Cal's Zhang truly is a big man on campus

Vittorio Tafur, Chronicle Staff Writer

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

(01-20) 20:52 PST -- Like everyone else on campus and around Berkeley, teammate Jamal Boykin marvels at 7-foot-3 Cal center Max Zhang.

"Whenever we go somewhere, everyone is always yelling at him," Boykin said. " 'Hey, Yao Ming! Yao Ming! Yao Ming!' And he's cool with it. I know, if I was in a foreign country and everywhere I went it was, 'Hey, Will Smith! Will Smith!' I would probably get a little upset at some point."

Actually, Zhang does get bothered when he hears the name-calling - but not for any racial insensitivity or a desire to be his own person.

"I know Yao Ming personally," Zhang, 22, said of the Houston Rockets' center and Chinese icon. "And I think he is a really great player and a great person. So when someone calls me Yao Ming, I think it is not right because he deserves a lot of respect. He shouldn't be compared to every tall Asian person.

"I have a long way to go and even if I reach my goals, I don't think I can be compared to Yao Ming. ... But I will do my best."

The Chinese sophomore definitely has made strides for the Bears this season, starting five games for an 11-6 team that hosts Oregon at 7:30 tonight. He is second in the Pac-10 with 1.6 blocks per game, and averages 3.8 points and 2.9 rebounds in 13 minutes per game.

"Max is a confidence guy," coach Mike Montgomery said. "He gets a block and now he's feeling pretty good. ... He is still a work in progress. I don't know that he's a go-to big guy just yet.

"He just doesn't have a lot of confidence in himself."

Well, it was through the roof after the conference-opening 92-66 win over Stanford. He had a career-high 13 points, four rebounds and three blocks in that game, and clearly frustrated Cardinal forward Landry Fields with his length.

"I told Max after that game that he's the guy who can take us far," Cal point guard Jerome Randle said. "If he can block shots and get rebounds like that, he's the key."
Everybody loves Max

Zhang has not done much in the four games since then, as a propensity to keep his hands down has gotten him too many fouls and not enough rebounds. He's also too nice on the court, which is probably a product of his personality and a big reason he is clearly the most popular player on the team.

(How much do the Cal fans love Zhang? Against UC Santa Barbara on Dec. 29, he missed five of six free-throw tries and almost got a standing ovation on the make.)

Montgomery jokes that you can't beat Zhang with a baseball bat until he's meaner and tougher. So, Cal conditioning coach Mark Blasquez is trying something else - boxing drills. Zhang laces up the gloves, hitting the heavy bag and exchanging punches with Blasquez before practice and games.

"I try to be polite and respectful, and I thought I could flip a switch when I step on the court and be mean," Zhang said. "So far, I have proven that I was wrong thinking that.

"The boxing workouts really help me focus my aggressiveness."
Home cooking

Maybe some more weight on his frame would help Zhang stand his ground and politely dominate inside. In his three years at Cal (he redshirted his first year), Zhang has put on 37 pounds and is up to 245. The target weight is 260.

His mom makes an annual trip from the homeland to help add some beef, staying for seven weeks and constantly shoving home-cooked meals and dumplings in her son's face.

"The main thing is to get extra meals in," said Zhang, whose mom leaves Saturday. "Sometimes when I am by myself, I am too lazy to eat before going to bed. When my mom is there, I just sit there and she is always bringing me food."

Zhang's mom, Lixin Gong, was actually the one who pushed her son to play basketball in Yantai City, China, when he was 15. "She thought I should know how to play," Zhang said. "She might have just wanted me out of the house."

That was in 2004 and a year later, Zhang was visiting the United States at Adidas camp in the summer of 2005. He returned to the United States in the fall of 2006 to study at the American English Academy in Monterey Park and later play with the L.A. Impact AAU team.
Road to Cal

Dick Marquis, a coach in China, came with Zhang and arranged a campus visit with his old friend, then-San Diego coach Brad Holland.

"When Dick first called me, he said he had a tall Chinese kid that had a chance," Holland said. "Max really liked his campus visit, we thought he was a great kid and had potential, and we were all set."

Until Holland abruptly was fired in March 2007. Ben Braun, then coaching at Cal, learned there was a 7-3 kid without a school playing in AAU games in Los Angeles, and the rest is history.

Holland, now an assistant coach at UCSB, had the opportunity to coach against Zhang when the Gauchos visited Haas Pavilion last month.

"He's much improved in a variety of ways," Holland said. "He's got more strength and moved very well. It was neat to see his growth and how the Cal fans responded to him. It made me feel great."
Fan favorite

The fans do love Zhang, but occasionally their support and the constant motivation of his teammates backfires.

"Sometimes I do feel bad that I don't get better quickly," Zhang said.

Randle rolls his eyes when he hears that.

"He's improved a great deal," Randle said. "He listens in practice, works hard and always tries to get better. He just needs to keep his head up. And his hands up."

If he keeps improving, Zhang will have a good shot at fulfilling a recent dream: to play for the Chinese Olympic basketball team. Yup, just like Yao Ming did.

For now, he will continue to be the big man on campus. Students constantly point to Zhang and smile when he strides through Sproul Plaza.

"Cal is the perfect place for me," Zhang said. "I am getting a great education and our team is like a family. We enjoy success with each other. I am playing with great players, and learning a lot from them.

"I hear their encouragement and the fans' cheers all the time. When I do good, it's for them. And me."