Mark Madsen l Cal Men's Basketball Coach

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Minimum $10 per order, additional term supply. All right, it is the Infinity Sports Network and it is the Zach Gelb show. Mark Madsen is going to join us right now with the Timberwolves back in the conference finals. Last time the Timberwolves were in the conference finals. Mark, of course, played in Minnesota as he was there from 2003 to 2009.

You know what he's also able to do with the Lakers before that from 2000 to 2003, winning two NBA championships, spent a few years as an assistant with the Lakers, a bunch of college stops, and then head coach at Utah Valley and now with Cal. And he's kind enough to join us once again on the Zach Gelb show. Mark, I know it's been a while, but always enjoy when we get to connect with you. How you been? Been great. Thanks for having me on the show. It's, uh, tell you what, I'm fired up about what happened with the Timberwolves going. It's phenomenal. It's exciting. And it's great to be back on the show.

Yeah, thanks so much for coming on. And what a wild game that was last night. Like, Edwards didn't play great offensively, only had 16 points.

He was a dog in the second half of the defensive end. Everyone else did step up. But to be down 20 points in the defending champs building and to outscore them combined in the second half, 60 to 37. That was really something special last night, Mark. Well, it was amazing.

I mean, it's just amazing to see the obviously Glenn Taylor. You know, the ownership grew. They've stayed a course. There were a lot of lean years there. There were a lot of tough years, but the organization stuck with it.

The fans stuck with it. I'll say this. When you win in Minnesota, it's not, it's not the Minneapolis Timberwolves.

I mean, it's the mid truly the state of Minnesota, and then it pulls in a lot of people from neighboring states. And so the interest there is phenomenal. Talking to Mark Madsen right now from a basketball standpoint to see what Anthony Edwards has been able to do at such a young age and the way that he's been able to captivate a team and a city and really starting to become the face of the NBA. What stands out to you with the play of Anthony Edwards coach? He's fearless. Edwards is fearless. He's got an unbelievable personality.

He has a great sense of humor and his encore does all the talking. You know, I remember in the early two thousands, the league was talking. Hey, you know, Michael Jordan is at the end. Who's going to carry the torch for the NBA and the guy stepped up, Kobe LeBron, others.

And I think right now we're going to have a similar conversation with LeBron retiring. I think Anthony Edwards is someone that can carry the torch and be really one of the standard bearers for the entire NBA, not only nationally, but across the world. And a big part about it is obviously on the court, you have to be dominant. But this dude, right, we saw that the acting in the movie with Adam Sandler and the personality, you know, some guys are stars, but they don't feel like stars off the court. Anthony Edward has Edwards has everything you really want on and off the court with the star mark. He has it all. He has it all because it starts with him being on the court, able to do other things, you know, offensively when he locks in defensively, he's he's a problem.

And it's just great to see a young player like that coming into his own. Mark Madsen here with us. Take me back to your team. Twenty years ago, you were coming over from Los Angeles, right? You get set to go up against them in the conference finals. But what do you remember from that season in Minnesota when 20 years ago you guys were able to get to a conference finals? Well, we had a lot of great players. We had great leadership. Kevin Garnett was really one of the best leaders, probably in any sport. Sam Cassell, Latrell Sprewell, these guys were winners. And then you had you had a whole crew of role players, Gary Trent and Irvin Johnson, Fred Hoiberg, guys that just embraced their role and were really good at coming in and and do what they do best.

And so from that standpoint, it was just probably one of the most fun teams I've ever had the privilege of playing on. You know, you got to play against and with so many great players when you look at stars and guys that had larger than life personalities, you look at a Shaquille O'Neal. You also look at a Kevin Garnett. How do you compare and contrast when you were able to play with and also play up against Shaq and then also KJ? Well, let's go back in time to my very first meeting, you know, the first team meeting I ever had at the Lakers. It was unbelievable because Phil Jackson had everybody go around the circle and basically say what they were going to do that year to help the team.

And so everyone shared something. And one of the things I'll never forget Phil saying to Shaq was he told Shaq, he said, Shaq, I've challenged you to share your personality more with the fans and with the media and with the public as a whole. This is this is in 2000 and Shaq always kind of shared his personality, but it took off.

It took off. I mean, whether it was Phil telling Shaq or Shaq just doing it on his own, you know, Shaq's personality became bigger than life. Kobe, I mean, you talk about someone that cares about the game of basketball, that cares about winning, that put his craft above anything else, above business endeavors, above personal fame, above, you know, off the court distractions.

It was awesome to be a part of that group. From KG. But what do you take away with your time with Kevin Garnett?

The ultimate leader, the ultimate leader. KG is someone that put the work in every single day. You hear this expression a lot in basketball.

We're going to chop wood, meaning you're going to do all the little things every day to better yourself as a player and to help the team. Kevin Garnett had his routine and he stuck with it every single day. Even even KG had a couple of bad games. But when he did, he was consistent and he stayed the course.

And something could always happen with them. Mark Batson here with us at the Zach Gelb Show on the Infinity Sports Network. So this matchup, you got the Mavericks, right? A phenomenal duo with Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving. Their other players are stepping up, right?

Just in Minnesota, even when Anthony Edwards doesn't play great, you see the team effort last night. When you take a glance at this series and you know that your Timberwolves are four games away from going to the NBA Finals, how do you kind of think this series will plan out and what stands out to you using your basketball mind? It's going to be unbelievable series. I mean, two teams are both playing really well. I mean, Dallas is playing phenomenally well right now.

They're getting great contributions across the board. And Minnesota with all the swagger. You know, I think it was game two, Minnesota, Denver, when Minnesota absolutely dismantled the Nuggets. It was one of the most fun basketball games I've ever seen. And so I'm just excited because you have two teams playing their best basketball right now.

Yeah, it's going to be fun to see how it plays out. If Minnesota is able to get the job done and you played in a few NBA Finals, right, with the Lakers and won some championships, what would that mean to you if in a few weeks you see that the Timberwolves in the finals? I think it would mean a lot to me personally and to really all of us that, you know, give blood, sweat and tears to the Timberwolves organization. I love the area.

Minneapolis, St. Paul. What a great area. What a great chapter of life. And so it's going to be really meaningful on a personal level if the Timberwolves can play well and get that done. I know you got a new job taking over Cal a year ago. How have things been going out there on the West Coast in this crazy changing landscape of college sports these days? We had a phenomenal first year. You know, we quadrupled, I think, the wins from the previous year. So that's huge success. And now, look, conference realignment is a reality.

You know, I could probably look out my office window and throw a rock and hit the Pacific Ocean. We're in the ACC. But what I'm proud of is the ACC is probably the premier basketball conference in the country.

And it's already paying huge dividends in terms of recruiting. When your kids are asking you that you coach about your career, is Kobe still the first person that they bring up when they ask you about the teammates that you played with? Kobe always comes up, you know, just I think about Kobe a lot because Kobe was somebody similar to Kevin Garnett who pushed his teammates so hard. I mean, Kobe was always pushing people. He was hard on us at times in a good way, in a good way. But he was hardest on himself. He held himself to the highest standard.

And that's really what demands respect. I think we lost coach there, but he's Mark Batson joining us on the Zach Gelb Show on the Infinity Sports Network. I think we got coach back. Coach, can you hear us? Yes. Yes, I can hear you.

Sorry, you got cut off. So Kobe is just, you know, some of that obviously, you know, it's awful what happened. We've talked about it throughout the years, unfortunately, we've had to. But Kobe's just still the one that everyone asks you about, right? Your players. Kobe has such a place in the game of basketball. The players at Cal have asked me a lot about Kobe. And I tell them, I said, look, Kobe was, he pushed you. He was hard on his teammates in a good way. But he was hardest on himself and he pushed himself the hardest.

And that is something that really demands respect, in my opinion. He's coach Mark Batson. Coach, thanks so much. Good luck at Cal. We appreciate you jumping on board with us today for a few minutes. Thanks for having me today.

Appreciate it. Dive into the start of summer at Whole Foods Market. Check out their summer splash event with sales on fresh organic produce, organic strawberries, and a fan favorite sale on Ben & Jerry's and Talenti. Explore deals on grill-friendly meats like organic air-chilled chicken breast, beef and chicken kebabs, all with no antibiotics ever from our meat department.

Plus, grab easy sides from prepared foods and cool off with refreshing drinks. Kick off your summer and shop in store or online at Whole Foods Market today. If I had a time machine, I wouldn't go back in time to ride a dinosaur or hang out with George Washington. I'd go forward three days from now to see this avocado perfectly ripe just in time for Jeff to make his guac.

But hey, that's just me. Download the Instacart app and we'll overthink shopping for you. Get free delivery on your first three orders while supplies last. Minimum $10 per order.

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