At 5-5, what can we make of this Cal Poly team?

For a team picked to finish last in the Big West, Cal Poly’s men’s basketball team has fared all right through their first ten games. At 5-5, Joe Callero’s Mustangs are poised to have a very similar preseason to last year.

Top of the Conference, for now

Everything is relative early in the season, but no other Big West school has a record above .500 at this point. None. Only UC Davis has a matching 5-5 record. My conference favorite — UC Irvine — is 5-6. Perennial conference powers Long Beach State and UCSB are 2-10 and 1-6, respectively.

Again, these preseason records as Big West schools play teams from power conferences, are unlikely to matter. Long Beach State always plays the toughest non-conference schedule in the nation. BUT, wins are wins.

A better reference at this point may be KenPom.com. According to that site, Cal Poly ranks fifth out of nine conference teams (and 233rd out of 351 Division I schools) so far this season. That’s right in the middle of the conference. Again, if that’s where this team stands without their most explosive player (Josh Martin) and when one of their better shooters (Taylor Sutlive) has missed most of the season, then I think Cal Poly could be a lot worse-off.

No love in Fresno

After keeping the game close for about 25 minutes, Cal Poly let Fresno slip away at the SaveMart Center on Saturday night. The Bulldogs went on a 35-19 run in the second half to pull away.

After beating the Bulldogs in San Luis Obispo last season, Cal Poly’s 2-3 zone looked more permeable than it has so far this season. While each team pulled-down just six offensive rebounds, Fresno State out-rebounded Cal Poly 36-23. That discrepancy probably had a lot to do with Fresno State shooting over 58 percent from the field and 52 percent from downtown.

Sutlive back

Speaking of Mr. Sutlive, he warmed up without a cast on in Cal Poly’s last home game against Texas A&M, Corpus Christi, and got into the game late against Fresno State. Sutlive shot 1-2 in his two minutes.

Cal Poly has been playing a lot of four-guard lineups with just one player over 6’2″. Sutlive isn’t huge, but he is a legit 6’3″ and is a senior who should be able to plug right into what Cal Poly is doing on both ends of the court. Sutlive is traditionally a great outside shooter, but it might take a while for him to get back into a rhythm — his injury was to his right forearm.

Can the front line hold-up?

The million dollar question for this year’s team moving forward will likely be how much the front line can give them. Zach Gordon has been fairly productive, but he’s got some mileage on his knees and he takes a beating when he’s out there.

Hank Hollingsworth is a redshirt freshman who has shows some signs of stepping into a larger role, but the jury is still out. Against a long and athletic Fresno State team, Hollingsworth played just 9 minutes.

A real X factor could be Luke Meikle. If he is healthy as conference season approaches, Meikle could play the 5 for stretches of Big West games. Coming into the season, I had Meikle being a key to positional versatility — maybe even playing the 3 if Cal Poly wanted to go big, but Josh Martin’s injury nixed that idea. Instead, Cal Poly is playing small and Meikle’s ability to play like a big man on defense and be a solid scorer offensive player could be the difference between a successful conference season or not.

Junior Victor Joseph has been a big part of Cal Poly winning some early games this season. By Owen Main

Sharp Shooting

With four guards playing at a time, Cal Poly better make their outside shots. And they are. The Mustangs are tied for the Big West lead, shooting 38.9 percent from behind the arc and they are making 9.6 per game — more than two more than any other Big West team.

What’s left in non-conference play?

Cal Poly has four games left in their non-conference schedule — all on the road. After they play Cal, the Mustangs will go to Seattle to play Washington before Christmas. Cal Poly will reconvene the day after Christmas and visit Grand Canyon and Princeton before returning home after the new year to start conference play on the road at UC Davis.

Their next home game is their second in Big West play — January 12th against Cal State Fullerton.