The calendar year may read 2010, but it looks eerily similar to the end of 2009 for the Long Beach State men’s basketball team.
The 49ers (5-8) will face defending Big West Conference champion UC Santa Barbara (6-4) in the conference opener Tuesday at the Thunderdome in Goleta. The game, scheduled for an 8 p.m. tipoff on ESPNU, will be a rematch of last season’s 69-64 loss to the Gauchos in the conference title game.
For starters, the teams were picked by the conference media members to finish 1-2 for a second consecutive year. Although, this time, it was UCSB that received the No. 1 spot — and rightfully so — with the return of all five starters including Big West player of the year Orlando Johnson.
How we got here
LBSU head coach Dan Monson once again put together a tough preseason schedule. And, once again, the ‘Niners gave a few big programs a scare but ultimately came up short in upset bids against San Diego State, North Carolina and Saint Mary’s.
Last year it was an 86-73 loss at Kentucky against freshman sensation and eventual No. 1 NBA draft selection John Wall. This year included a 96-91 decision in Chapel Hill, N.C., against probable lottery-bound freshman Harrison Barnes.
There was also another overtime letdown to the same Loyola Marymount team that performed the deed the previous year. The only changes were in the home and away jerseys and venue.
But this year was supposed to be different — that is until two-thirds of a promising recruiting class was made unavailable.
The 49ers were supposed to have freshman sharpshooter Jacob Thomas (academically ineligible this season). Khalid Gerard and Shelton Boykin never found their way in a 49ers uniform for similar reasons, and 6-9 freshman forward Nick Shepherd was eventually redshirted.
Junior transfers Edis Dervisevic (2.4 points per game) and Corey Jackson (2.2 ppg) are what’s left, but both are part of a thin bench with a short leash.
Who’s stepping up?
Monson has primarily played with a seven-man rotation so far this season, and only Dervisevic and Tristan Wilson, a 6-5 senior who missed all of last season after microfracture surgery, have received any type of consistent minutes off the bench. Wilson’s recent emergence — 11 points per game in the last three contests — has come on the heels of an injury to starter Larry Anderson, who Monson listed as “extremely doubtful” for Tuesday because of a broken hand suffered Nov. 30.
The Beach will receive an emotional boost when senior Brandon Nevens, who completed a comeback from a kidney ailment, dresses for his first game as a 49er. But he also has not participated in a game since the 2006-07 season for Cal State Bakersfield, and Nevens did not suit up for his first LBSU practice until Christmas night. Tough to rest your hopes on those circumstances.
Instead, the group of reserves that need to provide the immediate on-court help consists of Jackson, Kyle Richardson, Jerramy King and Lin Chang. Those are the four that have received the most, er, “consistent” minutes with Richardson’s 10.1 leading the bunch. But outside of four starters, no other players have appeared in all 13 games.
For the second consecutive season, the team is bonded by wristbands bearing an acronym. Last year it was M-I-N-D-S-E-T, this year it is N-O-W. The “N” stands for “no excuses,” the “O” for “outworking the opposition” and the “W” for “win.”
The team will need to find the right M-I-N-D-S-E-T and the bench needs to develop N-O-W, or next year’s slogan might say C-H-A-N-G-E.
Early look at rest of Big West (in order of winning percentage)
1. UC Santa Barbara (6-4): James Nunnally (20.2 ppg) and Johnson (18.7 ppg) make up the highest scoring duo in the conference and rank 1-2, respectively. UCSB’s nonconference slate included a 68-62 upset on the road at No. 22 UNLV.
2. Pacific (7-5): Along with LBSU’s T.J. Robinson (14.5 ppg and 10.5 rebounds), Tigers senior big man Sam Willard (16.6 ppg and 10.8 rpg) is one of only two players in the conference averaging a double-double. Pacific will never win any style points, but head coach Bob Thomason’s always-gritty defense surrenders just 62.2 ppg.
3. UC Irvine (6-6): The early surprise of the Big West under first-year head coach Russell Turner, the Anteaters nearly punctuated their nonconference schedule in a 74-73 road loss at UCLA last Thursday.
4. UC Davis (5-7): Take the 49ers’ depth issues, but include three starters to the question marks. Outside of Joe Harden (14.8 ppg) and Mark Payne (12.8 ppg), the Aggies need a third scorer to step up on a consistent basis in order to contend.
5. Cal Poly (4-7): Mustangs junior forward David Hanson scored a career-high 28 points with the help of six 3-pointers in a 70-64 win at Pepperdine to earn Big West player of the week honors Monday. Cal Poly, playing against a nonconference schedule second only to LBSU in the Big West, allows the lowest scoring average in the league at 60 ppg but produces the worst at 56.5 ppg.
6. UC Riverside (4-7): The loss of Kyle Austin (turned pro overseas) hurt the Highlanders in the offseason.
7. Cal State Fullerton (4-8): Gone is point guard Jacques Streeter (transfered to Texas-El Paso), but the Titans still have the third-highest scoring offense (71.2 ppg). Stopping teams from scoring is another story.
8. Cal State Northridge (3-8): Lenny Daniel ranks in the top-five in both points (16.1 ppg) and rebounds (9.0 rpg), but that’s about all the hope the Matadors have this season.
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