Tonight marks the final home game at Mott Athletics Center for four Cal Poly seniors. Maliik Love, Michael Bolden, Anthony Silvestri, and Alberto Ganis all represent certain aspects of what Joe Callero has grown his program into.

Maliik Love is a fifth-year senior who has started every game for Cal Poly this season. By Owen Main

Maliik Love

As a freshman, Love was one of the most physically imposing young players I’ve seen. At just 6′ 2″ or so, Love was able to muscle-up on older point guards and even defend the two or three. He was the freshman player of the year in the Big West in 2010-11. Alongside Jamal Johnson, who was also a freshman that season, Love was going to be a real impact player.

Love represents the ability of a player in Callero’s system to have a real impact without putting up big numbers. Love has never averaged more than the five points per game he is averaging this year in a season.

Love’s career also represents how Cal Poly has been somewhat snake-bitten with injuries to key players over the past three or four years. Players like Amaurys Fermin, Reese Morgan, Love, and Kyle Odister all missed significant time in their Cal Poly careers due to injury. This year, Taylor Sutlive and Zack Gordon have spent the entire year on the sidelines, rehabbing from knee injuries of their own.

This season, Love has added scoring when he needed to. He scored 15 points in a loss to first-place UC Davis. The Aggies are Cal Poly’s opponent tonight.

Michael Bolden has been a key cog for Cal Poly this season. By Owen Main

Michael Bolden

Michael Bolden has a body type that we haven’t seen much of in San Luis Obispo. A long, wiry player who can stick with athletic twos and threes on defense, the Irvine Valley College transfer is one of what is now a long line of players who have successfully transferred to Cal Poly and contributed. Others have included Will Taylor, Will Donahue, Amaurys Fermin, Drake U’u, Chris O’Brien, and David Nwaba. Kyle Toth, Luke Meikle, and Josh Martin are all waiting in the wings to contribute next season.

Bolden has also found a niche and been very good in his role — a trait that is not unusual for Callero players. His shooting has been a key to a few Cal Poly wins this season. More importantly, his length and ability to spearhead their 1-3-1 defense have allowed the team to throw a significant wrinkle into a top-flight defensive game plan.

Bolden is also averaging about five points per game this year, but also has 23 steals. He and Love are two of the three Cal Poly players who have appeared in all 26 games this season.

Anthony Silvestri made his mark last season when he scored 17 points in a road victory in Isla Vista. By Owen Main

Anthony Silvestri

In walk-on Anthony Silvestri, Joe Callero and some of his players saw something they really liked. A guy who seemed unflappable, Silvestri was noticed by Cal Poly alum Drake U’u in the Rec Center. Over the past two seasons, the senior forward has played key roles in a number of games.

His best performance came in Isla Vista last year, when he poured in 17 points in a Cal Poly road win against their rivals. Especially after that game, he drew comparisons to another red-headed forward Callero coached, Brian Scalabrine.

This season, Silvestri hasn’t played as big a role. Yet. The 6′ 7″ San Francisco native could see minutes in the last few games, especially if Cal Poly needs an offensive jolt. Joe Callero knows the big redhead won’t be afraid to spot-up from downtown should his name be called.

Silvestri’s career is indicative of the program’s ability to be nimble. Callero and his staff have been willing to play guys who perform, whether they were in the program’s initial plans or not. The head coach gave a scholarship to Silvestri for this, his senior season with the Mustangs. Something tells me Cal Poly fans would agree that he earned it, even if he never played in another game after that UCSB road win last year.

Alberto Ganis

I didn’t mention Ganis in the transfers above, because this kid is on a little bit of a different level. Only able to play this season due to transfer rules, Ganis has played in just six games this year and scored only four points, so his contribution on the court is in practice and in his high level of maturity.

Sure, Ganis turned 25 last month, but his maturity is far above even that. In my time covering Cal Poly, he’s the only guy who ever asked me what I do for a living and how I like that. He makes a point to say hi to people he recognizes and to ask questions of adults he thinks he may learn something from.

In the little time I’ve talked with Alberto, he oozes intelligence. From everything I hear, he represents the “student” part of the phrase, “student athlete,” that people around a university like Cal Poly value.

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This year’s senior class was part of the most successful postseason in the school’s history. Each one of them got to playing at Cal Poly in a somewhat unconventional way (transfers and a redshirt season). Joe Callero talked during last year’s NCAA tournament about how much he likes to be weird and different sometimes.

I talk a lot about how players in college basketball, especially at Cal Poly, are something of a reflection of their coach. On a global level, this class is no different.

Coming into Saturday’s Big West conference game against UC Riverside, Cal Poly men’s basketball had lost four in a row and head coach Joe Callero was doing everything he could to find a rotation that worked.

In fact, Cal Poly had used five starting lineups in the past eight games prior to Saturday night, when they broke-out an all-new one that included junior Michael Bolden.

Not Michael Bolton:

Or Michael Bolton:

Michael Bolden. With a D, and an E. And, on Saturday night, with four 3’s and a career-high 13 points. He looks like this:

Michael Bolden. Cal Poly fans will probably want to get to know him a little better. By Owen Main

Bolden provided a big spark and helped propel the Mustangs to their second conference win in their past eight games.

Eversley back to the block

After the Long Beach State game, Chris Eversley went to Mustangs head coach Joe Callero with a plan — get Eversley the ball down low. For much of the season the senior power forward has spent time on offense around the three-point line, facing-up and shooting from the outside. Over the past two games, Eversley has had more touches on the low block, resulting in a little better offensive consistency.

“Instead of a mobile four, we made him an inside-out four,” said Callero. “The biggest thing is getting to the free throw line… . That gives us rest and I can play him 39 minutes because he goes to the line, catches his breath.”

Eversley took his inspiration from probably the greatest basketball player in the world right now.

“You look at the teams that are successful and the guys that need to do what they need to do to win,” said Eversley, who scored 22 points against UC Riverside. “I mean you have guys like LeBron saying the same thing last  year: ‘Put me on the blocks and we do whatever we want to,’ and they win championships. So it’s just me trying to step-up and be that guy that can kind of facilitate, maybe help others create when they get in trouble… . It feels good to be able to be multi-dimensional.”

Bolden gives some long-range spark

Cal Poly junior  Michael Bolden started just his second game of the season. Bolden saw a lot of bench time during the first half of conference play but has re-emerged over the past few games, looking more confident and comfortable.

On Saturday, Bolden scored a career-high 13 points, including 4-5 from three-point range, to help give the team a third-option offensively that they so desperately needed.

Bolden has been through adversity in the past and has made it a habit to stick things out and find success. This summer, he played in a summer league with Eversley.

“I knew he could shoot, that’s never been a question,” said Eversley, who also lives with Bolden. “He’s hyper-athletic. Him and Dave (Nwaba) are two of the most freakish athletes I’ve ever seen in my life and they both work hard. I played against David in the summer too and just knowing those guys were going to be my teammates and playing in the summer leagues I saw good things I knew were going to transfer to our team as well.”

Bolden said he’s learned a lot from his senior roommate.

“Chris is like a big brother to me. I live with Chris and he’s just always encouraging me and trying to make me a better person, a better player. Chris is awesome.”

Without a lot of consistent three-point threats, Cal Poly has struggled to find much traction offensively. Now that Eversley is down on the block more, the Mustangs needed someone with some confidence to knock-down open shots and play strong defensively. That’s where Bolden fit-in. The junior made his first shot and was off to the races.

“It always feels good to hit the first shot,” said Bolden. “It’s always a confidence-builder, and then I just kept getting open shots. My teammates were finding me, setting good screens, giving good passes as well.”

Starting Bolden also allows Callero to bring Nwaba, who also scored 13 points on Saturday night, off the bench.

Keep an eye out for three-pointers

In Cal Poly’s six Big West Conference wins this season, the Mustangs are 48-100 from three point range. For those of you who aren’t good at math, that is 48 percent (an average of 8/16.7 per game).

In their seven conference losses, the Mustangs are 41-135 (30.4 percent) from behind the arc, shooting more three-pointers and making less (an average of 5.8/19.3 per game).

Whether the three-point numbers are a cause or a symptom of good or poor play, three-point shooting is something that fans can look at as an indicator of how the team is moving the ball and playing offensively.

Callero contextualized his team’s offensive progression.

“I thought before we reversed the ball kind of begrudgingly because we weren’t sure where it was going to go or why it should go there,” said the Cal Poly coach. “Right now we, as a team, know it’s going to go to Chris Eversley. That’s not a secret. We can tell [UC] Davis, ‘watch the film.’ Chris Eversley’s going to get a bunch of touches.”

Playing inside-out through Eversley is something you can look for Cal Poly to do in their final three games and into the Big West Tournament.

Tinkering

Callero has tinkered with the lineup, but the changes have also been based on the health of the team. Reese Morgan is working his way back into the rotation and Kyle Odister has a stress fracture in his foot that has caused him to miss games throughout conference play.

“We were 3-0, we lost at the buzzer, Kyle Odister had a stress fracture,” said Callero. “From that point on, we haven’t gone a practice or a game without wondering what we’re going to do and playing guys out of position really.”

Cal Poly is now (6-7) in Big West Conference play, good for a tie for fifth place, and have three games remaining. Two of their remaining games are against the two teams tied for first place — UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine. The only remaining home game this season will be against UC Santa Barbara in the regular season finale on Saturday, March 8th.

Photos by Owen Main

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