

The anticipation for the 2013-14 men's basketball season continues to build as nine schools prepare to battle for a Big West crown and a fulfilled dream of reaching the NCAA Tournament.



• Cal Poly returns three starters and nine letterwinners from a 2012-13 squad that produced the program’s finest season in 19 years at the Division I level. The Mustangs finished 18-14 overall and in third place in Big West play with a 12-6 mark. The 12 victories and .667 conference winning percentage established program records.• The 18 wins overall matched the previous season’s output and came up just one short of the school record total of 19 that the 2006-07 team established.• Cal Poly made its inaugural Division I postseason appearance with its participation in the 32-team CollegeInsider.com Tournament. The Mustangs played Weber State in the first round.• The Mustangs were one of four Big West teams that finished home conference play with an unblemished 9-0 record in 2012-13. Long Beach State, UC Irvine and former league member Pacific were the others. Entering this season, Cal Poly has won 14 straight games inside the Mott Athletics Center against Big West foes, a streak that dates back to Jan. 21, 2012.• Senior Chris Eversley earned All-Big West Team accolades in 2012-13 after ranking ninth in the conference in scoring (15.4 ppg) and tied for sixth in rebounding (7.0 rpg). The forward, who scored a career-high 30 points versus Cal State Northridge (Jan. 26), needs 266 points to reach the 1,000-point mark for his career.• The hallmark of head coach Joe Callero’s teams is dedication to defense. For the third straight season, the Mustangs led the Big West in scoring defense, allowing 63.1 points per game in 2012-13.• A staple on the Cal Poly frontline is 6-9 forward Brian Bennett. He started all 32 games last year, averaging 9.3 points and 4.6 rebounds per game while shooting 52.4 (133 of 254) percent from the field. He ranked sixth among Big West players in field goal percentage.• Cal State Fullerton begins the Dedrique Taylor era in 2013-14. Taylor, the 11th men’s basketball head coach in school history, takes on his first head coaching gig after assistant coach stints at Arizona State (2006-13), Nevada (2004-06), Portland State (2002-04), Loyola Marymount (2001-02) and UC Davis (2000-01). Taylor helped the Sun Devils compile a 120-109 (.524) record in seven seasons.• The Titans lost their top two scorers and a pair of second team all-conference selections in Kwame Vaughn and D.J. Seeley, but three returning starters look to help the program start the Taylor era in the right fashion. Northeastern transfer Alex Harris impacted the team as he averaged in double figures (10.5 ppg) and knocked down 55 three-pointers last season. The 6-1 guard also ranked fourth in the Big West in steals at 1.7 per game.• Jared Brandon started 16 of 32 games as a true freshman and produced solid averages of 6.9 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. The 6-4 guard also shot an impressive 55.2 (91 of 165) percent from the floor. Playing on one of the smallest frontlines in the Big West, Deuce Johnson started 27 of 32 contests and led the squad with 11 blocked shots while posting 6.3 points per game. The senior forward shot 63.3 (81 of 128) percent from the field.• Cal State Fullerton has a reputation for being one of the top scoring teams in the Big West. The Titans have led the conference in scoring average for the last two years, and five of the last seven seasons.• Three Division I transfers will look to soften the blow from the losses of Vaughn and Seeley – Michael Williams (San Francisco), Steven McClellan (Louisiana-Monroe) and Darius Nelson (UTEP). Williams, who has one season of eligibility remaining, averaged 10.9 points in 91 career games for the Dons and captured first-team All-West Coast Conference honors in 2010-11. McClellan played two seasons for the Warhawks, leading the team in rebounding (6.2 rpg) in 2011-12.• Cal State Northridge also is ushering in a new era with its men’s basketball program. Reggie Theus was named head coach of the Matadors on Apr. 3, 2013, only the fifth individual to take the program’s reins in its 55-year history. Theus boasts a head coaching pedigree that includes stops at New Mexico State (2005-07), the NBA’s Sacramento Kings (2007-09) and most recently the Los Angeles D-Fenders of the NBA D-League. Theus guided New Mexico State to a 25-9 record and a berth in the NCAA Tournament in 2006-07.• Four returning starters look to adapt to their new head coach and provide a solid foundation with which to rebuild the program after missing the Big West Tournament last year. The foursome – senior Josh Greene, juniors Stephan Hicks and Stephen Maxwell, and sophomore Tre Hale-Edmerson – all started at least 26 games last year.• The Matadors return 76.5 percent of their scoring and 71.3 percent of their rebounding from last year’s squad. The top three scorers (Hicks, Maxwell, Greene) all ranked in the top 11 on the Big West leaderboard, with Hicks eighth at 15.7 points per game. Maxwell’s 8.3 rebounds per game placed him No. 2 among conference players.• Greene is the Big West’s active career leader in points and assists (243). With 990 points, he needs just 10 more to become the 16th player in CSUN history to reach 1,000. The 6-0 guard is the team’s most prolific shooter. He knocked down 63 threes last year, tying him for sixth on the school’s single-season list.• Hale-Edmerson, the Matadors’ tallest player at 6-foot-9, led the team with 30 blocked shots as a freshman in 2012-13. He also ranked fourth in assists (50) and shot a respectable 49.2 (60 of 122) percent from the floor.• Cal State Northridge’s basketball court was tabbed one of the best designed courts in the country, according to a review by website Bleacherreport.com. The Matador court ranked No. 2 on the top 20 list. The newly designed court was installed during the summer of 2012 as part of several renovations to the Matadome, the 53-year-old home to CSUN’s basketball and volleyball teams.• Long Beach State claimed its third straight outright Big West championship after posting a 14-4 record in league play last season. Over the last three years, the 49ers have posted an impressive record of 43-7 (.860) in conference action.• The 49ers also made a third consecutive postseason appearance as they received an invite to the NIT. LBSU finished the 2012-13 campaign 19-14 overall.• LBSU went unbeaten at 9-0 in Big West home games last season. The 49ers bring a 26-game home court winning streak against league opponents into the 2013-14 campaign. LBSU has not lost a home game in league play in over three years – the last defeat coming on Feb. 17, 2010. LBSU’s first Walter Pyramid Big West test is its Jan. 9 conference opener against UC Irvine.• The graduation of Big West Player of the Year James Ennis and his subsequent second round selection in the 2013 NBA Draft (via Atlanta, traded to Miami) leaves a big void on the 49er roster. The leadership reins fall to junior guard Mike Caffey. A first-team all-conference selection, Caffey averaged 12.0 points and 3.8 assists in 33 starts. Caffey ranked seventh in the Big West in assists and his 1.4 steals per game was eighth-best.• The only other returning player with significant experience is senior Dan Jennings. The 6-9 forward, a transfer from West Virginia, started 30 of the 32 games he played in. He averaged 8.4 points and 6.4 rebounds while connecting on 51.9 (107 of 206) percent of his field goal attempts. Jennings saved some of his best performances for big name opponents as he led the team in scoring with 20 points at Syracuse, 16 at Ohio State and 27 at UCLA.• Noted for playing one of the nation’s most challenging non-conference schedule, the 2013-14 edition appears to be no different. The 49ers are slated to face a minimum of six NCAA Tournament teams from a year ago, including national runner-up Michigan in the first round of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off. Other NCAA Tourney opponents include a home matchup against Creighton, and road contests against Arizona, Kansas State, North Carolina State and Missouri.• UC Davis enters the 2013-14 season with a bundle of optimism. The Aggies enjoyed a nine-win improvement after going from five wins in 2011-12 to 14 last season. They also tied a Division I school record with nine Big West wins. Now in the third season under head coach Jim Les, UCD is seeking to rise to the upper echelon of the conference. Four starters and nine letterwinners return to turn that goal into a reality.• The Aggies boast one of the league’s top players in junior Corey Hawkins. The 6-3 guard earned the 2012-13 Big West Newcomer of the Year award as the first league scoring champion in school history. Hawkins averaged 20.3 points per game, No. 13 nationally, and notched a conference-best 20 points or more on 15 different occasions. Hawkins also garnered a spot on the Lou Henson Mid-Major All-America team. He also inhabited several other Big West statistical categories, including free throw percentage (No. 2, .842), steals (No. 7, 1.5 spg) and three-point field goal percentage (No. 10, .400). Of the many games in which Hawkins exhibited his scoring prowess, none was more spectacular than the career-high 40 points he dropped on Hawai‘i on Jan. 19, 2013. The performance broke the school’s 34-year old single-game scoring record.• Senior Ryan Sypkens etched his name in the Big West record book last season with his trademark lethal three-point shooting. He canned 106 threes for the eighth-highest single-season total in Big West history, and he ranked among the top five nationally in a pair of categories – No. 2 in three-point field goal percentage (.461) and No. 4 in three-point field goals per game (3.66 pg). A 6-4 guard who earned all-conference honorable mention recognition, Sypkens has made 220 career threes and is just 17 shy of entering the Big West top 10.• Between Hawkins, Sypkens, and seniors Tyler Les and Josh Ritchart, they accounted for 225 of UCD’s 257 made three-pointers last year. The Aggies made 8.3 threes per game last year, and the Big West in three-point field goal percentage (.405).• Junior forward J.T. Adenrele enjoyed a breakout season in 2012-13 when he posted averages of 12.6 points and 5.9 rebounds. He also helped protect the rim with a school record-tying 46 blocked shots. Adenrele ranked third in the Big West with 1.5 blocked shots per game. In addition, he was efficient with his opportunities, shooting 56.4 (154 of 273) percent from the field to rank No. 2 in conference-wide.• Sypkens, Ritchart and Hawkins all are within striking range of hitting the 1,000-point career plateau this season. Sypkens enters the season closest to the goal with 923 career points. Ritchart is 189 points shy of the milestone. In the event Hawkins comes anywhere close to duplicating the 569 points he scored as a sophomore, he will reach that mark with ease.• UC Irvine enjoyed one of the finest seasons in its 48-year history, including a 21-16 overall record, a trip to the championship game of the Big West Tournament and an invite to the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament.• Key members of that 21-win team return and expect to play critical roles in UCI’s quest for a Big West championship. A trio of players helped the Anteaters produce the third-highest win total in school history. Junior Will Davis II, sophomore Alex Young and senior Chris McNealy all recorded over 900 minutes of floor time last year.• Will Davis II tallied 88 blocked shots to finish No. 2 on the Big West single-season list. The 88 blocks shattered the previous school record of 55 that he set as a freshman. He led the team and ranked eighth in the conference with 6.8 rebounds per game. The 6-8 post received a pair of top honors as the Big West’s Defensive Player of the Year and a CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Defensive All-American. The junior is also UCI’s leading returning scorer at 9.7 points per game.• Alex Young was named the 2012-13 Big West Co-Freshman of the Year, becoming the first Anteater in 15 years to claim the award. A 6-1 point guard, Young started 29 of the school record 37 games UCI played last season, and broke the school’s freshman single-season record with 144 assists. Young averaged 3.9 assists to rank fifth in the Big West, and he was ninth in free throw percentage (.775). Young also ranked No. 16 in the nation in assist/turnover ratio (2.62) en route to being named to the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Freshman All-America Team.• The only Anteater senior on the roster, 6-4 guard Chris McNealy has scored 821 points in 100 career games. He seeks to become the 23rd player in program history to amass 1,000 career points. Among active Big West leaders, McNealy ranks in the top 10 of several categories, including points, rebounds (369), assists (202), blocked shots (38), steals (75) and made field goals (301). He also has logged more career minutes (2,483) than any other current Big West player.• UCI’s win over High Point in the first round of the CIT marked the program’s postseason victory in 27 years. It also was UCI’s first postseason appearance in 11 years. The Anteaters concluded their season with a second round loss to Oral Roberts.• One of the nation’s taller squads figures to belong to UC Irvine. In addition to Davis at 6-foot-8, the Anteaters return 7-foot sophomore center Conor Clifford, 6-foot-10 junior center John Ryan and 6-foot-10 center Mike Best, who returns after an injury-shortened sophomore season. But the roster got even taller when freshman recruits Mamadou Ndiaye and Giannis Dimakopoulos signed with the program at 7-foot-5 and 7-foot-2, respectively.• UC Riverside is coming off a 6-25 season in which the Highlanders lost 12 of their last 13 games. In July, Jim Wooldridge stepped down from his post as head coach to accept the Interim Athletics Director position at UCR. Wooldridge led the program for six seasons before handing it off to Dennis Cutts, an assistant who was promoted to Interim Head Coach.• Three starters and eight letterwinners return to the court for the 2013-14 season. The top returning player is 6-foot-10 senior center Chris Patton. A native of Melbourne, Australia, Patton averaged 13.5 points and 5.4 rebounds while shooting 54.2 (168 of 310) percent from the field. Among the conference leaders, Patton ranked No. 14 in scoring and No. 5 in field goal percentage. Patton’s biggest game occurred on February 9 when he erupted for a career-high 36 points and the sixth-highest single-game scoring total in school history.• Another source of double-digit scoring is senior guard Chris Harriel, who started 29 games for the Highlanders last season after transferring from Portland State. He averaged 10.6 points and 3.5 rebounds, and collected a team-high 45 three-pointers.• Sophomore Taylor Johns contributed in his first season in a Highlander uniform. The 6-foot-7 forward led the team with 26 blocked shots and ranked fifth in the conference with 1.1 blocks per game. Offensively, he was fourth on the team in scoring (6.9 ppg) and made a solid 49.2 (59 of 120) percent of his field goal attempts.• The Highlanders are set to get a head start on the 2013-14 season as they will take a summer trip to Vancouver, Canada from September 4-10 for a foreign tour against three local opponents.• UC Santa Barbara endured a rebuilding campaign last year following three straight postseason appearances. A rash of injuries didn’t help the Gauchos either, as they ultimately finished 11-20 overall and fell in the quarterfinals of the Big West Tournament.• The silver lining in what was otherwise a challenging season for head coach Bob Williams is that the 2013-14 squad features four full-time returning starters and five others who started at least one game. Injuries pressed some players into service and that experience should aid the Gauchos as they push to return to Big West supremacy.• Alan Williams, a 6-7 junior center, is a legitimate candidate for Big West Player of the Year. Williams captured All-Big West First Team and NABC Second Team All-District 9 honors with an outstanding sophomore campaign that saw him average 17.1 points and 10.7 rebounds. He became UCSB’s first player since 1990 to average a double-double. In addition, he was the first Gaucho since Eric McArthur in 1990 to lead the Big West in rebounding. Williams ranked among the nation’s leaders in rebounds (No. 6) and double-doubles (15, t-No. 15).• Senior Kyle Boswell came off the bench in 20 of 29 games and earned the title of the conference’s most valuable reserve as the Big West Sixth Man of the Year. Boswell ranked No. 15 in the Big West in scoring (13.0 ppg) and No. 5 in three-point field goal percentage (.419). His 2.7 threes per game also placed him second in the conference.• Two freshmen played large roles last season and figure to be important cogs on this year’s team. Forward Taran Brown averaged 11.1 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.0 blocks per game while making 29 starts. He was sixth in the league in blocked shots. Brown also broke the UCSB freshman record for three-pointers with 58. Guard Michael Bryson averaged 8.4 points per game to rank fourth on the team, and hit a team third-best 46 three-pointers. In the Big West Tournament against Pacific, he established a Gaucho freshman record with 29 points and tied another with seven three-pointers.• Junior T.J. Taylor was a steadying influence at the point guard position. A starter in 19 of 31 games, Taylor dished out 127 assists against only 56 turnovers. He also displayed perimeter efficiency, hitting 40.5 (32 of 79) percent from three-point range. Taylor, who is recovering from offseason hip surgery, will compete for a starting job at the point with Zalmico Harmon, a junior college transfer from Ventura College.• Bob Williams is the dean of Big West coaches in his 16th season leading the Gauchos. Williams is tied for third all-time with 248 victories overall and sits in third all alone with 147 conference wins.• The Gauchos face a formidable non-conference schedule with five opponents that played in the 2013 NCAA Tournament. UCSB has road games against UNLV, Colorado and UCLA, and welcome South Dakota State and Cal to The Thunderdome. The Gauchos also have a home-and-home on tap with perennial postseason participant Utah State.• Hawai‘i finished its first season as a Big West member with a 17-15 overall record and a fifth place showing in conference play at 10-8. The Warriors received an invite to the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament, hosting and losing to Air Force in the first round.• The Warriors mix three starters with four redshirts and six newcomers to form a nucleus of a potential Big West contender.• Senior forward Christian Standhardinger returns after a 2012-13 campaign earned him All-Big West First Team accolades. The 6-foot-8 forward was the only UH player to start all 32 games, averaging 15.8 points and 7.9 rebounds. Among the Big West leaders, he ranked seventh in scoring and fourth in rebounding. Standhardinger also ranked seventh in the league in field goal percentage (.510) and was fourth in double-doubles (9).• Isaac Fotu pairs with Standhardinger to create one of the top frontcourt duos in the Big West. A 6-foot-8 forward, Fotu earned Big West Co-Freshman of the Year honors with averages of 10.1 points, 6.2 rebounds and a .623 (127 of 204) field goal percentage. Fotu led the Big West in field goal percentage (.635) through 18 conference games, successful on 73 of his 115 attempts.• UH brings back one additional starter in 6-3 senior guard Brandon Spearman. He averaged 9.6 points and 1.1 steals per game as a starter in 17 of the 27 games he played in.• The Warriors also bolstered their backcourt with the addition of San Jose State transfer Keith Shamburger. After sitting out last season due to NCAA transfer rules, Shamburger brings key experience to UH as a two-year starter with the Spartans. He averaged 13.1 points per game and collected 155 assists in 2011-12.• The diversity of UH’s roster will be on display once again as six foreign countries (Australia, Canada, Germany, Latvia, New Zealand and Serbia) will be represented as well as players from four states (California, Hawai‘i, Illinois and Washington).