Joe Callero’s 2018-19 roster was bolstered last week with the signing of two high school seniors to national letters of intent. Junior Ballard (Modesto Christian, Stockton, CA) and Daxton Carr (Highland High School, Pocatello, Idaho) both made their Cal Poly commitments official during the Fall early signing period. Cal Poly issued this release on Thursday.

Carr is a 6’7″ forward who looks like he has length, athleticism, and the ability to knock-down open jumpers. He’s also a receiver on a very good high school football team. His team will play for the state championship inside Idaho State’s Holt Arena on Friday night, before Carr moves full-time to basketball.

“The only official visit I took was to Cal Poly because I felt like that was the place for me,” said Carr last week. “I already had it in my head that’s where I wanted to go before I’d really gone anywhere else. The way that the coaches talked to me, they really had a lot of belief in me and were really respectful to me.”

Carr always had dreams of attending college in California. 

“It’s been in my mind to go to school in California for a long time. When [I was recruited] it was like OK, I really have an opportunity to do this. I was just talking to coaches and [Cal Poly] felt like the right place. ” 

Recruited by his hometown Idaho State, Utah State, UCSB, and Air Force, he chose Cal Poly. The confidence that Cal Poly was a good fit was affirmed when he arrived on-campus for his visit.

“When I got down there and I met everybody, the atmosphere was so friendly and everybody was so welcoming to me. All the players got along and that’s something you don’t really see everywhere, so I thought that was something that was cool that I wanted to be a part of.”

The day before signing day, Callero checked-in with Carr. 

“He was just checking-in to see if I was ready to sign and see how it’s going,” said Carr. “I told him I was excited and that I was ready to come down there right now.”

Here’s a video of Carr from the summer before last with his AAU team and some easy-to-spot hair.

Ballard is a 6’3″ guard from the Modesto area who could probably either be a 2 guard or a scoring point, though he said Cal Poly’s coaches are looking at him more on the wing. He definitely moves on the court like a next-level athlete and carries himself with a little bit of a swagger — a good thing if you want to compete right away for playing time. He looks as though he has college-ready handles, and for a guard on a team that doesn’t like to turn the ball over, good ball control is a necessary thing.

Ballard said Callero’s confidence in him academically played a big role in him committing to Cal Poly.

“The first time he called me, I was down in LA,” said Ballard. “He had offered me and said, ‘I really want to help you.’ He sounded really confident in trying to develop me. As time went on, I had different offers, but they weren’t as interested as Coach Callero. It really happened at the last moment. There was another school I was really thinking about. I told coach I’m not really confident in taking the SAT and getting that certain score. He called me and said, ‘Are you crazy?!’ He said, ‘I have a lot of faith in you.’ He said, ‘there’s no doubt in my mind you will be able to get that score and come play here.’ Basically, it was just him wanting me.”

Other schools that were in the running included the local school, Pacific, along with Fordham, Sacramento State, Northern Arizona, and UCSB. Ballard has ball skills, but sees himself helping defensively early-on.

“I honestly think that I could help a huge amount,” said Ballard. “I play defense, and I could do whatever the coach needs me to. I’m not just one set player.”

Ballard already has his sights set on state playoffs with Modesto Christian. As for long-term goals at Cal Poly?

“I’m going to work hard to try to help be the best person I can be, make my teammates better, so we can hopefully go to the big dance. That’s my main intention when I come to Cal Poly,” said Ballard.

Cal Poly’s current roster has 14 players overall, including two seniors — Victor Joseph and Luke Meikle. There are eight juniors on the roster.

Cal Poly hosts Holy Names on Wednesday night at Mott Athletic Center. Bring a canned food item and support the Food Bank of San Luis Obispo County. Tip-off is at 7pm.

To purchase photos and support Fansmanship, click here.  If you just want to contribute to the cause, Venmo @Owen-Main or paypal owen@fansmanship.com. 

David Nwaba is a Laker. Photo by Owen Main

People in San Luis Obispo knew that David Nwaba had the physical tools to be an NBA player. Now, less than a year removed from his college graduation in San Luis Obispo, he’s going to the NBA. On Tuesday the former Cal Poly Mustang signed a 10-day contract with his hometown Los Angeles Lakers. 

“David has worked on all parts of his game the last five years,” said Cal Poly coach Joe Callero via text message. “He is the perfect example of hard work and persistence! We are all so proud of him as a person and player… Cal Poly Proud!”

Nwaba, who transferred to Cal Poly as a sophomore in 2013, made an immediate impact. With his high level of intensity and athleticism, Nwaba helped Cal Poly to their first appearance in the NCAA tournament as the Mustangs rolled through the Big West tournament as a 7-seed. Cal Poly won their first round game that year over Texas Southern before losing to one-seed Wichita State. 

Outside shooting will be the thing Nwaba still needs to continue to work on with his game, but his defensive intensity and ability to finish inside make him someone that Magic Johnson and the Lakers think will be able to contribute in the NBA. 

Nwaba is a native of Los Angeles. His sister Barbara is a world-class heptathlete. Other Big West Conference alumni in the NBA are Suns forward Alan Williams (UCSB) and Grizzlies forward James Ennis (Long Beach State). 

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has to be smiling after the team has looked relaxed in winning their first two games of the season. By Malingering

Last year was weird in a lot of ways. One weird narrative went that the Dodgers’ bullpen was kind of an unreliable mess. While they probably weren’t as bad as that, the narrative was that they couldn’t be counted-upon outside of Kenley Jansen.

Again, small sample size notwithstanding, the pen looks pretty good early-on. Pedro Baez, Chris Hatcher, and Kenley Jansen each struck out two Padres in an inning of work each and Jansen gave up the Padres’ only hit in the final third of the game.

What’s fun is that these are the same guys who were in the bullpen last year for the Dodgers. Baez, who is 28 this year, pitched 51 innings, striking out 60 batters and walking 11. After a rocky start, Hatcher struck out 45 batters in 39 innings of work in 2015, walking 13.

Listen, I’m not saying they’re going to be perfect this season, but when the bullpen seems much more calmed-down and solid this season, let’s not go too nutty trying to find out a specific reason. My suspicion is that the bullpen, as a group, caught some bad breaks this year. Maybe this is the season they turn those breaks around. We know how important bullpens can be and many fans also suspect that Don Mattingly may not have been the most adept decision-maker when it came to pitchers and maybe Dave Roberts get a little something better about this group.

Or, perhaps, they were always pretty good baseball players and we just wouldn’t or couldn’t recognize it as last year went on.

With two strong performances, the Dodgers are now 2-0 on the season.

Kazmir sharp

Scott Kazmir looked really sharp in his Dodgers debut. For as long as he’s been pitching, Kazmir has never been in the National League. Pitching to hitters regularly has to be a welcomed change for the lefty.

Here are highlights from that Dodgers game:

Syndergaard a freaking Viking magician

Noah Syndergaard is a freaking magician. He throws a sinker that clocks-in faster than his fastball. His slider is mid-90’s. How does anybody ever hit him? He’s on my All-MLB.TV team this year. I’ll be posting that team sometime soon.

On Tuesday night, Cal Poly came back from an early deficit to beat CSU Bakersfield 8-4 and improve their record to 16-7 on the season. For head coach Larry Lee, though, there are serious concerns about how the team is playing leading up to the conference season.

Asked after the game what he thought of his team’s performance he responded pretty clearly.

Spencer Howard pitched 3 2/3 innings on Tuesday night to pick up the victory for Cal Poly. By Owen Main

“Outside of a few individual players, not very good. And it will catch up to us,” said Lee. (Video below)

The Roadrunners, just 5-19 on the season, jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning before Cal Poly gained the advantage in the bottom of the fifth, when Brett Barbier singled home the go-ahead run. Senior John Schuknecht led the team, going 3-5 with two RBI’s to raise his team-leading total to 27 on the season.

“Honestly, I don’t have too much of an approach. I just kind of go up and there I swing the bat,” said Schuknecht. “I’m just seeing the ball well. I’m getting off good swings at good pitches.”

Schuknecht’s 27 RBI’s also leads the Big West Conference.

Spencer Howard, a native of Templeton, came on in relief for the win. Howard, who has been a solid relief option of late, pitched 3 2/3 innings, striking out four without giving up a run.

Cal Poly will host San Jose State this weekend and visit Santa Clara next Tuesday before kicking-off conference play against Cal State Fullerton at home. The Titans are the preseason (and perennial) favorite to win the Big West. Cal Poly, which has committed 34 errors in 23 games this year, will have to clean up the mental side of their game in a hurry if they are to compete with the conference’s top team right out of the gate.

Senior John Schuknecht has been hitting well out of the four-hole for Cal Poly. By Owen Main

“We’re not ready for the teams that we’re going to face in conference,” said Lee after Tuesday’s win. “We’ll get embarrassed.”

For now, the team’s 16-7 record doesn’t seem too bad on paper. But their schedule hasn’t been super strong overall and the Cal Poly program has raised their level of expectations over the past few years. With a team consisting of mostly freshman and new-to-Cal Poly field players, re-asserting the high expectations seemed to be an important message from Lee after Tuesday’s loss.

We’ll see how they respond Friday night when Kyle Smith takes the hill against the Spartans.

Photos by Owen Main

After coming back from a seven point deficit with 1:24 to play in regulation, a five-point deficit with under :49 seconds left in regulation, and a three-point deficit in the first overtime, Cal Poly forced a second extra period and picked-up an important 96-92 home victory over visiting Long Beach State.

Cal Poly senior Joel Awich throws down a dunk in the first half of Saturday night’s thriller. By Owen Main

Cal Poly was down by five points with only 49 seconds left in the game when Long Beach State’s Travis Hammonds rebounded a missed Reese Morgan free throw. When Josh Martin pressured Hammonds in the back court, he picked up a foul, but also something much more valuable — a Hammonds elbow to his nose.

The foul — judged by officials to be a flagrant — gave Cal Poly two free throws and the ball. It was also Hammonds’ fifth foul. After Roschon Prince missed a pair of free throws, Morgan made a pair. On the ensuing possession, Morgan sized-up a three-pointer from about 26 feet out and knocked it down, completing a five-point possession that erased the five-point Cal Poly deficit.

The review of the flagrant foul lasted at least 5-10 minutes. I know there were at least three songs that were played in completion during the review, making an agonizingly close game seem even more so.

2 OT,s 188pts 2 lead changes 3 ties Only 23 total turnovers Clutch shots & FT's. Crazy student section. One of the best CP games ever.

— Tom Barket (@TomBarket) January 17, 2016

Back-to-back sell outs & an energized Mott lifted our team to a double OT victory over Long Beach St.! Total team effort! Loved #Area12

— Joe Callero (@CoachCallero) January 17, 2016

Packed to the gills

For the first time in the Joe Callero era, Cal Poly sold-out back-to-back home games this weekend. The crowd played a big role in Thursday night’s big comeback against UCSB, though it fell short in the end. Many, including myself, wondered whether the students would be burned-out by the tough, emotional rivalry loss.

The fans — students and community alike — answered resoundingly, helping to carry the Mustangs to another comeback. Saturday night’s was one that the home team could finish.

The way the first two conference games went at Mott, 3,032 might become a common number to see on Cal Poly box scores the rest of the way. Seriously, the place was kind of a zoo. Good stuff San Luis Obispo!

Going full Monson

Dan Monson is one of my favorite coaches to watch in the Big West. By Owen Main

With Cal Poly down by two in the first overtime, Joel Awich was fouled by Gabe Levin going to the hoop and awarded two shots with 1:46 to play. After Awich made the first free throw — his third , Long Beach State coach Dan Monson challenged that Levin committed the foul.

While Awich stood at the free throw line waiting, the referees took about a minute to review the play and confirm that the foul was on Levin.

Lo and behold, Awich’s next shot was way off and Long Beach State maintained a one-point lead that they quickly turned into a three-point lead. I suppose Awich had the last laugh when he nailed a three-pointer to tie it less than 30 seconds after being iced, but Monson’s late-game ability to ice-out an opponent was a move that less savvy coaches might not have made.

Bennett rounding into shape

Brian Bennett started the season injured and out of game shape. Over the last eight weeks or so, Bennett has done a lot of extra work to round back into shape and get back to the form that earned him second-team all-Big West honors last season. He’s much more active over the past week or two — six offensive rebounds on Saturday night are evidence of that.

He didn’t start in either game this past weekend, but the senior averaged 17 points and eight rebounds anyway. This Mustang team is 10 players deep and matchups are going to play a big role against some conference teams, but Bennett’s ability to dominate the offensive paint will be vital moving forward.

Brian Bennett is playing much more like the second-team all-conference player he was a year ago. By Owen Main

Bench Work

Cal Poly’s bench out-scored Long Beach State’s 58-32 for the game. 32 bench points seems like a lot. 58 is just obscene. Four Cal Poly players — Martin, Taylor Sutlive, Joel Awich, and Bennett tallied double-figure point totals on Saturday night.

After outscoring UCSB’s bench 40-6 on Thursday, Cal Poly’s bench outscored opponents 98-38 on the weekend. Cal Poly’s bench has bested their opponents in each of their first three conference games.

I know Joe Callero would like to start the players he feels are playing the best, but who starts doesn’t really matter on this team. If you are one of the players in the 10-man rotation, you’ll get your chance. If you play well, you’ll probably be on the floor in the second half when it matters most. The Mustangs switch-out for offense and defense in close games anyway, so you better know your role and you better be ready to play that part if you want time on this Mustangs team.

On the road again

Cal Poly hits the road in Southern California next week for two winnable road games — both of which can be found on ESPN3. On Thursday, the Mustangs will play the CSUN Matadors at 7:00pm. Reggie Theus’ team isn’t eligible for the postseason this year, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t hungry to play spoiler in the regular season. Kendall Smith, a UNLV transfer, is someone the Mustangs will have to keep track of on the perimeter and Tre Hale-Edmerson is an inside threat to contend with.

On Saturday, Cal Poly will play at Cal State Fullerton. The early 4:00 ESPN3 tip-off time will be an interesting one. If Cal Poly thinks they’re a top-half team in the Big West, these are two road wins that are important to get.

Programming Note

It was announced this week that Cal Poly’s home game againstconference frontrunner Hawai’i on February 6th will be televised on ESPNU.  Previously, Cal Poly didn’t have any televised or ESPN3 games scheduled to be broadcast from Mott Athletics Center this season.

Photos by Owen Main

To view all photos, click here.

David Nwaba scored a team-high 15 points in the Cal Poly loss. By Owen Main

On Monday night, Cal Poly gave up 61% shooting in Moraga and lost to St. Mary’s 93-63. The defensive difficulties continued for the Mustangs on Thursday in Los Angeles as Joe Callero’s team took another one on the chin in a 101-82 loss in a game that was never really in doubt.

David Nwaba was Cal Poly’s leading scorer with 15 points, but he was frustrated by USC’s length and physical inside play. Nwaba was 5-14 from the field. Joel Awich, Cal Poly’s leading scorer, only played 17 minutes because of foul trouble and fouled-out with just five points.

Luke Meikle and Taylor Sutlive each scored 13 for the Mustangs.

Foulsmanship

Cal Poly was in early foul trouble in both halves. The Mustangs only ended up with three more fouls than the Trojans, but when the game might have still been in doubt, Cal Poly was on the far wrong end. Early in the second half, USC was in the bonus while Cal Poly had drawn a single foul. With 10:23 to play in the second half, USC was in the double bonus. It made for a long game that was never really in doubt, or very exciting for that matter. Everyone is still trying to figure out the aesthetics of the new rules. In the case of this game, it made it really hard to watch in many cases.

Cal Poly head coach Joe Callero said everyone is still getting used to contact rules on drives and away from the hoop. Here’s hoping things get sorted out on all ends by the end of the calendar year and before conference play starts. High final scores are fine, but the clock was stopping a lot in this one… .

Brian Bennett scored in double-figures for the second game in a row. By Owen Main

USC length

The Trojans are a long team, that’s for sure. Only one Cal Poly player had more than four rebounds, and it was point guard Jaylen Shead, who had five. Cal Poly was out-rebounded 41-31 for the game. There were many balls that USC simply jumped higher to get, but Cal Poly has struggled to rebound recently.

In the two games this past week, the Mustangs were out-rebounded by 22 total. Cal Poly may not win every rebounding battle, but if they want to have a shot against teams like USC or St. Mary’s, they’ll have to do better than they did this week.

Martin gets on the court

Freshman Josh Martin, a transfer from Minnesota, was finally cleared to play against USC. Martin played 10 minutes, went scoreless (0-3 from the field), and pulled down two rebounds.

Last week, Callero basically described exactly how Martin would play in his first game back. In the USC game, Martin played the three when Cal Poly decided to play a big lineup. Look for lots of improvement there as the Mustangs barnstorm through Texas before the new year.

Over 50 = a loss

Josh Martin finally got on the court for Cal Poly, but it will probably take him until Big West play to really get his feet under him. By Owen Main

This week, Cal Poly opponents shot well over 50 percent. From behind the arc, St. Mary’s and USC shot a combined 31-54 (57 percent). Overall, the Gaels and Trojans shot 59 percent en route to a combined 194 points. I’m not sure if Cal Poly gave up 194 points in any three-game stretch the last few years, let alone a pair of games.

Yes, St. Mary’s and USC are a combined 17-3. St. Mary’s just beat Southern Utah by 56 points. But if Cal Poly is going to change their outcomes against good teams, they’ve got to figure out a way to build some defensive momentum in a game. Offensive pace will make the Mustangs more fun to watch tonight, but defense and rebounding haven’t got any less important.

Coming into the game against USC, Cal Poly knew Katin Reinhardt was a good shooter, but that didn’t stop the Trojan guard from getting open look after open look and scoring 22 points in the first half. Reinhardt finished with 29. The last time Cal Poly played USC, I think they scored 36. Total. Times they are a changin’.

The stars at night, are big and bright

Armed with three Texas natives and one signee from the Lone Star State, Cal Poly will fly to South Texas to continue their road trip. On Sunday, they’ll visit Texas A&M Corpus Christi on Sunday (noon Pacific time tipoff). On Tuesday, they’ll visit San Antonio to play UTSA.

The team will then be free for the holidays before heading back to Texas to take on Texas A&M in College Station on December 29th.

Photos by Owen Main

Find all photos from this game at photos.fansmanship.com

Luke Meikle and Taylor Sutlive were each 5-5 from the field and combined for 31 points as Cal Poly held Fresno State to 24 first-half points en route to a 77-65 victory. Meikle averaged 15.5 points off the bench in two home games this week, showing his offensive versatility making outside shots and taking the ball to the basket against bigger opponents.

Sutlive has shown patience throughout the beginning of the season, not forcing shots and taking open looks.

Sutlive was 3-3 from three point range, but head coach Joe Callero was more impressed with Sutlive and the rest of the team’s ability to defend Fresno State and not give up wide open shots like they did on Thursday night against IPFW. Callero said they gave up 20 wide-open looks against IPFW. Fresno State hardly got any.

Cal Poly built their lead over 10 points less than two minutes into the second half. Fresno State cut the lead to eight points at the 14:23 mark of the second half, but an ensuing Sutlive three-pointer pushed it back to 11 and Cal Poly lead by double-digits the rest of the night.

Statland

Cal Poly won despite taking 25 fewer shots than Fresno State — the Bulldogs took 69 shots to Cal Poly’s 44. Cal Poly’s starters were just 4-14 from three-point range, but the bench was a combined 4-8 to help the Mustangs stay over 36 percent for the game. David Nwaba filled-up the box score with 9 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists.

Up next

Cal Poly now has finals week off before traveling to Moraga to play at St. Mary’s next Monday. They’ll follow that up with a trip to USC before playing three road games in Texas before the first of the year and the start of Big West Conference play.

Photos by Owen Main

For the first time in almost a month, Cal Poly got a win on Saturday — their first at home this season. The 58-26 win was the most Cal Poly has scored since they dropped 70 in a game against the Bengals at home in 2012. Last season, Cal Poly lost in Pocatello to Idaho State.

Cal Poly now has to prepare for Eastern Washington. The Eagles have quickly established themselves as the team to beat in the Big Sky early in the season.

Kickoff from Cheney is scheduled for 1:05 pm.

Northern Iowa jumped out to a 21-0 first-quarter lead on Saturday night and rolled to a 34-20 win over Cal Poly.

Sam Crosson is beginning his fourth season as Cal Poly volleyball coach. He also leads the sand volleyball team. By Owen Main

Cal Poly volleyball hasn’t had this good a start in almost 10 years. At 5-1, Sam Crosson finally has his program on what seems to be the right track.

Coming into the year, Crosson’s overall record over his first three seasons was 25-60 — a .294 winning percentage.

This season, though, the seven freshman that played on last year’s team are all sophomores, with a full collegiate season under their belts. Add to that mix Adlee Van Winden, the two-time defending Big West Freshman of the week, along with a few seasoned veterans like Nicole Kessler, Hannah Schleis Maddie Kuber, and Taylor Gruenwald (who happen to be the only four upperclassmen on this year’s roster) and Cal Poly’s attack looks like it has a chance to compete in the top half of the Big West once again.