The California men's basketball program will be represented by first-year head coach Mark Madsen and student-athletes Keonte Kennedy and Grant Newell at the 2023 Pac-12 Media Day at Park MGM in Las Vegas on Wednesday. The Cal trio will be on hand to preview the upcoming 2023-24 season alongside counterparts from each Pac-12 program at the conference's annual tipoff event.
 
Coverage of the Pac-12 Men's Basketball Media Day will be available across Pac-12 Networks, Pac-12.com and the Pac-12 Now app, with Guy Haberman and Don MacLean serving as hosts. Madsen, Kennedy and Newell will appear on the Pac-12 Networks show and main stage beginning at 9:50 a.m. PT Wednesday.
 
Kennedy was a key piece of the Golden Bears' four-man 2023 transfer class, which On3 ranked eighth nationally. An athletic 6-foot-5, 190-pound guard from Austin, Texas, Kennedy has averaged 8.3 points and 3.9 rebounds in 90 games played across an extensive career that includes stops at Xavier, UTEP and Memphis. He averaged career highs of 14.1 PPG, 6.1 RPG and 1.8 steals per game as a redshirt junior for UTEP in 2021-22 before logging 9.2 PPG on career-best shooting marks of 46.1% from the field and 38.1% from 3-point range for a 26-8 Memphis squad last year.
 
Newell, a Pac-12 All-Freshman honorable mention last season, averaged 8.0 PPG and 3.9 PPG while starting 28 of 31 games for the Bears during his rookie campaign. The 6-foot-8 forward from Chicago posted two double-doubles – including a 21-point, 10-rebound effort at Washington – and totaled seven games with double-figure points and shot 39.7% from the floor for the year.
 
Madsen, an East Bay native, was named the 19th head coach in Cal men's basketball history on March 29. In four years (2019-23) as head coach at Utah Valley, Madsen led the Wolverines to a pair of Western Athletic Conference titles and a 2023 NIT semifinal appearance. He was named the 2023 WAC Coach of the Year and earned District Coach of the Year accolades from the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and the United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) in the same season.
 
Cal opens the Madsen era on Nov. 6 in Berkeley against St. Thomas (Minn.), one of four consecutive home games over an 11-day period to start the 2023-24 season. Season tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at CalBears.com/tickets or by calling (800) GO BEARS (462-3277) and pressing option 3.
 
A complete list of head coaches and student-athletes slated to attend Pac-12 Men's Basketball Media Day can be viewed on Pac-12.com.
 
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