Richard Midgley knows he has earnt himself an outstanding chance of hitting the basketball big time.

Now the 19-year-old guard from Burgess Hill has been told of the other benefits he can expect at University of California in Berkeley, near San Francisco.

Midgley has been getting decent minutes for the Cal Golden Bears and capped an excellent start to his debut campaign with a season-high 13 points on 100 per cent field shooting as they won their annual four-team tournament recently.

Midgley hit two three-pointers and three from inside the arc as Louisiana-Lafayette were defeated 71-61 in front of 8,965 fans.

That took him to 51 points for the season at 8.5 per game. He averages almost 24 minutes per game, shooting at 55 per cent from two-point range and 37 from further out. He has also converted 14 of 21 free throws.

Midgley has been based in California since 1999 and had two successful seasons at Modesto Christian High School before progressing to Berkeley.

He follows in the footsteps of New Jersey superstar Jason Kidd and current Brighton Bears skipper Randy Duck in running the back court at the 12,000-seater Naas Pavilion.

Midgley, who had to sit out his senior high school year after his league ruled him too old to play, had little hesitation in joining Cal.

He said: "I chose to go to California because they are in the Pac 10 which is considered one of the best collegiate leagues in the nation and also because they were the first school to recruit me.

"There was a clear opportunity for me to play early so that helped in my decision.

"My first game was in front of 17,000 people in New Mexico at a place called the Pit. It was a good experience playing in front of that many people who don't like you.

"In that game I had five points, five rebounds and three assists, which I was happy with."

Midgley's aim is to play in the NBA. Failing that, a well paid spot in a top European league would feature in his plans. For now, he is enjoying the atmosphere and professional approach of college basketball. He said: "Teams scout their opposition so I know the strengths and weaknesses of everyone I play against and they know mine.

"The facilities are excellent. The crowd is good too. We have a student section who are crazy and we have a band which is very loud.

"There are a lot of good players in the Pac 10 so each game is hard.

"This year we play Nick Collison from Kansas, who was on the latest dream team that did so poorly, Jason Gardner and Luke Walton from Arizona, Jarvis Hayes from Georgia, Luke Ridnour from Oregon, Ruben Douglas from New Mexico."

Kidd, the man who transformed New Jersey from also rans to eastern champions, is Cal's star old boy.

Although his Berkeley career spanned just two seasons, the 6ft.4ins point guard had perhaps the greatest impact ever on the Cal basketball programme, winning national and conference honours and setting several college records before joining Dallas Mavericks.

Duck too had some great times at Berkeley, helping them reach the NCAA tournament. He expects Midgley to learn more than just ball skills on the west coast.

He admitted: "I loved Cal Berkeley. It was a life experience which changed me forever. It opened me up to a more liberal way of thinking. He will be introduced to opinions he has probably never thought of and he will learn about other facets of the world.

"It's one of the top academic schools in the country and the basketball is getting better. When I was there we were tournament-bound every year and we were ranked four or five.

"We had Jason Kidd and Shareef Adbur Rahim back then. Cal has suffered since then and college basketball can be fickle but they have got a good foundation and he will really get to play a lot early.

"I have heard good reports from the coaches there. He works really hard and is doing the right things in school."