Mike Howells/ The Collegian
Despite losing three of the top four scorers from last year’s 15-18 squad, Fresno State men’s basketball coach Steve Cleveland believes that this upcoming season will not be a rebuilding year.
“No, no, absolutely not,” Cleveland said. “It’s going to take time for this team to come together and learn how to play at this level.”
Cleveland’s positive outlook on the season is due to reclaiming the maximum number of scholarships (12) that is finally being made available to the men’s basketball program after spending the past four seasons with a limited number of scholarships.
“For the first time since I’ve been here, we actually have a full complement of scholarships,” he said. “We’ve never had that.”
Because of the full 12 scholarships, the depth behind the starters this season has improved from season’s past.
“The nice thing is we have some depth,” Cleveland said. “All of a sudden now when I look down the bench, there’s going to be people to sub in and we’re going to be better as a result of the depth. The depth is a key thing.”
The key returner from last year’s team is center Greg Smith. Smith finished third on the team in scoring last season, averaging 11.5 points per game while leading the team in blocks with 40. Smith was named the Western Athletic Conference’s Freshman of the Year after a solid campaign.
But after Smith there’s not much game-starting experience on the roster. Outside of guard Steven Schepp, forward Ned Golubovic and New Mexico transfer Jonathan Wills, the team has zero combined starts at the college level.
“We have a lot of new faces, a lot of new players,” Cleveland said. “The important thing is [we need] to bring this group together. Bring them together [and] put them in a situation where they learn how to play together and learn to play at this level.”
“It’s pretty inexperienced,” he added. “We’ve got so many new faces. Other than maybe Ned and Greg, it’s a very inexperienced group. But it doesn’t mean that they can’t compete [and it] doesn’t mean that they are not capable of winning games.”
Last year’s top scorer Paul George left school early after his sophomore year to enter the NBA Draft. George was selected 10th overall by the Indiana Pacers. Cleveland’s team also lost two key players to transfer after Mike Ladd and Brandon Sperling chose not to return to Fresno State following last season.
Schepp also returns after making 27 starts as a sophomore, but he will miss the start of the season because of academic issues. Without Schepp in the lineup, Cleveland expects true freshman Tyler Johnson and Keven Olekaibe to fill in at the point guard position.
Mike Howells/ The Collegian
Olekaibe led the state of Nevada in scoring after averaging over 35 points per game at Cimarron-Memorial High School in Las Vegas. While Johnson averaged 13.5 points, 5.3 rebounds, two assist and two steals per contest as a senior at St. Francis High School in Mountain View, Calif. Johnson was honored by the San Francisco Chronicle Peninsula as the 2010 Player of the Year.
“[Fans] can expect young men that will play with great energy and play with great heart,” Cleveland said of his newcomers.
Although Cleveland’s squad is fairly inexperienced, he has high expectations.
“My expectation is to compete for a WAC Championship,” Cleveland said.