The Long Beach State basketball season gets underway on Saturday, but the 49ers added some fresh faces for 2011-12 through the first two days of the early signing period.
Men
Head coach Dan Monson announced the signings of Michael Caffey and Shaquille Hunter to letters of intent on Tuesday.
“You want to recruit guys who want to be here and they both came to campus and within 48 hours of us offering they both accepted,” Monson said in a press release.
“To me half of recruiting is getting the right fit and we felt they were perfect for us. When a player looks at a place like Long Beach and feels the same way it is a good match.”
Caffey, who averaged 13.5 points and 7.3 assists last season at Centennial High School in Corona, Calif., appears to be the heir apparent to current junior point guard Casper Ware.
“We are really excited about Mike because point guard is the quarterback of your program,” Monson said. ” And with Casper Ware being a senior next year, it gives him one year to learn the system before he has to take over.”
Hunter averaged 17.5 points last season for Villa Park High School, and will provide much-needed depth to the shooting guard position in 2011-12.
“Shaquille is one of the more skilled off guards in Southern California,” Monson said. “We think he can really shoot the ball and he can score in multiple ways. He is the kind of student and the kind of person that we want in our program.”
Women
Jody Wynn announced the signing of two players of her own on Thursday. The second-year head coach continued her trend to bolster the 49ers’ frontline with the signing of Devin Hudson, a 6-foot-3 post player from Colony High School in Ontario, Calif.
Hudson averaged 17.4 points and 7.6 rebounds for the Titans last season to finish second and first in those categories, respectively, in the Mount Baldy League.
“Devin has a world of potential ahead of her and she will give us immediate rebounding and a defensive force inside,” Wynn said in a press release.
The ‘Niners also added 5-foot-11 guard Bianka Balthazar. The current senior at Santa Monica High School earned two letters at Desert Vista High School in Arizona prior to moving to California.
“Bianka is a tough and versatile player who will fit into our system and be able to play multiple positions,” Wynn said.
The LBSU men host San Diego State on Saturday at 4:05 p.m. in their season opener, while the women’s team will travel to Corvallis, Ore., to take on Oregon State at 5:30 p.m.
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