NC State will play both California and Stanford this week on the road.
The Wolfpack (9-12 overall, 2-8 ACC) plan to leave Raleigh on Monday night, play at California at 11 p.m. ET on Wednesday and then at Stanford at 7 p.m. ET on Saturday. NC State hosted the Bears in Raleigh, falling 65-62 on Jan. 18, which was the third loss of a current six-game losing streak.
California (11-11 overall, 4-7 ACC) is coming off losing back-to-back games at SMU on Jan. 29, and home vs. Syracuse on Feb. 1. The Bears are drawing an average of 3,789 fans for their 13 homes games this season. Stanford’s (15-7 overall, 7-4 ACC) attendance is even worse with 2,724 per contest
The game with the Cardinal will feature the return of former point guard Michael O’Connell of NC State. He played his first three years and earned his degree at Stanford.
NC State coach Kevin Keatts said he hasn’t talked to California coach Mark Madsen or Stanford first-year coach Kyle Smith about joining the ACC in past coaches’ meetings or on the recruiting trail.
“I didn’t have a conversation with them, but when I realized after the game [Saturday] that we were going to take the trip to Cal and Stanford, I realized now that they are [in the ACC],” Keatts said. “I knew that obviously. I'm excited that they're in the ACC, but reality sunk in that our conference has spread out so much, which is a good thing. I don't think that's an issue at all.
“I love the fact that we, we cover so many, so much ground and different places. It is sinking in now that we actually, ‘Hey, we're going to Cal and Stanford to play a game.’”
The Wolfpack will practice in Berkeley, Calif., on Tuesday and will have plenty of time for team bonding this week, which Keatts believes the team will welcome. The team also has some players battling illness.
“It’s a long week of travel and we are playing two good teams on the West Coast that have done really well at their home venues,” Keatts said.
California entered the ACC with a mixed history in basketball.
Legendary coach Pete Newell helped lead California to the 1960 national title, and a runner-up finish in 1959, but elected to stop coaching following the championship season.
California basketball has never come close to getting back to that national stage again.
The Bears have been more down than up over the years, and haven’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 2016. The program hasn’t been to the Sweet 16 since 1997 under coach Ben Braun.
Cal’s other flurry of excitement came when Jason Kidd played his two years of college basketball in 1992-94. Kidd was the No. 1 player in the country and was a Bay Area legend coming out of Alameda (Calif.) St. Joseph Notre Dame. His passing was highly advanced before he arrived at California and he had a gifted scorer to feed in small forward Lamond Murray.
The squad upset Duke to reach the Sweet 16 his freshman year in 1993, but then conversely got upset by coach Dick Bennett and Wisconsin-Green Bay the following season in the first round. Coach Todd Bozeman landed some other high-profile recruits, but it also led to him getting NCAA charges and dismissed following the 1995-96 season with future NBA star Shareef Abdur-Rahim and future NFL star tight end Tony Gonzalez.
California has gone 67-153 since 2017, which led to the firings of Wyking Jones and Mark Fox, and current coach Madsen is in his second year.
Madsen has a unique perspective since he played at rival Stanford. The Cardinal and Bears also share having Mike Montgomery as coach. Montgomery put Stanford hoops on the map from 1986-2004, and then left for the Golden State Warriors. He returned to the college ranks and helped the Bears reach the NCAA Tournament four times and NIT twice from 2008-14.
The additions of California, Stanford and SMU could end up being a short-term fix, but that depends on how the ACC looks when its TV deals end in 2036. For now, having a 11 p.m. tip is part of the “new normal.” California has been playing without sophomore leading scorer Andrej Stojakovic since the NC State game.
Keatts knows time is running out on the Wolfpack’s season and it’s important to not finish in the bottom three of the ACC and miss the league tournament.
“We’re going to two good places, two good schools and two good programs,” Keatts said. “We didn't have a great first 10 [ACC games] and we got to figure out obviously how to play better.
I don't know if anybody had as many close losses as we've had in conference in a long time. I'm trying to keep these guys right in the moment.”
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