Cal State men open basketball drills

Cal State San Bernardino's men's basketball team began the 2008-09 season Wednesday with 16 players reporting for the first official day of practice and finding they already have a big target on their backs.

The coaches of the California Collegiate Athletic Association have predicted a first-place finish in the CCAA for the Coyotes, last year's co-champs and winners of seven of the last nine conference titles.

Head Coach Jeff Oliver, beginning his seventh season at CSUSB, was slightly taken aback by the poll but honored that others think so highly of the program.

"I don't know how a team can be picked to win when the top scoring returner averaged 5.1 points a game while playing just 14 minutes a game," Oliver said.

"But, based on what we've done in the past (seven CCAA titles and three West Region titles in the last 10 years) I'm sure that's why they've put us in that position."

Oliver said the players are "in pretty good shape" coming out of pre-season conditioning drills. We have no injuries. Their legs are still good and not beat down."

With eight new players and two redshirts joining the squad, Oliver said the early going is going to be "a little rough."

"We have to really focus and teach the new guys what we are trying to accomplish on the floor. It's not easy. There are a lot of concepts that a foreign to a lot of the players, different than what they have been taught previously."

The Coyotes plan a defense-oriented strategy, the same kind of philosophies that carried them to a West Region title and NCAA Final Four appearance in 2006-07 and a shared CCAA title in 2007-08. "We'd be silly to get away from it," he said.

"When everybody is on the same page, we will definitely be a challenger in the conference," he added.

The team's top recruit, 6-7 Brandon Brown from Holmes College in Mississippi, won't be available until after the fall quarter in mid-December, Oliver said.

Despite that, Oliver is hoping that the team will be able to perform well enough offensively to offset any learning curve his team has on defense.

Among the key ingredients to get CSUSB started will be guard Tim Denson, a redshirt last season, whom Oliver thinks will be one of the top guard sin the conference and the region.

Other newcomers are 6-8 redshirt freshman Jordan Richard, 6-8 junior transfer Tavaris Gilbert, 6-5 junior transfer guard-forward Larry DeHughes, senior guard Devin Montgomery and junior guard Lawrence Tyson along with returning veterans 6-7 Devon Davis, 6-5 Reggie Brown, and  6-4 Phil Jones, all seniors and 6-4 sophomore Grants Huff.

One of the things that the Coyotes and other D-2 teams will contend with in 2008-09 is the new three-point line, moved one-foot back from the old line - 19 feet 9 inches to 20 feet 9 inches.

"I hope it helps us," said Oliver. "The three-pointer has helped a lot of our opponents stay in the game with us. We're hoping things will be different now that the shooting distance has been extended. It may even keep a handful of guys from shooting the three."

The Coyotes open the season on Nov. 7 with an exhibition game in Coussoulis Arena against Vanguard University followed by an exhibition game at College of the Desert in Palm Desert against Azusa Pacific on Nov. 13.