Cal Poly Pomona men’s basketball coach Greg Kamansky is one of those “glass is half-empty” kind of guys. If you listen to him, the Broncos are always on the verge of collapse.

But the Broncos have some definite issues right now. They lost to Cal State Los Angeles 54-53 on a last-second basket on Saturday. Yes the Broncos are 5-4, not exactly the 5-5 of last year when they ran the table the rest of the way, shared a conference title and made a run to the national championship game.

But this year the Broncos are playing nine of their last 13 on the road with games at some tough places to place such as Humboldt State, San Francisco State and Cal State San Bernardino.

This year the Broncos don’t have a Larry Gordon or a Walter Thompson. They’re lacking a “go-to” player that wants to take a last shot. They have some good role players in Austin Swift and Donnelle Booker but they haven’t emerged as anything more than that just yet. And the Broncos need more than that.

There are some talented younger players such as Mitchel Anderson. But he’s a true freshman that isn’t quite ready for a starring role yet. They have a JuCo transfer in Mark Rutledge who has potential, but he too is a newcomer in a difficult conference.

Maybe Kamansky work some magic again. But it will take an even more Herculian effort than last season’s.

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