Fresno State Athletics
Men's Basketball Opens Exhibition Schedule
11/4/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 4, 2007
Complete Men's Basketball Release in PDF Format
This Week in Fresno State Basketball: The Bulldogs host two exhibition games at the Save Mart Center, before hosting the World Vision Classic presented by Papé starting Nov. 9. Fresno State faces Western Washington on Sunday, November 4 at 4 p.m. On Tuesday, November 6, Fresno State will face Fresno Pacific at 8:30 p.m. Both Sunday's and Tuesday's games are the second game of a doubleheader, with the Fresno State women's basketball team playing the first game.
Year Three for Cleveland: Fresno State Head Coach Steve Cleveland enters his third season with the Bulldogs. Cleveland and the Bulldogs are coming off a 22-win season, which is the most wins at Fresno State since the 1995-96 season. Cleveland led Fresno State to a third place finish in the WAC and returned to the postseason for the first time in five years. Cleveland has quickly climbed the wins chart with a 37-23 record with the Bulldogs and a remarkable 27-5 home record at the Save Mart Center. Year three should be another exciting year under Cleveland as three starters return from last season, plus a bulk of talent join this year's team.
Three Players Eligible For 2007-08: Fresno State welcomes three players that sat out last season to this year's squad. Senior Rekalin Sims, a transfer from Kentucky, sophomore Bryan Harvey, a transfer from Louisville and junior Dwight O'Neil, who redshirted last year, are all eligible and excited to join the Bulldogs on the court this season.
Freshmen Join the Team: The Bulldogs have three freshmen joining the team in 2007-08. Brandon Webster, from Bryan, Texas, joins the Bulldogs as a 6-10, 250-pound center to go along with power forward Nedeljko Golubovic, from Serbia, who stands 6-8, 230. Freshman point guard Myles Green, from Los Angeles, brings speed and quickness to the team.
Seay Joins Team in 2008-09: Fresno State forward Sylvester Seay will sit out the 2007-08 season due to NCAA Division I transfer rules. Seay, who will be a junior when he is eligible in 2008-09 transferred from Arizona State, where he spent two seasons.
World Vision Classic presented by Papé Basketball Donations: The Fresno State men's basketball team, joined together with World Vision and Papé, are asking fans to bring new and gently used basketball to the tournament for underprivileged children in third world countries. With the World Vision Classic presented by Papé beginning Friday, November 9 at the Save Mart Center, all sponsors involved, along the men's basketball team, will help spread the word about this college basketball event.
Teams from around the nation will participate to raise awareness and donations for Get Kids in the Game, a program run by the charity World Vision, to support youth outreach programs and provide much-needed sports equipment. Fans attending the tournament games are asked to bring new and gently used basketball. There will be storage bins provided by Papé and World Vision at each of the entrance and there will be one big storage bin collecting all the basketballs at the end of the day.
Dis-and-Data:
• Fresno State made its first trip to the postseason, competing in the 2007 NIT, since the 2001-02 season. Fresno State returns three starters from that team in 2007-08 and eight letterwinners.
• The Bulldogs return one of the top pure point guards in the WAC in senior Kevin Bell. Bell led the WAC in assists for a second straight year last season and ranked 27th in the nation with 5.5 per game.
• Fresno State led the WAC in 3-point shooting last season and ranked ninth in the nation, averaging 9.2 made 3s per game.
• The Bulldogs recorded 22 wins last season, marking the first time since the 1995-96 season a team has won that many games.
• Senior Forward Hector Hernandez returns as one of the top international players in the WAC. Hernandez spent the summer competing in the FIBA World Championships with the Mexican National Team.
• Fresno State's three returning players, Kevin Bell, Eddie Miller and Hector Hernandez, each averaged over 28.5 minutes per game. Bell led the team averaging 33.9 minutes per game.
• It took head coach Steve Cleveland just one season to take Fresno State back to the postseason. In his second year Cleveland went 22-10 and led the Bulldogs to the NIT.
• Steve Cleveland returned to the postseason as a head coach for the first time since the 2003-04 season when he went to the NCAA Tournament with BYU.
• In two years at Fresno State, Cleveland has a 37-23 overall record. He is 175-131 in 10 years as a Division I head coach.
Winning at SMC: Fresno State recorded 15 home wins in 2006-07, including a 78-77 victory over Boise State to close out its home schedule at the Save Mart Center. The Bulldogs went 15-3 last season at home, which marks the highest win total in the four-year history of the Save Mart Center. Fresno State went 12-2 in Cleveland's first season.
What's Next: Fresno State hosts the World Vision Classic presented by Papé on November 9 through Nov. 11 at the Save Mart Center. The four-team tournament includes San Diego State, Portland and Liberty. Fresno State will face Portland on Friday, Liberty on Saturday and wrap up the tournament with old WAC rival San Diego State on Sunday.
