level.

LOVED sharing vision of Cal basketball in Singapore. Impressed with passion for @CalAthletics what a great city & country! Will be back!✈️🐻

Seoul, South Korea tonight then to Taiwan. Ending Saturday in Hong Kong w/ @UCBerkeley celebration event there.

Fired up sharing… pic.twitter.com/HdZNQThFwC

— Mark Madsen (@madsen_mark) June 12, 2024

Thanks so much for your original thread informing us about Coach Madsen's trip to Asia. I was able to attend the Gala Dinner held last night at the Grand Hyatt, hosted by the Berkeley Club Hong Kong. Though Coach was not one of the scheduled speakers, I was fortunate enough to speak with him prior to the dinner, and as mentioned previously he had brought along his two spectacular NBA championship rings for photo ops. It was gracious of him to attend the HK event, he did not even spend one full day in HK, he left before the event conclusion to catch a flight to Tokyo.

Thank you to all of the Cal Alums in Taipei, Taiwan for making it such a memorable visit!

It was awesome to talk hoops! #GoBears pic.twitter.com/J8GouPVexh

— Mark Madsen (@madsen_mark) June 16, 2024

Hong Kong Gala was incredible.

Appreciate the amazing @Cal event and everyone from Hong Kong & region who attended! We will be back ! @UCBerkeley pic.twitter.com/Qniulp2qFM

— Mark Madsen (@madsen_mark) June 16, 2024

HongKong_Bear said:

---

Thanks so much for your original thread informing us about Coach Madsen's trip to Asia. I was able to attend the Gala Dinner held last night at the Grand Hyatt, hosted by the Berkeley Club Hong Kong. Though Coach was not one of the scheduled speakers, I was fortunate enough to speak with him prior to the dinner, and as mentioned previously he had brought along his two spectacular NBA championship rings for photo ops. It was gracious of him to attend the HK event, he did not even spend one full day in HK, he left before the event conclusion to catch a flight to Tokyo.

---

I was there too! Was able to photo bomb a pic with our current chancellor haha.

edwinbear said:

---

Hey guys,

I'm 4 highballs in,

---

Tell me you're in Asia without telling me you're in Asia