SAME FEDORA-NEW CROWN?

[PointGuard]

San Luis Obispo Tribune

MOUNTAIN WEST TOURNAMENT RESULTS

Day 1:

#5 seed Montana—83, #12 seed New Mexico—66
#6 seed Fresno State—75, #11 seed Nevada—60
#7 seed Wyoming—90, #10 seed Air Force—82
#8 seed San Diego State—79, #9 seed Colorado State—62

Day 2 (Quarterfinals):

#5 seed Montana—79, #4 seed Boise State—78
#3 seed Utah State—75, #6 seed Fresno State—62
#2 seed UNLV—85, #7 seed Wyoming—71
#8 seed San Diego State—66, #1 seed Cal Poly--52
The Mustangs started slowly and found themselves in a 15-6 hole after 8 minutes of play. Cal Poly made a run that got them close but a series of turnovers late in the half led to San Diego State taking a 37-26 halftime lead. With 15 minutes left in the game the Mustangs trailed by 18 points due to a rash of turnovers, poor shooting, and porous defense. Things didn’t improve the rest of the way as San Diego State knocked off Cal Poly easily. The Mustangs made 26 turnovers. The only Cal Poly player scoring in double figures was SG Jase Carroll with just 10 points. Coach Fred Aura said, “We looked bad, but give the Aztecs credit. They applied a great defense that kept us off-balance the entire game.”

Day 3 (Semi-Finals):

#3 seed Utah State—82, #2 seed UNLV—68
#8 seed San Diego State—66, #5 seed Montana—54

Day 4 (Championship):

#8 seed San Diego State—67, #3 seed Utah State—58

[PointGuard]

Zahara Carter, Assistant (sports administration)
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As suspected, our team’s loss in their first Mountain West Conference tourney game blocked them from being selected to play in the NCAA Tournament…even though the team finished the regular season atop the conference standings.

While disappointing, they subsequently received the good news that they are the #2 seed in the Midwest Region of the NIT Tournament. Their first round opponent will be the Hampton Pirates. The Pirates finished the season with an overall record of 20-11 and a Colonial Athletic Association record of 13-3. They won 9 of their final 11 games this season. They’re a high-scoring team averaging 78.6 ppg but have given up 73.5 ppg. 4 of their 5 starters are averaging in double figures: C Danny Tolliver—15.4 ppg, PF Jim Galloway—13.5 ppg, PG Derrick Alexander—10.9 ppg, SG Jamal McDonald—10.2 ppg.

Here's the regular season stats for our players:

PPG: Steve Hastings—11.4; Jase Carroll—10.6; Louis Taylor—9.1; Brandon Bailey—8.0; Lane Lynch—5.9; Gary Van Dyke—5.6; Micah Hannah—5.4; Kenyon Farrell—2.7; DJ Morse—2.2; Earl Barkley—2.0; Will Cage—1.7; Brandon Muckle—1.5

RPG: Bailey—6.5; Hastings—5.8; Carroll—4.3; Taylor—4.1; Hannah—3.1; Lynch—2.8; Overton—2.8; Barkley—2.5; Morse—1.9; Van Dyke—1.2; Farrell—1.0; Muckle—0.8; Cage—0.3

APG: Carroll—3.3; Overton—2.8; Van Dyke—2.5; Bailey—1.5; Taylor—1.2; Hastings—0.8; Hannah—0.6; Muckle—0.6; Cage—0.6; Morse—0.5; Lynch—0.4; Barkley—0.4; Farrell—0.4

[PointGuard]

NIT Tournament

Round 1: #7 seed Hampton Pirates (20-11) vs #2 seed Cal Poly Mustangs (18-12)

C/PF Micah Hannah

I’d really hoped my first post-season college tournament would be the Big Dance and was sure we’d be in it once we finished first in the conference. But a loss in the first round of the conference tournament scuttled those dreams. It’s not that I’m unhappy for our team to be in the NIT Tournament. I sure hope we can go all the way in this tourney. I’m from Pine Bluff, Arkansas. I’d never even heard of Hampton before we got paired up with them.

We began the game by pounding the ball inside to Steve (Hastings) and Brandon (Bailey) and they scored our first 8 points while also getting the Pirates’ big men (Tolliver and Galloway) to each pick up a foul. I replaced Brandon (Bailey) at PF after 6 minutes of play with us on top 15-11. I got subbed out 3 minutes later after not getting a scoring opportunity but grabbing one rebound. We were ahead 22-17. I got back into the game with a minute to play in the half and scored on a 6 foot jumper. The half ended with us ahead 46-44. Steve (Hastings) carried us with 15 points. Coach Fed was all over us in the locker room about our lax D.

Hampton came out on fire and streaked to a 5 point lead after just 5 minutes of 2nd half play. Their PG Derrick Alexander was killing us. Coach Fed put me back in the game for Brandon (Bailey). I did OK working the boards but couldn’t get off any shots in the 6 minutes I played and we were still behind 65-62 when I went to the bench. The refs kept putting the Pirates on the foul line and they were deadly there. At the final TV timeout, we were still trailing but just by 2 points. Steve (Hastings) hit an 8 foot baseline jumper with just over 3 minutes to play to tie the game 76-76, and he drove to the hoop on our next possession to put us back into the lead. Earl (Barkley) was having a good game coming in off the bench…he also drove and slammed home a shot to make it 80-76 with 2 minutes to go. Jase (Carroll) cut into the lane on our next possession for a reverse layup and we’d scored 10 straight points. We then just held on to gain an 87-83 victory and move on to round 2.

C Steve Harrington—25 points, 9 rebounds, 3 blocks; SG Jase Carroll—18 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists; C Earl Barkley—11 points. I finished the game with 2 points and 4 rebounds.

[PointGuard]

NIT Tournament

Round 2: #3 seed Marquette Golden Eagles (20-13) vs #2 seed Cal Poly Mustangs (19-12)

PF Brandon Bailey

We’re moving on up by taking on a Big East team tonight. The Golden Eagles are a very good defensive team. We think we are strong up front so it’s up to Steve (Hastings) and me to put some points on the scoreboard. And our reserve inside players (Hannah, Barkley, Lynch and Morris) have become stronger as the season has progressed. So Steve and I can go hard and know our backups are ready to take over when we wear down. I didn’t shoot well and only scored 5 points in our first NIT game, so I’m due.

Steve (Hastings) scored 4 early points but also picked up 2 quick fouls. There was a lot of physical contact by both teams, but the refs were calling things close. But Earl (Barkley) came in for him and continued the same aggressiveness he showed in our last game. We were doing OK, but Marquette was hitting 3’s and the lead see-sawed throughout the first half. Even though Marquette’s SG Torrence Harris scored 14 points, we came out of the first half with a 35-32 advantage.

We slowly began pulling away in the 2nd half and with 12 minutes left in the game we had opened a 10 point lead at 55-45. I hit a turn-around jump shot with 4:45 on the clock that put us up 72-52. We clipped the wings of the Golden Eagles by a final score of 82-56.

C Earl Barkley—20 points, 4 rebounds; PF Lane Lynch—13 points; PF Brandon Bailey—11 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists; PG Jon Overton—9 points, 3 rebounds; SF Louis Taylor—8 points, 3 rebounds, 3 blocks.

Coach Fed patted us all on the back for how well we combined both our offense and defense in the 2nd half.

[PointGuard]

NIT Tournament

Round 3 (Quarterfinals): #2 seed Cal Poly (20-12) vs #1 seed West Virginia Mountaineers (24-10)

Freshman C Earl Barkley

After I scored 31 points in our first two games in this tournament, I imagine the coaches are wondering why they played me so little this season. And I’m not only a scorer, but I bang the boards and play solid D as well. I felt all along I should be a starter and be playing 20-30 minutes a game, but I was limited to a minor role this season, playing 5-10 minutes a game. And now they wonder why I’m not a fan of those same coaches. If they’d put me on the court a decent amount of time, we’d have had a better record than we ended up with. Coach Fed has realized I’m seriously considering transferring, so he's been talking with me more and giving me compliments lately. But compliments don’t mean as much as playing time to me. I hate sitting on the bench.

We’re huge underdogs against this Big 12 opponent. I’m thinking we’re gonna need what I bring to the table if we’re to have a chance in this game. Anyway, let’s see how it goes….

We start with 3 straight turnovers and then get a shot blocked and then yet another turnover. Lucky the Mountaineers have hit just 1 of 5 of their shots. I get into the game at the first TV timeout. 8 minutes on the court and I scored 6 (3 for 3 from the field) plus had a rebound, assist and a steal and we’re ahead 22-21 with 7-1/2 minutes remaining in the half. Our D then held West Virginia scoreless for 4-1/2 minutes during which we scored 12 points. The half concluded with us on top 40-29. We surprised most everyone by outplaying the Mountaineers. But Coach Fed didn’t seem impressed…he reminded us that West Virginia is a dangerous team and drummed into us the need to play hard for another 20 minutes.

We held onto a double-digit lead until the Mountaineers made a run just after the midpoint of the 2nd half. With 5 minutes left they hit a 3 to go ahead 60-59. West Virginia’s SG Uno Norgen got hot, finishing the game with 31 points and while we made a gallant effort to catch up, we came up just short by a final score of 76-74. And our season ended.

PG Gary Van Dyke—15 points, 3 assists; SF Louis Taylor—11 points, 9 rebounds; SG Jase Carroll—9 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals, 2 blocks; C Earl Barkley—9 points, 4 rebounds. While I got to play a decent amount of time, my teammates were unable to force the ball inside to me in the 2nd half. Had they done a better job of doing that, I think we would have won the game.

Coach Fed told us to be proud of the job we’d done this season…the team’s first in the Mountain West Conference. Yeah, but we should have won the NIT. Losing by 2 points to West Virginia was a real downer. I think some of the guys on this team were too happy just to get into the NIT Tourney. They should have been freakin' hella raging after losing this game. We ain't playin' 21 on a rec court.

[PointGuard]

Cory McCreight, 1st Assistant Coach (Recruiting)

Now that our season has concluded, it’s time to focus on planning for the upcoming season. Fortunately just one player (Steve Hastings) is graduating so our team should be stronger next season as our players continue to develop and improve. We will have just one freshman player joining us. That is 6’3” PG Robbie Boston. Robbie’s a 4 star player who is the 65th highest ranked recruit. He’s coming down south from a small town (Sedro Woolley) in Washington. He’s an outstanding outside shooter and excellent passer. He was a top 10 player at the Las Vegas Revue this past summer. This season he averaged 16.9 ppg, 7.2 apg, and 3.5 rpg as a high school senior. We’ve heard he’s not the hardest worker so we will need to stay on top of him, particularly since we want to improve his defense, ball handling, and rebounding.

[CoachPrm15]

Tough loss in the NIT but overall a very good season in the Mountain West, and it looks like some offense was found late in the season. Hopefully that will carry over into the next season because defensively the team is quite good.

[PointGuard]

Rob Benchley, Athletic Director

Assistant Coaches

2nd Assistant Coach David Williams resigned because he needed to move to the upper Midwest to be near his aging parents. He took the 3rd assistant coaching job at the University of Milwaukee.

I wanted to promote 3rd Assistant Coach Omari Aura to replace David as our 2nd asst. Omari’s skills and reputation have steadily improved during his 4 seasons as an asst here at Cal Poly. But others had recognized this also. Before I could make an offer to him, he’d received an offer from the University of Mississippi to become their 2nd assistant. Fred Aura felt this was a tremendous opportunity for his son and told him so. Omari was reluctant to leave Cal Poly, but ultimately decided to accept an offer from the SEC team for a substantial increase in salary and responsibility. The move will help establish a route to becoming a future collegiate head coach for Omari which he appears to be his goal. Immediately after taking this new job, the existing 1st assistant coach at Ole Miss took another job and Mississippi somewhat surprisingly promoted Omari up into the 1st Assistant Coach position.

We hired LeBron Baxter as our new 3rd Assistant Coach. LeBron has excellent scouting skills and his coaching philosophies fit in well with Coach Aura’s. He’s previously been 3rd asst at Grand Canyon, Northeastern, and Montana. He’s leaving Montana after 11 seasons during which the Bearcats typically won 20+ games a year and made it to post-season tourneys 10 of those 11 years including 7 to the NCAA Tournament.

Finding a new 2nd assistant took longer, but Jerry Wright accepted our offer. He was an assistant for 6 years at Stony Brook, during which he had moved up from 3rd assistant to 2nd assistant and finally to 1st assistant. He has pretty strong skills across the board, but will come in as our player development/practice assistant.

[PointGuard]

Rob Benchley, Athletic Director

Coach Fred Aura missed a few games this season. At the time no one was sure why other than he wasn’t feeling well. But Fred just informed me that he’s been diagnosed with hypertensive heart disease and high blood pressure with the risk of heart failure. His doctors have told him he should reduce stress and that he needs to pull back from some coaching duties. He is now 63 years old and said he’s seriously considering retirement.

I talked him into continuing as head coach but delegating more of his coaching duties to his assistants, particularly 1st asst Cory McCreight and 2nd assistant Jerry Wright.
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Then as part of my preparation for my impending retirement, I spoke with Cal Poly’s President and its VP of Personnel and Human Resources about the possibility of Fred remaining as our head coach with a greatly reduced coaching workload but also stepping in to take over as the Athletic Director to replace me. Then when he’s ready to retire from coaching in the near future he can continue as Cal Poly’s AD. While the President and VP were dubious at first, they agreed when they understood this may keep him from retiring right away and allow us to plan for the eventual hiring of a new head coach plus take advantage of his familiarity with our athletic programs to serve effectively as AD. It also avoids the university from having to conduct an extensive hiring process for the AD position.

After gaining permission from the President of the university, I spoke with Fred about this. Initially he was resistant, but admitted he and his family would like to remain in San Luis Obispo. So in May, I will retire and Fred will take on the AD functions and his assistant coaches will relieve Fred of a significant portion of the coaching responsibilities.

[PointGuard]

Coach Frederick Aura’s Division 1 Coaching Summary:

2019-20: Towson, 18-15, .545, unranked, 6th (tie) in CAA, No post-season tourney
2020-21: Towson, 13-17, .433, unranked, 5th in CAA, No post-season tourney
2021-22: Towson, 24-9, .727, unranked, 2nd in CAA, NCAA (Round 1)
2022-23: Towson, 27-7, .794, ranked 24th, 1st in CAA, NCAA (Round 2)
2023-24: Towson, 30-4, .882, ranked 15th, 1st in CAA, NCAA (Sweet 16)
2024-25: Towson, 25-8, .758, unranked, 1st in CAA, NCAA (Round 1)
2025-26: Boston College, 21-17, .553, unranked, 10th in ACC, CIT (Finals)
2026-27: Boston College, 25-10, .714, ranked 25th, 3rd in ACC, NCAA (Sweet 16)
2027-28: Boston College, 34-5, .872, ranked 2nd, 1st in ACC, NCAA (Final 4)
2028-29: Boston College, 30-6, .833, ranked 2nd, 1st in ACC, NCAA (Round 2)
2029-30: Boston College, 26-9, .743, ranked 8th, 2nd in ACC, NCAA (Round 2)
2030-31: Boston College, 30-8, .789, ranked 8th, 1st in ACC, NCAA (Champions)
2031-32: Cal Poly, 15-15, .500, unranked, 2nd (tie) in Big West, No post-season tourney
2032-33: Cal Poly, 16-15, .516, unranked, 4th (tie) in Big West, No post-season tourney
2033-34: Cal Poly, 26-8, .765, unranked, 2nd in Big West, NCAA (Round 2)
2034-35: Cal Poly, 21-12, .636, unranked, 1st in Big West, NIT (Round 1)
2035-36: Cal Poly, 25-10, .714, unranked, 4th in Big West, NCAA (Round 1)
2036-37: Cal Poly, 24-9, .727, unranked, 1st in Big West, NCAA (Round 1)
2037-38: Cal Poly, 26-8, .765, ranked #22, 1st in Big West, NCAA (Round 2)
2038-39: Cal Poly, 26-10, .722, unranked, 1st in Big West, NIT (Round 3)
2039-40: Cal Poly, 20-12, .606, unranked, 1st in Mountain West, NIT (Round 3)

CAREER RECORD: 502-214, .701