SAME FEDORA-NEW CROWN?

[PointGuard]

Coach Fred Aura

We’ll begin the season with the following as starters:

PG Jase Carroll (10.4 ppg, 2.1 apg, 3.0 rpg last season)
SG Jon Overton (2.1 ppg, 0.5 apg, 1.2 rpg last season)
SF Louis Taylor (5.8 ppg, 0.8 apg, 3.2 rpg last season)
PF Steve Hastings (11.4 ppg, 1.4 apg, 4.5 rpg last season)
C Brandon Bailey (7.2 ppg, 1.4 apg, 4.7 rpg last season)

4 of these players were starters for us last season…and the fifth, Overton, got more and more court-time as the season progressed last year. All 5 are solid defensively. With respect to Carroll and Overton, it’s possible we might flip-flop them at the guard positions later this season, depending on what seems best. While neither is a natural PG, both can handle the position and freshman PG Gary Van Dyke isn’t yet ready to start for us.

So none of our six freshmen won a starting role, but that doesn’t mean one or more of them might not move up as they gain experience. Thus far I’d say C/PF Lane Lynch has shown the most for us during fall practices. Since we have so many freshmen this year, I’m planning to play our starters more than I have in the past, at least in our early games, and try to keep at least 3 of our starters on the floor as I rotate subs into the game so as not to have too many inexperienced players on the court at the same time.

Montana, and San Diego State are the favorites to finish atop the conference standings. We’ve been picked to finish 10th in the twelve team Mountain West Conference, so hopefully we can prove some people wrong and do much better than expected. Rob Benchley, our AD, has set much higher goals for us…to win the conference tournament and win 20+ games.

[PointGuard]

Nov. 15: Iowa State Cyclones (0-0) @ Cal Poly Mustangs (0-0)

Omari Aura, 3rd Assistant Coach (player development/practice)

The Cyclones have a bunch of talented starters, 3 of which averaged in double figures last season. The Cyclones bench gets on the refs early as Iowa State has 7 fouls assessed against them in the first 5-1/2 minutes. Although we’re turning the ball over too much, we use the trips to the foul line to structure a 17-9 lead at the midpoint of the half. We built a 13 point lead. But then after playing some solid D, we let the Cyclones his a series of shots in the final few minutes to close the gap to 39-33 at halftime. We shot well but failed to control the boards in the first half.

We scored 13 of the first 14 points of the 2nd half and looked like we were ready to roll. We let Iowa State trim our lead to a dozen points, but then rallied to knock off the Cyclones 80-63. Good points: We outshot the Cyclones 48% to 37% and managed to finish +3 in rebounding; due to our leading almost the entire game, we were able to play all 13 of our scholarship players and we got production from the entire roster; Lane Lynch came on strong in the 2nd half. Weak points: We only hit 2 of 14 from 3-point range; we outscored Iowa State because we got to the line 22 more times where we scored 19 more points than Iowa State; we only got 2 assists from our PG’s.

PF/C Lane Lynch—15 points, 5 boards; PF/C Steve Hastings—13 points, 6 rebounds; PG Jase Carroll—11 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists; SG Jon Overton—10 points; SF Louis Taylor—10 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals. [Our record: 1-0]

[PointGuard]

Nov. 18: Virginia Tech Hokies (1-0) @ Cal Poly Mustangs (1-0)

Benny Tamago, realtor (fan)

I’m sure happy to have the college basketball season back with us. And this year things are all new for Cal Poly with them switching conferences from the Big West to the Mountain West. According to the so-called “experts”, the Mustangs are in for the shock of finishing near the bottom of the standings. But I like their chances at doing much better than that. Taking on an ACC team tonight should be a good indicator of how prepared they are for the improved competition when conference play begins a month-and-a-half from now. The Hokies seem like a pretty solid team.

The Hokies were hitting all their shots early in the first half. That, teamed with too many turnovers by Cal Poly, put the Mustangs behind by 9 points at the midpoint of the half. DJ Morse came in off the bench and led Cal Poly to within a point of the lead with 7 minutes remaining in the half. Virginia Tech immediately regained a sizeable lead. The Mustangs came back to finally tie the score at 35-35 with just over 2 minutes to go to halftime. Louis Taylor then launched a 3 that cleanly went through the net to give the Mustangs their first lead of the game with 50 seconds left. The Mustangs left the court at the break with a 39-35 lead even though they were out-shot by the Hokies 56% to 42%. Jase Carroll scored 12 and Louis Taylor had 10 points in the half.

Defense by both teams dominated for the first 10 minutes of the 2nd half as Cal Poly’s lead shrunk to a single point. Cal Poly finally was able to hit a few baskets to open an 8 point lead with 6 minutes remaining in the game. The Mustangs knocked of Virginia Tech 65-53. Cal Poly’s defense just got better and better as the game progressed. They held the Hokies shooting to about 20% in the 2nd half. The Mustangs were also +13 on the boards.

Leading the charge for the Mustangs were: SF Louis Taylor with 16 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals; PG Jase Carroll who had 14 points and 5 boards; PF DJ Morse with 10 points and 4 rebounds; and SG Jon Overton who scored 8 and grabbed 5 boards. [Cal Poly is now 2-0 this season.]

[PointGuard]

David Williams, 2nd Assistant Coach

Good first week for us with two solid wins. Pretty good D in our first game and excellent D in the final 30 minutes of our second game. But we’re going to have our first road game this coming week, so we’ll see if we can keep things going.

Jase Carroll and Louis Taylor are both scoring in double figures and Jon Overton is just under that. Brandon Bailey has had a slow start, but I think he’ll come around soon. Our freshmen haven’t show us much yet with the exception of Lane Lynch who had a great first game. His 2nd game was just so-so, though. Our two returning subs, DJ Morse and Kenyon Farrell have played pretty well.

No one has impressed at the point yet, so that’s a concern. We need our PG’s to start finding open players and make fewer turnovers. This may just take time to fix since Jase Carroll and Jon Overton are true SG’s rather than PG’s and freshman Gary Van Dyke, who IS a true PG, is still getting accustomed to collegiate play.

[PointGuard]

Cal Poly Mustangs (2-0) @ Washington State Cougars (1-0)

Cory McCreight, 1st Assistant Coach

I was happy to see Brandon Bailey score on our first possession and hoped that meant he would get untracked offensively. And in the first 6 minutes he’d dropped in 4 of 5 FG’s…great! And that contributed significantly to our 14-5 lead at that point. But the Cougars’ PF Jason Lyles scored 12 of his team’s first 15 points to get them back into the game. We held onto the lead but were only ahead by a 30-27 score at halftime.

Jase Carroll picked up his 3rd foul just 2 minutes into the 2nd half. We had a tough time scoring early in the second half and fell behind 33-32 with 14:50 left in the game. By the midpoint of the 2nd half we trailed by 5. Our defense allowed us to take a 53-50 lead, but Washington State scored inside with a minute to go to cut the lead to 1 and then we turned the ball over on our next possession. Bailey then picked off a pass inside. We got it up court and worked that ball into him down low where he dropped in a shot with 29 seconds to go to put us up by 3. The Cougars missed a 3 and were forced to foul. But Jon Overton missed both free throws. WSU called a timeout with 10 seconds left. PG Charlie Moss sunk a 3 to tie the game at 53-53. We threw up a midcourt prayer but it was off the mark and we went to OT.

Our offense and defense both clicked in the OT and we ran away to record a 71-58 overtime victory. Even though we made 9 more turnovers, we grabbed 13 more rebounds and held the Cougars shooting to 38%.

We had 5 players score in double figures: C Brandon Bailey scored 15 while also grabbing 10 boards and blocking 2 shots (phew, I’m glad he’s back); PG Jase Carroll also scored 15 and he had 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 4 steals; SF Louis Taylor had 12 points and 5 boards; PG Gary Van Dyke hit every shot he took to score 12 points plus he had 2 steals; and PF Steve Hastings scored 10 points, grabbed 7 rebounds, and had 3 assists, 2 steals and 3 blocks. [3-0]

In a surprising upset, the Mountain West’s UNLV Runnin’ Rebels beat #1 ranked Maryland 85-82.

[PointGuard]

Northwestern Wildcats (2-1) @ Cal Poly Mustangs (3-0)

Cal Poly Mustangs Sports Message Board

Coach Aura was charged with a technical just 2 seconds into the game. Northwestern scored the first 8 points when it took nearly 3 minutes for the Mustangs to finally score. PF Steve Hastings and PG Jon Overton went to the bench with 2 fouls apiece in the first 5 minutes of the game. Cal Poly trailed by double figures most of the half and by as much as 17. The half ended with Northwestern on top 40-27.

The Mustangs shooting improved in the 2nd half and they whittled down their deficit to 5 midway through the half. But the Wildcats kept hitting shots when needed to stay ahead. But with 3 minutes to go, Cal Poly finally tied the score only to have their offense go flat. The result was a disappointing 67-62 loss at home. Northwestern got to the line 14 more times than the Mustangs and scored 9 more points on free throws.

Coach Aura said, “We played very poorly in the first half and simply were unable to gain any real momentum tonight. Northwestern made the plays when they needed them and we didn’t…simple as that. But one positive was that Gary Van Dyke had his 2nd consecutive strong game coming in off the bench at PG.” When asked about the technical foul called on him at the beginning of the game, Aura said “I’m not going to discuss it other than to say I earned it but have no apologies.”

PF Steve Hastings was the only Cal Poly player to score in double figures and he finished with 15 points plus had 5 boards. PG Gary Van Dyke had 9 points, 3 assists and 2 steals. C Brandon Bailey scored 8 points and had 9 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals.

SF Louis Taylor suffered a sprained finger that is expected to hamper his play for a week.

[PointGuard]

Saint Louis Billikens (2-3) @ Cal Poly Mustangs (3-1)

Janeka Aura

Our son Malik got traded during the NBA off-season from Milwaukee to Miami. He began this season coming in off the bench for the Heat, but then scored 23 and 25 points in two games which earned him a starting role. In the 6 games he’s started since then, he’s averaged 20.7 ppg. And the Heat have won 5 of those 6 games. Malik is giving a lot of credit to Miami Asst Coach D’Andre Montgomery for helping him make some changes that have him scoring his best thus far as a pro. Our entire family is excited to see Malik play as well as he has this season. The Heat are making a trip west in 2 weeks which will see them taking on Sacramento and Golden State. We’re planning to go to both games.

Fred was upset by the Mustangs loss at home to Northwestern. I’m hoping that the team turns things around tonight. This season the Billikens have scored well but given up a lot of points to the opposition. With Louis Taylor injured, Fred is starting freshman Gary Van Dyke at PG, Jase Carroll at SG, and will have Jon Overton start at SF. The Mustangs haven’t shot or scored too well (69.5 ppg) but have held their opposition’s scoring down (60.3 ppg).

Last night I had a nightmare in which the Mustangs looked horrible in the first first half, missing field goal attempts from all over the court, playing lackadaisically, and making stupid fouls. St. Louis took advantage to lead by double digits. Fortunately I woke up so I didn’t have to envision the 2nd half.

While the Mustangs didn’t look as bad as in my dream, I’ll be darned if they didn’t fall behind 17-6 in the first 5 minutes of the game. They forgot to play defense. And it got worse from there with frequent turnovers by the Mustangs and they trailed by 18 midway through the half. The team rallied late in the half to cut the Billikens’ lead at halftime to 44-35.

St. Louis hit two quick 3’s at the opening of the 2nd half to go back up by 15 points. The Mustangs made a few small runs but just didn’t look sharp. They ended up losing badly, 81-68. Fred is going to be in a bad mood after losing two straight at home. I’m sure the upcoming practices will be hell for the team.

Top scorers for Cal Poly were: SF Louis Taylor with 13 points (he also had 6 rebounds) even though he came into the game off the bench...I guess his sprained finger didn't hamper his shooting; SG Jase Carroll who scored 12 points and had 6 boards; and PF/C Steve Hastings with 10 points.

[PointGuard]

Northern Iowa Panthers (4-2) @ Cal Poly Mustangs (3-2)

Freshman SG Brandon Muckle

I thought I’d come here to Cal Poly and win a starting role immediately. Well, I was wrong. The level of play is definitely a lot higher from what I experienced in high school. While I now realize I’ve got a lot to learn, but I need to play more than the 10 mpg that Coach Fed has had me on the court in our games this season. Even in that limited time, I’ve averaged 3.4 ppg, 1.8 rpg, and 0.6 apg. I still want to become a starter soon…I mean Jon Overton may be a junior but he hasn’t been doing all that great as a starter.

After we lost our last 2 games at home, the coaches ran us ragged the past few days in practice. Our coaches have pounded into us not to take the Panthers lightly tonight. Northern Iowa has lost two games on the road, but recently was crowned the champion of the WSSN Classic Tournament, beating Vermont, Pacific, and Baylor. Their guards, PG Andre Blevins and SG Bernard Randle are both good shooters and have combined to average 27.1 ppg and dish out 7.3 apg this season.

Randle popped in a 3 over Jase Carroll on the Panthers first possession. Coach Williams (our scouting assistant) wants us to pound the ball inside. It worked well early when Steve Hastings and Brandon Bailey scored 12 of our first 14 points. But Northern Iowa hung with us with Randle pouring in points. With 8 minutes left in the half the game was tied at 26-26 and Randle had 17 points for the Panthers. I finally got into the game with the aim of shutting him down. I made a nice pass inside to Bailey who scored so I got an assist. Randle only scored 2 points during the 8 minutes I was guarding him so I felt good about that, but mixed results for me since I missed all 5 shots I took….can’t impress Coach Fed that way. We trailed 36-32 at halftime.

The defensive adjustments Coach Fed made during halftime worked well early in the 2nd half and we took a 42-40 lead with 15 minutes left. But we were shooting poorly and slipped behind again. Even though our D was good, we shot so badly that we had no chance of winning and dropped the game 61-53, having gone 0 for 20 from beyond the arc with 6 of those misses belonging to me. That's not going to help me win a starting role.

PF Steve Hastings and C Brandon Bailey both scored 11 with Hastings hauling down 6 boards and Bailey recording 7 rebounds. SG Jase Carroll had 10 points and 4 assists and PF Lane Lynch scored 8. The rest of the team was 5 for 27 from the field, though. Northern Iowa’s SG Bernard Randle finished with 23 points.

[PointGuard]

Rob Benchley, Athletic Director

Losing 3 straight at home is a real downer. My thought is that Coach Aura’s desire for a tough pre-conference schedule has missed the mark since he has so many freshmen on his squad. Of course I’m not bringing that up to him since I’m sure he’s feeling pretty low right now. I’m just hoping he’s able to turn the team around very soon. Our defense has been pretty solid, but offensively we’ve sucked so far. We’ve only hit 43% of our FG’s and an abysmal 26% of our 3’s. And our FT shooting has also been poor (69%).

[PointGuard]

Cal Poly Mustangs (3-3) @ Charlotte 49ers (3-4)

Cory McCreight, 1st Assistant Coach

I know Coach Aura prefers a deep bench so that he has fresh legs on the court and gets his reserves experience and confidence. But after losing 3 at home, I’ve been encouraging him for this road game to play our starters a lot more and just bring in subs when a starter is exhausted. Then after giving the starter a bit of a blow, bring him back on the court. He’s listened but has been noncommittal, so we’ll see how things go.

Yet another poor start as we fell behind 8-0. We came back to take a 13-11 lead with just under 15 minutes left in the half. My desire to keep our starters on the court fell apart when 3 of our starters got into early foul problems. So much for my suggestions. With 3 of our starters being on the court for just a combined 20 minutes in the half, we struggled, but finished the half down by just 2 points at 43-41.

It took us 5 minutes to make our first FG of the 2nd half. But sound defense and Steve Hastings pouring in points allowed us to take a 62-56 lead with 8 minutes remaining in the game. The 49ers wouldn’t give up, but we held them off to come away with a 79-72 victory. The win was due primarily to us out-rebounding Charlotte 36-31, making 5 less turnovers than the 49ers, and dominating offensively inside by outscoring Charlotte 20-12 in the paint and 18-11 on 2nd chance points.

PF Steve Hastings hit 9 of 11 shots from the field and scored 19 points while pulling down 6 boards and making 2 steals. SG Jase Carroll had 14 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists, and 3 steals. SF Louis Taylor hit for 12 points while grabbing 6 rebounds and dishing out 3 assists. Two of our freshmen played extremely well…PF/C Lane Lynch had 10 points and 3 boards and PG Gary Van Dyke scored 9 points and had 4 assists.