We have a whopping 6 scholarships available, and of course we go 0-4 on every position that's not PG or SG, where we land two.
Code:
#11 PG Robert Serra
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Height: 6-2
Weight: 180
High School: Esperanza High School
Hometown: Anaheim, CA
GPA: 2.80
Test Score: 1230
Rating: ***
Attributes:
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Type INS JPS FTS 3PS HND PAS ORB DRB PSD PRD STL BLK QKN STR JMP STA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Current: 27 45 38 56 49 37 19 25 52 30 33 18 86 15 45 57
Potential: C C C A C B F C C D B D
Season Stats:
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PTS OREB REB AST TOS A/T STL BLK PFS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
13.2 1.6 6.2 4.1 3.2 1.28 2.7 0.7 2.2
Shooting Averages:
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FGM FGA FG% FTM FTA FT% 3PM 3PA 3P%
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.6 12.8 .438 0.5 0.7 .769 1.5 4.9 .296
Recruiting Notes:
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Qualified: Yes
Committed to Cal State Northridge
Rankings: West Region #73 Overall, West Region #16 PG
High School Awards: None
Top 5 Schools: *Cal State Northridge, UC Irvine, UC Riverside, Arizona, UNLV
Really more of a 2, but he's a solid get who should be able to contribute right away even with our stacked backcourt. Red/Blue by initial scouting.
Code:
#5 SG Rene Abbott
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Height: 6-6
Weight: 187
High School: Laytonville High School
Hometown: Laytonville, CA
GPA: 2.69
Test Score: 890
Rating: ***
Attributes:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Type INS JPS FTS 3PS HND PAS ORB DRB PSD PRD STL BLK QKN STR JMP STA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Current: 25 36 32 48 7 38 27 45 39 42 29 52 94 33 73 58
Potential: D C C A D C B C D A C C
Season Stats:
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PTS OREB REB AST TOS A/T STL BLK PFS
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
16.9 2.6 6.7 3.6 3.6 1.00 1.4 1.4 2.5
Shooting Averages:
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FGM FGA FG% FTM FTA FT% 3PM 3PA 3P%
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.0 15.3 .458 0.6 1.1 .545 2.3 6.5 .354
Recruiting Notes:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Qualified: Yes
Committed to Cal State Northridge
Rankings: West Region #79 Overall, West Region #14 SG
High School Awards: None
Top 5 Schools: *Cal State Northridge, Oregon, UC Davis, Sacramento State, Portland State
With those awful handles, all-around defensive ability, and size, he projects as a SF. I'm honestly more excited for him than I am Serra, despite the lower Red/Green floor.
Major Ramirez is willing to redshirt, but he projects as the starting PF right away and... yeah I have to be in as a true freshman. We need wins to keep the AD happy. We'll worry about this long-term instead.
You have to go back to the
Velarde/Luther/Gem Rodriguez/Winston Reyes/Thomas Hadden senior season to find a lineup this out and out talented. That 2019 squad finished 19-12 (11-7) ranked #90,
the only time in universe history the Matadors have finished in the Top 100.
And yes, that's
Major Ramirez at Yellow/Green as a true freshman, *and* he's one of our Key Players alongside
Kevin McKenzie and
Bogdan Gonchar. 72 Inside/83 Defense.. and paired with
Muhammed Owen's 69 Defense/Blocking, this is our best defensive pair in the paint ever.
It's a down year for the Big West at first glance, so I might actually get us to the Big Dance and save my job.
@ NJIT
The Highlanders are still an absolute joke of a team and this should be a cakewalk tuneup.
Annnnd they go up 34-19 at the half, shooting 50% to our 30.8%. Unbelievable.
We fight back and with 15 seconds left,
Eutropio Rey sinks the jump shot to put us up. They miss the 3 pointer that would have taken the win. Box score is sorta crazy:
Code:
Cal State Northridge 71, NJIT 69
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Cal State Northridge (1-0, 0-0):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Muhammad Owen C 25 1-3 0-2 0 2 0 4 2
Major Ramirez PF 15 2-3 2-2 0 2 0 4 6
Bogdan Gonchar SF 31 6-10 5-6 2 7 2 3 17
Kevin McKenzie SG 34 4-12 4-7 1 7 2 2 13
Jakub Sedlacek PG 23 3-7 2-2 1 3 1 1 9
Eutropio Rey PG 19 3-6 6-6 0 1 2 1 13
Jeromy Harrington SF 12 3-6 3-4 1 3 0 1 11
Tim Grey PF 23 0-1 0-0 1 5 0 0 0
Jeffery Aponte SF 1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 1 0
Tony Salazar C 15 0-1 0-0 0 2 0 0 0
Conrad Magee PF 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 1 1 0
Turnovers: 14 (M.Owen 1, M.Ramirez 2, B.Gonchar 5,
K.McKenzie 4, J.Aponte 1, T.Salazar 1)
Blocked Shots: 4 (B.Gonchar 1, T.Salazar 2, C.Magee 1)
Steals: 7 (M.Ramirez 1, B.Gonchar 1, K.McKenzie 1,
J.Sedlacek 2, E.Rey 1, T.Grey 1)
3P FGs: 5-15 (K.McKenzie 1-5, J.Sedlacek 1-3, E.Rey
1-3, J.Harrington 2-4)
NJIT (0-1, 0-0):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Timothy Munro C 28 4-6 0-0 1 7 0 2 8
Bernard Gerena PF 25 0-1 1-2 1 4 0 3 1
Jose Lasalle SF 34 9-18 4-6 1 3 3 4 24
Cletus Morales SG 33 3-11 0-0 1 5 4 3 7
Roland Cook PG 32 7-12 0-1 1 4 5 4 16
Joshua Babb PF 28 3-5 0-0 0 5 1 3 7
Rocky Nelson PF 12 1-1 0-0 2 4 1 2 2
Steven Durham SF 2 1-2 0-0 0 1 0 0 3
Milo Elkins PG 6 0-0 1-3 0 0 0 3 1
D. Vanderwerff C 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Turnovers: 17 (T.Munro 3, B.Gerena 3, J.Lasalle 2,
C.Morales 3, R.Cook 4, R.Nelson 1, M.Elkins 1)
Blocked Shots: 1 (R.Cook 1)
Steals: 6 (B.Gerena 1, J.Lasalle 2, C.Morales 2, J.Babb
1)
3P FGs: 7-17 (J.Lasalle 2-3, C.Morales 1-6, R.Cook 2-4,
J.Babb 1-3, S.Durham 1-1)
Player of Game: PG Eutropio Rey (CSNTH)
So.much.foul.trouble. for our starting bigs. If that trend continues, we're in deep water, as
Tim Grey is our only reliable bench big.
@ Brown
The Bears have profiled similarly to us - a mid-tier to below-average team in their conference, having a rough spot the last couple seasons. This should be a win but after nearly losing to NJIT, I take nothing for granted.
Shooting continues to be a problem. We're down 1 at the half because we're shooting just 26.1% as a team.
28.8% for the game. Fuck this.
We give up 135 points to UConn. Yeah. It's that kind of year.
I'm already in quick summary mode. We wallop
Eastern Kentucky after The Gauntlet, turning 22 points and 3 steals from PotG
Kevin McKenzie, 12/8/4/4/3 from
Tim Grey, 12 points and 2 steals from
Bogdan Gonchar, and 11 points from
Major Ramirez into an 84-67 victory.
Major Ramirez has a coming out party of 20 points to go with
Kevin McKenzie's 10 points and 3 steals as we come back to beat
Kennesaw State 54-51 in a heartstopper, but then we lose
Eutropio Rey for over a month. Not cool, but typical for our luck.
Still, it's our first time in a few years we've actually gotten some wins in the non-conference slate. And we get back to .500 on the year with the most amazing game we've had in literal ages.
Code:
Cal State Northridge 96, Morehead State 64
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Morehead State (2-6, 0-0):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Brian Gillespie C 24 1-2 0-1 0 7 1 2 2
Claude Perez PF 15 3-4 0-1 4 7 1 4 6
Walter Johnson SF 27 2-12 1-2 0 3 0 2 6
Timmy Boutwell SG 16 4-7 4-4 1 1 3 4 16
Harold Jones PG 34 3-7 2-3 0 3 6 3 8
Jewell Benford PF 18 1-2 0-0 0 2 1 1 2
Stephen Boger SG 12 2-2 0-0 0 1 1 5 4
Daniel Hill C 21 4-10 1-3 0 2 0 2 10
Ben Vestal PF 18 3-6 2-4 2 3 1 2 8
Erasmo Moeller SF 9 0-2 2-2 0 0 0 0 2
Roland Roberson PG 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Emmanuel Webb SG 2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Turnovers: 19 (B.Gillespie 1, C.Perez 2, W.Johnson 1,
T.Boutwell 4, H.Jones 3, J.Benford 2, S.Boger 2,
D.Hill 1, B.Vestal 1, E.Moeller 1, E.Webb 1)
Blocked Shots: 1 (C.Perez 1)
Steals: 0
3P FGs: 6-20 (W.Johnson 1-6, T.Boutwell 4-6, H.Jones
0-4, D.Hill 1-3, E.Moeller 0-1)
Cal State Northridge (4-4, 0-0):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Muhammad Owen C 19 4-7 0-0 2 4 1 4 8
Major Ramirez PF 26 6-9 5-7 2 5 0 3 17
Bogdan Gonchar SF 26 8-16 1-6 2 4 3 2 18
Kevin McKenzie SG 29 5-10 5-6 0 5 1 3 17
Jakub Sedlacek PG 22 2-4 0-2 1 2 6 2 4
Jeromy Harrington SF 24 5-7 5-6 0 3 1 0 17
Tim Grey PF 21 3-3 2-3 4 14 1 0 8
Ned Fraser PG 11 1-3 0-0 0 1 1 1 2
Jeffery Aponte SF 8 1-3 0-0 1 1 1 4 3
Tony Salazar C 13 1-2 0-1 1 2 0 3 2
Conrad Magee PF 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Turnovers: 11 (B.Gonchar 1, J.Sedlacek 2, J.Harrington
2, T.Grey 1, N.Fraser 2, T.Salazar 2, C.Magee 1)
Blocked Shots: 1 (M.Ramirez 1)
Steals: 7 (M.Owen 1, B.Gonchar 2, K.McKenzie 1,
J.Sedlacek 1, N.Fraser 1, T.Salazar 1)
3P FGs: 6-14 (B.Gonchar 1-3, K.McKenzie 2-5, J.Sedlacek
0-1, J.Harrington 2-4, J.Aponte 1-1)
Player of Game: PF Major Ramirez (CSNTH)
Then it's this universe's
Lafayette Leopards. No
Graham Sims so their only postseason appearance is a first round NIT exit a few years ago. And they've been on a major downslide recently. Naturally they beat us when our offense completely dies.
Beat
Stony Brook 87-65 on 21 points from
Kevin McKenzie, 18 points and 2 steals from
Jakub Sedlacek, 14 points and a steal from
Jeromy Harrington, and 10 points, a steal from
Muhammed Owen. Top it off by losing
Ned Fraser for 24 days and
Tim Grey for a little over a week.
Yes, we're back to the bullshit injuries parade.
16 points, 8 rebounds from
Kevin McKenzie, 15 points, 2 steals from
Bogdan Gonchar, and PotG
Tim Grey's 12 points, 8 rebounds, 1 steal as he plays injured grinds out a 73-67 victory to give us an actual winning non-conference record. Oh, and 15 rebounds and a block from
Muhammed Owen, who hasn't put up the stud boarding numbers I expected this year.
We steal a 3* big man recruit. More excitement.
Code:
#2 C Brian Klingensmith
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Height: 6-7
Weight: 238
High School: Agua Fria High School
Hometown: Avondale, AZ
GPA: 2.35
Test Score: 880
Rating: ***
Attributes:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Type INS JPS FTS 3PS HND PAS ORB DRB PSD PRD STL BLK QKN STR JMP STA
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Current: 43 25 27 0 17 15 15 46 59 0 21 10 18 91 12 13
Potential: A B D F B F B C C F D F
Season Stats:
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PTS OREB REB AST TOS A/T STL BLK PFS
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15.4 1.8 6.7 1.3 2.0 0.63 1.9 0.6 1.9
Shooting Averages:
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FGM FGA FG% FTM FTA FT% 3PM 3PA 3P%
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6.3 10.0 .628 2.9 6.0 .475 0.0 0.0 .000
Recruiting Notes:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Qualified: Yes
Committed to Cal State Northridge
Rankings: #42 C, West Region #46 Overall, West Region #10 C
High School Awards: None
Top 5 Schools: *Cal State Northridge, UCLA, Utah, Iowa, Tennessee
Raw as hell, but whatever. We need bodies in the paint.
Oh and Bogdan Gonchar's year is done. He got hit with an academic suspension at the worst possible time.
