STANFORD – Mark Madsen has been involved in plenty of Stanford blowouts at Maples Pavilion. He was on the losing end of one for the first time Thursday night.
The Cardinal dominated Cal 80-58, handing the former Stanford All-American a loss in his first game as the opposing coach at the arena and both teams’ last regular-season game before departing the Pac-12 for the ACC this summer.
“I have a lot of blood, sweat and tears here on this court,” said Madsen, who wore a grey polo shirt with the Cal logo. “Spent four years here. I love my time here, and that was a great chapter of my life. And now my entire focus and all of my energy is dedicated to building Cal basketball back up to what it’s been in the past and what it could be in the future, which is greatness.”
The Bears (13-18) improved from 2-18 in the Pac-12 last year to 9-11 in Madsen’s first season, and 21 of their 31 games have been decided by single digits.
That includes a 73-71 win over Stanford in Berkeley six weeks ago, giving Cal the opportunity to sweep Madsen’s alma mater for the first time since 2009-10. Instead, the Bears failed to match the intensity shown by the Cardinal, who honored its seniors before the game and then hit six of its first nine shots from behind the arc to go up 30-16.
“They blitzed us,” Madsen said of the opening minutes after he received a warm welcome from the mixed crowd. “They got us back on their heels and they won this game and they deserve all the credit because they went right at us at the start, and we did not respond the way we should.”
Cal only trailed by nine at halftime, but committed turnovers on its first four possessions of the second half and then never got closer than 14 the rest of the way as the Bears dropped their fifth straight game at Maples.
Now the fiery Madsen heads into his first (and last) Pac-12 Tournament as coach Wednesday in Las Vegas. On Thursday night, he remembered his freshman year with the Cardinal, when Arizona finished the 1997 regular season by losing to both Cal and Stanford – and then won the national championship.
“If anything,” Madsen said, “this loss is going to make us hungrier, it’s going to make us more competitive, it’s going to hopefully light a fire under all of us that we can build momentum going into Vegas and do something special.”
While Madsen was coaching his first game at Maples, his counterpart might have been coaching his last game there. Barring a Pac-12 Tournament title, Jerod Haase will finish his eighth year at Stanford without an NCAA appearance, though he was 20-12 in the COVID-shortened 2020 season. His overall record with the Cardinal stands at 125-126, including a 67-85 mark in the Pac-12.
Before the game, this organization published a story featuring prominent alumni from the program calling for Haase to be fired, and athletic director Bernard Muir issued a statement saying he would evaluate the program after the season.
“I know there was a local article today, which is fine,” Haase said. “But the reality is I’m pretty good at being laser-focused, kind of in the moment with these guys. I can compartmentalize things pretty well.”
The Cardinal (13-17, 8-12) had lost six straight games, all by double digits, before blowing out its rival. The Cardinal hit 12 of 24 shots from long range, while center Maxime Raynaud provided balance inside with 20 points and eight rebounds.
“Our team has struggled of late, but we haven’t struggled with work ethic or belief,” Haase said. “We really bought into the mission, and it’s nice to validate that.”
Like Madsen, Haase also played in the rivalry: As a freshman, the South Lake Tahoe native was a guard on Cal’s 1993 Sweet 16 team. On top of everything else Thursday night – rivalry game, senior night, Madsen’s homecoming, Haase’s possible last appearance – it was also the last Pac-12 game at Maples.
“Pretty powerful moment right now, thinking that the Pac-12 logo needs to come off that court,” Haase said. “It’s pretty sobering.”