The concept of the Big West Tournament as a crap shoot is not a new one. When the eight-team playoff happens next week, it will still be appropriate. 

In a season when UC Irvine looked like they might run away with the conference title early-on in conference play, there would be virtually nothing surprising at the Honda Center this season. 

Victor Joseph and Cal Poly have been labeled Giant Killers. They’ll have to keep that title if they want to compete for the Big West Tournament title. By Owen Main

After starting the conference season 0-5 Cal Poly has gone 5-4 over their last nine games. If the Big West Tournament were to start today, the Mustangs would be the six seed. With two wins in this final week of the regular season, Cal Poly could get to the five seed (they’d hold a tie breaker if both them and CSUN were 7-9). 

But seedings might matter as little as they ever have this season. Cal Poly has beaten four of the five postseason-eligible teams ahead of them in the standings and won’t fear anyone in Anaheim. While the past month has been topsy-turvy, Jim Les’ UC Davis Aggies and Russell Turner’s UC Irvine Anteaters are battling for the top conference seed. Both have lost to the Mustangs.

I always try to temper my fan expectations with the thought that the 2013-14 team got worked at home in their final regular season before rattling off four straight postseason wins in the wildest week and a half in Cal Poly sports history. That team had the traditional pieces that made a wild thought of a deep run seem plausible. 

This year’s roster is weird, but Cal Poly has won more than they’ve lost over the past few weeks and a little three-game winning streak, especially in this year’s Big West environment, seems within the realm of possibility. 

Senior Night Saturday

Saturday night’s game against UCSB is senior night for three Mustangs. Zach Gordon, Ridge Shipley, and Kyle Toth will be honored before the game. The three Cal Poly seniors have taken very different paths in basketball in San Luis Obispo. Having interacted with all three, I can say it’s been a pleasure to get to know them a little, and I wish them the best of luck. 

Kyle Toth came to Cal Poly a few years ago at a tough time for him. His final 2 games at Mott are this week. Have really enjoyed watching him and post-game interviews over this year. Congrats KT!

A post shared by Fansmanship.com (@fansmanship) on Feb 28, 2017 at 8:59pm PST

Look at this young kid from Texas! Congrats on a great four years Ridge. Been fun following your career. #SeniorWeek #4thYearSenior

A post shared by Fansmanship.com (@fansmanship) on Feb 28, 2017 at 9:05pm PST

This tall drink of water has spent five years in SLO. One of the better post defenders I've seen. Been fun to watch him develop. Congrats ZG! #SeniorWeek #FifthYearSenior

A post shared by Fansmanship.com (@fansmanship) on Feb 28, 2017 at 9:05pm PST

It wasn’t for lack of effort. Senior Ridge Shipley scored a career-high 27 points, Donovan Fields and Kyle Toth each scored 14 points, and Zach Gordon played inspired basketball of the bench, but Cal Poly couldn’t hold a 17 point lead with 12:45 to play and lost in overtime to Long Beach State 98-92 at Mott Athletic Center on Saturday evening.

After forcing eight 49er turnovers in the first half, Cal Poly could only turn Long Beach State over three times in the second half and overtime combined. Roschon Prince scored 25 points for Dan Monson’s team, whose record moves to 3-3 in the Big West and 8-14 overall.

Cal Poly, which started the season 5-4, have now lost 10 games in a row and are 5-14 overall and 0-5 in Big West play.

Shipley gets hot

Senior Ridge Shipley was HOT for Cal Poly on Saturday. By Owen Main

Ridge Shipley’s game was something to behold, especially in the first half. The Cal Poly senior point guard scored 19 points in the opening frame, shooting 8-9 from the field, including 3-3 from 3-point range. Shipley, who was probably going to play in a 2 or 3 point guard set this season, has had to take on primary distribution responsibilities since Jaylen Shead left the program.

His game has expanded as he’s made an effort to get to the paint and finish. The more confidence Shipley has and the less he hesitates to shoot the ball, the more dangerous Cal Poly seems to be.

ESPN means crowds galore

While Mott crowds have been more sparse this year than in recent seasons, the ESPNU telecast brought a big turnout. Attendance for the game was listed at 3,032, making it this year’s first sellout. The fans got a good game, though with Cal Poly’s current record it could be an uphill climb to match it again this season. There is still a UCSB game that could get some more kids out of the dorms.

For now, props to Cal Poly students and fans for coming out and selling-out a game despite their team’s nine-game losing streak. Well done!

ZG sighting

Zach Gordon played 23 minutes off the bench and made an impact on Saturday night, scoring a career-high 13 points to go with 8 rebounds. The senior has started eight games this season but none since the Mustangs’ home loss to Cal State Fullerton. He was effective in the Mustangs’ first game against UC Davis, but seemed to have fallen lower on the depth charts in the recent week or two. In the two losses prior to Saturday’s, Gordon played a total of nine minutes.

On Saturday, he got some offense going, but his most important role is still as a defender and rebounder in the lane. Gordon, who is listed at 6′ 8″, plays the tallest of any Cal Poly big men and is the only Cal Poly forward on the roster who has been a part of a winning season or Big West or NCAA Tournament win. For whatever reason, Gordon’s minutes have slingshotted around this year, but he seems to be a productive, calming influence — especially on defense — when given the chance.

Moments

There were a few moments that are worth noting from Saturday night.

One is Donovan Fields’ late layup. With the game tied and time running down, Fields made what might have been a game-winning drive to the basket and acrobatic layup. The 5’8″ sophomore is a player who fans hope can develop over the next few years. One thing you can’t teach — whether you’re working with a sophomore or a senior — is the gumption to go into the lane with confidence and get by defenders to finish like that. It was a big play from a little dude.

Another moment is the foul Victor Joseph committed on Long Beach State’s Loren Jackson to send Jackson to the line with virtually no time left. Looking at the replay live on my phone, Joseph probably didn’t connect with any part of Jackson’s body on the shot, but he swatted the ball twice and, at this level, that’s going to be called a foul — even at the buzzer.

It was the second game in recent Mott Athletic Center memory over the past two years that Cal Poly has lost after allowing the opposition to send the game into overtime at the buzzer. Last season, freshman Jaylen Shead drifted off of UCI three-point shooter Jaron Martin, who nailed a three at the buzzer to tie a game the Anteaters would later win. On Saturday, fouling a three-point shooter, as ticky tack as the call might have been, did the trick.

Opportunities all around

It’s not as though Cal Poly hasn’t had opportunities in Big West play. They have been right in three of their five Big West losses late in the game. The Mustangs just haven’t found a way to finish the final 10-15 minutes of games.

Joe Callero’s squad will have two more opportunities to secure their first conference win of the season on the road next week in Orange County, facing conference front-running UC Irvine on Thursday and upstart Cal State Fullerton on Saturday. Both games will be televised on ESPN3.

In a game that they were out-rebounded by 10, committed 16 turnovers, and had two of their top scorers — Luke Meikle (6) and Josh Martin (0) — combine for just six points, Cal Poly made a second half run and found a way to beat Northern Illinois 68-64.

Great team win vs host Northern Illinois! Big time production from our bench. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

— Pawel Mrozik (@coachmrozik) November 24, 2016

Joseph gets hot

Victor Joseph had his best game yet in a Cal Poly uniform. By Owen Main

Junior transfer Victor Joseph had his finest game as a Mustang. Joseph scored 19 points, knocking down two three-pointers and knifing inside for an array of layups and runners.

While fellow small guard Donovan Fields got some rhythm last weekend at home, Joseph came off the bench to shoot 6-8 from the field.

Zach Attack

Zach Gordon has been a stabilizing influence inside off the bench this season, and Wednesday was no different. Gordon entered the game at the under 16:00 timeout in the first half and promptly took a pair of charges and finished a dunk. He was 1-1 shooting for the game. Gordon also added three blocked-shots in the first half and battled hard with Northern Illinois big man Marin Maric throughout the game.

Zach Gordon has given Cal Poly valuable minutes in the front court this season. By Owen Main

His stat line doesn’t look like much in the box score, but there is a good reason he was on the floor for 27 minutes. Production gets you minutes.

Overall, Cal Poly’s bench scored 31 of the Mustangs’ 68 points. Mustang guards accounted for all but eight of Cal Poly’s scoring output on the night.

Start Fast

Cal Poly’s first half saw them outscore NIU by 10 points. The score was tied within the first few minutes of the second half and, on two occasions, NIU led by 6 points twice in the final half before Cal Poly stormed back to take control.

Streaky

With Cal Poly down by six points and just over eight minutes to play, Ridge Shipley scored seven straight points in about a minute for the Mustangs on three straight possessions to cut the lead to two. Josh Mishler’s right-handed drive on the next possession tied the game at 51.

From there, Joseph scored nine of Cal Poly’s final 17 points en route to victory.

Death Lineup?

Like most of the scoring in this particular game, Cal Poly’s big run came with a sort of death lineup on the floor. With Zach Gordon at the five and 6′ 5″ Josh Mishler at the four, Cal Poly ran Victor Joseph, Jaylen Shead, and Ridge Shipley at three guard positions. Joseph and Shipley were able to get good penetration, while Shead and Mishler battled inside just enough for Cal Poly to not get killed on defensive rebounding.

A three point-guard lineup like this has been intriguing to me all year with the roster as it’s constructed. Look for Cal Poly to use it to make other teams uncomfortable for portions of games and to extend this type of a lineup if it seems to be working well.

Up Next

Cal Poly will take Thanksgiving Day off before battling University of Illinois-Chicago on Friday and Elon on Saturday to conclude the NIU Thanksgiving Classic. Elon beat UIC 91-80 on Wednesday.

With Big West Conference play looming and a first-game matchup in Hawai’i on Wednesday, the questions for Cal Poly head coach Joe Callero on Monday evening turned to his team’s health and depth.

“The worst thing that can happen is your last preseason game, you end up getting banged up,” said Callero, whose team attained some bumps and bruises in their final pre-conference game at Texas A&M last week. “Brian Bennett popped his shoulder, Joel Awich rolled an ankle and couldn’t practice today and then we’ve got Ridge who will have surgery Friday on his nose and will wear the mask through this week.”

Shipley, Bennett, and Awich will go to Hawai’i, but Awich will have limited availability and Shipley is scheduled to get his nose fixed after the Hawai’i game.

“[Shipley] will go to Hawai’i and be used on a need basis. He practiced today for the first time to see if he can go. He will have surgery Friday and will be required to wear a mask for four weeks.”

Callero knows that nobody in the conference will feel sorry for the Mustangs at this point.

“Nobody’s going to send us a little card,” said Callero. “No sympathy cards are going to come out from the conference. We’d love to be healthy, but this is competition. This is why we have a deep bench. Luke Meikle, Josh Martin, Jaylen Shead, Zach Gordon are going to have to step up a little bit.”

Cal Poly will have another eight days off, their bye in the 9-team Big West follows their game in Honolulu. This year’s early-season bye might come at an opportune time for Cal Poly, given the injured players who could use that time to heal.

“My thing with the bye is always hoping that [it] comes in when you’re recovering from some injuries,” said Callero. In this case, the coach definitely got his wish.

For their part, Hawai’i comes into Wednesday night’s matchup with the best record in the Big West at 11-2 on the season, including a 12-point win against Auburn. The Rainbow Warriors have been hot of late, but have only played one game this season off of the Islands. The game against Cal Poly will be no different.

Hawai’i is lead by Aaron Valdes, who recorded a triple-double against Howard in the Rainbow Warriors’ last game. Around Valdes are a number of hyper-athletic guards and wing players and two big men in the middle who can bang with the best of them. Head coach Eran Ganot brings a level of mental toughness and basketball moxie to a program that’s been through its fair share of tumult in the past 12 months. Despite all that, they are a Big West Tournament finalist who brings back most of their squad from a season ago.

The Mustangs have always played Hawai’i tough. If Cal Poly can not get down by double-digits early, look for them to make a run at some point in the game and keep things tight on Wednesday night.

Cal Poly at Hawai’i

Wed., January 6, 9:00 PM (Pacific Time)

Video / Audio

Fansmanship Big West Conference Preview

Try as they might, Michael Bolden and co. just could not cut into UC Davis’ double-digit lead in the second half. By Owen Main

It was the last home game for four seniors on the Cal Poly roster, but front-running UC Davis showed zero concern, beating Cal Poly 66-56 in the Mustangs penultimate regular season game of the year.

With the win and a UC Irvine loss in Santa Barbara, the Aggies’ magic number to win the regular season Big West title stands at 1 with two games to play. After losing to both UC Irvine and UC Davis, Cal Poly seems set to play one of them or UCSB in the first round of the conference tournament.

Shipley continues hot shooting

Sophomore Ridge Shipley continued his torrid pace on Saturday night. Shipley hit two early three-pointers and had eight points quickly en route to 16 for the game. Shipley’s skill set and confidence are things that Joe Callero always likes. When the shot clock winds down, it’s nice to have a point guard like Shipley, who can get his own shot and who the team can have confidence in.

Cal Poly fans remember Callero point guards Lorenzo Keeler and Amaurys Fermin, who could both get their own shot virtually any time at the end of shot clocks. Shipley is turning into that kind of player, and he’s only a sophomore.

Right where they want em?

Similarities to last season abound for this team.

Last season, their conference record was 6-10. This year, they are 6-9 going into their final game in Isla Vista against the Big West’s third-place team.

Last season, the team lost on senior night in a game that seemed somewhat disheartening.

Last year, Cal Poly ended up with the seventh seed in the Big West Conference Tournament. This year, that’s exactly where they’re lined-up going into the final game of the year.

You get the idea.

One thing that may be going against Cal Poly is a sort of raw, positive emotional leader. For all the great scoring and rebounding the Mustangs got from Chris Eversley last season, his most important contribution may have been his relentless positivity and vocal leadership on the court. His vocal outbursts seemed to always come when Cal Poly needed a pick-me-up, and was a major part of the emotional stamina the team exhibited. I’m not sure who is going to bring that if Cal Poly is to match the final, and most important part of their 2014-15 season.

Going for them? Well, David Nwaba is back in the rotation. He’ll get a chance to practice this week and get his feet under him. The team will also get a full week of rest prior to next Saturday’s game against UCSB. Cal Poly fans and coaches will hope a few days’ rest can give a weary team a big boost this time of year.

Saturday’s game at the Thunderdome will start at 3:00 pm and will be televised on Fox Sports Prime Ticket.

With a Cal Poly win and losses this week by Hawai’i and UC Riverside, Cal Poly could vault into the five-seed for the Big West Tournament. The top four teams are currently UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara, and Long Beach State.

Photos by Owen Main

Ridge Shipley scored a team-high 20 points for Cal Poly, but the Mustangs just couldn’t mount a big second half run. By Owen Main

In a game UC Irvine controlled for the entire second half, the Anteaters used a stellar 24-point performance from senior Will Davis II to outlast Cal Poly 63-56 at Mott Athletics Center on Thursday night.

Shipley comes out firing

Ridge Shipley came out blazing-hot for Cal Poly. The sophomore point guard scored 12 of Cal Poly’s first 14 points in less than four minutes en route to a 20-point performance for the game.

Shipley is averaging over 15 points per game over his last six games and has become a somewhat reliable and consistent outside threat. Joe Callero has traditionally liked point guards who can get themselves or someone else a shot at the end of the shot clock. Shipley definitely fits that mold.

He made a big shot at last year’s Big West Tournament. For Cal Poly to go far in their final two regular season games and then the tournament, he’ll probably have to make a lot more.

Nwaba returns

Junior guard David Nwaba went from just being sick to having uncertainty about his ability to continue playing basketball at all, in just a few days.

After visiting Stanford Medical Center on Thursday morning, Nwaba and the Cal Poly coaching staff received good news just a few minutes before the game: Nwaba was cleared to play.

There is just one problem. Nwaba hasn’t been practicing for a few weeks now. He hasn’t been running, shooting, or really doing anything basketball-related.

Nwaba entered the game as a substitute on Thursday looking to knock the rust off. After making a runner in the lane, the lack of practice showed. In all, Nwaba played 12 minutes, scored five points, and grabbed three rebounds. Callero said after the game that Nwaba will use practice time and Cal Poly’s two remaining games before the Big West Tournament to get himself back into game shape.

Bennett continues solid play

Brian Bennett racked up 17 points and 12 rebounds on Thursday night. He’s now scored in double-figures in each of his last four games. UC Davis comes into town on Saturday. The last time Cal Poly played against the Aggies, Bennett went off for 27 points and nine rebounds. You can bet they’ll be keying on Cal Poly’s junior forward from the Chicago area.

UC Davis will come into Saturday’s game leading UC Irvine by a single game in the Big West Conference standings. With two games to play, Cal Poly is entrenched in seventh place, a single game behind sixth-place Hawai’i and 1 1/2 games behind UC Riverside and Long Beach State, who are tied for fourth place.

Cal Poly has five players averaging more than nine points per game in Big West Conference play, but only seven players averaging over one point per game over the same games.

Photos by Owen Main

New Year’s resolutions are fun. I’ll be posting during the next week or so about some of my favorite teams and what resolutions they might think about adopting First up: Cal Poly men’s basketball.

Early Blows:

The Cal Poly Mustangs Men’s Basketball are currently 7-5, which puts them third in the BigWest Conference behind the UC Davis Aggies (9-3) and Hawaii Rainbow Warriors (12-4). Conference powers such as UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine, and Long Beach State have not started the way they wanted to but will most certainly be in the hunt throughout conference play.

The season did not start out the way the Mustangs wanted. Guard Taylor Sutlive and forward Zach Gordon whom Coach Joe Callero expected an increase in production from this season were lost for the year due to injuries. Callero was forced to incorporate new players into the lineup such as freshman forward Aleks Abrams — a big and active player who rebounds well — and increase roles for players such  as senior guard Michael Bolden who is a skilled defender and capable shooter, and senior guard Reese Morgan who has battled through injuries but is a great free throw shooter and known for making big time threes.

The Mustangs were blown out in their first three road games at Nevada (65-49) California Berkeley (72-52) and Saint Mary’s (82-56). The Mustangs also found out recently that Kyle Toth who had been productive during his time with the Mustangs will not be eligible when conference play begins due to academic reasons.

In his sophomore season, Ridge Shipley’s ability to put pressure on defenses and be efficient with the ball will go a long way toward Cal Poly playing their preferred style and pace. By Owen Main

New Year’s Resolutions:

January begins the new year (2015) as well as conference play for teams. With the Big West as deep as it has been in years, Cal Poly will need to find ways to stay competitive throughout conference play. Recently, they’ve found ways to win on the road and get themselves above .500 despite the losses of Sutlive, Gordon and Toth.

1.The Mustangs lead the NCAA in fewest turnovers per game (8.4) and fewest total turnovers (101).

2. The Mustangs are balanced offensively with 8 players scoring more than 4 points per game (7 minus Toth). The Mustangs have 2 of those 7 players scoring 6 points per game (Ridge Shipley and Joel Awich) 1 player scoring almost 10 points per game (Reese Morgan) 1 player scoring over 11 points per game (Brian Bennett) and 1 player scoring over 14 points per game (David Nwaba).

3. The Mustangs defense holds opponents to 60 points per game while Cal Poly averages 63 points per game.

With an efficient and balanced offense and tenacious defense the Mustangs have been able fight through injuries and should be able to remain competitive after the loss of three players before conference play even begins.

In Cal Poly’s case, their resolution to get back to basics seemed to start a little early, when they went 4-2 on a 6-game December road trip to finish non-confernence play. Like many people resolve to do the same things year-in and year-out, Cal Poly seems to have once again found out a way to hang their hat on defense and taking care of the basketball. Perhaps it was a resolution they made before their recent road trip in December, but Joe Callero once again has his team focused on the things that matter to him.

Defense wins games and tournaments and Cal Poly proved that last season after they won the BigWest Tournament and won their first round game against Texas Southern in the NCAA Tournament. Their teamwork on offense and defense should give Mustangs fans a reason for optimism through the uphill climb that is BigWest Conference.

Cal Poly starts Big West play on Thursday at Hawai’i before returning for their home conference opener Saturday January 10th against rival UCSB.

Ridge Shipley provided the offensive spark for Cal Poly on Friday night at Mott. By Owen Main

A year ago, Cal Poly had a team good enough to make it to the NCAA Tournament, but not good enough to beat Delaware on the East coast. This year, Delaware returned the trip and Ridge Shipley and the Mustangs returned the beat-down, overtaking the Blue Hens 78-60.

The game wasn’t really close for the final 30 minutes. The opening quarter of the game saw Delaware miss several open shots while Cal Poly found their offensive rhythm.

Shipley, a sophomore point guard who was unavailable in the first game started alongside senior point guard Maliik Love. While Shipley led the team with 21 points, love managed 9 assists and 7 rebounds without scoring a point or turning the ball over.

“Me and Maliik have been playing really well together. We’ve been looking forward to this for a while, coming off the bench together last year we had a lot of fun together,” said Shipley. “He’s one of hte best attackers on the team and he gets my man to dig in on him and gets me wide open shots.”

Love feels the same way about his point guard understudy.

“Ridge is a great attacker and he compliments my game,” said Love. “If he’s attacking then I’m pulling up and spacing and if I’m attacking, he’s doing the same thing. It’s the dynamic duo with us two. It’s great.”

Cal Poly went on a 21-3 run to end the first half, highlighted by a David Nwaba dunk and by six three-pointers in the half. Four technical foul free throws by Ridge Shipley didn’t hurt either as the Mustangs built-up a 48-22 advantage at halftime. Their 48 points in a half is the most since they dropped 57 on Cal State Northridge two and a half years ago at Mott.

“Obviously you get excited when you make the threes, get a dunk,” said Cal Poly head coach, Joe Callero. “But I’ve seen a lot of threes and a lot of dunks, but what I like are passing and catching and taking care of the ball.”

Cal Poly had zero turnovers in the first half compared to 10 assists. Overall, they only committed four turnovers for the game compared to 16 assists. It was really the ideal recipe for a Joe Callero post-game smile.

“I remember getting under a guy’s skin a little bit. He retaliated, and I know that got my fire going,” said Shipley. “Certain people are going to be hot, and I think that the unselfishness we have on our team that’s instilled by our coaching staff has lead to a lot of good, smart shots.”

For their part, Delaware turned it over just 11 times, but seven of those were in the first half when the Mustangs built up their big lead.

“There’s a tremendous impact that traveling across the country, going across three time zone,” said Callero, noting that Delaware was without a top scorer in the game.

The win for the Mustangs moves their record above .500 at 2-1 overall. They’ll play 10 of their next 11 games on the road between now and the first few weeks of January. Their next game will be at Cal on Wednesday night in Berkeley.

Photos by Owen Main

to view on an iPhone or iPad, click here

 

A conference tournament celebration is a wonderful thing to behold.

Last night, after its first ever conference tournament win, fans who drove the 220 miles were treated with an opportunity to storm the court and celebrate with the team.

Celebrate they did.

It’s really hard to describe being in the middle of a scrum like this, so I won’t try too hard. Instead, here are a bunch of photos. We’ll have more videos up over the next 24 hours on our YouTube page, so you can check there. In the mean time, here are a bunch of pictures, starting with “THE SHOT” that Ridge Shipley hit.

[See image gallery at www.fansmanship.com]

Cal Poly released a statement on Wednesday announcing letters of intent for three guards — two of whom are from Texas.With three seniors on this year’s roster (Drake U’u, Chris O’Brien, and Dylan Royer), coach Joe Callero has three players coming in with perimeter skills.

My favorite part of writing this was watching the YouTube highlight videos of each of these guys, especially when it came to the music. Two of them have upbeat hip-hop tracks and one is, well, a little more mellow.

Markel Leonard, a point guard from Salesian High School in Hercules, CA seems quick, instinctive, and shifty.

The Leonard video with the sweet music track:

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OtwncUeHcQ

The “silent” video (might be the exact same thing without the sweet beats):

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5xmNywwb1U

Ridge Shipley, another small guard from Hebron High School in Carrollton, TX, seems to have and also quickness to get around defenders and get his own shot. Highlights also show court vision and a LOT of confidence with the ball in his hand. Another sweet track in the video…

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKtHD5CvyxU

OK, I have to admit it. This last video is my favorite of the three. Taylor Sutlive from Churchill High School in San Antonio, TX is a lanky wing player with no conscience. He shoots from everywhere. His highlight video shows him cruising at-times, just waiting for an open shot somewhere inside half-court. He has longish hair probably adds to my perception of a mellow, laid-back bomber.

Sutlive’s video exhibits the ultimate “you better get out on that guy!” guy. Despite that, he also shows that he can get up and throw down on occasion and also showcases a developed pull-up game. He shows he’s a guard who can rebound and makes some really nice “look-ahead” passes to teammates. The slowed-down music still has all the rhythm that it’s clear Sutlive has in his shot.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6fOcMTRrxo

Here’s an older version of Sutlive set to an Eminem track. Looks like he grew a lot going into his junior season.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8sfhFFifgk

It looks like Sutlive went to a pretty fun high school too. In this video, basically the whole high school participates in a one-shot lip-dub. Sutlive makes a 10-second appearance at the 7:50 mark.

Without seeing these guys in-person, it’s really hard to know what kind of players they’ll be at Cal Poly. Joe Callero has a few recruiting outposts now (Illinois and Texas) and seems to have a plan for the program in his fourth year — losing three perimeter players after this year and recruiting three more.

Cal Poly’s first home game of the season is tonight at 7PM vs. Northern Colorado at Mott Gym.

UPDATE

The women’s team announced four letters of intent on Thursday — all from front-court players.

Hannah Gilbert (Morro Bay High School) and Mary Kate Evans (Atascadero High School) highlight the incoming group for coach Faith Mimnaugh. Neither have videos on YouTube, but both are at least six feet tall, which is a nice thing to have in the Big West.

Sarah Lipton from Woodbridge High School in Irvine is also over six feet tall, standing at 6’1”. As a high school player, she shoots almost 40 percent from 3-point range and should also fit into Mimnaugh’s run-and-gun offensive system.

Lipton has a pair of youtube videos. They showcase a pretty well-developed offensive game:

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vXmUAzPzMs

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=QU5hhtObt_E

Rachel Koehler is a recruit from Billings, Montana (Billings Senior High School). Koehler is a forward who Mimnaugh described as “explosive and physical.” No YouTube video for Koehler either.