Fresno State Athletics
Bulldogs Hit the Hardwood
10/30/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Oct. 30, 2006
Fresno, Calif. -
Complete Men's Basketball Release in PDF Format
Bulldogs Hit the Hardwood
Fresno States prepares for the 2006-07 season with a pair of exhibition games this week, beginning Tuesday night against Cal State Los Angeles and Saturday against Fresno Pacific. Both games will be played at the Save Mart Center. Neither games will count in the Bulldog season record. Statistics, while kept for the game, will not count toward team or individual stats for the 2006-07 season. This is the first meeting against CSULA since the 1981 season and the second straight year the Dogs have played Fresno Pacific in an exhibition game.
Ticket Mini-Plans Available for 2006-07 Season
With high expectations for the 2006-07 Bulldog basketball seasons, fans will be able to take advantage of unprecedented ticket options for the Fresno State men's and women's basketball seasons. The Fresno State athletics department introduced four different mini-plans for the upcoming season. Three, five, seven and 10-game packages will be offered. Visit gobulldogs.com for details on the various ticket plans and specials.
Dogs Picked Third in WAC Preseason Poll
Nevada was picked to repeat as the WAC champion, but coaches from the league believe Fresno State and New Mexico State will be on their heels in 2006-07. Nevada received seven first-place votes and 63 points to be picked first. Nevada senior forward Nick Fazekas was voted the preseason Player of the Year after earning the WAC Player of the Year award the past two seasons. He is joined on the first team by Bulldog senior guard/forward Quinton Hosley, New Mexico State junior forward Tyrone Nelson, Boise State senior guard Coby Karl and Utah State junior guard Jaycee Carroll.
2006-07 Preseason Men's Basketball Coaches Poll
Rank; Team (1st place votes) Points
1. Nevada (7) 63
2. New Mexico State (2) 57
3. Fresno State 49
4. Utah State 41
5. Hawai`i 40
6. Boise State 29
7. Louisiana Tech 19
8. San Jose State 16
9. Idaho 10
Preseason All-WAC Teams
First-Team
*Nick Fazekas, Sr., F, Nevada
Quinton Hosley, Sr., G/F, Fresno State
Tyrone Nelson, Jr., F, New Mexico State
Coby Karl, Sr., G, Boise State
Jaycee Carroll, Jr., G, Utah State
* - Preseason Player of the Year
Second-Team
Ja'Vance Coleman, Sr., G, Fresno State
Elijah Ingram, Sr., G, New Mexico State
Marcelus Kemp, Jr., G, Nevada
Ahmet Gueye, Sr., F, Hawai`i
Matt Lojeski, Sr., G, Hawai`i
About the Golden Eagles
Cal State L.A. competes in the California Collegiate Athletics Association as a member of NCAA Division II. Last season, CSLA finished with a 10-17 overall record and a 7-13 mark in conference games. Coached by former Syracuse player Stephen Thompson, a member of the 1987 NCAA runner-up squad, the Golden Eagles have gone to the NCAA tournament six times in its history. In fact, the Golden Eagles competed in the very first NCAA Division II tournament, finishing in fourth place. Cal State L.A. repeated that performance two seasons later. Since 1995, CSULA has advanced to the NCAA Regional championships three times: 1995, 1998, 2000. The Golden Eagles are 9-8 all-time in NCAA Tournament play.
Against the Golden Eagles
This is the 53rd meeting between these California State University sister institutions, but the first since 1981. The Bulldogs and Golden Eagles were in the same conference (CCAA) and played nearly twice a year from 1951-75. The Bulldogs lead the series 34- 18 and have won four consecutive games and seven of the last eight dating back to 1973.
About the Sunbirds
Fresno Pacific, members of NAIA, comes to the Save Mart Center for the second straight season to face the crosstown Bulldogs. The Sunbirds are coming off a 15-13 season in which they finished 8-12 in the Golden State Athletic Conference. Coached by Clark Sheehy, Fresno Pacific must replace four players who averaged more than 10 points per game. Leading the way will be junior guard Jordan Beshore, who averaged 7.6 points and 1.5 assists per game last season.
Against the Sunbirds
Last season the Dogs beat the Sunbirds 101-66 at the Save Mart Center in an exhibition game, the only played between the two schools.
rAcademic Progress In Steve Cleveland's first season as head coach, Fresno State produced a WAC-best four Academic All-WAC selections. What makes that even more impressive is that Fresno State had not produced a single Academic All-WAC men's basketball player in the last 10 years and that no other WAC school has had more academic All-WAC selections since BYU had five in 1995. The four Bulldogs who made the Academic All-WAC team in 2005-06 were James Tchana, Hector Hernandez, Jeff Jackson and Renato Cesar. Three of those players are back this season.
Points-A-Plenty
Fresno State was the WAC's top scoring team in 2005-06 at 73.8 points per game and that is not expected to change this season, as the Dogs return their top two scorers in Quinton Hosley and Ja'Vance Coleman. That dynamic duo combined to average 36.1 points per game and comprises two of the top four returning scorers in the Western Athletic Conference. Also returning for Fresno State are three players (Dwight O'Neil, Hector Hernandez and Kevin Bell) who combined for more than 27 points per game in 2005-06. Add to that mix guard Eddie Miller, who averaged more than 23 points per game last in junior college last season, and senior transfer Dominic McGuire, who scored eight per game at Cal, the Bulldogs should be even more explosive than a year ago.
Bell Giveth and Taketh Away
Guard Kevin Bell was the WAC's best at distributing the basketball last season with a league-high 165 assists (5.9 per game). Not only did he give the ball, he took his share with 46 steals (1.6 per game), which was the fifth-best total in the WAC. Bell's teammate Quinton Hosley led the WAC in steals last season, averaging more than two per game.
Stanford Comes to Town
Fresno State will host Pac-10 power Stanford on Dec. 19. It will be the first appearance by the Cardinal in Fresno since 1927, just the second appearance in history. The Dogs have not played Stanford since 1951 and are 1-6 vs. the Cardinal all-time.
