Matt Bradley is excited to show what Cal has to offer

At Pac-12 media days, Cal sophomore shooting guard Matt Bradley talked about his excitement for the upcoming season and what he expects fans to see at Haas Pavilion this year. With a new coaching staff at the helm under the leadership of head coach Mark Fox, Bradley is confident in the direction of the Cal program and eager to get to work.

If there’s one word that can best describe Fox’s approach to coaching, it’s accountability. Last year, no one on Cal seemed willing to accept responsibility for what was going wrong. The coaches felt it was the players’ fault and the players felt it was the coaches’ fault. Fox is making it clear that such blaming doesn’t accomplish anything and that everyone needs to be united in turning this ship around.

“From day one Coach Fox came in and held everybody accountable,” Bradley said. “Our managers; our players; everybody and he’s installed a winning mentality within all of us and with practices and with everything we do, we just gotta take everything seriously and he has a good saying: ‘The small things don’t matter once you take all the small things very seriously.’

So regardless if it’s doing laundry or running through a play, we gotta do everything at a hundred percent because that’s what leads up to winning, so it’s been really good, though.With Coach Fox, he just brings, with the supporting cast, Coach Wilson is still here as of last year, but everything is just going good right now. They’re getting us on the right track for season and I’m just looking forward to the season, really.”

Another coach that has helped Bradley out is his former Wasatch Academy head coach Curtis Condie. After going through a rough freshman year due to all the losing, Condie has been a main stay for Bradley, helping him stay focused on what he can control.

“Yeah, he’s just told me it’s another year,” Bradley said. “I just gotta refocus up, do well, and that’s my guy right there. He’s really been a big part of what I’ve been doing these past couple of years. Definitely gave me a lot of good feedback on last year and I’m just pushing forward.”

Over the course of this past summer, Bradley did his best to improve his game and become a part of a winning formula in Berkeley. The main things he worked on was getting in better shape and mentality preparing to become more of a leader.

“So, this summer up until now I’ve been working on my physical endurance,” Bradley said. “I lost about eight to ten pounds. I’ve become a better defender because of it and opened my game up more offensively because of it and also becoming a better teammate and trying to fit into that leader role for our team. So, a lot of things I have to improve on still, but I’ve made a lot of improvements.

We got a lot of good pieces right now. So, it’s really up to me how I decide to play. It’s laid out for me to do really well. I just hope I fill into that role whatever it may be and just take care of business.”

One of the things that Bradley does to improve his endurance is work on improving his ability to shoot on tired legs. One workout he does is to score a hundred points all by himself. While it’s a simple drill, Bradley feels like it really does the trick to improve his ability to focus over long durations of time.

“Yeah, so most of the time, if I do workout by myself, I try to do a little thing where it’s like score a hundred points,” Bradley said. “So, I just go back and forth and just keep doing different moves until I get a hundred points really and that builds up your stamina. That helps you make shots when you’re tired; it’s kinda like nothing special, just go back and forth until you make a hundred. If you keep missing, you just keep going back and forth. You rebound your own shot. You go back the other way if you miss.

“I know two threes equal six and then two twos equal four, so I just do ten. So, I just gotta make sure I get two threes and I get two twos throughout the ten points and then I just keep counting by tens. It’s tough. Especially if you’re on an off day. You’re in there for 30 minutes.”

Touching more on his teammates, Bradley really likes how everyone has something different to offer. He feels like the freshmen all have a lot to offer while the returning players have done a great job of improving over the summer.

“Yeah, Kuany Kuany,” Bradley said when asked who of the freshmen has stood out to him. “I feel like he’s gonna make a real impact for our team and he’s gonna make a big splash in the Pac-12. He’s 6’9”, really athletic, really skilled. Joel Brown from Canada, Brewster Academy, very athletic point guard, shares the ball really well and has improved his shooting a lot. Lars [Thiemann] from Germany. Big body, very skilled. There’s a lot of upside for him and not only just the freshmen, like people returning.

“I feel like Paris has improved a lot. I feel Grant Anticevich might get most improved player in the Pac-12, and Andre Kelly, he started off the season really well. I think what you guys saw in the beginning of the season he’s going to carry out through this whole next season. So, I think everybody has just been improving a lot.”

As a result of getting a fresh start with a new coaching staff and a ton of new teammates, Bradley can hardly contain his excitement to get on the court in an actual game. Especially since the season is only a couple of weeks away.

“Got a couple more weeks and I’m eager for season to start,” Bradley said with enthusiasm. “I’m really excited for what we have to offer for this year. It’s a new year and everybody’s getting a lot better throughout summer and it’s pretty good.”

When looking at Cal’s schedule, the game against Duke at the Empire Classic in Madison Square Garden stands out. While he did say he’s taking things one game at a time, Bradley admitted that he too is eying that game, eager to showcase his skills on a national stage.

“I do. I definitely do,” Bradley said. “My friends like to bring it up back at home. It’s always like a childhood dream to play against a school of that magnitude. But the first game I gotta worry about is Saint Martin’s coming up and I gotta take it one game at a time.”

If there’s one thing Matt Bradley wants to accomplish this season, it’s to find success. Not only for himself, but for the team. If they can win games and become more of a threat in the Pac-12, he’ll consider his sophomore year a good one:

“I mean, whatever success is. I just want to do really good. Not only myself, but the team. Go into the tournament, really. The Pac-12 tournament, do well, and see what happens from there.”