Thoughts on this year’s Cal Poly senior class

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.