With the opening tipoff to professional basketball going up last night, a thought came to me: What are we to make of Fresno State basketball as opening night inches closer?
Not a lot of this thought was weighted towards the women’s team. We know what to expect from head coach Adrian Wiggins’ squad. The women return three of their top four scorers from last season’s Western Athletic Conference regular season champion team, including WAC Defensive Player of the Year Jaleesa Ross. The core of the ‘Dogs are back after a 27-win season a year ago. Life is OK in Wiggins’ locker room.
The same can’t be said for head coach Steve Cleveland’s men’s locker room. The ‘Dogs have drastically underachieved in recent years, despite suiting up the NBA’s twelth overall draft pick in Paul George, and a potential future lottery pick in Greg Smith. Since taking over the program five years ago, Cleveland has just a .500 record despite fielding a roster with arguably the best combined talent in the WAC for a couple straight years.
It gets worse, believe it or not. It gets way worse.
Paul George, Fresno State’s leading highlight reel since he arrived on campus in 2008, opted to wave goodbye and head for the NBA two years early. He’s now making a little more than $2 million a year. It was a wise move, and one most of us expected.
But in the spring of this year, not long after George’s announcement, both guards Michael Ladd and Brandon Sperling made separate, unexpected announcements that they would transfer before the beginning of this fall. Cleveland’s backcourt was officially gutted. The only remaining ball handler with any valuable experience was Steven Shepp.
Well, that was until Shepp’s recent academic struggles sidelined him for at least the remainder of the fall semester. Shepp will miss the first eight games of the season and will not be eligible until Dec. 18’s game against North Dakota State, that is, if he gets his academics in order.
All this jumbling around with the roster, and numerous questions surrounding the program as a whole begs one more inevitable question: When will fans and alumni alike start calling for a change, maybe even a drastic change.
Cleveland does have a resume that includes a 201-171 collegiate coaching record, and has inked recruits like George and Smith who were looked at by top national programs such as Florida, UCLA, Kansas and Georgetown. But the level of underachievement and number of questions marks for a once-proud program such as Fresno State is borderline unacceptable.
Hypothetically speaking, what if Fresno State football coach Pat Hill had his quarterback Ryan Colburn ruled academically ineligible and Robbie Rouse and Ben Jacobs transfer before the season even began? On top of that, what if Hill also missed a bowl game for three straight years?
Fans and alumni would be outraged with Hill, even more so than we thought they would be when Hill interviewed for the vacant Washington job before last season. But since basketball doesn’t reel in the money that football does, outsiders have become a lot less critical of the men’s basketball debacle on campus.
Men’s basketball has not had a winning season since 2006-07. So when will things turn around? Cleveland once again recruited a promising freshman class for this upcoming season, but promising is a word that has been tossed around far too much in the program.
None • Oct 27, 2010 at 10:44 pm
This thing reeks of ignorance. Anyone who expected Cleve to field outstanding basketball teams in any of the restricted years is beyond foolish. Do you know how much practice time was lost over the course of a season? And recruiting time? The answer is obviously no, from reading that up above.
Boeh knew struggles were coming, which is why his contract clock was written to start when the team got off probation and had all of its scholarships.
Sperling and Ladd leaving is not news that “gets way worse.” Far from it. Sperling wasn’t a good player and was forced into action. Ladd could light up from 3, but could light up from weed way more often. Comparing them to Rouse and Jacobs is soooo bad, not to mention it’s very arguable that neither of those two are the best at their position on the team either.
If you’ve seen the team practice, seen the recent scrimmage or looked at the accolades for the new guys, you’d know this team is far and away the most talented as a group under Cleve. That said, this is their first year all together, and you’d have to give them a chance to develop now, with just one senior on the team.
If the men’s basketball team is stuck in a rut 3 years from now, this column will be warranted. But any close follower of the program and person possessing accurate inside knowledge will now have an unfavorable view on the quality of your Fresno State sports opinions.
none-2 • Oct 31, 2010 at 1:39 am
this team will be 1-8 in its first games … for 1) mike ladd was an important piece of this team. Mike made big shoot for this squad and 2) Sperling was the best defender this team had. He had the toughest assignment evey night and he play ALL three guard positions. No one on this team has any experience at all other than Ned. By the way mark my words g. smith will continue to have the same horrible attitude he had last year agruing with the coaches, cussing them out, ect.
Angel • Oct 27, 2010 at 4:12 pm
Cleveland’s job was to clean up the mess created by Lopes and Tarkanian. He’s done that, all while making the Men’s basketball program struggle academically, and perform less than mediocre. Thomas Boeh needs to bring in a new coach who actually wants to win, and ultimately connect with his players both on and off the court.
And people wonder why no one ever goes to their basketball games?