Stephan Teodosescu
steodosescu@mustangdaily.net
The entire Cal Poly men’s basketball roster will look different this upcoming season.
There will be no David Hanson, no Will Taylor, no Chris Donahue and no Amaurys Fermin.
But with a roster filled with names such as Chris Eversley, Drake U’u and Kyle Odister, Cal Poly will open practice in preparation for for the upcoming season this Saturday.
With a cast of new characters, the Mustangs will look to improve their 18-15 record from a year ago and a fourth place finish in Big West Conference play. From that team, though, the Mustangs lost six seniors, three of whom were the Mustangs’ best scorers last season — Hanson (11.8 points per game), Fermin (9.8) and Taylor (9.8).
But Cal Poly will bring a new offense to the court that will feature a much more perimeter-driven attack, according to fourth-year head coach Joe Callero.
To compensate for the losses of Hanson and Taylor – important players to Cal Poly’s post-up game last year – Callero brought in size with this year’s recruiting class, including four incoming freshmen over 6-foot-7. Another 6-foot-7 player, sophomore forward Anthony Silvestri, walked on earlier this year.
“If we can get our big young guys to defend and rebound, we can be competitive every night,” Callero said. “If our returners take care of the basketball, and we shoot the ball as well as we can … we’ll have some good perimeter skill.”
The tallest of the newcomers at 6-foot-9 is Brian Bennett from Romeoville, Ill. He averaged 15.6 points and eight rebounds per game in his senior season at Plainfield East High School and helped the Bengals to a 27-2 overall record last year.
Other youngsters include freshman forward Zach Allmon (6-foot-7) from nearby Mission College Prep and freshmen forwards Joshua Hall (6-foot-8) and Zach Gordon (6-foot-8).
“I anticipate we’re going to have a preseason filled with some interior inconsistencies and hopefully, as we move into January and February, those become more minimized,” Callero said of his team’s young core. “Hopefully by March, we’ll have freshmen that play like seasoned veterans.”
Cal Poly’s youthful frontcourt also means added responsibility for the guards, Callero said.
But with Fermin now playing professional basketball in the Dominican Republic, and junior Maliik Love suffering an early season injury that will sideline the likely starter until at least January, the point guard position will be considered a revolving door early in the year.
Junior guard Jamal Johnson impressed coaches throughout the summer and will take over the main ball-handling duties, but Odister and senior Chris O’Brien will back him up at point guard. U’u, who will return after breaking his hand late in the season last year, will also figure into the mix.
Senior guard Dylan Royer will be seeing more of the court this season as well, after earning a full-ride scholarship late last year. The Morro Bay High standout hit 47 percent of his 3-pointers in 2011-12, which would have put him 26th in Division I basketball had he averaged at least two made 3-pointers a game.
“I think we’re going to have a good year of balanced scoring,” Royer said. “It can be any number of guys on any given night. We won’t have a go-to guy as much, but guys can put up big numbers on any night.
Eversley is headlining the returning corps. The Chicago native emerged as a spark plug for the team in the last half of the 2011-12 season, as he managed 13 double-doubles in Cal Poly’s final 18 games.
The Mustangs will need the added height and depth acquired on the roster as they are set to face a tough nonconference schedule. It features games at Pac-12 powerhouses UCLA and Washington early in the season, as well as a home contest against Fresno State in November. Notably, the Bruins boast the nation’s top recruiting class, as reported by multiple sources.
Cal Poly will start its regular season schedule on Jan. 3 when they host defending Big West Tournament and regular season champion Long Beach State in Mott Gym.
Big West addition Hawaii will also make a trip to San Luis Obispo on Jan. 24 for its first-ever conference matchup with the Mustangs. Cal Poly begins the season with an away game at TCU on Nov. 9.
Women’s Basketball
Meanwhile, the women’s basketball team began official practices several weeks ago in preparation for its first game in early November at Oklahoma State.
Cal Poly will be searching for a bit of redemption after being knocked out in the first round of the Big West Conference Tournament as the No. 1 seed last March.
“It definitely gives us motivation,” sophomore guard Ariana Elegado said of Cal Poly’s abrupt end to the season. “We really wanted to go to the NCAA Tournament and losing in the first was sort of like a wake-up call. We didn’t want that to happen again, so we’re coming back stronger mentally and physically.”
But in their quest for a first ever Big West Tournament title, the Mustangs will be missing a key piece of last year’s offense in Kristina Santiago, who graduated last spring.
Santiago finished her Cal Poly career as the all-time leader in points (1,953), field goal percentage (.540) and rebounds (850) and helped the Mustangs to a Big West Championship in 2010-11. She finished fifth in the country in scoring, averaging 23.4 points per game last season.
“Obviously the departure of Kristina Santiago and seeing those (23) points a game disappear, there’s going to be an evolution with this team about who fills those kinds of rolls for scoring for us and rebounding,” head coach Faith Mimnaugh said. “It’s a deep team, a team that has some great senior leadership.”
The Mustangs will debut a more balanced attack this season that will see Elegado and junior guard Jonae Ervin sharing minutes at the point guard position as the season progresses. Ervin had a breakout season last year as she tied Gonzaga’s Taelor Karr for the best assist-to-turnover ratio per game (2.67) in all of Division I basketball.
But the 5-foot-3 guard will likely sit out until December after suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament in the Mustangs’ tournament matchup last March.
Senior guards Kayla Griffin and Caroline Reeves will also be asked to lead the team come November, Mimnaugh added.
Elegado said the Mustangs will need contributions from everybody to be competitive considering their tough nonconference schedule.
“I think we’re gonna turn a lot of heads this year,” Elegado said. “Everyone’s going to have to score; everyone is going to have to step up.”