Rise to the top: A career legacy

[Out of the Fire]

http://i.cnn.net/si/images/basketball/college/logos/calpoly_100.gif

San Luis Obispo,CA - Winds of change swept through the campus of Cal Poly today as the Mustangs introduced Todd Clark as the new head men's basketball coach. Clark is replacing the recently fired Kevin Bromley, who posted a 61-95 record in six-plus seasons, including a 10-19 mark last season.

"I am extremely excited about the opportunity that has been given to me by the athletic director and university administration" said Clark. "I have high hopes for this program, and am not willing to compromise on these expectations because I know we can achieve great things here."

When asked about his goals for the upcoming season, Clark replied "First, we need to instill a winning attitude among the players. Next, is to become a consistant player in the Big West. Eventually the goal is to be a perennial fixture in the NCAA tournament."

This will be the first head coaching postition for the 35-year old Clark. He has spent the previous four seasons as an assistant to Steve Fisher at San Diego State. Last season he helped guide the Aztecs to the Mountain West Conference championship and an NCAA tournament appearance.

Cal Poly will kickoff the new season on October 23rd with Midnight Madness at Mott Gymnasium. The Mustangs' first game will be November 10th when they play host to Southeastern Louisiana.

[Out of the Fire]

2006-2007 CAL POLY SCHEDULE

11/10 vs Southeastern Louisiana
11/11 at Portland
11/12 at Oregon State
11/26 vs Saint Mary's
12/3 at San Jose State
12/11 vs Sacramento State
12/16 at Utah
12/19 vs Northern Arizona
12/23 at Fresno State
12/28 vs Cal State Fullerton
12/30 vs UC Riverside
1/4 at UC Irvine
1/6 at Long Beach State
1/11 vs UC Davis
1/20 at UC Santa Barbara
1/25 at Pacific
1/27 at Cal State Northridge
2/3 at UC Davis
2/8 vs Long Beach State
2/10 vs UC Irvine
2/14 vs UC Santa Barbara
2/22 at UC Riverside
2/24 at Cal State Fullerton
3/1 vs Cal State Northridge
3/3 vs Pacific

[Out of the Fire]

COACHES AND PLAYERS

Head Coach:
Todd Clark
Overall: C
1st Year, 0-0 Career

Assistants:
Carmelo Salow
Overall: C

Roosevelt Augustine
Overall: C-

ROSTER
SF #25 Derek Stockalper, 6'5 220 lbs., Senior (Carlsbad,CA) Ovr.71
PF #24 Deshawn Vance, 6'8 200 lbs., Junior (Walnut,CA) Ovr.67
SG #2 Dawin Whiten, 6'3 205 lbs., Junior (North Hills,CA) Ovr.65
PG #0 Trae Clark, 5'11 170 lbs., Sophomore (Fremont,CA) Ovr.62
SF #22 Tyler McGinn, 6'6 220 lbs., Senior (Gilbert,AZ) Ovr.62
PG #10 Chaz Thomas, 6'0 175 lbs., Sophomore (Daly City,CA) Ovr. 61
PF #35 Titus Shelton, 6'7 240 lbs., Sophomore (Fresno,CA) Ovr. 60
PF #41 Coby Leavitt, 6'9 210 lbs., Freshman (Ivins,UT) Ovr. 60
SF #34 Matt Hanson, 6'6 220 lbs., Junior (Plymouth,MN) Ovr.60
SF #21 Charles Anderson, 6'6 185 lbs., Freshman (Bakersfield,CA) Ovr.59
C #45 Zach Thurow, 6'9 290 lbs., Junior (Minneapolis,MN) Ovr.57
PF #11 Joe Henry, 6'7 230 lbs., Senior (Santa Rosa,CA) Ovr.56
PF #43 John Manley, 6'8 225 lbs., Sophomore (Minnetonka,MN) Ovr.54
PG #13 Rick Higgins, 6'1 165 lbs., Freshman (Danville,CA) Ovr.53

[lawcutta]

Good luck.

Are you playing all games?

[Out of the Fire]

Good luck.

Are you playing all games?

Thanks.

Yes, I'll be playing all the games on MOP with 20 minute halves.


Also, I have realized the two players I was going to redshirt had already redshirted, so they will have to waste a year on the reserve list (barring any injuries).

[Out of the Fire]

November 10, 2006

Mott Gymnasium - San Luis Obispo,CA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/SELOU.gif Southeastern Louisiana (0-0) 45

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif Cal Poly (0-0) 70

Coach's Thoughts - Tonight was great win for us. We controlled the game throughout and really showed what good teamwork can produce. Dawin Whiten led us with 20 points (18 in the first half, the same as Southeastern Louisiana's entire team), but no one else was in double digits. It was a true team effort.

Southeastern shot the three better against us than I would have liked, but we can fix that in practice. They have some good long range shooters, we just have to get out and contest the line better against our next opponent.

I feel this shows the guys we are capable of being a good team and lets the fans know we are here to produce a winner.

[ron410]

nice post and pictures

[Out of the Fire]

November 11, 2006

Chiles Center - Portland,OR

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif Cal Poly (1-0) 74

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/PORT.gif Portland (1-0) 54

Coach's Thoughts - Dawin Whiten, wow! 37 points, 13-21 FG, 7-9 3PT FG! He was unstoppable tonight. I can't say enough about that performance. It was truly amazing.

Once again we got off to a nice start, holding Portland to 28% shooting in the first half, and taking a 35-17 lead into the the break.

In the second half we relaxed a little and our turnovers started piling up. We had 15 in the game and 11 of those came in the 2nd half. Obviously, I'm not pleased about that.

I'm also concerned about how we look lost when Dawin isn't on the court. Eventually there will come a point when someone else has to step up because as good of a player as Dawin is, he can't do it all by himself.

We're looking forward to heading up to Corvallis tomorrow and seeing how we do against a Pac-10 team.

[Out of the Fire]

November 12, 2006

Gill Coliseum - Corvallis,OR

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif Cal Poly (2-0) 54

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/ORST.gif Oregon State (1-1) 53

Coach's Thoughts - Can I breathe yet? Man, tonight was a battle. I thought the guys showed a lot of resiliancy after a slow start. When we were down 47-36 about mid-way through the 2nd half, we could have folded but we didn't. We scored 11 in a row to tie the game. When OSU broke a tie and took a 2 point lead with 43 seconds left we could have panicked, but we kept our composure and Trae hit what turned out to be the game winning 3 with 28 seconds left.

I was glad to see other guys step up. Dawin just couldn't get going tonight with 8 points on 3-17 shooting. Luckily Derek Stockalper put up 15 points for us and Trae Clark had 14 points, including shooting a perfect 4-4 from three point range.

We need to improve our rebounding though. Oregon State crushed us on the boards, especially on the offensive glass. When you give teams multiple shots on a posession you won't win consistently and that almost cost us tonight.

With two weeks before our next game against Saint Mary's, we are going to hit the practice floor hard and work out the kinks. SMC has gotten off to a nice start and we will have to bring our A-game to beat them.

[knox33]

Nice win. I'm following.

[vikingfan1]

Im also following.

[Out of the Fire]

Thanks guys. I'm following all of yours too. That's what led me to do this. :cool:

[Out of the Fire]

November 26, 2006

Mott Gymnasium - San Luis Obispo,CA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/MARYCA.gif Saint Mary's (6-0) 50

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif Cal Poly (3-0) 66

Coach's Thoughts - If we can play like we did in the first half, we are going to be very hard to beat. What I was most proud of in the first half was that we only had one turnover. On the other side, we forced Saint Mary's into fifteen turnovers. That is what allowed us to grab a 44-24 lead at the half.

The second half was a whole different story. Fourteen turnovers! That won't cut it. I realize we used our bench a lot of the second half, but that's no excuse. We have some very good bench players. They just didn't play smart.

Overall I'm happy though. Dawin got back on track after a bad game against Oregon State, with 24 points and we beat a team full of momentum. We want to make this place a nightmare for teams to come into, and I think we're on our way there.

[Out of the Fire]

December 3, 2006

The Event Center - San Jose,CA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif Cal Poly (4-0) 61

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/SJST.gif San Jose State (3-4) 52

Coach's Thoughts - A road win is a good win, but really I thought we played pretty dreadful and were lucky to get a victory. I can tell you that kind of performance definitely won't cut it against better teams.

Once again, we turned the ball over too much (16 TO) and our outside shooting was pitiful (5-19 3PT). This will end up coming back to bite us if we don't clean it up.

However, there were a few bright spots. Titus Shelton had a very nice game with 10 points and 7 rebounds. We need him to continue to bang like that in the paint. Right now we are relying on three-pointers and the fastbreak too much. We need to get some paint presence, so hopefully he can keep this up.

[Out of the Fire]

December 11, 2006

Mott Gymnasium - San Luis Obispo,CA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/SACST.gif Sacramento State (7-2) 50

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif Cal Poly (5-0) 69

Coach's Thoughts - This could have gone either way heading into the second half, and Dawin decided it was time to take over and won it for us. He scored 21 of his 23 in the 2nd half and really put us over the top.

Sacramento State's shooting percentage was a little bit of fool's gold however. They only shot 34% but I don't think it was because we played overly extraordinary defense, we were just fortunate their shots weren't falling.

This was a nice win because the guys could have been looking ahead to Utah later in the week, but we were focused and got the job done.

[Out of the Fire]

RECRUITING UPDATE

Although the early signing period came and went without any commitments for the Mustangs, that doesn't mean coach Todd Clark and his assistants haven't been hot on the recruiting trail. In fact, Cal Poly's three available scholarships already look locked up and it should be only a matter of time before these young men land in San Luis Obispo.

Bobby McCleod, SG, JC SO
3-Star
6'3, 179 lbs.
Oxnard,CA
OVR: N/R, SG: N/R

The Mustangs are the only team on McCleod's list and he will bring good shooting (B-), quickness (B-), and intelligence (B) to to the team. He is mostly concerned with playing time, being close to home, and getting good coaching.


Kabir Erwin, SG, HS SR
3-Star
6'4, 230 lbs.
Citrus Heights,CA
OVR: 366, SG: 73

Kabir is leaning heavily toward Cal Poly as we are the only school to offer him a scholarship. He is also considering San Jose State, Sacramento State, and Portland State, but all three schools are well behind the Mustangs. His best attributes are offense (B-), shooting (B-), and rebounding (B-). Although he plays shooting guard at his high school, Coach Clark may look to play him at the small forward.


Renato Mackell, C, HS SR
3-Star
7'0, 239 lbs.
Oakland,CA
OVR: 450, C: 56

Like Bobby, Cal Poly is the only school on Renato's list. With his skill set: offense (B-), shooting (B-), and rebounding (B-), Coach Clark feels he has truly found a diamond in the rough and looks forward to having Renato be the Mustangs' staple in the paint for years to come.

[andrizzle1515]

im following. nice start and excellent 1st year recruiting class

[Out of the Fire]

December 16, 2006

Jon M. Huntsman Center - Salt Lake City,UT

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif Cal Poly (6-0) 51

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/UT.gif Utah (5-3) 40

Coach's Thoughts - Our defensive performance in the second half was beyond outstanding. That was the best effort on that side of the ball I've ever seen as a coach. Holding a very solid Utah team to 9 total points on 4-27 shooting, it doesn't get better than that.

I think our guys realized we could hang when we took a 32-31 lead into halftime. They saw that their team wasn't any better than ours, and once we cut down on their inside scoring they didn't have an answer to our D.

Obviously we weren't that great offensively, but in a grind-out game like this, there just weren't alot of points to be scored. I'm extremely proud and just hope we can continue this roll we're on.

[Out of the Fire]

Cal Poly Cracks Top 25

After a 7-0 start and a recent win in Salt Lake City against Utah, the Cal Poly Mustangs find themselves where they have never been before, in the national Top 25. The Mustangs appeared at #24 in the media poll and #23 in the coaches' poll for the week of December 18th.

"It's a shock, and a huge honor" said first year coach Todd Clark. "Honestly, I didn't expect this. It just shows how hard we've worked and improved."

[Out of the Fire]

December 19, 2006

Mott Gymnasium - San Luis Obispo,CA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/NAZ.gif Northern Arizona (3-4) 71

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif #24 Cal Poly (7-0) 69

Coach's Thoughts - Well I guess that was a short stay in the Top 25 huh? We got way too comfortable in this game. For awhile we were very close to putting the game out of reach but stupid mistakes and poor defense caught up to us real quick. I know you can't win every game, but we should have won this. At times we were close to pushing the lead to 20 and with about five minutes left we had a 10 point lead. We just blew it, the players and myself.

I have to give NAU credit though. They made some good defensive adjustments and really slowed us down once they went to the 1-2-2 zone. That forced us into a lot of turnovers and bad shots. We began relying too heavily on the three and it just quit dropping for us.

Now we play probably the best team on our schedule, Fresno State. The possibility of dropping two in a row is very real unless we tighten up some things. Maybe this will be a wakeup call for our guys.

[Out of the Fire]

December 23, 2006

Save Mart Center - Fresno,CA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif #24 Cal Poly (7-1) 45

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/FRE.gif Fresno State (9-2) 52

Coach's Thoughts - I'm surprised we were even in this game and had a chance to win considering how awful our offense was. We couldn't hit the side of a building tonight. 32% shooting will give you a lot of losses.

I thought Fresno's size and athleticism really intimidated us tonight. We had nothing going in the paint which has become a very serious problem. They also seemed to be quicker to every ball and had extra jump in their step. Our guys were very sluggish.

Dawin Whiten did put up some points with 22, but that was on 9-27 shooting. We need him to be much more efficient. Derek Stockalper also has to step up and help out more. Like Dawin, he was very inefficient shooting just 4-14.

We head into Big West conference play now and need to regroup and get our season back on track. All of our goals are still very attainable and no one is panicking, but we do need to start grabbing some wins again.

[dj_morton]

Great job, I'm following along...Do you think you could post your stat leaders? Seems like Whiten averages 20 a game lol.

[B-BallingShotfalling]

December 23, 2006

Save Mart Center - Fresno,CA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif #24 Cal Poly (7-1) 45

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/FRE.gif Fresno State (9-2) 52

Coach's Thoughts - I'm surprised we were even in this game and had a chance to win considering how awful our offense was. We couldn't hit the side of a building tonight. 32% shooting will give you a lot of losses.

I thought Fresno's size and athleticism really intimidated us tonight. We had nothing going in the paint which has become a very serious problem. They also seemed to be quicker to every ball and had extra jump in their step. Our guys were very sluggish.

Dawin Whiten did put up some points with 22, but that was on 9-27 shooting. We need him to be much more efficient. Derek Stockalper also has to step up and help out more. Like Dawin, he was very inefficient shooting just 4-14.

We head into Big West conference play now and need to regroup and get our season back on track. All of our goals are still very attainable and no one is panicking, but we do need to start grabbing some wins again.

Which level are you playing on all conference?

[GateGamer]

Great writing, I'm following.

[Out of the Fire]

Great job, I'm following along...Do you think you could post your stat leaders? Seems like Whiten averages 20 a game lol.

Thanks dude, here's the season stats so far.

NAME PPG RPG APG SPG FG% 3P% FT% MPG
D.WHITEN 20.0 1.9 0.7 1.9 .403 .364 .875 25.0
D.STOCKALPER 10.1 3.4 1.6 2.0 .487 .413 .600 25.6
T.CLARK 7.6 1.8 2.6 2.7 .535 .296 - 27.0
T.SHELTON 4.4 6.4 1.1 2.8 .454 - - 26.4
D.VANCE 4.2 5.3 1.0 1.4 .500 - .500 25.0
T.MCGINN 3.9 1.7 0.7 0.7 .615 .400 1.00 11.7
C.ANDERSON 3.1 1.7 0.8 1.3 .583 .000 - 11.4
M.HANSON 2.3 0.9 0.2 0.8 .562 .333 1.00 10.0
J.HENRY 2.0 1.6 0.1 0.6 .529 - - 7.6
C.LEAVITT 1.9 1.9 0.7 1.1 .388 - .500 10.8
C.THOMAS 1.3 0.8 0.3 0.7 .545 .000 - 10.8
Z.THUROW 1.2 2.0 0.3 1.0 .444 - .750 9.1

Whiten leads the Big West in points per game and is 18th nationally.

BTW, I'll have more game updates tomorrow so thanks to everyone who's following.

[GateGamer]

I'm looking forward to it, OOTF.

[Out of the Fire]

December 28, 2006

Mott Gymnasium - San Luis Obispo,CA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/FULL.gif Cal State Fullerton (3-6,0-0 Big West) 52

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif Cal Poly (7-2,0-0 Big West) 77

Coach's Thoughts - That's the Cal Poly basketball team I know, not what we showed in the past two games. We grabbed a fast lead and never looked back. I couldn't ask for a better way to start conference play.

Our defense really locked down Fullerton's playmakers and that was huge. They are off to a poor start, but there's a reason their club was the preseason Big West favorite. We were just fortunate to frustrate them early and force them to play catch up all night.

Thankfully our shooting touch came back too. We had more points at halftime than we had the entire game against Fresno State. Dawin put in his usual 20 points, and the rest of the team all contributed. That's what we need. When we become a one or two man show, typically problems arise. If we can emulate this effort on a nightly basis we'll be in good shape.

[Out of the Fire]

December 30, 2006

Mott Gymnasium - San Luis Obispo,CA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CARIV.gif UC Riverside (3-8,1-0 Big West) 47

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif Cal Poly (8-2,1-0 Big West) 70

Coach's Thoughts - It's good to know that our game against Fullerton wasn't a case of just being hot that night. This win proves the team is officially back on track. After our short slide, a good start to the conference season was critical and we've responded well.

Riverside gave us all we wanted in the first half and had me worried, but I think the three-pointer Dawin hit seconds before the buzzer and Trae's triple at the beginning of the second half that ballooned our lead to ten, really took some fire out of their team. From then on we rolled.

The defense was great again, limiting Riverside to 33% shooting. That's where it all starts for us. If we can keep a strong defensive effort, we'll be in every game we play.

Offensively we had too many scoring droughts for my liking. During some stretches we put points up in bunches, but we also go minutes on end without a basket sometimes. If there's one thing I'd like to improve from tonight, it's offensive consistency.

[Out of the Fire]

January 4, 2007

Bren Events Center - Irvine,CA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif Cal Poly (9-2,2-0 Big West) 67

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/UCI.gif UC Irvine (4-10,0-0 Big West) 59

Coach's Thoughts - That's what I call holding onto a win for dear life. We're lucky we jumped out on them by such a big margin early because otherwise that second half performance would have left us with a loss.

Fortunately Dawin Whiten bailed us out with some very timely baskets. He only shot 7-21, but everytime we needed to fight off an Irvine surge he came through. Still, when you've got an 18 point lead at halftime you shouldn't be having to claw out a win if you're an elite team.

I thought our defense was very soft in the second half. We didn't challenge the three-point shot with intensity, and we allowed too many cuts to the basket. After a couple of great defensive games, our guys just didn't show the desire on that side of the ball tonight. We need to make solid D a priority every night.

[guckin1989]

Got some good stuff here man.
As Borat would say "Very, Very Nice"

[Out of the Fire]

January 6, 2007

The Pyramid - Long Beach,CA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif Cal Poly (10-2,3-0 Big West) 74

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/LBST.gif Long Beach State (6-7,0-1 Big West) 89

Coach's Thoughts - The worst performance of the season, easily. Long Beach ran us out of the building and that's what we deserved. I don't know what happened to our defense, but it was obviously nonexistant.

47 points on 61% shooting. That's what we allowed Long Beach in the first half, which earned us a 12 point defecit heading into the break. I wasn't sure it could get much worse, but early in the second half we had fallen down by 20 and it stayed that way most of the game. We hit two late threes that upped our three-point percentage to 22%, yeah upped it to 22%! That may have kept us from losing by 20, but meant nothing other than that.

I can guarantee that won't happen again. I'm tightening the reigns because our guys are getting too casual and the shot selection is taking a nosedive. With our athletes I like to play at a pretty high tempo, but tonight we showed no restraint whatsoever and got burned. We played right into Long Beach's hands and the result was disaster.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

D.WHITEN 26 11-28 3-13 3 1 26
D.STOCKALPER 15 6-11 1-2 4 1 29
T.SHELTON 10 5-6 0-0 5 0 26
D.VANCE 8 4-9 0-0 8 1 29
C.THOMAS 6 3-6 0-1 0 1 14
T.MCGINN 4 1-4 0-0 1 0 13
T.CLARK 3 1-5 1-4 2 4 25
T.HENRY 2 1-3 0-0 1 0 5
C.LEAVITT 0 0-3 0-1 1 1 8
M.HANSON 0 0-2 0-1 3 1 11
C.ANDERSON 0 0-1 0-0 0 0 11
Z.THUROW 0 0-1 0-0 0 0 4

[Out of the Fire]

Got some good stuff here man.
As Borat would say "Very, Very Nice"

Gracias.

I added my team's stats just for more info. Hope everyone enjoys. :cool:

[guckin1989]

Yes, very, very nice. Too bad you got blown out. But oh well you will toast them next time around =P

[Out of the Fire]

January 11, 2007

Mott Gymnasium - San Luis Obispo,CA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CALDAV.gif UC Davis (5-8) 56

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif Cal Poly (10-3) 64

Coach's Thoughts - That was a hard fought win. I thought our guys underestimated this team a little and it almost cost us. Fortunately, we had a late run fueled by Dawin Whiten to edge out the victory.

I was happy about the defense tonight. We buckled down and got back to playing the kind of in-your-face D we've been known for most of the season. The guys knew that what happened the other day was unacceptable and stepped up to the challenge.

Our shooting percentages are still a little low for my liking though. This is mainly a result from taking a lot of jump shots because we struggle to get production in the paint. The guys down low need to contribute more for us to have continued success. A team that relies on jump shots as much as we do is very vulnerable because some nights the shots just don't fall.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

D.WHITEN 27 11-23 5-12 2 3 28
D.STOCKALPER 15 5-13 3-8 2 0 30
T.CLARK 6 2-8 1-6 4 2 30
T.SHELTON 4 2-6 0-0 2 1 25
Z.THUROW 4 2-2 0-0 0 1 9
D.VANCE 2 0-2 0-0 8 2 28
C.THOMAS 2 1-1 0-0 0 0 10
M.HANSON 2 1-1 0-0 1 1 7
J.HENRY 2 1-1 0-0 1 1 7
T.MCGINN 0 0-0 0-0 1 1 12
C.LEAVITT 0 0-0 0-0 2 0 7
C.ANDERSON 0 0-1 0-0 3 1 9

[Out of the Fire]

January 20, 2007

The Thunderdome - Santa Barbara,CA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif Cal Poly (11-3,3-1 Big West) 62

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/UCSB.gif UC Santa Barbara (7-8,2-2 Big West) 48

Coach's Thoughts - This is a huge road win for us. I felt like after our recent struggles, even in victories, that our season was on the brink. We could either slide into mediocrity or propel ourselves to a contender. This win proves to me we're for real.

The first half was a battle with neither team giving any ground. Every time we started to do something they would counter and vice-versa. Our three-point shooting was the key in the first half. We shot 6-11 from behind the arc and that helped give us a slim 31-28 advantage.

In the second half our defense was almost as good as it was against Utah. We switched to primarily man defense because they were shooting us out of our zone and once we did that we pulled away. The slim 3 point lead we had became a 23 point lead. I think they scored 5 points in the first ten minutes of the second half. That kind of lockdown defense wins championships, and that's our goal.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

D.WHITEN 26 10-15 4-7 4 2 23
T.SHELTON 11 4-8 0-0 3 0 21
D.STOCKALPER 6 2-5 1-3 2 0 21
T.CLARK 6 2-4 2-3 0 5 27
M.HANSON 4 2-2 0-0 3 1 18
C.ANDERSON 4 2-4 0-0 0 1 10
T.MCGINN 2 1-2 0-0 1 1 10
C.LEAVITT 2 1-3 0-0 5 1 13
Z.THUROW 1 0-1 0-0 0 0 12
D.VANCE 0 0-2 0-0 3 0 14
C.THOMAS 0 0-1 0-0 0 0 18
J.HENRY 0 0-0 0-0 2 0 12

[GeorgiaTechFan4Life]

How do you do that code? That would be very useful in my Legacy.

[Out of the Fire]

[ CODE ]whatever you're typing[ /CODE ]

except don't use any space in between the brackets and it will come out like

whatever you're typing

[GeorgiaTechFan4Life]

Okay. Thanks.

[Out of the Fire]

January 25, 2007

Spanos Center - Stockton,CA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif Cal Poly (12-3,4-1 Big West) 71

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/UOP.gif Pacific (10-6,4-0 Big West) 49

Coach's Thoughts - We needed this win badly. Losing to Pacific would have given them a firm grip on first place in the Big West, but instead we're back on top of the conference. I wouldn't call this game a must win, but it was very close to one.

Our smothering man defense we've switched to continued the success it had against Santa Barbara. We were able to take the crowd out of the game early as we built a very nice 41-22 lead going into the break.

However, as expected from a team like Pacific, they didn't give up. With all the success they've experienced, they weren't going to roll over because they expect to win. We found our lead cut to single digits, but Dawin just wouldn't let us blow it. He single-handedly built our lead back and fought off their charge.

Now that we're back on top, we plan on staying in this position. Someone is going to have to produce an amazing effort to knock us off because I feel we're more focused than we have been all season and the team realizes the championship is ours for the taking.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

D.WHITEN 37 14-23 5-10 5 0 23
D.STOCKALPER 10 4-9 2-5 5 1 26
T.CLARK 9 4-8 0-4 1 2 27
T.SHELTON 8 4-7 0-0 4 1 28
T.MCGINN 2 1-1 0-0 2 2 16
C.ANDERSON 2 0-1 0-0 0 0 11
Z.THUROW 2 1-1 0-0 1 0 9
C.THOMAS 1 0-0 0-0 1 0 10
D.VANCE 0 0-3 0-0 3 1 28
C.LEAVITT 0 0-0 0-0 1 0 10
M.HANSON 0 0-3 0-0 1 1 8
J.HENRY 0 0-0 0-0 2 0 4

[Out of the Fire]

January 27, 2007

The Matadome - Northridge,CA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif Cal Poly (13-3,5-1 Big West) 66

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CSNTH.gif Cal State Northridge (8-9,1-5 Big West) 70

Coach's Thoughts - After I talked our team up following a big win against Pacific, I am forced to eat my words as we immediately lay an egg against last place Northridge. The team has just shown a total lack of consistency recently and it's becoming very frustrating. I didn't think we played terrible, but the loss is still inexcusable.

Northridge was able to feed off of the sold out crowd and showed why every night in this league is a potential loss. There are no easy wins and we found that out the hard way. The game was neck-and-neck throughout, but in the end they made a few more plays than us.

When Derek Stockalper made a layup with 21 seconds left to tie the game 66-66, I figured Northridge would hold for the last shot. Instead, they caught us off guard and hit a jumper with 12 seconds. We had a chance to tie or win, but their fullcourt press forced us to turn the ball over and they scored again to seal our fate.

This is the first time all season we've seen the fullcourt press and I thought our guys handled it very poorly for the most part. It threw our offense out of rhythm too many times. We've got to regroup now and learn from our mistakes. We're still in first place, but any more efforts like this and we will be in trouble.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

D.WHITEN 21 9-18 3-10 1 3 31
D.STOCKALPER 11 4-10 1-5 2 2 30
T.CLARK 10 4-8 2-4 1 3 34
D.VANCE 8 4-7 0-0 3 1 29
T.SHELTON 8 4-6 0-0 4 1 31
T.MCGINN 6 3-4 0-0 2 0 9
Z.THUROW 2 0-0 0-0 3 0 3
C.THOMAS 0 0-0 0-0 2 0 7
C.LEAVITT 0 0-0 0-0 1 0 7
M.HANSON 0 0-2 0-0 3 1 8
C.ANDERSON 0 0-2 0-0 0 0 6
J.HENRY 0 0-0 0-0 0 0 4

[Twist of Lemon]

I'm a big fan of this legacy, keep up the good work bro

[Out of the Fire]

February 3, 2007

The Pavilion - Davis,CA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif Cal Poly (13-4) 50

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CALDAV.gif UC Davis (6-14) 43

Coach's Thoughts - I think anytime you shoot 36% from the field and 24% from the three-point line and still come away with a victory you should feel extremely fortunate. This effort on many nights would get us embarassed. The win is great, but we still have work to do on so many levels.

I'll start with the few positives from this game. The defense was solid, however Davis doesn't have many offensive weapons so I'm not going to put too much stock into that.

Titus Shelton gave us a nice presence in the paint also. We made a concentrated effort to pound the ball inside more and he had a very productive 13 point, 7 rebound game. He was definitely tonight's x-factor in pushing us over the top.

Now of course, our shooting was absolutely horrible. The stat sheet makes it painfully obvious how abysmal the effort was offensively. We had a flashback to the Fresno State game, which is one scary flashback.

Next up is Long Beach, who spanked us in our last meeting. Our guys will be looking for revenge, but that won't be enough to beat their squad. Controlling the tempo and continuing to focus on our inside game are what will decide the outcome. The ability or inability to execute these two principles will make the difference one way or the other.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

D.WHITEN 15 6-19 3-12 4 1 28
T.SHELTON 13 5-11 0-0 7 1 26
D.STOCKALPER 7 3-9 1-5 4 0 30
T.MCGINN 6 3-4 0-0 2 0 10
T.CLARK 3 1-6 1-4 1 4 33
C.LEAVITT 2 1-1 0-0 1 3 8
Z.THUROW 2 1-3 0-0 3 0 9
J.HENRY 2 1-1 0-0 2 0 3
D.VANCE 0 0-4 0-0 4 0 27
C.THOMAS 0 0-1 0-0 0 1 12
M.HANSON 0 0-0 0-0 0 0 7
C.ANDERSON 0 0-0 0-0 1 0 7

[Out of the Fire]

I'm a big fan of this legacy, keep up the good work bro

Thanks man, I appreciate it. Glad you like it.

[vols21]

Gracias.

I added my team's stats just for more info. Hope everyone enjoys. :cool:


I like the stats - gives a newspaper boxscore feel to it. :-)

best of luck in the Long Beach rematch! If the players learned from the first game, the outcome should be different this time around. Whiten just needs some back-up - maybe Shelton will come through again in the paint.

[elprez98]

Very well written, OOTF. Keep it up.

[Out of the Fire]

February 8, 2007

Mott Gymnasium - San Luis Obispo,CA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/LBST.gif Long Beach State (11-9,5-3 Big West) 44

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif Cal Poly (14-4,5-2 Big West) 68

Coach's Thoughts - I knew we'd be fired up to play Long Beach after the beating they gave us earlier, but I have to admit I didn't expect such a dominating performance. All aspects of our game were executed at a very high level and the result embodies what an amazing performance we had.

In the previous game we let Long Beach score more in the first half than they did in the entire game tonight. Limiting the Big West's best offense over 30 points under their season average and holding them to 36% shooting isn't something you can expect, but that's precisely what happened.

On the offensive side, our ball distribution was better than it has been at any point this season. The 22 assists we recorded showed the team's unselfishness and kept LBSU's defense off balance all night.

Now we just need to continue to build momentum and not have a letdown like after the Pacific win. This win is still only one game and the next result can always be the exact opposite if you're not prepared.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

D.WHITEN 22 8-14 6-8 4 1 21
D.STOCKALPER 8 2-4 1-3 3 2 28
T.SHELTON 8 4-9 0-0 4 1 21
D.VANCE 8 4-6 0-0 3 2 16
C.LEAVITT 6 3-6 0-0 5 1 15
J.HENRY 6 3-4 0-0 1 2 10
Z.THUROW 4 2-3 0-0 2 0 8
C.THOMAS 3 1-1 1-1 1 3 16
C.ANDERSON 2 1-2 0-0 1 0 12
M.HANSON 1 0-0 0-0 2 1 18
T.CLARK 0 0-5 0-1 2 9 29
T.MCGINN 0 0-1 0-0 3 0 7

[Out of the Fire]

Thanks for all the comments. :)

[GateGamer]

Nice win over Long Beach State, I was pulling for you in this game.

[Out of the Fire]

February 10, 2007

Mott Gymnasium - San Luis Obispo,CA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/UCI.gif UC Irvine (10-15,6-5 Big West) 48

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif Cal Poly (15-4,6-2 Big West) 58

Coach's Thoughts - It's good to see the team follow up on the Long Beach win with another solid performance and avoid the emotional letdown that sometimes happens. This win firmly places us in control of our destiny for the Big West title.

Our defense came through for us again, helping us to survive an off night shooting. The three-point shot wasn't falling for us as we shot 4-20 from behind the arc. This can be a problem for a team like ours who relies on the 3-ball so much, but sometimes you have to find other ways to win and we were able to do that.

Another key aspect was our protecting the ball. At times in the season we have been very turnover prone, but tonight we only turned it over three times. This allowed us to fight through the poor shooting because it created extra possessions that we don't always get.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

D.WHITEN 24 9-23 4-13 1 2 27
T.SHELTON 8 4-6 0-0 7 0 31
D.STOCKALPER 6 3-9 0-4 2 2 29
D.VANCE 6 3-6 0-0 5 0 24
C.LEAVITT 4 2-2 0-0 1 0 9
M.HANSON 4 2-2 0-0 2 2 11
C.ANDERSON 4 2-2 0-0 1 1 12
T.MCGINN 2 0-1 0-0 1 0 11
T.CLARK 0 0-5 0-3 3 8 29
C.THOMAS 0 0-1 0-0 1 1 9
Z.THUROW 0 0-0 0-0 0 0 2
J.HENRY 0 0-1 0-0 2 0 7

[Twist of Lemon]

ahhh, I understand that 3 point problem, every so often ill run in to that and find my self actually having to run plays to take it inside lol

[Out of the Fire]

February 14, 2007

Mott Gymnasium - San Luis Obispo,CA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/UCSB.gif UC Santa Barbara (11-10,5-4 Big West) 69

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif Cal Poly (16-4,7-2 Big West) 55

Coach's Thoughts - I want to apologize to our fans who came out tonight and had to sit through this pathetic peformance. I take full blame for what occurred. The 14-point loss doesn't even begin to do justice to how badly we were outplayed. If UCSB had kept their starters in, we may well have lost by thirty.

Defensively we were a wreck. UCSB bullied us out of our man defense by just pounding us in one-on-one matchups, and then proceeded to slice through our zone at will. They got the shots they wanted virtually every time downcourt. It was a classic example of one team imposing their will on another.

The offense was also lacking yet again. Our shooting percentges are taking a nosedive over the past few games. In addition, the bench was nonexistant, offering a mere two points tonight. We don't have enough skill to consistently overcome lackluster offensive performances, and the losses will start coming more frequently if we don't execute as an entire team at a much higher level.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

D.WHITEN 20 8-23 4-14 2 4 29
T.SHELTON 10 5-6 0-0 7 1 21
D.STOCKALPER 9 3-8 1-3 1 1 30
T.CLARK 7 3-13 1-6 0 4 32
D.VANCE 7 3-7 0-1 9 2 29
C.LEAVITT 2 1-1 0-0 0 0 8
T.MCGINN 0 0-1 0-0 3 0 10
C.THOMAS 0 0-0 0-0 1 0 9
M.HANSON 0 0-2 0-0 2 0 6
C.ANDERSON 0 0-1 0-0 2 1 9
Z.THUROW 0 0-0 0-0 1 0 9
J.HENRY 0 0-1 0-0 1 0 7

[Out of the Fire]

February 22, 2007

Student Rec Center - Riverside,CA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif Cal Poly (16-5,7-3 Big West) 76

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CARIV.gif UC Riverside (9-15,4-7 Big West) 50

Coach's Thoughts - That was a nice win because the entire team contributed, which has been a rarity for us. The collective effort allowed us to roll to an easy win and hopefully shows what we're capable of when working as a cohesive unit.

After the recent offensive woes, the team answered the call and shot 57% from the field and 50% from three. Obviously these are relatively high numbers, but previously we had been shooting way below what is expected. My hope is that we can balance things out to a stable flow, but I won't be mad if we keep shooting like this.

With the regular season coming to an end soon, we need to build on this confidence because the Big West is still very much up for grabs. In the standings we have the advantage, but our final three games could all easily end up as losses if we don't maintain the hunger for the title.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

D.STOCKALPER 19 8-13 3-4 5 3 27
D.WHITEN 16 6-13 3-7 0 3 23
T.SHELTON 12 6-7 0-0 5 0 23
D.VANCE 6 3-4 0-0 3 3 25
C.ANDERSON 6 2-3 0-0 1 1 10
T.CLARK 4 2-3 0-1 2 3 27
C.THOMAS 4 2-3 0-0 2 0 13
J.HENRY 4 2-2 0-0 1 1 8
T.MCGINN 3 1-3 1-2 1 0 15
Z.THUROW 2 0-2 0-0 3 1 8
C.LEAVITT 0 0-3 0-0 3 1 13
M.HANSON 0 0-0 0-0 0 0 11

[Out of the Fire]

February 24, 2007

Titan Gym - Fullerton,CA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif Cal Poly (17-5,8-3 Big West) 75

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/FULL.gif Cal State Fullerton (11-12,7-6 Big West) 51

Coach's Thoughts - Coming into this game it looked like Fullerton was finally starting to hit their stride. This team is loaded with talent and many believed they would take the Big West with relative ease. Their season hasn't gone as planned, but we were walking into a team's gym who was on a 5-game winning streak. Fortunately, we produced almost a mirror image of our win against them in San Luis Obispo.

Dawin Whiten fueled us early, scoring the team's first 12 points and dropping 22 in the first half to give us a 38-25 lead going into halftime. We were able to add onto this great start and really demoralize Fullerton, putting the game out of reach.

I was proud of the effort because this is one of those games that can come up and bite you. We were able to stall a surging Titan team and get a big road win. I expected this meeting to be much closer than the first, but our guys just made it business as usual.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

D.WHITEN 31 14-23 3-7 1 1 23
D.STOCKALPER 12 5-11 2-6 7 0 31
T.SHELTON 12 5-8 0-0 2 0 25
T.CLARK 7 3-6 1-3 3 4 28
J.HENRY 4 2-2 0-0 0 0 6
C.LEAVITT 3 1-5 0-0 3 0 9
T.MCGINN 2 1-2 0-0 3 2 18
C.THOMAS 2 1-1 0-0 2 0 14
C.ANDERSON 2 1-1 0-0 2 2 6
D.VANCE 0 0-1 0-0 6 3 29
M.HANSON 0 0-1 0-0 1 1 6
Z.THUROW 0 0-2 0-0 1 0 6

[Out of the Fire]

March 1, 2007

Mott Gymnasium - San Luis Obispo,CA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CSNTH.gif Cal State Northridge (13-12,5-7 Big West) 51

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif Cal Poly (18-5,9-3 Big West) 67

Coach's Thoughts - We have been looking forward to this game for awhile. I felt the loss we had in Northridge was a game we should have won and was a tough pill to swallow. Not only did we want revenge, but the Big West title was ours outright if we grabbed a victory.

The guys came out on fire and we jumped out to a quick 13-0 lead. Northridge didn't fold however, and put together a few runs, eventually cutting our lead to three. Our guys were too determined though, and fought off the charge. We were able to finish them off and secure the conference crown.

I thought we handled the fullcourt press much better tonight. We didn't panic and turn the ball over. We stayed calm and focused and that was the key. However, they did grab too many offensive rebounds for my liking. Giving teams numerous second chances is a recipe for disaster, so we need to clean that up.

I'm very proud of the effort our team has put forth this season to be Big West regular season champs. It's been a lot of hard work and it's certainly paid off. Still, our goal is the NCAA tournament, and in a small conference a regular season title usually doesn't cut it. We have more work to do to reach our ultimate goal.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

D.WHITEN 25 10-19 4-9 1 1 24
T.SHELTON 14 7-13 0-0 2 0 26
D.STOCKALPER 13 4-6 1-1 3 3 32
D.VANCE 10 5-7 0-0 7 1 26
T.CLARK 5 2-4 1-1 0 6 30
T.MCGINN 0 0-2 0-0 0 1 10
C.THOMAS 0 0-0 0-0 0 0 7
C.LEAVITT 0 0-0 0-0 1 0 6
M.HANSON 0 0-1 0-0 1 1 10
C.ANDERSON 0 0-0 0-0 0 1 8
Z.THUROW 0 0-0 0-0 2 0 8
J.HENRY 0 0-2 0-0 1 0 11

[Out of the Fire]

March 3, 2007

Mott Gymnasium - San Luis Obispo,CA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/UOP.gif Pacific (15-11,8-5 Big West) 58

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif Cal Poly (19-5,10-3 Big West) 66

Coach's Thoughts - While some may have seen this as a meaningless game since we had already clinched the Big West regular season title, I preached to our team the importance of this game. This win would give us 20 on the season, a first for the school since moving to D-1. Plus, anytime you can beat a perennial conference power like Pacific, it's always a great feeling.

The first half was a track meet as each team shot nearly 60% from the field. At the break we held a slim 40-35 lead thanks to Dawin's 22 first half points. The game dramatically slowed down in the second half, and we were able to make just enough stops to seal the victory.

Now we head to Anaheim for the Big West tournament. Our guard will need to be up at all times since we're the champion and everyone will be shooting for us. The NCAA tournament is probably out of the question unless we win this tournament, so it's really like a whole new season.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

D.WHITEN 29 12-22 4-10 1 1 27
T.SHELTON 14 7-8 0-0 5 0 26
T.CLARK 5 1-4 0-1 1 4 30
D.VANCE 4 1-2 0-0 3 1 26
D.STOCKALPER 4 2-8 0-1 5 3 26
M.HANSON 4 2-3 0-0 0 1 11
Z.THUROW 4 2-3 0-0 3 0 7
C.LEAVITT 2 1-4 0-0 1 0 8
T.MCGINN 0 0-0 0-0 2 0 11
C.THOMAS 0 0-0 0-0 0 1 9
C.ANDERSON 0 0-2 0-0 1 0 10
J.HENRY 0 0-0 0-0 0 0 8

[Out of the Fire]

BIG WEST FINAL STANDINGS

CONF.W-L OVERALL W-L
CAL POLY 11-3 20-5
PACIFIC 8-6 15-12
UC SANTA BARBARA 7-7 13-13
CS FULLERTON 7-7 12-13
UC IRVINE 7-7 11-18
UC RIVERSIDE 6-8 12-16
CS NORTHRIDGE 5-9 13-14
LONG BEACH STATE 5-9 11-16

[Out of the Fire]

Cal Poly #25 In New Media Poll

Fresh off a Big West regular season title and their 20th win of the season, the Cal Poly Mustangs find themselves nationally ranked for the second time this season. Cal Poly appeared at #25 in the Media Poll for the week of March 5th, but remain unranked in the Coaches' Poll. In December Cal Poly reached a #24 ranking in the Media Poll and a #23 ranking in the Coaches' Poll, but fell out immediately after back-to-back losses to Northern Arizona and Fresno State.

"I feel it's just another reward for the hard work our guys have put in this season", said first-year head coach Todd Clark. "We have a special group and I know it means a lot to them. Hopefully this will strengthen our at-large chances if we were to faulter in the conference tournament."

Cal Poly is heading to Anaheim for the Big West tournament where they will meet Long Beach State in the quarterfinals. The Mustangs and 49ers split their two matchups during the regular season, with each team winning comfortably on their homecourt.

[vols21]

congrats on the ranking. best of luck in the tourney

[Out of the Fire]

congrats on the ranking. best of luck in the tourney

Thanks. I'm not too happy about having to face Long Beach in the first round. I was really hoping for Riverside but they won their final game while LBSU and CSN lost.

[Out of the Fire]

March 8, 2007

Big West Tournament Quarterfinal
Anaheim Convention Center - Anaheim,CA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/LBST.gif 8.Long Beach State (11-16) 47

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif 1.Cal Poly (20-5) 75

Coach's Thoughts - Coming into the game I was a little worried about this matchup just because we know first-hand what Long Beach is capable of when firing on all cylinders. They may have finished last in the conference, but they can beat any team in this league soundly on a given night. Unfortunately for them, tonight we were the team with the hot hand.

We put the dagger in them fairly early. After a closely contested first few minutes, we exploded on a 16-0 run that really took the wind out of their sails. From then on nothing could stop us. When you shoot 58% for the game and your second-teamers are pounding their starters, you realize it's a special night.

The only concern I have is that our shooting percentages level out next game, i.e. dip below what we usually shoot. If our players can maintain any form consistent with tonight though, we will be fine.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

T.SHELTON 12 5-6 0-0 1 0 14
D.WHITEN 10 4-14 2-6 1 1 15
M.HANSON 10 4-7 1-1 3 0 20
T.MCGINN 8 3-3 0-0 1 0 14
C.THOMAS 8 4-6 0-1 0 2 20
T.CLARK 7 3-4 1-2 1 11 20
D.VANCE 6 3-5 0-0 2 0 18
C.LEAVITT 4 2-4 0-0 5 1 11
C.ANDERSON 4 2-4 0-0 2 1 22
D.STOCKALPER 2 1-2 0-0 2 2 16
Z.THUROW 2 1-1 0-0 2 1 15
J.HENRY 2 1-1 0-0 1 0 15

BIG WEST TOURNAMENT - QUARTERFINAL SCORES

1.CAL POLY 75
8.LONG BEACH STATE 47

4.CS FULLERTON 81
5.UC IRVINE 65

2.PACIFIC 65
7.CS NORTHRIDGE 72

3.UC SANTA BARBARA 62
6.UC RIVERSIDE 61

[Out of the Fire]

March 9, 2007

Big West Tournament Semifinal
Anaheim Convention Center - Anaheim,CA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/FULL.gif 4.Cal State Fullerton (13-13) 56

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif 1.Cal Poly (21-5) 63

Coach's Thoughts - I'm breathing a big sigh of relief after this one. Fullerton gave us a tremendous battle tonight and we're lucky to come out of this with a victory. This is a classic example of survive and advance.

Tonight we started off very poorly with Dawin and Titus getting in early foul trouble. To make matters worse, they were dropping threes over the top of our zone at an alarming rate. The next thing I know, we're already down by 10. What saved us during this stretch was our bench. Our reserves didn't let the game get out of hand, and Derek Stockalper stepped up as the star for us as we cut the lead to 2 by halftime.

In the second half Dawin played like he has all season and overcame what had been a rough start to the tournament for him. He and Derek wouldn't let us lose and we were able to hold off a very game Fullerton team. Now we're one game away from the NCAA tournament and how we respond to the challenge will decide whether we go dancing or not.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

D.WHITEN 22 8-22 3-10 0 1 25
D.STOCKALPER 19 7-11 3-5 7 0 30
D.VANCE 8 4-7 0-0 7 1 30
C.ANDERSON 5 2-2 0-0 0 0 8
T.SHELTON 4 2-6 0-0 2 2 25
T.CLARK 3 1-7 1-3 3 5 32
C.LEAVITT 2 1-1 0-0 2 0 8
T.MCGINN 0 0-0 0-0 1 0 10
C.THOMAS 0 0-0 0-0 0 1 8
M.HANSON 0 0-2 0-1 3 0 12
Z.THUROW 0 0-0 0-0 3 0 5
J.HENRY 0 0-0 0-0 0 0 7

BIG WEST TOURNAMENT - SEMIFINAL SCORES

1.CAL POLY 63
4.CS FULLERTON 56

3.UC SANTA BARBARA 74
7.CS NORTHRIDGE 46

[Out of the Fire]

March 10, 2007

Big West Tournament Final
Anaheim Convention Center - Anaheim,CA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/UCSB.gif 3.UC Santa Barbara (15-13) 51

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif 1.Cal Poly (22-5) 58

Coach's Thoughts - We've done it! The first ever NCAA tournament appearance for Cal Poly! I'm so proud of these guys and everything they've achieved this season. When I came here I knew this program was capable of winning, but I don't think anyone envisioned achieving something like this so quickly. It's just a great feeling and an amazing time to be a Mustang.

Santa Barbara certainly gave us all we wanted tonight, but our team's desire pulled us through. After coming so far, no one was going to let a chance like this slip away.

It was great to see our passionate fans storm the court after the victory. This is just as much for them as it is for our team. Now we have to wait and see who our opponent is. I can guarantee that whoever we meet, our team will represent Cal Poly and the Big West very well.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

D.WHITEN 21 9-22 3-9 2 1 28
D.STOCKALPER 11 4-7 3-4 6 1 28
T.SHELTON 9 3-7 0-0 2 0 28
D.VANCE 8 4-7 0-0 6 2 30
C.LEAVITT 7 3-4 0-0 1 0 12
M.HANSON 2 1-1 0-0 1 1 8
T.CLARK 0 0-1 0-1 1 4 31
T.MCGINN 0 0-3 0-2 2 1 12
C.THOMAS 0 0-0 0-0 1 3 13
C.ANDERSON 0 0-0 0-0 0 0 5
Z.THUROW 0 0-0 0-0 1 0 2
J.HENRY 0 0-0 0-0 0 0 3

[elprez98]

Congrats. Lets see I'm guessing a #8 seed?

[Out of the Fire]

Cal Poly Draws Last Year's Runner-Up UCLA In 1st Round

San Luis Obispo,CA - A loud cheer erupted on Selection Sunday in San Luis Obispo as the Cal Poly Mustangs discovered they would be facing national power and local giant UCLA in the first round of the 2007 NCAA Tournament. Cal Poly received a 6 seed in their first ever tournament, and they are thrilled about playing the 11 seed and 11 time national champion Bruins.

"This is such an amazing opportunity for our program to be going against in what my mind is the greatest college basketball program there is" said head coach Todd Clark. "I grew up a huge UCLA fan and view them as the pinnacle. John Wooden is one of my biggest inspirations and it's just a surreal feeling to know we'll be playing such a storied team."

Cal Poly enters the tournament with a 23-5 record and Big West regular season and tournament titles. The Mustangs also sit at #23 in the Media Poll and #25 in the Coaches' Poll.

Ben Howland's UCLA squad comes in with an overall record of 19-12 and a 4th-place finish in the Pac-10 during the regular season. The Bruins reached the semifinals of the Pac-10 tournament before falling to 1-seed and #2 ranked Arizona.

The two teams will square off March 15th at Alumni Arena in Buffalo, New York in the East Regionals. The winner will face the victor of the game between 3-seed Nevada and 14-seed George Mason.

[Out of the Fire]

2007 NCAA TOURNAMENT

EAST REGIONAL MIDWEST REGIONAL
1.NORTH CAROLINA 1.SYRACUSE
16.KENT STATE/IUPUI 16.BUCKNELL

8.MASSACHUSETTS 8.FLORIDA STATE
9.SAN DIEGO STATE 9.SAINT MARY'S

4.NEW MEXICO STATE 4.GEORGIA TECH
13.MISS. VALLEY STATE 13.LOYOLA-CHICAGO

5.AKRON 5.USC
12.UNLV 12.VERMONT

2.WISCONSIN 2.KANSAS
15.LAMAR 15.HARVARD

7.LSU 7.OKLAHOMA
10.TENNESSEE STATE 10.BOSTON COLLEGE

3.NEVADA 3.CONNECTICUT
14.GEORGE MASON 14.UNC ASHEVILLE

6.CAL POLY 6.SAINT LOUIS
11.UCLA 11.HOUSTON



SOUTH REGIONAL WEST REGIONAL
1.ARIZONA 1.FLORIDA
16.SAN JOSE STATE 16.WAGNER

8.IOWA 8.PENN STATE
9.INDIANA 9.MISSOURI

4.MISSISSIPPI STATE 4.ALABAMA
13.KENNESAW STATE 13.ARKANSAS STATE

5.MARYLAND 5.TEXAS A&M
12.WICHITA STATE 12.FURMAN

2.MICHIGAN 2.DUKE
15.MONTANA 15.FLORIDA A&M

7.OHIO STATE 7.KENTUCKY
10.DEPAUL 10.PROVIDENCE

3.KANSAS STATE 3.OKLAHOMA STATE
14.IONA 14.TENNESSEE TECH

6.PITTSBURGH 6.MEMPHIS
11.COLORADO STATE 11.WASHINGTON

[vikingfan1]

Great job getting a 6 seed, good luck against UCLA. UCLA will be a good game and you certainly can't overlook them.

[Out of the Fire]

March 15, 2007

NCAA Tournament 1st Round
Alumni Arena - Buffalo,NY

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/UCLA.gif 11.UCLA (19-12) 64

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif 6.Cal Poly (23-5) 65

Coach's Thoughts - It's hard to describe how huge this win is and what it means for our program and school. Even though we were the higher seed, many people felt UCLA would still take the victory. They almost did, but Derek Stockalper just wouldn't let his career end yet.

When Derek hit the game winning three with 15 seconds left, I could barely watch. Once it went in, I just hoped we weren't too excited to get back and play defense. The guys realized we hadn't won anything yet and were able to force a turnover in the final seconds. I don't think it gets any better than beating a power like UCLA in your first tournament game.

Now we have to get prepared to face yet another Final Four team from a year ago, George Mason. They just handily beat an amazing Nevada team, and with the run they made last year, I know they have all the confidence in the world. We'll have to be on our A-game to get a win.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

D.WHITEN 17 7-22 2-10 0 2 29
D.STOCKALPER 12 5-5 2-2 9 0 34
T.CLARK 9 4-8 0-1 2 8 33
T.SHELTON 8 4-8 0-0 7 1 27
M.HANSON 7 3-4 1-2 0 0 9
D.VANCE 6 3-6 0-0 5 2 31
J.HENRY 4 2-2 0-0 1 0 3
C.LEAVITT 2 1-1 0-0 2 0 10
T.MCGINN 0 0-0 0-0 0 0 7
C.THOMAS 0 0-2 0-0 1 2 9
C.ANDERSON 0 0-3 0-0 1 1 6
Z.THUROW 0 0-2 0-0 5 0 5

[Out of the Fire]

2007 NCAA TOURNAMENT 1ST ROUND SCORES

EAST REGIONAL MIDWEST REGIONAL
1.NORTH CAROLINA 95 1.SYRACUSE 71
16.KENT STATE 54 16.BUCKNELL 44

8.MASSACHUSETTS 66 8.FLORIDA STATE 69
9.SAN DIEGO STATE 51 9.SAINT MARY'S 68

4.NEW MEXICO STATE 75 4.GEORGIA TECH 75
13.MISS. VALLEY STATE 38 13.LOYOLA-CHICAGO 54

5.AKRON 65 5.USC 72
12.UNLV 78 12.VERMONT 56

2.WISCONSIN 75 2.KANSAS 88
15.LAMAR 68 15.HARVARD 68

7.LSU 78 7.OKLAHOMA 66
10.TENNESSEE STATE 70 10.BOSTON COLLEGE 70

3.NEVADA 57 3.CONNECTICUT 72
14.GEORGE MASON 76 14.UNC ASHEVILLE 58

6.CAL POLY 65 6.SAINT LOUIS 65
11.UCLA 64 11.HOUSTON 72



SOUTH REGIONAL WEST REGIONAL
1.ARIZONA 97 1.FLORIDA 71
16.SAN JOSE STATE 66 16.WAGNER 63

8.IOWA 59 8.PENN STATE 65
9.INDIANA 85 9.MISSOURI 70

4.MISSISSIPPI STATE 91 4.ALABAMA 72
13.KENNESAW STATE 56 13.ARKANSAS STATE 49

5.MARYLAND 64 5.TEXAS A&M 56
12.WICHITA STATE 69 12.FURMAN 62

2.MICHIGAN 81 2.DUKE 96
15.MONTANA 57 15.FLORIDA A&M 40

7.OHIO STATE 67 7.KENTUCKY 67
10.DEPAUL 41 10.PROVIDENCE 70

3.KANSAS STATE 79 3.OKLAHOMA STATE 91
14.IONA 66 14.TENNESSEE TECH 54

6.PITTSBURGH 73 6.MEMPHIS 83
11.COLORADO STATE 74 11.WASHINGTON 64

[Out of the Fire]

March 17, 2007

NCAA Tournament 2nd Round
Alumni Arena - Buffalo,NY

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/GEOMAS.gif 14.George Mason (21-11) 48

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif 6.Cal Poly (24-5) 69

Coach's Thoughts - Tonight was just a dominating performance defensively by our team. Mason never could get in any sort of rhythm against our 2-3 zone. I think we were able to get in their heads because they seemed very frustrated by the second half. That's the way I hope we can guard every game.

Dawin was much more efficient than he has been recently, going 9-15 from the field. He will always score points, but lately it's been taking him way too many shots to get his numbers. Hopefully this will get him back on pace and give him some confidence.

Trae Clark also seems to have showed up just in time. Late in the year he was almost nonexistant offensively, but he followed up a 9 point showing against UCLA with a 12 point game tonight. As the general of our offense, we could really use more of this from him.

Now we're headed to the Sweet Sixteen to face a third straight opponent from last year's Final Four, LSU. It's amazing how things have worked out like this, but as everyone knows, you don't get easy games when you advance this far.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

D.WHITEN 24 9-15 2-3 2 0 18
T.CLARK 12 6-11 0-2 1 4 28
D.STOCKALPER 7 3-10 0-2 5 1 29
T.SHELTON 6 3-4 0-0 1 1 17
D.VANCE 4 2-5 0-0 4 0 24
M.HANSON 4 2-3 0-0 1 0 11
J.HENRY 4 2-4 0-0 6 1 12
C.THOMAS 2 1-2 0-0 1 0 13
C.LEAVITT 2 1-2 0-0 1 0 11
C.ANDERSON 2 1-2 0-0 2 0 12
Z.THUROW 2 1-1 0-0 3 0 9
T.MCGINN 0 0-2 0-1 3 2 16

[Out of the Fire]

2007 NCAA TOURNAMENT 2ND ROUND SCORES

EAST REGIONAL MIDWEST REGIONAL
1.NORTH CAROLINA 48 1.SYRACUSE 82
8.MASSACHUSETTS 59 8.FLORIDA STATE 75

4.NEW MEXICO STATE 57 4.GEORGIA TECH 59
12.UNLV 85 5.USC 73

2.WISCONSIN 65 2.KANSAS 67
7.LSU 67 10.BOSTON COLLEGE 80

14.GEORGE MASON 48 3.CONNECTICUT 70
6.CAL POLY 69 11.HOUSTON 71



SOUTH REGIONAL WEST REGIONAL
1.ARIZONA 69 1.FLORIDA 82
9.INDIANA 67 9.MISSOURI 54

4.MISSISSIPPI STATE 72 4.ALABAMA 64
12.WICHITA STATE 69 12.FURMAN 50

2.MICHIGAN 71 2.DUKE 56
7.OHIO STATE 57 10.PROVIDENCE 71

3.KANSAS STATE 60 3.OKLAHOMA STATE 74
11.COLORADO STATE 75 6.MEMPHIS 63

[Out of the Fire]

March 23, 2007

NCAA Tournament Sweet 16
DCU Center - Worcester,MA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/LSU.gif 7.LSU (24-12) 66

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif 6.Cal Poly (25-5) 69

Coach's Thoughts - It's starting to look like we're the cinderella story that everyone loves to see this time of year. Every game that goes by we're supposed to be outmatched and not talented enough, but we keep finding ways to win. I couldn't have predicted anything like this.

However, we almost did let this game slip away. After shooting 60% in the first half and taking an 8 point lead into the break, we continued the with the momentum we had built and increased our lead to 15 in the second half. Then we went ice cold. LSU fought all the way back to take a 1 point lead. Dawin and Trae righted the sinking ship though, and we never trailed again after falling behind briefly.

To think that we're just one win away from the Final Four is stunning. Standing in our way though is Massachusetts, who will be playing basically in their back yard. They will have all of the support. We'll just have to focus on our game, and not let the crowd overwhelm us.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

D.WHITEN 24 11-18 2-4 0 1 28
T.CLARK 14 4-8 0-1 0 4 28
D.VANCE 13 5-7 0-0 3 1 28
T.SHELTON 7 3-6 0-0 3 1 28
C.THOMAS 4 2-2 0-0 0 0 10
C.LEAVITT 4 2-2 0-0 1 0 10
D.STOCKALPER 3 1-5 1-2 7 0 29
T.MCGINN 0 0-1 0-0 0 0 14
M.HANSON 0 0-0 0-0 3 0 5
C.ANDERSON 0 0-0 0-0 0 2 9
Z.THUROW 0 0-0 0-0 1 0 7
J.HENRY 0 0-0 0-0 1 0 4

[Out of the Fire]

2007 NCAA TOURNAMENT SWEET 16 SCORES

EAST REGIONAL MIDWEST REGIONAL
8.MASSACHUSETTS 51 1.SYRACUSE 98
12.UNLV 48 5.USC 67

7.LSU 66 10.BOSTON COLLEGE 71
6.CAL POLY 69 11.HOUSTON 75



SOUTH REGIONAL WEST REGIONAL
1.ARIZONA 83 1.FLORIDA 55
4.MISSISSIPPI STATE 81 4.ALABAMA 58

2.MICHIGAN 54 10.PROVIDENCE 83
11.COLORADO STATE 72 3.OKLAHOMA STATE 61

[Out of the Fire]

March 25, 2007

NCAA Tournament Elite 8
DCU Center - Worcester,MA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/MA.gif 8.Massachusetts (27-9) 60

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif 6.Cal Poly (26-5) 64

Coach's Thoughts - I truly feel like we're a team of destiny now. After the way we played so poorly and still came away with the win, that's the only way I can justify this. Regardless, we're going to Atlanta for the Final Four now!

Our perimeter defense needs a major overhaul, however. If UMass would have shown any consistency with their three-ball (3-18 from three), we'd be headed back to San Luis Obispo right now. They missed a lot of open looks, which was just luck on our part. The defense certainly didn't force them into that percentage.

Offensively it was a good team effort, but we need Dawin to be a star again. He slumped back to 13 points on 5-17 shooting. Most nights our offense sputters if he's not putting up big numbers, and we can't expect to grab another win with this kind of shooting display.

Providence is up next for us. Will the magic continue or will our fate be the same as George Mason's last year? I know one thing, it's been a great ride and I'm not ready for it to end just yet.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

T.CLARK 14 4-6 1-1 1 6 29
D.WHITEN 13 5-17 3-11 0 2 28
T.SHELTON 12 6-12 0-0 5 1 26
D.VANCE 6 3-5 0-0 6 1 27
D.STOCKALPER 6 2-6 0-1 8 2 27
M.HANSON 4 1-4 1-1 0 0 8
T.MCGINN 3 1-2 0-0 2 1 16
C.THOMAS 2 1-3 0-1 2 1 12
C.LEAVITT 2 1-2 0-0 2 0 7
Z.THUROW 2 1-1 0-0 1 0 5
C.ANDERSON 0 0-2 0-0 1 0 8
J.HENRY 0 0-0 0-0 2 0 8

[Out of the Fire]

2007 NCAA TOURNAMENT ELITE 8 SCORES

EAST REGIONAL MIDWEST REGIONAL
8.MASSACHUSETTS 60 1.SYRACUSE 76
6.CAL POLY 64 11.HOUSTON 70



SOUTH REGIONAL WEST REGIONAL
1.ARIZONA 82 4.ALABAMA 71
11.COLORADO STATE 70 10.PROVIDENCE 73

[vikingfan1]

Congrats on making the Final Four and good luck against your matchup with Providence.

[Out of the Fire]

Congrats on making the Final Four and good luck against your matchup with Providence.

Thanks. I can't believe I've made it this far. I figured we'd be a Sweet 16 team at best.

[Out of the Fire]

March 31, 2007

Final Four
Georgia Dome - Atlanta,GA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/PROV.gif 10.Providence (24-10) 71

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif 6.Cal Poly (27-5) 69

Coach's Thoughts - It's been quite a run, but I guess all good things must come to an end. To think that this school had never been to an NCAA Tournament before this season, and if not for a Providence 3-pointer with 8.2 seconds left, would be headed to play for the national title is amazing. I couldn't be prouder of what we've accomplished this season. It speaks volumes about the character of our players.

In the end, we just ran out of gas. We had a 12 point lead at the half, but Providence's depth and size eventually wore us down. Dawin's game was a microcosm of our entire team. He had 25 in the first half and only 5 in the second half. By the end of the game we were just physically drained.

Looking back though, it's been one great journey this season. The program has come along way and we'll be back next year to make some more noise. I guarantee that.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

D.WHITEN 30 10-29 6-16 2 0 28
D.STOCKALPER 15 6-10 3-5 4 3 29
T.SHELTON 6 3-3 0-0 6 1 30
T.CLARK 5 2-5 1-2 1 3 32
D.VANCE 4 2-4 0-0 3 1 28
M.HANSON 4 1-1 0-0 2 0 8
J.HENRY 3 1-1 0-0 4 0 6
C.THOMAS 2 1-1 0-0 1 3 6
T.MCGINN 0 0-1 0-1 1 0 11
C.LEAVITT 0 0-0 0-0 2 0 7
C.ANDERSON 0 0-1 0-0 1 3 9
Z.THUROW 0 0-1 0-0 1 0 4

[Out of the Fire]

2007 NCAA TOURNAMENT FINAL FOUR AND CHAMPIONSHIP SCORES

6.CAL POLY 69
10.PROVIDENCE 71
10.PROVIDENCE 62
1.ARIZONA 57 1.SYRACUSE 68
1.SYRACUSE 94

[Out of the Fire]

2006-2007 PLAYER STATS
NAME PPG RPG APG SPG FG% 3P% FT% MPG
D.WHITEN 21.8 1.7 1.3 2.1 .433 .371 .666 25.1
D.STOCKALPER 9.8 4.2 1.4 2.3 .479 .411 .727 27.1
T.SHELTON 8.0 4.8 0.7 2.2 .558 - .681 25.2
T.CLARK 6.8 1.5 4.1 2.6 .434 .294 .772 28.3
D.VANCE 4.9 5.1 1.1 1.8 .490 .000 .576 25.2
M.HANSON 2.5 1.3 0.5 0.8 .507 .454 .666 10.3
C.ANDERSON 2.3 1.2 0.7 0.9 .500 .000 .833 10.3
T.MCGINN 2.2 1.7 0.7 0.8 .430 .187 1.00 12.1
C.LEAVITT 2.1 2.1 0.5 0.7 .450 .000 .461 10.2
C.THOMAS 2.0 0.8 0.8 1.3 .553 .285 .500 11.6
J.HENRY 1.7 1.5 0.2 0.5 .590 - .750 7.2
Z.THUROW 1.3 1.8 0.2 0.6 .450 - .800 7.8

[Out of the Fire]

Clark Named Big West Coach of the Year

San Luis Obispo,CA - To the surprise of absolutely no one, Cal Poly head coach Todd Clark was named as the 2007 Big West Coach of the Year today. Clark guided the Mustangs to a 27-6 record, Big West regular season and tournament crowns, and a Final Four appearance in the school's first ever NCAA Tournament.

"I'm truly honored to receive such high recognition" said Clark. "When I came here, I wanted to bring a culture of winning to the program and I think we've laid a great foundation. The players now believe in themselves, and our success has generated a great amount of excitement in the community. Now we just have to build on the momentum we've generated this year and continue to make this team the best it can be."

The 36-year old Clark came to San Luis Obispo after serving as an assistant to Steve Fisher at San Diego State for four years. While at San Diego State, Clark recruited many of the players who have now won back-to-back Mountain West championships.

[Out of the Fire]

2007-2008 Cal Poly Incoming Class

After a tremendously successful first season in San Luis Obipso, head coach Todd Clark has announced the signing of three recruits who will strive to help keep the Mustangs on top of the Big West for years to come.

"We're not looking to rebuild, we're looking to reload" said Clark. "I believe these signings will increase our talent level and depth tremendously. There's alot of excitement about this class among our staff, and I can't wait until the fans see these guys in action."

The official 2007-2008 Cal Poly class is as follows:

Kabir Erwin, SG, HS SR
3-Star
6'4, 230 lbs.
Citrus Heights,CA
OVR: 366, SG: 73

Bobby McCleod, SG, JC SO
3-Star
6'3, 179 lbs.
Oxnard,CA
OVR: NR, SG: NR

Renato Mackell, C, HS SR
3-Star
7'0, 239 lbs.
Oakland,CA
OVR: 450, C: 56

[Out of the Fire]

2007-2008 CAL POLY SCHEDULE

11/20 at Hawaii
11/29 Great Alaska Shootout
12/5 vs San Francisco
12/8 at #11 Texas
12/12 at Montana
12/15 vs Santa Clara
12/18 vs Xavier
12/22 at New Mexico State
12/29 at Iowa
1/5 vs Cal State Northridge
1/10 at Long Beach State
1/12 at UC Riverside
1/19 vs Pacific
1/26 at Longwood
1/31 vs Cal State Fullerton
2/2 vs UC Irvine
2/7 at Pacific
2/9 at UC Santa Barbara
2/14 vs UC Riverside
2/16 vs Long Beach State
2/25 vs Longwood
3/1 at Cal State Northridge
3/3 vs UC Santa Barbara
3/6 at UC Irvine
3/8 at Cal State Fullerton

[Out of the Fire]

COACHES AND PLAYERS

Head Coach:
Todd Clark
Overall: C+
2nd Year, 27-6 Career

Assistants:
Oscar Wrenn
Overall: C
1st Year

Salvatore Demond
Overall: C
1st Year

ROSTER
PF #24 Dreshawn Vance, 6'8 208 lbs., Senior (Walnut,CA) Ovr.71
SG #2 Dawin Whiten, 6'3 207 lbs., Senior (North Hills,CA) Ovr.69
PG #0 Trae Clark, 5'11 177 lbs., Junior (Fremont,CA) Ovr.67
PG #10 Chaz Thomas, 6'0 180 lbs., Junior (Daly City,CA) Ovr.66
PF #41 Coby Leavitt, 6'10 216 lbs., Sophomore (Ivins,UT) Ovr.65
PF #35 Titus Shelton, 6'7 252 lbs., Junior (Fresno,CA) Ovr.64
SG #8 Kabir Erwin, 6'4 241 lbs., Freshman (Citrus Heights,CA) Ovr.63
SF #21 Charles Anderson, 6'7 185 lbs., Sophomore (Bakersfield,CA) Ovr.63
SF #34 Matt Hanson, 6'6 229 lbs., Senior (Plymouth,MN) Ovr.63
SG #7 Bobby McCleod, 6'4 186 lbs., Junior (Oxnard,CA) Ovr.62
C #45 Zach Thurow, 6'9 293 lbs., Senior (Minneapolis,MN) Ovr.61
C #54 Renato Mackell, 7'0 239 lbs., Freshman (Oakland,CA) Ovr.60
PG #13 Rick Higgins, 6'1 172 lbs., Sophomore (Danville,CA) Ovr.57

[Out of the Fire]

November 20, 2007

Stan Sheriff Center - Honolulu,HI

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif Cal Poly (0-0) 66

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/HI.gif Hawaii (0-0) 59

Coach's Thoughts - It's nice to start off the season with a win, especially on the road against a team as good as Hawaii. Obviously the new players are still getting acquainted into the system and chemisty isn't great, but that's to be expected.

Early on Hawaii's size ovewhelmed us. They have about three or four giants on that team and we were getting bullied in the paint badly. Eventually we got a better feel of their tendencies and were able to neutralize that disadvantage somewhat. I just hope everyone isn't stockpiling monsters like that.

In the first half our offense was great. We shot over 50%, were getting transition baskets, and sharing the ball well. In the second half the game slowed down and we sputtered. I believe we shot in the low thirties in the second, which is unacceptable. We're going to have to show better consistency on that side of the ball.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

D.WHITEN 22 8-21 4-10 4 0 28
K.ERWIN 10 4-9 0-1 4 2 26
D.VANCE 9 4-5 0-0 5 1 30
T.SHELTON 8 4-7 0-0 6 1 31
R.MACKELL 7 1-2 0-0 2 0 12
T.CLARK 4 2-4 0-2 0 4 29
C.THOMAS 2 1-2 0-0 1 1 10
B.MCCLEOD 2 1-3 0-0 2 1 10
M.HANSON 2 1-3 0-0 1 0 7
C.LEAVITT 0 0-3 0-0 1 0 10
C.ANDERSON 0 0-0 0-0 3 0 5
Z.THUROW 0 0-1 0-0 1 0 4

[Out of the Fire]

November 29, 2007

Great Alaska Shootout Quarterfinals
Sullivan Arena - Anchorage,AK

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/MOKC.gif UMKC (0-2) 53

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif Cal Poly (1-0) 63

Coach's Thoughts - I know we won the game, but that was a pretty pathetic peformance. We had a number of opportunities to put the nail in the coffin for UMKC, and we continually let them off of the hook. Against better teams that will result in losses for sure.

One of my main concerns was turnovers. We had 17 of them, which exemplifies our careless attitude at times. It's like the guys are on the playground just fooling around. This isn't some casual pick-up game, so we need to stop acting like it is. The laid-back demeanor is going to have to change.

Winning this tournament would be great for our program, but that's not going to happen if we duplicate that effort. The team and I had a long talk, so maybe that will get the message across.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

D.WHITEN 14 6-17 2-8 5 2 30
T.SHELTON 12 5-10 0-0 9 1 25
T.CLARK 10 3-6 2-3 2 0 28
C.LEAVITT 8 3-3 0-0 1 0 12
K.ERWIN 6 3-8 0-0 5 1 23
R.MACKELL 4 2-4 0-0 1 0 9
M.HANSON 3 1-2 1-2 2 3 10
D.VANCE 2 0-5 0-0 4 1 24
C.THOMAS 2 1-1 0-0 2 1 13
B.MCCLEOD 2 1-2 0-0 1 0 10
C.ANDERSON 0 0-0 0-0 0 1 9
Z.THUROW 0 0-0 0-0 1 0 7

[Fresh]

man I just started reading this thread about an hour ago, followed the whole season, what a fantastic run to the final four, have to play 75% of the previous year final four and losing in the closing seconds!!! I really like ur legacy with the full regulation minutes, game review and box score. My legacy i'm in my 11th season, I simmed the majority playing mostly the conf. tourneys and ncaas, I started at UC Riverside, took em to the sweet sixteen in my 2nd season and then went to Arkansas St. after my 3rd season, somehow i stole the #1 recruit in the nation and made a run to the elite eight my 5th season there and after my 7th season succeed Rick Pitno at Louisville, who I beat in the second round of my second season to advance to the sweet sixteen. So it's great to see more success come out of the Big West!!! Keep it up, and next year can u give us a run down of the notable transfers and the coaching carosuel? THIS IS DEFINITELY ONE OF THE BEST LEGACIES ON HERE SINCE ELPREZ98'S!!!

Oh yeah, what does your coaching stats look like right now?

[bonbon3131012]

hey man just wanted to let you know that I'm following and I'm enjoying your Legacy. I'm thinking of starting one of my own, and I was wondering how you got the colleges' pictures in your posts.

[Out of the Fire]

man I just started reading this thread about an hour ago, followed the whole season, what a fantastic run to the final four, have to play 75% of the previous year final four and losing in the closing seconds!!! I really like ur legacy with the full regulation minutes, game review and box score. My legacy i'm in my 11th season, I simmed the majority playing mostly the conf. tourneys and ncaas, I started at UC Riverside, took em to the sweet sixteen in my 2nd season and then went to Arkansas St. after my 3rd season, somehow i stole the #1 recruit in the nation and made a run to the elite eight my 5th season there and after my 7th season succeed Rick Pitno at Louisville, who I beat in the second round of my second season to advance to the sweet sixteen. So it's great to see more success come out of the Big West!!! Keep it up, and next year can u give us a run down of the notable transfers and the coaching carosuel? THIS IS DEFINITELY ONE OF THE BEST LEGACIES ON HERE SINCE ELPREZ98'S!!!

Oh yeah, what does your coaching stats look like right now?

Hey thanks man, I'm glad you like the legacy. I was shocked at that run myself, but it sure was great.

I'll remember to track the transfers and coaches next year. I can't remember any of the transfers from this year but I remember some of the coaching moves.

Reggie Theus left New Mexico State for UConn after Jim Calhoun retired
Lute Olson retired at Arizona and AZ promoted an assistant with no coaching experience
Buzz Peterson replaced Theus at New Mexico State
D ick Davey retired at Santa Clara and was replaced by Florida A&M's coach
Riley Wallace retired at Hawaii and was replaced by High Point's coach

That's all I can really remember and really the only noteable moves.

My coaching ratings are:
Overall: C+
Offense: B-
Defense: C
Teaching: B-
Scouting: C
Charisma: C+
Discipline: C-

Thanks for following.

[Out of the Fire]

hey man just wanted to let you know that I'm following and I'm enjoying your Legacy. I'm thinking of starting one of my own, and I was wondering how you got the colleges' pictures in your posts.

I appreciate it dude. Glad you like it.

For the pictures just type address

[Out of the Fire]

December 1, 2007

Great Alaska Shootout Semifinals
Sullivan Arena - Anchorage,AK

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif Cal Poly (2-0) 99

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/WA.gif #7 Washington (4-0) 84

Coach's Thoughts - This is a huge win for us. It's definitely our biggest regular season win since I've been here. The main factor is that we weren't intimidated. It would have been easy to look at Washington and say playing them close would be great, but we wanted to win and wouldn't settle for anything else.

Washington jumped on us early, taking a quick 17-5 lead; however, we didn't panic. We stuck to our game knowing that shots would eventually fall and they did. Once halftime came, we had already erased their lead and built a three-point advantage of our own, 42-39.

In the second half I opened the offense up even more because I knew in a halfcourt setting UW's size would eventually wear us down. We were able to get points in transition and neutralize their advantages. Our guys came up big like I knew they could. We took Washington's best shot, bounced back, and got a tremendous victory.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

D.WHITEN 25 9-21 6-13 2 3 26
T.CLARK 21 8-11 5-6 3 4 32
R.MACKELL 16 7-11 0-0 9 2 21
K.ERWIN 15 7-11 0-1 7 1 27
M.HANSON 7 3-5 1-1 3 0 8
D.VANCE 6 3-4 0-0 4 0 15
C.THOMAS 3 1-1 1-1 1 1 8
B.MCCLEOD 3 1-3 1-2 0 1 8
T.SHELTON 2 1-4 0-0 4 5 25
C.LEAVITT 1 0-2 0-0 3 2 14
C.ANDERSON 0 0-2 0-0 1 0 8
Z.THUROW 0 0-2 0-0 1 0 8

[vols21]

huge win!!!! Washington is one of those teams that we always struggle with at TCU (but our team doesn't like to run as much as Cal Poly at the moment either). Their size kept us from running at all, and their blocked shots altered our play around the basket. We'll be wanting some game film of your huge win so we can design a good game plan if we have to face a team like Washington again. Congrats again!
Coach Dean, TCU

[Out of the Fire]

December 2, 2007

Great Alaska Shootout Finals
Sullivan Arena - Anchorage,AK

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif Cal Poly (3-0) 76

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/WMMARY.gif William & Mary (3-1) 67

Coach's Thoughts - In this game we were a little too confident. After the win against Washington, I could tell our guys figured we would roll over William & Mary with ease. That turned out to be anything but the case. This was a dogfight that we were lucky to win.

We had a lot of trouble with William & Mary's approach. They used the shot clock in it's entirety almost every possession. We got impatient at times and our frustration was evident in our play. The team tried to rush the offense many times as a result.

The one thing that infuriated me above all else though was offensive rebounding. We were absolutely mauled on the offensive glass. W&M finished the game with a 16 to 3 advantage in that category. My stomach turns when I look at this stat. It is unacceptable and there will be major adjustments made. I've never seen anything like that, and I don't plan on seeing it ever again.

Still, to be the champions of the Great Alaska Shootout is a spectacular feat. Sure it's not the national championship, but it's a title and something to be very proud of. I think the team can take the momentum gained in this tournament and add on to it for a very special year.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

D.WHITEN 28 10-15 8-12 5 1 31
R.MACKELL 16 8-11 0-0 6 1 26
K.ERWIN 10 5-10 0-1 5 3 31
T.CLARK 8 3-13 1-8 1 4 31
B.MCCLEOD 6 3-4 0-0 0 3 9
T.SHELTON 4 2-4 0-0 7 1 21
C.THOMAS 2 1-4 0-0 2 1 16
C.ANDERSON 2 1-1 0-0 1 0 12
D.VANCE 0 0-0 0-0 2 0 8
C.LEAVITT 0 0-0 0-0 1 0 6
M.HANSON 0 0-2 0-2 0 0 6
Z.THUROW 0 0-0 0-0 1 0 5

[Out of the Fire]

huge win!!!! Washington is one of those teams that we always struggle with at TCU (but our team doesn't like to run as much as Cal Poly at the moment either). Their size kept us from running at all, and their blocked shots altered our play around the basket. We'll be wanting some game film of your huge win so we can design a good game plan if we have to face a team like Washington again. Congrats again!
Coach Dean, TCU

Thanks Coach Dean. I'll be sure to send a tape. The 3-pointer was what propelled us to victory. Like you said, anything inside was eaten up by Hawes and their other bigs. We just had to beat them down the court before they could get in position and hope our shooters nailed their threes (which luckily they did).

[Out of the Fire]

December 5, 2007

Mott Gymnasium - San Luis Obispo,CA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/USF.gif San Francisco (2-3) 56

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif Cal Poly (4-0) 65

Coach's Thoughts - I was glad to see us be able to fight through a horrible offensive night and grab the victory. The shots just weren't falling, but we persevered and that's what you have to do. Sometimes you have off nights. It's how you respond to the adveristy that defines what kind of team you are.

As mentioned, we shot an abysmal 37% from the field tonight (27-72 FG). Ironically, we shot very well from three (10-23). Maybe we should have just fired shots from behind the arc all night. The mid-range and inside game were extremely below par, but I don't expect that to continue. At least it better not.

We cleaned up the problem we had on the offensive glass against William & Mary. San Francisco only had 6 offensive rebounds. We showed alot more fight and the stats prove that. That's the effort I expect and demand. Offensive rebounding is all a matter of desire and focus. We had a mental lapse the other day, so I was pleased to see the corrections we made in practice have an impact.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

D.WHITEN 25 9-20 7-13 1 2 31
T.CLARK 11 4-9 3-6 0 4 25
T.SHELTON 8 4-7 0-1 4 1 30
R.MACKELL 6 3-11 0-0 9 1 24
K.ERWIN 4 2-10 0-1 3 2 30
D.VANCE 2 1-3 0-0 5 0 11
C.ANDERSON 2 1-2 0-0 1 0 7
B.MCCLEOD 2 1-2 0-0 0 0 7
C.LEAVITT 2 1-2 0-0 2 0 6
Z.THUROW 2 1-1 0-0 3 1 10
M.HANSON 1 0-2 0-2 1 0 10
C.THOMAS 0 0-3 0-0 0 3 9

[Out of the Fire]

December 8, 2007

Frank Erwin Center - Austin,TX

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif Cal Poly (5-0) 93

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/TX.gif #15 Texas (5-1) 76

Coach's Thoughts - It should be clear to everyone in the nation, if it wasn't already, that this team can beat any team in the country on a given night. We went into a sold out arena in Austin and never flinched. I'm extremely confident in this team's ability to peform on the highest level.

If you looked at the score you'd be surprised that we didn't shoot very well. Early in the game we couldn't buy a bucket, and we had a few scoring droughts during the game. Despite our struggles (41% FG, 30% 3-FG) we were still able to rack up points on one of the nation's better teams.

The key, like with the Washington win, will be to avoid a letdown. Beating elite teams is great, but you have to focus on every opponent or it ultimately means nothing. Montana will be looking to upset us when we travel to their place. We have to realize this and be prepared.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

D.WHITEN 27 10-25 5-16 3 2 31
K.ERWIN 18 9-12 0-0 6 3 27
T.CLARK 12 4-12 2-7 2 1 21
M.HANSON 11 4-5 1-2 1 0 8
T.SHELTON 7 3-12 0-0 6 2 31
C.THOMAS 6 2-4 0-1 3 2 18
R.MACKELL 4 2-9 0-0 6 1 17
D.VANCE 2 1-2 0-0 6 0 13
C.ANDERSON 2 1-1 0-0 2 2 13
B.MCCLEOD 2 1-2 0-0 0 0 7
Z.THUROW 2 1-2 0-0 3 0 5
C.LEAVITT 0 0-4 0-1 5 0 10

[Out of the Fire]

RECRUITING UPDATE

The Mustangs are off to a strong 6-0 start after a Final Four season a year ago. While it is still up in the air whether head coach Todd Clark will be with Cal Poly next season, he is hard on the recruiting trail in an effort to bring even more talent to San Luis Obispo. Clark has five scholarships at his disposal, and with the early signing period recently coming to an end, here's a look at the targets he's focused on.

Herman Hoffman, PG, JC FR
3-Star
6'2, 178 lbs.
Buena Park,CA
OVR: NR, PG: NR

Herman has great intelligence (A-), which is what you look for in a floor general. His offense is slightly raw (C+), but his shooting (B-) and leaping (B-) are solid. Herman's main priority is being close to home. Cal Poly is the only school to offer him a scholarship, but are still trailing conference rival UC Santa Barbara for Herman's interest.


Jean-Baptiste Bryant, C, JC SO
3-Star
6'10, 234 lbs.
Eugene,OR
OVR: NR, C: NR

Jean is exactly what Coach Clark is looking for in a big man. He has a tremendous skill set of offense (B), rebounding (B+), and quickness (B). Bryant's main concern is feeling wanted, and Cal Poly definitely has interest. As of now, Cal Poly is the only school to offer him a scholarship and is first on his list. Jean is also considering Portland, Oregon State, and Eastern Washington.


Jesse Saunders, C, HS SR
3-Star
6'10, 242 lbs.
Mountain View,CA
OVR: 450, C: 72

Jesse isn't as polished as Jean, but he is two years younger. The coaches have determined the key factors of his game to be as follows: offense (C+), shooting (C+), leaping (B-), quickness (B), and intelligence (B). Jesse's main priority is playing time, which may not be immediately available with the Mustangs. Both Cal Poly and Pacific have offered him scholarships, and it looks as if he is leaning towards Pacific.


Brendon Akindele, SF, HS SR
4-Star
6'6, 205 lbs.
Sydney,Australia
OVR: 192, SF: 54

Brendon is the highest rated player in Cal Poly's search and as of now are the only team he is considering. He excels on offense (B+) and provides great hustle (A). Cal Poly has offered him a scholarship in hopes of luring him from overseas. Brendon doesn't seem to mind coming to America, as his main focus is good coaching.


Chris Howell, SF, HS SR
3-Star
6'10, 220 lbs.
San Diego,CA
OVR: 471, SF: 106

The first thing you notice about Chris is his tremendous size. His game needs polishing - shooting (C+), rebounding (C+), hustle (C+), leaping (C+), intelligence (C+), but it's hard not to be excited about his future. Unfortunately, after a fierce recruiting battle, Chris chose conference foe Cal State Fullerton over Cal Poly. Now we must refocus our efforts elsewhere.

[Out of the Fire]

December 12, 2007

Dahlberg Arena - Missoula,MT

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif Cal Poly (6-0) 104

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/MT.gif Montana (4-3) 87

Coach's Thoughts - That was an all around team effort. At times it was an ugly team effort, but for the most part I was pleased. In these kinds of games you have to establish your will and I thought we did a nice job with that.

The three-point shooting was awful yet again however. We got the looks we wanted, but they wouldn't fall. Montana wasn't hitting many threes either, so I don't know if it's their rims or what. It certainly wasn't a shooters friendly atmosphere.

We did give up alot of points, but we didn't let Montana shoot a high percentage. At this pace you will give up some points. You just have to make sure the percentages aren't high and we did fairly well in that respect.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

D.WHITEN 19 8-22 3-12 6 1 25
R.MACKELL 14 7-14 0-0 6 0 15
D.VANCE 12 6-9 0-0 3 1 17
K.ERWIN 11 5-7 1-1 6 3 26
T.SHELTON 10 5-7 0-0 6 1 21
T.CLARK 9 4-12 1-8 2 6 25
M.HANSON 9 3-7 3-7 4 3 10
C.LEAVITT 8 4-7 0-0 3 1 14
C.ANDERSON 6 3-5 0-0 4 3 15
B.MCCLEOD 4 2-2 0-0 0 3 10
Z.THUROW 2 1-3 0-0 5 1 10
C.THOMAS 0 0-0 0-0 0 3 11

[Out of the Fire]

December 15, 2007

Mott Gymnasium - San Luis Obispo,CA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/SNCLRA.gif Santa Clara (2-5) 60

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif Cal Poly (7-0) 73

Coach's Thoughts - Tonight the team came out really flat and that can be scary. Obviously you're going to have some down nights, but early in the game our effort was very poor. I can tell this team thinks they can "turn it on" so to speak, whenever they feel like it, but that doesn't always work. If this wasn't a wake up call, then I think we'll see a loss in the near future.

Santa Clara was on fire early, especially from three-point range, and built a lead as high as 12 points in the first half. Our guys were definitely caught off guard and a little shocked. We did battle back and cut the lead to two at halftime in large part because of the leadership of Dawin Whiten, who had 24 first half points. Trae Clark hit a half-court shot at the buzzer which took some of the confidence out of their team, and we were able to build on that in the second half. However, Santa Clara didn't go away and we still never lead until around 10 minutes left, when a couple of scoring runs blew the game open.

The next week is big for us. We host a very good Xavier team before heading to Las Cruces to play a nationally ranked New Mexico State squad. We'll need to be much more focused or there will be some definite problems.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

D.WHITEN 29 11-20 5-8 3 2 25
T.CLARK 9 4-8 1-4 0 1 25
B.MCCLEOD 7 3-5 1-1 1 0 10
R.MACKELL 6 3-10 0-0 10 1 27
K.ERWIN 4 2-7 0-0 3 4 26
T.SHELTON 4 2-5 0-0 5 1 25
D.VANCE 4 2-2 0-0 3 1 10
C.ANDERSON 4 2-3 0-0 2 2 16
C.LEAVITT 3 1-2 1-1 2 0 6
C.THOMAS 2 1-2 0-0 0 3 11
Z.THUROW 1 0-0 0-0 3 1 13
M.HANSON 0 0-2 0-1 0 0 8

[skarface2k1]

Out of the fire,D.Whiten is a beast with scoring unh?What year is he and what is his rating?Coach sanders,Wisconsin.

[Out of the Fire]

Cal Poly Enters Top 25 In Both Polls

Cal Poly looks to be building steam as the bulk of their non-conference schedule winds down and in recognition of their 8-0 start to the season, the media and coaches have both rewarded the Mustangs with with a spot in the national polls for the week of December 17th.

Todd Clark's team broke into the Media Poll with a #18 ranking, while the Coaches' Poll has them at #24. The #18 spot in the Media Poll is the highest ranking for the Mustangs since their arrival in D-1 in 1994 and the third separate time Cal Poly has been nationally ranked since Coach Clark took over the program last season.

"It's always a great feeling to receive national attention for your accomplishments", said Clark. "Now that we're in, we don't want to leave. My goal is for us to build on this and view it as one step in what we're trying to do, not as a culmination of our work."

The Mustangs have already defeated two ranked opponents this season, #7 Washington and #15 Texas, and will face #12 New Mexico State this week in Las Cruces. The 8-0 start to the season is the best in the school's history.

[Out of the Fire]

Out of the fire,D.Whiten is a beast with scoring unh?What year is he and what is his rating?Coach sanders,Wisconsin.

Yeah Whiten is a big time scorer. Last season he averaged 21.8, which was 9th in the nation, and this year he's averaging 24.4, which is 3rd best in the nation.

He's a senior and his overall rating is 69, but his three-point rating is 86.

[Out of the Fire]

December 18, 2007

Mott Gymnasium - San Luis Obispo,CA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/XAVIER.gif Xavier (5-2) 76

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif #18 Cal Poly (8-0) 71

Coach's Thoughts - What you witnessed in the second half was a total defensive breakdown combined with an offensive collapse. When those two elements mix, the result is disastrous. I don't ever recall seeing our team play so poorly in a half. Unfortunately, I had imagined this might happen, but that doesn't make it any easier to accept. It actually makes it worse because I feel like I didn't prepare my team as well as I should have.

In the first half we had pretty smooth sailing and took a 40-29 lead into the break. Our crowd was pumped and things were going great. Then came the second half. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but Xavier must have shot 70% after the break. Some of the shots they made were difficult ones we couldn't do much about, but other times our defensive intensity was severely lacking. In addition, we couldn't have shot better than 30% in the second half. Really, I'm surprised we held onto the lead as long as we did.

As dissapointing as it is, losses do happen. You can't win every game. We're just going to have to place this game in the back of our memory and move forward. New Mexico State won't be feeling sorry for us, and I won't tolerate us feeling sorry for ourselves. In the end, I think this loss can be great motivation for the future.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

D.WHITEN 25 9-26 7-15 2 1 28
K.ERWIN 10 5-7 0-1 3 1 29
T.CLARK 9 4-12 1-5 3 5 29
C.ANDERSON 8 4-5 0-0 3 1 13
R.MACKELL 6 3-7 0-0 6 0 23
C.THOMAS 4 2-2 0-0 2 1 15
M.HANSON 3 1-1 1-1 0 0 6
T.SHELTON 2 1-10 0-0 7 1 25
B.MCCLEOD 2 1-2 0-1 0 1 7
Z.THUROW 2 1-2 0-0 3 1 8
D.VANCE 0 0-2 0-0 2 1 9
C.LEAVITT 0 0-1 0-0 1 0 7

[skarface2k1]

Yeah Whiten is a big time scorer. Last season he averaged 21.8, which was 9th in the nation, and this year he's averaging 24.4, which is 3rd best in the nation.

He's a senior and his overall rating is 69, but his three-point rating is 86.

Well i guess he will keep carring the team for you this year.i hope you have a great recruit comming in to take his place for next year?That is alot of points to cover for.

[Out of the Fire]

December 22, 2007

Pan American Center - Las Cruces,NM

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif #18 Cal Poly (8-1) 69

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/NMST.gif #12 New Mexico State (7-1) 60

Coach's Thoughts - After losing to Xavier, we wanted to regain our swagger and avoid dropping two in a row after entering the polls like we did last season. The team responded well to the challenge and put forth a solid effort. As a result, we're now 3-0 vs. the Top 25 this season.

The difference in the game was the three-point shot. Led by Dawin Whiten's amazing show from downtown, we racked up 12 threes on 21 attempts. In contrast, NMSU was only 2-9 from behind the arc. That's a 30-point differential, which makes it easy to see how much we benefitted from this.

We now have a week off before heading on the road to play Iowa. The team will have a chance to rest, and we'll polish up some things in practice. The Hawkeyes have a good team, so this short break will do us some good after the grueling pace we've had to begin the season.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

D.WHITEN 30 11-21 8-12 1 0 26
B.MCCLEOD 11 5-9 0-0 2 1 13
R.MACKELL 6 3-7 0-0 5 1 24
M.HANSON 6 2-3 2-3 1 1 7
K.ERWIN 4 2-7 0-1 2 5 25
D.VANCE 4 2-2 0-0 3 0 9
T.CLARK 3 1-7 1-4 3 4 29
C.LEAVITT 3 1-4 1-1 4 0 13
T.SHELTON 2 1-5 0-0 3 1 29
C.THOMAS 0 0-0 0-0 1 2 8
C.ANDERSON 0 0-0 0-0 3 0 10
Z.THUROW 0 0-0 0-0 2 0 7

[Out of the Fire]

Well i guess he will keep carring the team for you this year.i hope you have a great recruit comming in to take his place for next year?That is alot of points to cover for.

Yeah it's going to be tough. I think I'll have a pretty solid class coming in, but next season will have to be more of a full team effort unless Clark, Mackell, or Erwin develop alot or one of the recruits is just amazing.

[Out of the Fire]

December 29, 2007

Carver-Hawkeye Arena - Iowa City,IA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif #23 Cal Poly (9-1) 72

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/IA.gif Iowa (8-4) 80

Coach's Thoughts - I'm disgusted at this peformance. Of the twelve guys on our team, we had two show up to play today. The rest of the team was an embarassment. If guys don't want to play hard, they need to find somewhere else to go. For now, the decision is up to them, but I'm tired of seeing the same lackluster performances from certain players night after night.

Our post defense was a nightmare. Iowa bullied us in the paint all night long, and made it look painfully easy. If they wanted to score, they pretty much did. Our post players, specifically Titus Shelton and Renato Mackell, caved in. I hate to say that, but it's the truth.

Now we're headed into conference play on a sour note. I'll be making some changes, which will hopefully light a fire under these guys. We have the potential to do great things, but efforts like this will get us nowhere.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

D.WHITEN 29 11-26 7-18 2 2 29
T.CLARK 26 10-18 2-6 2 3 28
R.MACKELL 4 2-8 0-0 5 0 23
C.ANDERSON 4 2-3 0-0 1 0 11
M.HANSON 3 1-2 1-2 0 1 9
K.ERWIN 2 1-7 0-1 4 2 29
T.SHELTON 2 0-4 0-0 5 0 29
D.VANCE 2 1-2 0-0 2 1 14
C.THOMAS 0 0-1 0-0 1 0 6
C.LEAVITT 0 0-1 0-0 0 0 7
B.MCCLEOD 0 0-2 0-0 1 0 7
Z.THUROW 0 0-0 0-0 4 0 8

[Out of the Fire]

January 5, 2008

Mott Gymnasium - San Luis Obispo,CA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CSNTH.gif Cal State Northridge (6-3,0-0 Big West) 95

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif Cal Poly (9-2,0-0 Big West) 110

Coach's Thoughts - Tonight I decided to revisit the run-and-gun approach we used successfully against Montana. After watching Iowa kill us in the halfcourt, I knew there had to be a change made. We'll probably stick with this style in the foreseeable future, as long as we can get teams to run with us, and remain successful.

In a polar opposite of the previous game, basically everyone contributed tonight. With this style that's a must, and we responded very well. The fans were into the game, and guys were having fun. It was a great way to start Big West play.

It's critical we stay playing at a high level. As the defending conference champions, every team in the league will be gunning for us. Our team knows this, and I feel like we're ready to take everyone's best shot and remain standing. However, only time will tell.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

M.HANSON 20 9-17 2-8 1 3 17
D.WHITEN 19 8-22 3-11 4 2 23
T.CLARK 13 6-13 1-3 2 4 23
C.LEAVITT 13 6-12 0-1 9 0 17
K.ERWIN 9 4-6 0-0 4 2 23
D.VANCE 9 4-5 0-0 10 1 23
T.SHELTON 8 3-3 0-0 5 1 23
B.MCCLEOD 7 3-3 1-1 2 0 17
R.MACKELL 6 3-7 0-0 9 1 11
C.THOMAS 4 1-8 0-1 1 1 17
C.ANDERSON 2 1-2 0-0 2 1 6
Z.THUROW 0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

[skarface2k1]

Yeah it's going to be tough. I think I'll have a pretty solid class coming in, but next season will have to be more of a full team effort unless Clark, Mackell, or Erwin develop alot or one of the recruits is just amazing.
Out of Fire you should be good.Don't worry about next year until then.Good luck with the rest of the season.

[Out of the Fire]

January 10, 2008

The Pyramid - Long Beach,CA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif #20 Cal Poly (10-2,1-0 Big West) 95

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/LBST.gif Long Beach State (4-9,0-2 Big West) 94

Coach's Thoughts - That was a little too close for comfort. Fortunately we were able to escape with the victory. I don't want to take anything away from Long Beach, but we can't afford to drop any games against the bottom teams of the Big West, and that almost happened tonight.

Throughout the entire game we were ahead. Then with about one minute left, LBSU took a one point lead that seemed to come out of nowhere. All of a sudden we're scrambling for a basket. The team executed well as Trae Clark was able to find Dreshawn Vance on a pick and roll to restore our lead. Two free throws in between two defensive stands later, and we squeak out the win.

I do have one major complaint though. Our defensive rebounding was atrocious. We gave LSBU way too many two and three chance trips because we couldn't grab a rebound. This almost cost us tonight's game and will most certainly cost us a game in the future if we don't clean it up on the glass.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

D.WHITEN 25 9-21 7-11 3 0 26
K.ERWIN 11 5-12 0-1 7 2 24
D.VANCE 10 5-10 0-0 7 0 22
R.MACKELL 10 5-7 0-0 2 1 12
B.MCCLEOD 9 4-6 1-1 4 1 14
T.CLARK 7 2-9 1-6 5 10 24
T.SHELTON 6 3-5 0-0 5 0 18
C.LEAVITT 6 3-8 0-3 7 1 15
C.ANDERSON 6 1-2 0-0 3 0 9
M.HANSON 5 2-9 1-8 1 2 16
C.THOMAS 0 0-3 0-0 1 5 16
Z.THUROW 0 0-0 0-0 3 0 3

[Out of the Fire]

Out of Fire you should be good.Don't worry about next year until then.Good luck with the rest of the season.

Thanks, I appreciate it. I should be at least a tournament team next year, but like you said, this season is all we're focused on right now.

[Out of the Fire]

January 12, 2008

Student Rec Center - Riverside,CA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif #20 Cal Poly (11-2,2-0 Big West) 92

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CARIV.gif UC Riverside (4-8,0-3 Big West) 87

Coach's Thoughts - I've got some major issues with this game. First, I'll say I'm glad we won the game regardless of how bad we looked doing it. Without a doubt we overlooked Riverside, and we probably should have lost.

My first issue was our slow start and subsequent poor play. We came out very flat and fell behind by double digits quickly. In fact, I don't think we had a lead until there was 28 seconds left in game. Dawin Whiten hit a three to put us ahead, and we used some free throws to ice the game, but I'm not celebrating anything. That was a sorry effort from beginning to end.

I also want to point out how terrible the officiating was. I don't usually ride the refs, but they decided very early that Riverside could do no wrong. We would get called for a foul on a play (which we deserved), and Riverside would do the same thing with no whistle, ever. This happened all night and it was sickening. I'll be sending the Big West a tape of this game because I feel we were treated extremely unfairly tonight.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

D.WHITEN 25 8-22 6-16 0 0 26
D.VANCE 12 5-9 0-0 12 2 26
B.MCCLEOD 10 4-11 2-4 1 1 14
M.HANSON 9 3-6 1-2 8 1 18
K.ERWIN 8 4-9 0-0 0 0 16
C.ANDERSON 8 4-6 0-0 6 0 10
T.CLARK 6 2-8 2-7 4 7 26
R.MACKELL 6 3-7 0-0 2 0 12
C.LEAVITT 6 2-7 2-6 2 1 13
T.SHELTON 2 1-7 0-0 4 0 20
C.THOMAS 0 0-1 0-0 3 2 14
Z.THUROW 0 0-0 0-0 1 0 5

[Out of the Fire]

January 19, 2008

Mott Gymnasium - San Luis Obispo,CA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/UOP.gif Pacific (12-5,2-1 Big West) 92

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif #15 Cal Poly (12-2,3-0 Big West) 127

Coach's Thoughts - This was a tremendous win and confidence booster for our guys. After squeaking by a couple of the conference's bottom dwellers, I think we were beginning to show some frustration. This victory eases our conscience a little.

In a direct contrast to the Riverside game, we came out on fire tonight. The team seized momentum from the outset and never looked back. Pacific was scrambling to keep pace as we hit every shot in sight. At halftime we had shot 73% and taken a dominating 71-48 lead into the break.

As expected, we cooled off somewhat in the second half, missing 8 of our first 9 shots. After the initial lag though, we regained our composure on the way to a very impressive 57% shooting effort for the night.

Now we get a short break from Big West play as we head to Virginia to face Longwood. Most view this as an easy win, but we want to stay focused and take care of business. If we do that it will be easy, but anything can happen if our heads aren't in the game. Our team won't make the mistake of overlooking them like we have some of our previous opponents.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

T.CLARK 22 9-16 2-3 2 5 24
B.MCCLEOD 18 9-18 0-3 4 1 16
D.VANCE 16 8-9 0-0 11 0 21
D.WHITEN 14 5-17 4-10 2 2 24
K.ERWIN 13 6-10 0-0 4 3 20
M.HANSON 12 5-13 2-5 5 3 16
C.LEAVITT 10 5-5 0-0 9 0 16
T.SHELTON 8 4-5 0-0 5 1 13
R.MACKELL 6 3-3 0-0 0 1 11
C.ANDERSON 6 3-3 0-0 4 1 16
C.THOMAS 2 1-2 0-0 3 5 16
Z.THUROW 0 0-1 0-0 2 0 7

[knox33]

I also want to point out how terrible the officiating was. I don't usually ride the refs, but they decided very early that Riverside could do no wrong. We would get called for a foul on a play (which we deserved), and Riverside would do the same thing with no whistle, ever. This happened all night and it was sickening. I'll be sending the Big West a tape of this game because I feel we were treated extremely unfairly tonight.

Venting like a true coach. Nice work on the legacy. Keep it up.

[Out of the Fire]

January 26, 2008

Willett Hall - Farmville,VA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif #13 Cal Poly (13-2) 121

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/LONG.gif Longwood (5-11) 83

Coach's Thoughts - I thought we played pretty well considering we had to travel across the country to play this game. Of course, Longwood isn't exactly a formidable opponent, but I was glad our team didn't let them hang around like we have with other inferior competition.

Apart from Dawin Whiten, who had 25 in the first half, we had some offensive struggles early on. We missed a bunch of easy shots because Longwood's 7'0 and 6'11 big men altered a lot of chances in the paint. Still, we were able to open up a 17 point halftime lead, which was encouraging.

The second half went more as planned. Longwood just couldn't match our athleticism, and we put the game out of reach very quickly. All in all, it was a solid effort. This win won't do anything for us, but losing this game would have been crushing. The team made sure that was never an option.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

D.WHITEN 40 16-27 7-12 3 2 24
D.VANCE 17 8-15 0-0 22 3 24
B.MCCLEOD 17 7-15 0-1 4 1 16
K.ERWIN 13 6-13 1-2 5 3 24
M.HANSON 8 3-4 2-2 2 0 14
T.CLARK 7 3-12 1-5 1 8 24
C.LEAVITT 7 3-8 1-1 5 0 16
C.ANDERSON 6 3-6 0-0 5 0 17
C.THOMAS 4 2-6 0-2 3 2 16
T.SHELTON 2 1-5 0-0 13 1 15
R.MACKELL 0 0-1 0-0 3 0 8
Z.THUROW 0 0-1 0-0 0 0 3

[Out of the Fire]

Venting like a true coach. Nice work on the legacy. Keep it up.

Thanks, I appreciate it.

It wasn't a very pleasant environment on the sidelines, and the refs were informed about how displeased I was constantly. That crew was a joke. :)

[Out of the Fire]

January 31, 2008

Mott Gymnasium - San Luis Obispo,CA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/FULL.gif Cal State Fullerton (9-6,2-3 Big West) 105

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif #9 Cal Poly (14-2,4-0 Big West) 116

Coach's Thoughts - We knew coming into this game that Fullerton would be a major challenge. Their squad is loaded with talent again this season, and they were looking for revenge after we beat them three times last season.

Luckily for us, Fullerton's leading scorer got into some quick foul trouble and was limited to 19 minutes tonight. In the 19 minutes he played he scored 26 points, so I'm glad we didn't have to face him any more than we did.

Dawin followed up his 40-point performance against Longwood with a 30-point effort, although late in the game his shot quit falling for him. Fullerton made a 16-4 run down the stretch, in part because of Dawin's cold spell, which I was not pleased with. The game was already decided, but I'd still like to see us finish better. That late game slump put a sour note on an otherwise solid showing.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

D.WHITEN 30 12-28 6-17 4 0 26
K.ERWIN 18 9-12 0-0 7 3 26
B.MCCLEOD 12 6-10 0-1 1 1 14
R.MACKELL 11 5-8 0-0 6 0 17
T.CLARK 8 4-14 0-6 3 6 26
T.SHELTON 8 4-7 0-0 4 0 14
M.HANSON 8 3-7 2-5 4 0 14
C.LEAVITT 7 3-6 1-2 7 0 14
C.THOMAS 6 2-5 0-1 1 2 14
D.VANCE 4 2-5 0-0 9 1 26
C.ANDERSON 4 2-2 0-0 2 1 9
Z.THUROW 0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

[Out of the Fire]

February 2, 2008

Mott Gymnasium - San Luis Obispo,CA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/UCI.gif UC Irvine (11-6,6-0 Big West) 110

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif #9 Cal Poly (15-2,5-0 Big West) 86

Coach's Thoughts - With first place in the Big West on the line and in front of our great fans, we layed an absolute egg. The performance tonight was not only terrible in terms of execution, but also in terms of effort. This game was embarassing beyond belief, and it's time to reevaluate the approach we are taking.

Irvine dominated us from the tip to the buzzer, plain and simple. We had a few short-lived spurts, but nothing significant ever materialized. Midway into the second half, it was obvious to anyone watching that our team quit. The offense degenerated into Dawin just jacking up threes, and no one put forward any initiative to try and regain some semblance of respectability. A mood of apathy predominated over the entire team.

Now control of the Big West is out of our hands. Irvine has us where they want us, and we allowed them to put us in this situation. It's unlikely they would go undefeated in the conference, even as good as they are, but it's not impossible. Our team will have to regroup and take things one step at a time. As of now, the run-and-gun is being scrapped and we are going to reestablish what made us so formidable last season, lock down defense.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

D.WHITEN 21 8-24 5-14 4 0 26
K.ERWIN 14 7-12 0-1 4 2 26
D.VANCE 12 6-8 0-0 9 1 23
C.LEAVITT 12 5-12 2-4 5 1 17
T.CLARK 7 3-8 1-4 1 7 26
T.SHELTON 6 3-7 0-0 11 1 23
B.MCCLEOD 6 3-9 0-2 1 0 14
R.MACKELL 6 3-8 0-0 3 0 12
Z.THUROW 2 1-2 0-0 1 0 3
C.THOMAS 0 0-1 0-0 2 5 14
M.HANSON 0 0-7 0-4 3 1 11
C.ANDERSON 0 0-3 0-0 1 0 5

[skarface2k1]

Cal Poly is really making some noise.You are having a great season so far.Keep it up!

[Out of the Fire]

February 7, 2008

Spanos Center - Stockton,CA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif #11 Cal Poly (15-3,5-1 Big West) 90

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/UOP.gif Pacific (13-9,3-5 Big West) 74

Coach's Thoughts - After the debacle against Irvine, this is exactly what I wanted to see. Our team didn't get down on themselves, but instead bounced back with energy and focus. The renewed commitment to defense was the key tonight, and I see us producing similar results in the future.

In an effort to keep the game at a frantic pace, the team had begun to neglect the defensive side of the game entirely. I enjoy the run-and-gun, but it's not worth sacrificing fundamentals like we had been doing. Tonight against Pacific I saw visions of the Final Four squad from last season. We locked down our opponent (37% FG for Pacific) because we had the intensity necessary for a suffocating defensive unit.

Offensively, we were extremely efficient (53% FG). We scored more points in this game than we did against Irvine, with 23 fewer attempts. I know we can't shoot at such a high percentage constantly, but we can be more consistent than we have been in the past. Execution is criticial and when firing on all cylinders, we're among the best teams in the nation.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

D.WHITEN 25 11-18 3-7 3 0 21
K.ERWIN 10 5-9 0-0 3 0 26
D.VANCE 10 5-8 0-0 9 1 28
B.MCCLEOD 10 4-5 2-2 0 3 11
M.HANSON 8 3-5 2-2 0 2 12
T.CLARK 7 3-10 0-5 2 6 28
C.ANDERSON 6 3-4 0-0 2 0 10
T.SHELTON 4 2-6 0-0 8 0 24
C.THOMAS 4 2-3 0-1 3 1 12
C.LEAVITT 2 1-5 0-2 3 2 14
Z.THUROW 2 1-3 0-0 5 0 10
R.MACKELL 2 1-2 0-0 1 0 4

[Out of the Fire]

Cal Poly is really making some noise.You are having a great season so far.Keep it up!

Thanks Coach Sanders. This team has the chance for a great run as long as they stay focused (which has been a problem at times).

[Out of the Fire]

February 9, 2008

The Thunderdome - Santa Barbara,CA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif #11 Cal Poly (16-3,6-1 Big West) 87

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/UCSB.gif UC Santa Barbara (9-9,5-2 Big West) 80

Coach's Thoughts - This was a big time road win for us. Not only do we stay right on Irvine's tail with the win, but we also widen the gap between ourselves and UCSB for second in the conference. A loss would have been a serious blow for our conference title hopes, so I'm glad we were able to claw out a tough victory.

After the Pacific game, I said I doubted we could shoot much better than we did in that contest. To my surprise, we increased our shooting percentage from 53% against Pacific to 57% tonight against Santa Barbara. However, unlike the Pacific game, we needed every basket we made because our defense wasn't up to par - allowing UCSB to shoot 50% on the night. We need to tighten the reigns again because this is far from acceptable.

Now it's back to San Luis Obispo for a three game homestand. The team is determined and realizes these three games are must wins. The competition we'll face isn't the strongest, but we can't afford any mental lapses or we can be beaten.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

D.WHITEN 34 13-17 7-9 1 1 25
M.HANSON 11 4-7 3-6 0 0 11
C.LEAVITT 9 4-5 0-0 1 0 9
K.ERWIN 6 3-7 0-0 3 2 22
R.MACKELL 6 3-4 0-0 3 0 7
T.CLARK 5 2-9 1-1 0 9 31
D.VANCE 4 2-3 0-0 8 1 30
T.SHELTON 3 1-3 0-0 6 1 26
C.ANDERSON 3 1-2 0-0 1 2 13
C.THOMAS 2 1-3 0-1 1 1 12
B.MCCLEOD 2 1-2 0-0 0 2 6
Z.THUROW 2 1-1 0-0 1 0 7

[Out of the Fire]

February 14, 2008

Mott Gymnasium - San Luis Obispo,CA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CARIV.gif UC Riverside (6-13,1-8 Big West) 51

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif #9 Cal Poly (17-3,7-1 Big West) 74

Coach's Thoughts - The world won't change with this win, but I was glad to see us not overlook an opponent who is obviously struggling through a tough season. Part of becoming a championship quality team is stability, and that requires focus. In the past we've suffered in concentration at times, but we responded well tonight.

The game was never in question thanks to a suffocating defensive effort that limited Riverside to a paltry 29% shooting display. Our guys made sure no basket came easy and that's the kind of production I've been searching for throughout the year. It took awhile for this search to yield any results, so maybe we can sustain it for more than one game.

However, one flaw was painfully obvious tonight, our poor bench play. The large point differential allowed us to rest a lot of our starters, but I was forced to reinsert them briefly because our bench was well on their way to squandering a 20+ point lead. Our reserves are critical to the success of this team moving forward, and we'll need much better production from them in the future.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

D.WHITEN 23 9-19 5-9 2 1 17
M.HANSON 8 3-6 2-4 1 0 18
C.ANDERSON 7 3-6 0-0 8 2 23
K.ERWIN 6 3-10 0-0 3 0 17
R.MACKELL 6 2-7 0-0 5 0 14
D.VANCE 5 2-4 0-0 5 2 17
T.SHELTON 4 2-5 0-0 8 2 18
C.THOMAS 4 2-4 0-0 2 2 19
B.MCCLEOD 4 2-8 0-2 1 1 19
T.CLARK 3 1-2 1-1 0 1 10
C.LEAVITT 2 1-5 0-2 7 1 19
Z.THUROW 2 1-2 0-0 4 0 8

[skarface2k1]

Thanks Coach Sanders. This team has the chance for a great run as long as they stay focused (which has been a problem at times).
I don't know with a monster like D.whithen on offense i don't see you guys not cutting the nets down at the end of the touney.Good luck with the rest of the season.Wisconsin is watching.

[Out of the Fire]

February 16, 2008

Mott Gymnasium - San Luis Obispo,CA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/LBST.gif Long Beach State (8-14,3-6 Big West) 54

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif #9 Cal Poly (18-3,8-1 Big West) 78

Coach's Thoughts - Another night, another blowout. Still, I can't get overly excited about these past few wins because the teams we're facing just aren't very good. There are some positives to take from the game, but mostly it's just business as usual.

I thought we defended the three-point line very well tonight. In the past we've been content at times to just cross our fingers and hope teams miss their long range shots. In the Riverside game and tonight's game however, we've been in the shooter's face ready to alter or block the shot.

What's a little disturbing is the continued "one man show" product we've been displaying recently. Dawin's been great and more efficient than ever, but no one has stepped up as the true No. 2 scorer. While we can skate past bad teams playing like this, against more quality opponents we're going to have to see other players emerge.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

D.WHITEN 23 10-20 3-6 4 1 22
C.LEAVITT 7 3-4 1-1 5 2 21
T.CLARK 6 3-5 0-1 0 3 22
T.SHELTON 6 3-7 0-0 7 2 20
M.HANSON 6 2-5 2-3 1 0 10
B.MCCLEOD 6 3-6 0-1 1 1 14
R.MACKELL 6 3-7 0-0 4 0 12
D.VANCE 5 2-5 0-0 8 1 22
C.THOMAS 5 2-3 0-0 1 1 22
K.ERWIN 4 2-5 0-0 1 1 17
C.ANDERSON 2 1-4 0-0 2 1 7
Z.THUROW 2 1-1 0-0 5 1 13

[Out of the Fire]

I don't know with a monster like D.whithen on offense i don't see you guys not cutting the nets down at the end of the touney.Good luck with the rest of the season.Wisconsin is watching.

Thanks, I appreciate it. I could see us winning it all if we got hot, but I could also see us losing prematurely just because at times our team's only offense seems to be Dawin Whiten. The rest of the team is extremely inconsistent and that may hurt us against some of the elite teams.

[skarface2k1]

Thanks, I appreciate it. I could see us winning it all if we got hot, but I could also see us losing prematurely just because at times our team's only offense seems to be Dawin Whiten. The rest of the team is extremely inconsistent and that may hurt us against some of the elite teams.
no i just think you need to make acouple of play adjustments when the rest of the team is playing bad.That is the time when D.whithen needs to take over.

[Out of the Fire]

February 25, 2008

Mott Gymnasium - San Luis Obispo,CA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/LONG.gif Longwood (7-16) 54

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif #8 Cal Poly (19-3) 77

Coach's Thoughts - For awhile I couldn't believe what I was seeing on the court. The team came out flatter than I've ever witnessed. When you don't respect opponents bad things can happen, and we were certainly on pace for disaster. Thankfully, we gained focus and finished strongly, but that was quite scary.

In the first half our shots weren't falling at all, the defensive intensity was weak, and the team had a disinterested attitude. These factors combined to give us a 38-30 deficit at the break. Fans were groaning, and things were looking surprisingly bleak.

Finally in the second half, we got back to Cal Poly basketball. Dawin put up 19 points after a mere 2 points in the first half, and the defense tightened the screws. We showed the dominance I had expected from the onset. Still, that poor start raises doubts that we must address.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

D.WHITEN 21 8-22 3-12 2 1 30
R.MACKELL 10 5-9 0-0 4 0 10
D.VANCE 9 4-7 0-0 8 0 28
M.HANSON 9 3-7 3-5 2 0 12
T.SHELTON 8 4-7 0-0 9 0 23
B.MCCLEOD 6 3-4 0-0 0 0 5
T.CLARK 4 2-8 0-2 1 6 26
K.ERWIN 2 1-6 0-1 4 4 27
C.THOMAS 2 1-1 0-0 0 4 14
C.LEAVITT 2 1-3 0-0 3 0 6
C.ANDERSON 2 1-2 0-0 1 0 12
Z.THUROW 2 1-1 0-0 2 0 6

[Out of the Fire]

March 1, 2008

The Matadome - Northridge,CA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif #8 Cal Poly (20-3,9-1 Big West) 86

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CSNTH.gif Cal State Northridge (11-13,5-6 Big West) 52

Coach's Thoughts - This was a much nicer trip to the Matadome than we had last season. Considering we lost here a year ago and Northridge has added stud freshman Kelvin Ibok to their team, I was apprehensive about this game. I could have never expected such a dominating performance by our guys.

The main thing we did was capitalize on turnovers. Northridge was very careless with the ball, and we made them pay for it virtually every time. Great teams have to punish opponents when they make a mistake, not let them off the hook. We made sure Northridge wouldn't get off easy and buried them when we had the chance.

It now looks as if we're on a collision course with Irvine next week - in what is probably the most important Big West game in a long time. Right now they're still undefeated in conference, and we only have one loss. It's important we don't overlook Santa Barbara though. The Gauchos stomped us one time last year and losing to them would probably seal the conference crown for Irvine before we ever step on the court with them.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

D.WHITEN 25 10-19 5-9 0 0 22
T.CLARK 20 8-12 1-3 0 3 25
M.HANSON 8 3-10 2-4 2 0 11
D.VANCE 7 3-4 0-0 5 3 23
C.LEAVITT 7 3-5 1-2 8 1 19
K.ERWIN 6 2-5 0-0 2 1 24
T.SHELTON 5 2-3 0-0 6 1 23
B.MCCLEOD 4 2-9 0-0 2 2 12
C.THOMAS 3 1-2 0-1 2 2 13
R.MACKELL 1 0-2 0-0 3 0 14
C.ANDERSON 0 0-0 0-0 2 2 6
Z.THUROW 0 0-1 0-0 3 1 10

[vols21]

I used to live in Irvine. I may have to fly back for that game!! Maybe the biggest game for UCI since they beat UCLA a few years back.

[Out of the Fire]

I used to live in Irvine. I may have to fly back for that game!! Maybe the biggest game for UCI since they beat UCLA a few years back.

It's weird because UCI was incredibly mediocre in the non-conference (just 6-6), but they're ripping up the Big West. Granted the Big West isn't very strong, but they pounded us and I figured they'd at least have some slip along the way.

[Out of the Fire]

March 3, 2008

Mott Gymnasium - San Luis Obispo,CA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/UCSB.gif UC Santa Barbara (10-13,5-6 Big West) 46

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif #6 Cal Poly (21-3,10-1 Big West) 62

Coach's Thoughts - Santa Barbara has given us fits in the past, but tonight we cruised to a fairly easy win in a critical game for us. The most encouraging thing is that we played very poorly and still won big. Although, that can't be expected to continue. Fate just happened to be on our side tonight.

The main woe our team suffered from in this game was rebounding. On the offensive and defensive glass we were dominated. UCSB held a collective 52-29 advantage on the boards, and a 17-8 lead offensively. Allowing multiple shots on a possession is an easy way to find defeat. UCSB just happened to be having a horrible offensive night or the score would have been very unkind to our team.

The showdown with Irvine is now upon us. I know both teams are looking forward to the matchup tremendously, and it should be a great game. We want a second straight regular season championship, but this time the road hasn't been quite as favorable. It's time to step up or move aside. Hopefully we respond well.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

D.WHITEN 22 9-21 4-14 0 1 27
K.ERWIN 6 3-8 0-2 2 0 24
D.VANCE 6 3-7 0-0 7 1 24
R.MACKELL 6 3-5 0-0 5 0 12
C.ANDERSON 5 2-3 0-0 1 0 12
T.CLARK 4 2-9 0-2 3 2 31
C.THOMAS 4 2-3 0-0 2 1 14
Z.THUROW 4 2-2 0-0 2 1 10
T.SHELTON 2 1-1 0-0 3 1 16
C.LEAVITT 2 1-4 0-0 4 1 8
B.MCCLEOD 1 0-4 0-0 0 1 11
M.HANSON 0 0-4 0-1 0 0 12

[Out of the Fire]

March 6, 2008

Bren Events Center - Irvine,CA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif #6 Cal Poly (22-3,11-1 Big West) 63

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/UCI.gif UC Irvine (18-6,12-0 Big West) 73

Coach's Thoughts - This is a devasting loss for our team. The guys desperately wanted to repeat as conference champs, but we came up just a little bit short. Irvine raised their game down the stretch, and they were able to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

Looking back we probably should have won, but we missed some crucial shots in the paint and rushed some threes once Irvine regained the lead they held most of the game. When we went up 59-54, I thought our guys would finish the job. Unfortunately, that's not what happened. I give a lot of credit to Coach Douglass' team. They could have wilted when we made our second half run and erased a double-digit deficit, but they're a great team and they responded by executing to perfection.

Now it's set in stone that we're going to finish in second place. However, this won't ruin our season. If we regain our composure, we can still finish the season nicely and put ourselves in position for a high seed in the NCAA tournament.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

D.WHITEN 19 7-24 5-17 2 1 30
T.SHELTON 11 5-8 0-0 4 0 26
K.ERWIN 10 5-7 0-1 4 0 18
C.LEAVITT 7 3-4 1-1 2 3 20
D.VANCE 5 2-5 0-0 4 0 29
C.THOMAS 4 2-2 0-0 3 1 11
M.HANSON 3 1-5 1-3 0 1 15
T.CLARK 2 1-10 0-6 0 5 31
B.MCCLEOD 2 1-5 0-1 0 1 5
R.MACKELL 0 0-2 0-0 3 0 5
C.ANDERSON 0 0-0 0-0 3 0 6
Z.THUROW 0 0-1 0-0 2 0 5

[Out of the Fire]

March 8, 2008

Titan Gym - Fullerton,CA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif #6 Cal Poly (22-4,11-2 Big West) 101

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/FULL.gif Cal State Fullerton (14-10,6-7 Big West) 86

Coach's Thoughts - After watching us struggle miserably to score points in a half-court setting for a majority of the first half, I decided that our best option was to revisit the run-and-gun strategy I implemented for a stretch during the middle of the season. The success we achieved after this choice has lead me to the conclusion that this is the style we will continue to play, and this time I won't back off of it even if we lose a game.

Something we've been missing as of late is consistent three-point shooting. Tonight not only did Dawin get back on track from behind the arc, but our other deep shooters did also. The result was a 12-24 effort from downtown that really got our offense flowing.

Now the regular season is over, and it's time to head back to Anaheim for another Big West tournament. Last season's event was very good to us as we left with the title and a trip to the dance. I don't think we'll need to win the tourney to assure ourselves a spot in the field of 65 this season, but we'll still be giving it everything we've got down there.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

D.WHITEN 22 8-19 6-13 2 2 25
M.HANSON 16 6-11 4-7 6 0 18
D.VANCE 13 6-8 0-0 10 1 24
C.LEAVITT 11 5-9 1-1 7 2 21
C.ANDERSON 11 5-10 0-0 2 1 16
K.ERWIN 7 3-8 0-1 3 0 19
T.CLARK 6 3-5 0-0 0 5 19
T.SHELTON 6 3-7 0-0 7 2 19
B.MCCLEOD 5 2-10 1-2 2 0 15
C.THOMAS 4 1-1 0-0 3 7 14
R.MACKELL 0 0-2 0-0 1 0 7
Z.THUROW 0 0-0 0-0 3 0 4

[Out of the Fire]

BIG WEST FINAL STANDINGS

CONF.W-L OVERALL W-L

UC IRVINE 14-0 20-6
CAL POLY 12-2 23-4
PACIFIC 7-7 18-11
CS FULLERTON 6-8 14-11
CS NORTHRIDGE 5-9 11-16
LONG BEACH STATE 5-9 11-17
UC SANTA BARBARA 5-9 10-16
UC RIVERSIDE 2-12 8-17

[vols21]

Tough loss to UCI. I flew out and enjoyed that game - and the beach. Your guys played well (Clark's shots hurt you - not sure what his FG % is for the year. Couple other guys had the hot hand that night). They bounced back in a huge way against CS Fullerton and seem ready for the tourney to kick off. It's hard to beat a good team 3 times in a year, and I think you'll be ready for Irvine if you run into them again.

[chestnutz6]

hey man where do you get all the pics from? is there a certain website? I just google the teams and look for pictures that are similar in size, but all of yours are exactly the same size. thanks

[Out of the Fire]

REGULAR SEASON PLAYER STATS

NAME PPG RPG APG SPG FG% 3P% FT% MPG
D.WHITEN 24.5 2.6 1.1 2.2 .440 .435 .636 26.1
T.CLARK 9.2 1.6 4.6 2.3 .385 .263 .809 25.9
K.ERWIN 8.8 3.9 1.9 2.5 .482 .117 .642 24.1
D.VANCE 6.9 6.8 0.9 1.9 .587 - .619 20.4
M.HANSON 6.5 1.8 0.8 1.1 .420 .419 .833 11.6
R.MACKELL 6.3 4.4 0.4 1.6 .457 - .611 14.4
B.MCCLEOD 5.9 1.1 1.0 1.3 .453 .360 .416 11.1
T.SHELTON 5.6 6.2 1.0 1.8 .434 .000 .714 22.7
C.LEAVITT 5.0 4.0 0.7 0.9 .450 .413 .625 13.0
C.ANDERSON 3.6 2.4 0.7 1.1 .571 - .727 11.0
C.THOMAS 2.6 1.6 2.2 1.1 .426 .111 .909 13.4
Z.THUROW 1.0 2.4 0.3 0.4 .444 - .250 7.2

[Out of the Fire]

Tough loss to UCI. I flew out and enjoyed that game - and the beach. Your guys played well (Clark's shots hurt you - not sure what his FG % is for the year. Couple other guys had the hot hand that night). They bounced back in a huge way against CS Fullerton and seem ready for the tourney to kick off. It's hard to beat a good team 3 times in a year, and I think you'll be ready for Irvine if you run into them again.

Yeah, Clark is the kind of player who can drop 20 one night and go scoreless the next. He's incredibly inconsistent and as you can see, his shooting percentages are pretty bad. Most of that is because he's only 5'11 and has to rely on outside shots for the most part. Also when he goes to the rim, he gets blocked pretty often. There's no reason his 3-point percentage should be that low though because he's a 76 overall from 3 (which is the second highest on the team).

I'm hoping someone knocks off Irvine, but if we do meet them it will be in the championship game and I'd love to get the best of them in for the title.

[Out of the Fire]

hey man where do you get all the pics from? is there a certain website? I just google the teams and look for pictures that are similar in size, but all of yours are exactly the same size. thanks

I use CBS Sportsline for my logos, but any of the sites like Yahoo Sports or ESPN have them all in the same size.

[Out of the Fire]

March 13, 2008

Big West Tournament Quarterfinal
Anaheim Convention Center - Anaheim,CA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/UCSB.gif 7.UC Santa Barbara (10-16) 94

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif 2.Cal Poly (23-4) 101

Coach's Thoughts - Tonight was a tough game, and we're fortunate to come out with the victory. Once you get to the postseason anything can happen. Teams who struggled during the year have a restored sense of hope with the automatic bid on the line, and that can lead to some interesting occurences.

Santa Barbara, as usual, played us very well. Their entire starting five played extremely solid, so it was hard to focus on just one player. At halftime they had a 60-51 lead, and I was worried about their growing confidence.

In the second half our guys were much more sound defensively, and we really stalled any momentum UCSB had built. Once we grabbed the lead the team calmed down and got back to Cal Poly basketball. It was a good challenge for us, and hopefully the team can respond this way for a full 40 minutes next game.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

D.WHITEN 28 11-23 6-14 2 0 24
C.LEAVITT 18 9-10 0-0 4 0 16
K.ERWIN 14 7-9 0-0 4 1 24
R.MACKELL 12 6-9 0-0 4 0 14
M.HANSON 8 3-10 2-8 1 1 16
D.VANCE 7 3-5 0-0 11 0 24
C.ANDERSON 6 3-7 0-0 2 0 9
T.CLARK 4 2-7 0-1 3 7 24
T.SHELTON 2 1-3 0-0 5 1 17
C.THOMAS 2 1-2 0-0 3 5 16
B.MCCLEOD 0 0-6 0-0 4 1 16
Z.THUROW 0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0


BIG WEST TOURNAMENT - QUARTERFINAL SCORES

1.UC IRVINE 78
8.UC RIVERSIDE 76

4.CS FULLERTON 73
5.CS NORTHRIDGE 67

2.CAL POLY 101
7.UC SANTA BARBARA 94

3.PACIFIC 66
6.LONG BEACH STATE 90

[chestnutz6]

thanks man my legacy is now looking a lot...cleaner?

[Out of the Fire]

March 14, 2008

Big West Tournament Semifinal
Anaheim Convention Center - Anaheim,CA

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/LBST.gif 6.Long Beach State (12-17) 107

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif 2.Cal Poly (24-4) 102

Coach's Thoughts - This was certainly a letdown for us. I don't think we took Long Beach seriously enough, and coupled with our poor execution, we ended up getting beat because of it.

The game was tight throughout for the most part, but a second half scoring drought and terrible defensive rebounding sealed our fate. For about a seven minute stretch in the second half, we missed practically every shot we took and let LBSU get multiple shots way too many times. I don't think we were looking ahead; we were just too cocky for our own good.

Now, we'll have to wait and see what kind of seed the selection comittee gives us. I figure it will be pretty high, but whatever the seed is, we're going to have to play much better than we have recently for it to mean anything.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

D.WHITEN 16 6-20 4-14 2 2 27
C.LEAVITT 16 8-10 0-0 1 0 19
D.VANCE 14 6-13 0-0 7 1 20
T.SHELTON 14 7-9 0-0 5 0 21
R.MACKELL 12 6-10 0-0 5 0 17
K.ERWIN 10 5-7 0-0 6 2 19
T.CLARK 5 2-7 1-2 3 11 22
C.THOMAS 4 2-5 0-1 1 5 18
B.MCCLEOD 4 2-5 0-1 1 0 13
C.ANDERSON 4 2-5 0-1 5 1 11
M.HANSON 3 1-8 1-6 3 1 13
Z.THUROW 0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0


BIG WEST TOURNAMENT - SEMIFINAL SCORES

1.UC IRVINE 40
4.CS FULLERTON 66

2.CAL POLY 102
6.LONG BEACH STATE 107


BIG WEST TOURNAMENT - FINAL

4.CS FULLERTON 68
6.LONG BEACH STATE 63

[Out of the Fire]

Cal Poly A Surprising No. 2 Seed

San Luis Obispo,CA - When Greg Gumbel announced that the Cal Poly Mustangs had recieved a #2 seed in the Houston Regional, head coach Todd Clark couldn't believe what he was hearing. Not that he didn't like the sound of it, but for a team from the Big West who didn't win the regular season or conference tournament title, it was an unexpected reward.

"I knew we'd get a good seed", said Clark "but this is beyond what even I had imagined. The selection comittee put alot of faith in us, and we want to show the country that we deserve the respect we were given."

Cal Poly ended the season 24-5 and sitting comfortably in the Media and Coaches' Polls, #8 and #13 respectively, but there's no doubt that their third ranked RPI is what put them over the top.

The Mustangs will face the 15th seeded, Atlantic Sun champion, Kennesaw State Owls in the first round. Like Cal Poly, this will be Kennesaw's second straight year dancing.

The game will be played on Friday, March 21st, at the Howard C. Gentry Complex in Nashville, Tennessee.

[Out of the Fire]

2008 NCAA TOURNAMENT

EAST REGIONAL MIDWEST REGIONAL
1.WASHINGTON 1.GEORGIA TECH
16.TOLEDO/EAST CAROLINA 16.NEW HAMPSHIRE

8.UC IRVINE 8.SYRACUSE
9.DEPAUL 9.OLE MISS

4.AUBURN 4.MISSISSIPPI STATE
13.KANSAS STATE 13.NEW MEXICO

5.CLEMSON 5.TEXAS A&M
12.SAINT MARY'S 12.SACRED HEART

2.OREGON 2.KENTUCKY
15.UNC-GREENSBORO 15.DREXEL

7.SAN DIEGO STATE 7.ARKANSAS
10.CREIGHTON 10.WISCONSIN

3.MEMPHIS 3.OHIO STATE
14.MORGAN STATE 14.COLGATE

6.UCLA 6.LOUISVILLE
11.NEVADA 11.PRINCETON



SOUTH REGIONAL WEST REGIONAL
1.PITTSBURGH 1.KANSAS
16.UMKC 16.TXAM-CORPUS CHRISTI

8.WAKE FOREST 8.PROVIDENCE
9.HOUSTON 9.XAVIER

4.ARIZONA 4.USC
13.PORTLAND STATE 13.BUTLER

5.TEXAS 5.ILLINOIS
12.TENNESSEE STATE 12.TROY

2.CAL POLY 2.NORTH CAROLINA
15.KENNESAW STATE 15.TEXAS SOUTHERN

7.GEORGIA 7.MISSOURI
10.NC STATE 10.NEW MEXICO STATE

3.ALABAMA 3.DUKE
14.MASSACHUSETTS 14.COASTAL CAROLINA

6.BOSTON COLLEGE 6.LSU
11.IONA 11.CAL STATE FULLERTON

[Out of the Fire]

March 21, 2008

NCAA Tournament 1st Round
Howard C. Gentry Complex - Nashville,TN

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/KENSAW.gif 15.Kennesaw State (19-11) 93

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif 2.Cal Poly (24-5) 118

Coach's Thoughts - It's always good to get that first win under your belt in the NCAA Tournament. We didn't want to be the high seed that gets upset in the first round, and we weren't because of a very solid effort from our guys.

The shooting tonight was excellent. We shot 58% from the field and 40% from three. When our offense clicks like that, I don't think anyone can beat us. Of course this isn't a usual occurence, so we can't expect to continually shoot like this. However, anything close and we'll be in good shape.

Up next for us is the Georgia Bulldogs who just had a thrilling 61-60 win over NC State. On paper they may have superior talent, but our guys are determined to make another magical run and aren't willing to step aside for anyone.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

D.WHITEN 20 8-16 4-10 3 0 22
C.LEAVITT 15 7-11 0-2 8 1 16
D.VANCE 14 7-8 0-0 5 0 21
T.CLARK 12 4-5 2-2 0 8 22
K.ERWIN 12 6-9 0-0 4 2 22
M.HANSON 11 4-9 1-4 5 1 18
B.MCCLEOD 11 5-10 1-2 3 1 18
T.SHELTON 7 3-7 0-0 11 0 21
R.MACKELL 6 3-5 0-0 5 2 15
C.ANDERSON 6 2-3 0-0 3 0 7
C.THOMAS 4 2-5 0-0 4 4 18
Z.THUROW 0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

[Out of the Fire]

2008 NCAA TOURNAMENT 1ST ROUND SCORES

EAST REGIONAL MIDWEST REGIONAL
1.WASHINGTON 91 1.GEORGIA TECH 85
16.EAST CAROLINA 62 16.NEW HAMPSHIRE 64

8.UC IRVINE 59 8.SYRACUSE 80
9.DEPAUL 80 9.OLE MISS 63

4.AUBURN 63 4.MISSISSIPPI STATE 71
13.KANSAS STATE 70 13.NEW MEXICO 72

5.CLEMSON 99 5.TEXAS A&M 71
12.SAINT MARY'S 70 12.SACRED HEART 48

2.OREGON 65 2.KENTUCKY 73
15.UNC GREENSBORO 75 15.DREXEL 48

7.SAN DIEGO STATE 56 7.ARKANSAS 65
10.CREIGHTON 50 10.WISCONSIN 56

3.MEMPHIS 68 3.OHIO STATE 61
14.MORGAN STATE 59 14.COLGATE 54

6.UCLA 78 6.LOUISVILLE 64
11.NEVADA 49 11.PRINCETON 52



SOUTH REGIONAL WEST REGIONAL
1.PITTSBURGH 59 1.KANSAS 66
16.UMKC 56 16.TXAM-CORPUS CHRISTI 59

8.WAKE FOREST 64 8.PROVIDENCE 74
9.HOUSTON 69 9.XAVIER 77

4.ARIZONA 73 4.USC 81
13.PORTLAND STATE 69 13.BUTLER 68

5.TEXAS 61 5.ILLINOIS 74
12.TENNESSEE STATE 62 12.TROY 60

2.CAL POLY 118 2.NORTH CAROLINA 92
15.KENNESAW STATE 93 15.TEXAS SOUTHERN 62

7.GEORGIA 61 7.MISSOURI 76
10.NC STATE 60 10.NEW MEXICO STATE 74

3.ALABAMA 64 3.DUKE 95
14.MASSACHUSETTS 67 14.COASTAL CAROLINA 52

6.BOSTON COLLEGE 88 6.LSU 64
11.IONA 83 11.CAL STATE FULLERTON 59

[Out of the Fire]

March 23, 2008

NCAA Tournament 2nd Round
Howard C. Gentry Complex - Nashville,TN

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/GA.gif 7.Georgia (20-11) 87

http://images.sportsline.com/images/collegebasketball/logos/CPOLY.gif 2.Cal Poly (25-5) 98

Coach's Thoughts - If it weren't for such a great start, I don't know if we would have won this game. Down the stretch Georgia's size and talent were beginning to wear us down. All we could do was hold onto our lead for dear life, and that's exactly what we did.

I think everyone in the building was stunned when we jumped out to a 16-0 lead in this game. We took advantage of Georgia's inability to take care of the ball, and that was the key to this win. To the Bulldogs' credit, they didn't fold. However, it takes so much energy to get back into a game when you fall down by so much, and Georgia just didn't have enough time to recover.

Reliant Stadium in Houston,Texas is our next destination. We'll be facing the Boston College Eagles, who just knocked off their in-state rival UMass. The ACC fields some of the best teams in the nation each season, and we know this game will be a true test for us.

CAL POLY STATS
PTS FGM-A 3PM-A REB AST MIN

M.HANSON 22 8-16 6-12 6 2 20
D.WHITEN 16 6-20 4-14 1 0 20
D.VANCE 10 5-8 0-0 4 1 20
C.LEAVITT 9 4-5 1-2 7 0 20
T.CLARK 8 3-9 0-3 2 4 20
B.MCCLEOD 8 4-9 0-0 6 2 20
T.SHELTON 7 3-4 0-0 10 2 20
K.ERWIN 6 3-12 0-0 4 2 20
C.THOMAS 6 3-7 0-0 1 6 20
R.MACKELL 6 3-5 0-0 4 0 16
C.ANDERSON 0 0-0 0-0 0 0 4
Z.THUROW 0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

[Out of the Fire]

2008 NCAA TOURNAMENT 2ND ROUND SCORES

EAST REGIONAL MIDWEST REGIONAL
1.WASHINGTON 50 1.GEORGIA TECH 79
9.DEPAUL 70 8.SYRACUSE 70

13.KANSAS STATE 84 13.NEW MEXICO 66
5.CLEMSON 70 5.TEXAS A&M 77

15.UNC GREENSBORO 49 2.KENTUCKY 63
7.SAN DIEGO STATE 73 7.ARKANSAS 69

3.MEMPHIS 70 3.OHIO STATE 45
6.UCLA 64 6.LOUISVILLE 79



SOUTH REGIONAL WEST REGIONAL
1.PITTSBURGH 87 1.KANSAS 75
9.HOUSTON 79 9.XAVIER 58

4.ARIZONA 52 4.USC 57
12.TENNESSEE STATE 48 5.ILLINOIS 64

2.CAL POLY 98 2.NORTH CAROLINA 87
7.GEORGIA 87 7.MISSOURI 88

14.MASSACHUSETTS 53 3.DUKE 69
6.BOSTON COLLEGE 65 6.LSU 65

[skarface2k1]

2008 NCAA TOURNAMENT 2ND ROUND SCORES

EAST REGIONAL MIDWEST REGIONAL
1.WASHINGTON 50 1.GEORGIA TECH 79
9.DEPAUL 70 8.SYRACUSE 70

13.KANSAS STATE 84 13.NEW MEXICO 66
5.CLEMSON 70 5.TEXAS A&M 77

15.UNC GREENSBORO 49 2.KENTUCKY 63
7.SAN DIEGO STATE 73 7.ARKANSAS 69

3.MEMPHIS 70 3.OHIO STATE 45
6.UCLA 64 6.LOUISVILLE 79



SOUTH REGIONAL WEST REGIONAL
1.PITTSBURGH 87 1.KANSAS 75
9.HOUSTON 79 9.XAVIER 58

4.ARIZONA 52 4.USC 57
12.TENNESSEE STATE 48 5.ILLINOIS 64

2.CAL POLY 98 2.NORTH CAROLINA 87
7.GEORGIA 87 7.MISSOURI 88

14.MASSACHUSETTS 53 3.DUKE 69
6.BOSTON COLLEGE 65 6.LSU 65


good couple of wins in the early rounds of the touney.keep up the good work and focus.The one thing that changes in the touney is that from game to game you have to change your fomula.so,coach keep up the good job you are doing.