Stanford, Cal to host ACC’s premier men’s hoops schools in No. 6 Duke, No. 15 North Carolina
Cal coach Mark Madsen was a rookie in the NBA during the 2000-01 season, just a year out of Stanford, when No. 1 Duke visited Oakland to face the third-ranked Cardinal at the Pete Newell Challenge at the Coliseum Arena. But Madsen remembers it, just as every Bay Area college hoops fan of that generation does.
Casey Jacobsen banked in a game-winning jump shot with 3.6 seconds left and Stanford alum Tiger Woods leaped from his front-row seat as the Cardinal prevailed 84-83 in front of Jerry West and Oscar Robertson amid a crowd of 19,804, the largest to watch a college basketball in the state of California.
“It was an exciting time to be part of the Stanford family. Basketball was big. Basketball was important in the Bay Area at the college level,” Madsen said. “Over here at Cal and also at Stanford, we’re trying to get that back to where it was back then.”
These have been lean times for the two. Cal hasn’t completed a winning season since 2016-17 and most recently played in the NCAA Tournament the year before that. Stanford hasn’t been part of March Madness since 2014.
But the spotlight will be on the two programs this week when No. 6 Duke and No. 14 North Carolina — two of the game’s enduring blue bloods — visit the Bay Area for a quartet of much-anticipated ACC games.
Duke (15-1, 4-0) plays Cal (13-4, 1-3) on Wednesday at 8 p.m. for the first time ever at Haas Pavilion while Carolina (14-2, 2-1) tips off at 6 p.m. at Stanford (13-4, 2-2). The teams swap opponents on Saturday, with UNC-Cal going at 1 p.m. and Duke-Stanford starting at 2 p.m.
Both Duke games are expected to be sellouts and tickets for the Carolina games are selling fast, according to Cal and Stanford.
Stanford coach Kyle Smith says the move to the ACC, for all of its logistical complications, can have a huge benefit to both Bay Area schools.
“We’re global brands,” Smith said of Stanford and Cal. “And these are global brands (in) basketball and it puts us on a level (with) an opportunity that you didn’t get in the Pac-12. Duke and North Carolina, an opportunity to associate with that and have the kind of atmosphere and crowd that can generate some buzz and excitement so we can close the gap. I think we will.”
Cal’s roster features two transfer starters from ACC schools — guard Dai Dai Ames from Virginia and forward Chris Bell of Syracuse — and Madsen credits conference realignment.
“It’s a huge selling point to be able to play against these top teams,” Madsen said.
“I think it’s a big part of why guys come here in the first place,” Smith echoed. “They want to play against the best.”
This week, the best include freshman forwards Cameron Boozer (22.9 points, 9.5 rebounds) of Duke and Caleb Wilson (19.5 points, 11.0 rebounds) of Carolina. They are projected to possibly become the first Blue Devil/Tar Heel tandem to be top-five picks in the same NBA draft since 1990.
Wilson is “an electric player,” Smith said. “He’s just a long, rangy good NBA talent. He plays way above the rim. He can really get a defensive rebound and push it and start their break.”
Madsen has a connection to Boozer, having played against and later coached his father, former NBA player Carlos Boozer.
“Watching Cam, you can see the influence of his dad,” Madsen said. “You can see the basketball IQ, you can see the toughness.”
Besides Stanford’s win over Duke at the Newell Challenge, here are the most memorable matchups between the Bay Area programs and those from Tobacco Road:
Cal vs. Duke: The Bears stunned the basketball world when they upset two-time defending national champion Duke in the second round of the 1993 NCAA tournament. Freshman Jason Kidd earned a Sports Illustrated cover photo after posting 11 points, eight rebounds, 14 assists and four steals in an 82-77 victory, aided by sidekick Lamond Murray’s 28 points and 10 rebounds. Bobby Hurley scored 32 points and Grant Hill 18 for the Blue Devils.
Stanford vs. North Carolina: The Cardinal scored its first win over the Tar Heels in 14 tries last season at Chapel Hill, thanks to a game-winning basket by Jaylen Blakes, a transfer from Duke. But the most compelling matchup was back on Dec. 3, 1983 at Maples Pavilion, where star attraction Michael Jordan was held to four points, the second-lowest total of his 101-game college career. The Tar Heels won anyway, 88-75.
Cal vs. North Carolina: The Bears beat the Heels 78-71 at the 1998 Newell Challenge, but the stakes were much higher a year earlier in the NCAA Sweet 16, when Cal coach Ben Braun’s first team — featuring future Hall of Fame tight end Tony Gonzalez — gave Vince Carter and Antawn Jamison all they could handle before the Heels advanced with a 63-57 victory.