On the eve of Senior Night, looking back on this year’s senior class

Saturday night is Senior Night at Mott Athletics Center, so I thought it was probably a good time to take a look back at the past five seasons and the contribution the three Cal Poly seniors have made to the program.

This season has been disappointing so far, but over the past five seasons, the Mustang men’s basketball program has clearly made strides under head coach Joe Callero. Kyle Odister is the only player on this year’s roster who was on the team during Callero’s first season, when the Mustangs improved from seven wins the previous year to 12 during Callero’s inaugural campaign.

This year’s senior class is really a study in changing expectations for the program at-large. Looking at just this year might be disappointing for fans who had big expectations, but a look back at the Cal Poly careers of Jamal Johnson, Chris Eversley, and Kyle Odister reveal a program that went from also-ran to contender.

Here’s a quick break-down of this year’s seniors and their careers.

CE usually prefers to throw down with his left hand. By Owen Main

Chris Eversley

After a season at Rice University, Eversley transferred to Cal Poly. The 6’7″ transfer had to sit-out a season before seeing time off the bench backing up David Hanson and Will Taylor. At the end of his sophomore campaign, Eversley saw some bigger minutes and was one of the team’s top scorers late in the season — sparking the team off the bench.

In his junior season, Eversley had what was possibly his finest year, averaging 15.4 points and 7 rebounds per game en route to first-team All-Big West Conference honors. With a sick Eversley, the team was thwarted in the conference semi-finals by a last second tip-in by eventual conference champion, Pacific.

At the beginning of this year, Eversley showed he could score from the outside as well. Against teams from the nation’s top conferences, CE poured in long-range jumper after long-range jumper. Open shots have been more difficult to come by in conference play, but the senior still leads the team in scoring and rebounding.

For me, the lasting image of Eversley will be his smile, exuberance and positivity both on and off the floor. His love of everything Cal Poly including Mott Athletics Center, the band, and his fellow students has ingratiated him to anyone watching throughout his career. He is a guy who is really easy to root for.

Recently, despite Cal Poly’s rough stretch in conference, Eversley has kept his bright-side attitude. His mantra of believing in his teammates until he’s played his last game in the green and gold is a testament to the kind of leader he seems to be. He is also one of the most eloquent college athletes I’ve ever heard with the media, coming off as more mature than players ten years his senior. His shoes will be hard to fill.

I told you you cannot leave him open. By Owen Main

Kyle Odister

When Kyle Odister entered the Cal Poly lineup in 2009-10, the freshman dazzled, playing point guard and making what seemed like clutch shot after clutch shot. It was Joe Callero’s first year as head coach, the Odister was named to the Big West All-Freshman team, averaging almost eight points per game.

Things looked promising for Odister until he suffered an injury that put him out of basketball for almost a year and a half. Once he returned, injuries seemed to always follow. For a player who always seemed to be playing hurt, Odister’s best game so far has probably been this season’s opener at Arizona. In his first game as a senior, Odister knocked down seven three-pointers en route to 21 points against a team that has been ranked first in the country for most of this season. At his best, Kyle Odister could shoot the ball with anyone.

Cal Poly was off to a great conference start this season until Odister went down with a foot injury in the fourth game of the conference season. While he’s dealt with his stress fracture, the team has gone 3-8 with one conference game left this season.

KO Buckets, as he is affectionately known, has never been afraid to shoot the ball and seems like he’s always most-clutch with the game on the line. Like a few others on this Cal Poly roster, Odister fans examining his career in San Luis Obispo will probably have some “what could have been” sentiment. I have it, too. Rarely does one see such a fearless, deadly shooter who also has enough athleticism and strength to play point guard effectively as a freshman.

Odister had all that and more. Unfortunately, he never really seemed to have a fully healthy season after his freshman year. On one foot or two, teams better know not to leave him open in the conference tournament next week.

In fact, in 35 years, when Odister is in his late 50’s, I’ll still advise that opponents don’t leave him open. He has a shooting stroke that is that smooth and a shooting mentality that is that vicious.

Jamal Johnson has run Cal Poly’s offense as the starting point guard the past two seasons. By Owen Main

Jamal Johnson

Jamal Johnson was thrown into the fire as one of two freshman point guards in 2010-11 when Amaurys Fermin went down with an injury. Over the past two seasons, Johnson has grown more solidly into his role as one of Cal Poly’s more vocal floor leaders.

Callero, a former point guard himself, is notoriously tough on point guards. He is also trusting of point guards he starts, and Johnson has been that since his junior year. Point guards in Callero’s offense aren’t usually big scorers, but Cal Poly has been at its best this year when Johnson has scored more. In fact, if I were going to predict how Cal Poly would do in the upcoming Big West Tournament, I might say that Johnson must have one or two double-digit scoring outbursts, which would be unusual for the lefty from San Antonio.

Johnson’s legacy at Cal Poly will be efficiently running the offense during his junior and senior seasons. Last year, his assist/turnover ratio was almost 3/1, something Callero usually points to as an indicator of success. Johnson’s passage to Cal Poly also perhaps helped pave the way for fellow Texans Ridge Shipley and Taylor Sutlive to come play in SLO.

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Tomorrow night’s game against Santa Barbara has already sold-out the general admission seating, a somewhat surprising fact considering the team has lost 8 of its past 11 games and is battling for a seed somewhere between 5 and 7 in the conference tournament. Perhaps that’s the real legacy of these players, along with Callero, over the past five seasons. When the program won seven games in 2008-09, Division I attendance hit rock bottom. This group’s ability to slowly and methodically bring fans back to Mott Athletics Center and re-establish a loyal fan-base for the program over the course of five seasons is notable.

At the end of the game Saturday night, the seniors will lead a team around the gym to high-five and shake hands with a group of adoring San Luis Obispo fans. Then they’ll salute the band. Just don’t expect it to be quick nor, for either side, easy.