Time To Start Talking Some Hoops

As you all very well know, the football team has a bye week before playing Hawaii on October 10th, so what better way to celebrate a bye week than with the talk of some Fresno State basketball! It's always fun to play the guessing game and make predictions and that's just what we are going to do today! Let's talk about the potential line-up. Here is how I think the rotation will look for this year's squad based on nothing! Haha. There are a lot of new guys on this years team that I have never seen play, so my knowledge comes from what I have heard or read about.

Starting 5

Point Guard- Steven Shepp (6-2 170, So.) Has great ball handling skills and his pass first mentality is ideal for this team built with size and athleticism.

Shooting Guard- Mychal Ladd (6-5 190, So.) Might be the most athletic player on a team that is loaded with many athletes.

Small Forward- Paul George (6-8 210, So.) Showed tremendous talent last year as a freshman. Do it all player who can throw it down with the best of them.

Power Forward- Sylvester Seay (6-10 235, Sr.) Only senior on this years team. Will need to become a leader. He is a tough match-up with his length, athleticism, scoring and shot blocking ability.

Center- Greg Smith (6-10 250, Fr.) The most highly anticipated player to come into the basketball program since the Tark era.


Bench (In Order of Impact)

G- Brandon Sperling (6-4 180, So.) It looks like Sperling might be the back-up at both guard positions. He really turned it on at the end of last year, so it will be key for him to come off the bench and eat up some quality minutes. Needs to be more confident in his scoring abilities and driving to the basket.

F/C-Nedeljko Golubovic (6-8 245, Jr.) Started last year, but with the addition of Greg Smith, he will mostly likely be coming off the bench. Ned is a team player who will need to eat up some quality minutes with his ability to score inside and out.

G/F- Jerry Brown, Jr. (6-7 195, Fr.) Another freshman in this highly touted incoming class, Jerry brings a lot of athleticism and will see some time off the bench.

C- Brandon Webster (6-10 275, Jr.) Big body player who has shown signs of promise that makes you wonder if he can put it all together and play hard all the time, that he has the potential to be a very valuable player since most teams can't match up with his size.

G/F- Garrett Johnson (6-5 190, Fr.) Could potentially come off the bench for defensive purposes this season.

G- Taylor Kelly (6-2 200, RS Fr.) Red-shirted last season. Good shooter, who most likely will come off the bench in mop up duties this season, but may play himself into a much larger role.

F- Justin Johnson (6-6 205, RS Fr.) Surgery forced him to red-shirt last season. Father, Eddie, played in the NBA for 17 years.

G/F- Jonathan Wills (6-6 180, Jr.) The transfer from the University of New Mexico will sit out this year due to NCAA transfer rules, but will be able to practice with the team.



Now it's your turn. Tell us how you think the rotation will set up. I know there are others just as excited for the upcoming season. IT'S GREAT TO BE A BULLDOG!

2011, 2012 WAC basketball tournament headed to Vegas

What do y'all think about this? News is the 2011-2012 WAC basketball tournaments will be held at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.

Moving the tourney to Vegas, long rumored to be an option, is good for all the fans of the non-hosting team, but as a Fresno State fan who's seen just ONE WAC tournament in the Save Mart Center, I feel cheated.

The Save Mart Center is too nice and too large a facility to have less hostings under its proverbial belt than Las Cruces, N.M. and Reno, Nev. Maybe that's just it though? Is the Save Mart Center too large an arena to host when Fresno State isn't in the upper echelon of the WAC standings (which has been the case 2 of the past 3 seasons)?

Hardwood news & notes

I don't know about you, but I feel refreshed. After the debacle that was this past Thursday's 34-10 halftime deficit at Hawaii, Fresno State came out and straight manhandled the evil boise state broncos (sorry, but I've decided to no longer capitalize that school name).

The strange thing about this young Bulldogs squad is they crate athletic mismatch havoc for most WAC opponents -- save for New Mexico State and maybe Nevada. boise state was one of those obviously at a disadvantage from the get-go. (Just wait 'til next year's recruiting class doubles Fresno State's athleticism)

And now for the long-awaited news & notes from tonight's Fresno State win:
Paul George: A career-high 29 points...that's what happens when he plays aggressive offense.

Sylvester Seay: If 'Dogs had a winning record, George and Seay would both deserve first-team All-WAC.

Bryce Cartwright & Mychal Ladd: Fresno State hasn't had two leapers like this who can flatout hang in the air since Damon Jackson and Noel Felix circa 2002. Great to see Ladd doing a little more ball-handling tonight and the 'Dogs getting him more touches on offense.

Brandon Webster: Decent effort, please B-Web, if you're reading this, go all out all the time the rest of the year, I promise it'll pay off.

Brandon Sperling: Sperl, please stop taking bad shots. Be an in-your-face defender and stick to that role unless you're too open not to shoot (which you weren't tonight, especially behind the backboard).

Refs: Stop sucking. Good first half, but you really did let boise state back in the game down the stretch with bad calls and no calls. Full-court press doesn't mean fouls are allowed. And when the ball goes out of bounds off a boise state player on the baseline, that means Fresno State should get it out of bounds. Please keep this in mind in future Save Mart Center games.

NObama, NOregon State!

Talk about an idea for an instant classic sign to hold up at this afternoon's 2 p.m. tipoff between Fresno State and Oregon State at the Save Mart Center.

I mean, regardless of your personal political views, that's just funny.

If you don't know by now, Oregon State's first-year head coach, Craig Robinson, is Barack Obama's brother-in-law.

Yet another reason Boise fans are funny

And I don't mean "funny" as a compliment.

Click here to see a thread on the Boise State message board where they're making fun of Fresno State's possible new (old) mascot. If fans get their way in this past week's vote, Fresno State will oust the brown chipmunk-looking mascot that was used for one year and return to the original grey mascot that is so beloved by the Red Wave (albeit a buffer version).

This thread by Bozo fans is funny for several reasons:

1)The mascot look they're making fun of is the original, the one everyone wants, the one Fresno State's had for a bajillion years practically.

2)If you've ever seen Boise State's mascot no more needs to be said. The phrase, "Why the long face?" has never been more applicable.

3)Remember the last time the WAC basketball tournament was held in Fresno, and Boise State's mascot decided it would be funny to go all WWE on us and do the "suck it" crotch chop made famous by Degeneration X? Remember how that ended? ...With that grey TimeOut they're making fun of running across the Save Mart Center court and spearing the Bronco to the floor. The Bronco then went to TGI Fridays after the game with the Boise State cheerleaders and got laughed at.

Pack (four sections of) The House

Yeah, so Fresno State's "Pack The House" women's basketball promotion didn't go over so well. Only about four sections of the arena could be considered packed (attendance was announced at 2,509).

But 3/4 of the Bulldog Bounce crew showed, with a few take-away points we'd like to list:

--Where were you guys? Tom Brandstater, Marlon Moore, Moses Harris and Damion Owens all showed up.

--All those nerdy fans who used to flock to the arena just to see Stacy Johnson-Klein stomp around putting dents in the hardwood with her leather boot heels would probably be just as happy as fans of director of basketball operations Kelsi Bond.

--Hawaii has dislikeable players in women's sports too! We've experienced plenty of uncalled for taunting and cheap shotting from former Warriors/Rainbows/Wahine in Anthony Carter, that one men's guard a few years ago who looked like Ellen and most of the football team -- and now this. Ebony Jones, at 6-foot-1, flagrantly shoves Fresno State's Emma Andrews (who would have a tough time passing the heighth test at Magic Mountain (seriously) onto the floor, drawing a technical foul.

--And most importantly, the 'Dogs women put on a great show. They play hard, drive to the basket, seem like good teammates and have a bunch of impact freshmen. Oh, and Tierre Wilson rivals Mirenda Swearengin as the most impressive women's player in school history. She might be able to start alongside Kevin Bell for the men's team (they do need a replacement for academically ineligible Bryan Harvey now right?)...

Just like the good 'ol days (for a split second)...

That's how I felt last night, using the depths of my voice, yelling from the belly up and out, cheering with all my heart. Waving my arms in and upwards motion while jumping up and down, trying to get the rest of the Save Mart Center crowd on its feet and screaming just as loud.

And then BOOM! Just like that, the Red Wave gushed its passion toward the hardwood and it felt just as feversish and edge-of-your-seat intense as in the Tark and Boyd Grant days at Selland Arena.

But before I had a chance to say, "Look what I did, the crowd's going nuts!" I realized it wasn't me at all. It was Bryan Harvey. He hit two straight 3s to bring the 'Dogs within six points of recently No. 24 St. Mary's (seriously, I'm not joking, the Gaels were in the top 25).

I miss those days, where I got just as pumped for Fresno State b-ball as I did for football. What changed? Do all the sanctions and scandals and off-the-court nonsense have fans too busy trying to spit the bad taste out of their mouths to come back out and support the team?

I think so. And I think it's time we got behind Steve Cleveland and made Fresno State one of the toughest campuses for opposing teams to visit again. Save Mart Center is capable of being far louder than Selland Arena ever was. So here's the challenge -- just show up. Grey hairs with season tickets, rich people with luxury suites, diehards in the upper deck, and most of all STUDENTS! Let's all come together and chant in unison nonstop. Make it near impossible for opposing teams to concentrate. The b-ball team will be good again very soon -- trust Coach Cleve. And you'll be able to say you were there in the stands all along contributing.