At last year's Pac-12 Men's Basketball Media Day, Cal coach Mike Montgomery told reporters he felt extremely fortunate to be alive, just removed from surviving a battle with high-grade bladder cancer. The coach hardly missed a beat last year and was on the sidelines for every Golden Bear game in the 2011-12 season.

One year later, nothing has changed for Montgomery and his good sense of humor. "How do I look? Pretty good, huh?" Montgomery quipped when asked about having gone through last year's health scare. "It hasn't changed me much; I'm still the nutcase I always was."

All Montgomery can think about now is winning a Pac-12 championship, something that just eluded the Golden Bears' grasp last season.

"I really value conference championships; I know how hard they are," Montgomery said. "You don't know how many chances you're going to get; hopefully we can put ourselves in a position to do it again."

[See photos from men's basketball media day on Facebook]

California's full podium session from media day is here: