If Humboldt State’s showing on Tuesday against UCLA is an indication of things to come, the Cal State San Bernardino and Cal Poly Pomona men’s teams are going to have a tough time defending the CCAA crown they shared last season with Cal State Dominguez Hills.

The Lumberjacks lost to the Bruins 74-57 but they only trailed at the half 41-34. So they acquitted themselves quite well.

Their big man Brian Morris had 19 points and 16 rebounds. Enough said.

Humboldt is good but it also has a clear advantage over visiting teams because of the difficulty of the road trip from Arcata to Sonoma State, the Jacks travel partner. Cal Poly and Cal State have no decided advantage when teams come here because those two schools are so close in proximity. It is isn’t exactly taxing on the visiting team.

Both Cal Poly and Cal State have question marks. The Broncos have lots of players back from a team that went to the final two. But they don’t have Larry Gordon. And Greg Kamansky carries such a small squad that one injury could be costly.

For the Coyotes, it is what could have been . .. had point guard Dante Smith not been lured back to USC after signing with Coyotes . . . had Brandon Brown not decided to skip his senior season to play overseas.

They do have a Division I transfer in 6-9 Bryan LeDuc. And coach Jeff Oliver seems to have team willing to work hard and buy into the team concept. That can go a long way.

Share this