Cal taps NASA specialist to prepare for ACC travel

• Jeff Borzello, ESPN

  • Personnel WriterOct 10, 2024, 05:51 PM ET Close Basketball recruiting expert.
  • Signed up with ESPN in 2014.
  • Graduate of University of Delaware.CHARLOTTE, North Carolina

— Moving to the ACC has actually been a boost for Cal and Stanford from a variety of different standpoints, offering both schools with a long-term home in a power conference after the Pac-12 broke down in the summer season of 2023. However the change also has actually brought worries over travel during conference play, with almost every trip in January, February and March including a multiple-game swing and a number of days away from home.”I’m absolutely worried about the travel,” Cal coach Mark Madsen stated Thursday at ACC Tipoff.The Golden Bears, however, are taking steps to decrease the impact the long-distance travel will have on their student-athletes, Madsen said.In the offseason, Golden Bears athletic director Jim Knowlton generated a NASA expert to give a presentation to the school’s

sports groups.”He concentrated on recovery across time zones. How the body can recuperate under pressure. It was extremely informative,”Madsen told ESPN.”We were there with all the

head coaches. A great deal of terrific details was shared. The bottom line is we’ll come out throughout conference play, we’ll come out either two days early or one day early, depending on the academic work.””We’re not going to leave a single stone unturned,”he included.”If it suggests a couple of additional wins across 10 different teams, the preparation level, we

‘re going to do it. “Editor’s Picks

Madsen likewise said he spent time in the offseason thinking about how to incrementally improve the performance of the guys’s basketball program, from nutrition to how to help players picture hunting reports. And among those possible improvements was drinking water while flying.

“Hydration on long flights. Can we get a little bit much better? Yes,” he said.Stanford coach

Kyle Smith has similar issues as Madsen, although the travel issues Smith had during his time at Washington State the previous five years prepared him and his personnel for this season’s journeys.

“I picture it’s something you probably have to get used to,” Smith said. “Our personnel’s prepared since we were at Washington State and we were going commercial. So it was a bus ride, a flight into Seattle, then Seattle to, it may be another stop. So whatever– honestly, it’ll be less time. Our time travel [was] more in Pullman. And it’s chartered.”

Smith is cognizant of how it might affect his players, however.

“Gamers, that’s going to be various. The time zones. That’s real,” he said.On Wednesday, ACC commissioner Jim Phillips spoke about the travel– pointing out that the conference currently had a sneak peek of any prospective issues with the league’s fall sports.

“In the end, I really feel we’ve set up well. We’ve created travel partners for the very first time, so when you head out to California, the groups that are on the East Coast, they’ll play 2 games. When Cal, Stanford can be found in this direction, they’ll play two games,” Philips stated. “I believe it makes a lot of sense to do that. We have actually gotten an early sort of snippet view with our Olympic sports. I believe it’s worked out pretty well, but I make sure it won’t be best. I just know that due to the fact that we have actually gone now outside of our footprint that we had for 71 years.

“So we’ll adjust and make some modifications as we enter into the future, but so far so excellent.”

The ACC isn’t the only league handling new logistical issues, with the Big 10 and the Big 12 both expanding out West. UCLA, USC, Oregon and Washington all joined the Big Ten, while Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah all went to the Huge 12.

Oregon coach Dana Altman said at Big 10 Media Day that he is talking with NFL and NBA teams who are helping him discover methods to keep his team fresh when the Ducks need to make several journeys to the East coast and Midwest throughout college basketball season.

“We’ve done a great deal of calling around to the NBA, to all the West Coast groups in the NBA, and even some NFL teams and how they take a trip when they go east,” Altman stated. “Everyone discuss how hard it is to go east and west and all the numbers show it out, the roadway records and so forth. So we’ve studied that.”

He stated those groups have given him pointers, such as making sure players don’t drop off to sleep on flights so they can adapt to their brand-new time zones when they land.

“I’m going to have to do a much better task of cutting back on some days of practice possibly, which is hard for an insecure coach to do due to the fact that you want to discuss everything one more time,” Altman said.UCLA’s Mick Cronin stated he’s not as worried as Altman. He said his players have actually been traveling the country since they were teenagers on the AAU circuit– although he wants his team to have chartered flights that have lounge chairs so players can relax on their flights.

“I believe it’s all a little overrated,” he stated. “However [Altman] and I have spoken about it, attempting to get a specific type of charter flight. You have actually seen them in the NBA, with the lounge chairs. But is that really going to matter with success? I believe hiring and durability and shot-making matter more.”

ESPN’s Myron Medcalf contributed to this report.