In the Big West Tournament, players finally found their roles

It was almost too late.

Watching this team all season, it seemed as though these players would never all find their comfort zone, at least not all at the same time. Sure, role players like Ridge Shipley (at UC Riverside), Anthony Silvestri (at UCSB) and Jamal Johnson (vs. CSUN and Hawai’i at home) had shown flashes of brilliance. But those flashes never seemed to come at the same time or at exactly the right time.

Until last week.

Point guard, Jamal Johnson, has been Cal Poly’s ultimate role player for the past four years. By Will Parris

Offensive flow

Cal Poly finally found an offensive confidence and flow that has been working for them. Gone are early shot-clock misses that lead to fast breaks on the other end. Somehow, getting deep into the shot clock didn’t force a lot of last-second heaves from the eventual conference champs either.

Reading driving lanes has been of particular importance. David Nwaba, the most athletic player in almost any game he plays in, has been of particular note with improved court vision. In Cal Poly’s 31-point drubbing of Santa Barbara, the sophomore scored 11 points, grabbed six rebounds, and dished three assists. The rebounding and assist numbers were both team-highs.

In the championship game, Nwaba’s line was 17-6-2. He slashed to the hoop in a controlled and timely fashion. When he read that help was coming, he passed just enough to keep the driving lanes open. Nwaba shot 52 percent from the field this season, but it’s his court vision and willingness to move the ball during the Big West Tournament that made both him and his team more dangerous.

Defensive intensity

Joe Callero’s calling card has always been his teams’ defense, but the Mustangs’ D looked flummoxed at times this season. Maybe their opponents tightened-up some during conference play, but I saw more shots taken at the end of the 35-second clock by opponents over the past three games than I had all season.

Maybe it was a matter of matchups, but Cal Poly didn’t mess around with any 3-2 kinds of defensive schemes in the conference tournament. Instead they mixed man-to-man pressure with the matchup zone that has made them so difficult to score against in seasons past.

No matter what defense they played, the energy and defensive intensity from the Mustangs definitely picked-up. Nwaba, whose game Callero describes as “edgy,” is the on-ball defensive leader in that case. Energy from defensive role players like Joel Awich and Zach Gordon finally all lined-up right too.

For a few minutes on Saturday night, Cal Poly senior Kyle Odister’s role went from making deep three-pointers to helping mop up a wet spot on the floor. By Will Parris

Know your role

I feel like I could take 500 words to describe the odyssey of each of the 12 players on this year’s team who have seen significant minutes, but for now I’ll say this. When Joe Callero arrived five years ago, the thing I was most impressed with was that all the players on the court — whether or not they were physically outmatched — looked like they knew what they were doing and were put in a position to succeed. Everyone clearly knew their role and could execute it with intensity.

This year’s team didn’t always look like that, but once they got healthy and got into the Big West Tournament, this year’s Cal Poly team finally, improbably, found their rhythm. They found their roles.

On Wednesday, in Dayton, Ohio, they’ll try to find their 14th win.

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