For four years, Casper Ware, Larry Anderson, T.J. Robinson and Eugene Phelps were regulars on the basketball court at the Walter Pyramid.
Now, for the first time since 2008, the core four that led Long Beach State to a Big West Conference championship and NCAA tournament appearance in 2012 are nowhere to be found near the blue venue that the 49ers call home.
Ware is in Italy, playing for Novipiu Casale while his NBA dreams are put on hold. Anderson took his talents to Belgium, where he is leading Generali Okapi Aalstar in the Ethias League. Robinson is a backup on the Santa Cruz Warriors of the NBA Development League, and Phelps is one of nine Americans playing for Abejas De Guanajuato in Mexico.
The only key contributors left over from last year’s tourney team are sophomore point guard Mike Caffey and senior forward James Ennis.
“Everything is just scrambled right now,” Ennis said. “[The 2012 seniors] had chemistry, and right now we’re still building on that. It’ll take a little time, but once we get that, we’ll be good.”
Despite the exodus of experience, The Beach is favored to win a second consecutive Big West title. That projection is largely a product of the high expectations placed on Caffey, who was believed to be one of the best point guards in the Big West despite being a backup last year, and Ennis, who was recently named to the preseason All-Big West team.
Basketball is a team sport, however, and the individual success of Caffey and Ennis will only take the ‘Niners so far. Without Ware, Anderson, or any of the other stars from 2012, LBSU is in search of a leader, and as the ones with the most on-court experience in 49er uniforms, Caffey and Ennis make the most sense for the job.
That doesn’t mean the transition has been easy. According to head coach Dan Monson, the most established returners may have gotten more accustomed to following orders than giving them.
“It isn’t their personality really to be leaders,” he said. “They’re all kind of quiet kids who lead by example … now they’ve just got to be a little bit more verbal with their teammates.”
Monson doesn’t see the lack of verbal expression as a problem, however, as he added that he is “happy with the leadership right now.”
Problem or not, the lack of a vocal leader is something that will fade as the season progresses. All teams build an identity, and with that identity comes a sense of who the true leaders are. Caffey said he is up for the challenge.
“I feel like I’m handling it well so far,” he said. “I’ve got a long way to go as a leader, because last year I was more of the backup guy and just followed Casper [Ware] and all of them. I struggled a little bit at the beginning [of this year], but I’m getting better.”
Caffey is taking over for one of the best basketball players in LBSU history in Ware, who won the Big West Offensive Player of the Year award in each of the past two seasons. In his first season as a 49er, Caffey averaged just fewer than 6 points per game coming off the bench. He actually performed better than Ware in shooting percentage and three-point percentage, as he bested the Bob Cousy award nominee by 41 percent and 19 percent in the respective categories.
“[The experience] helped me because I’ve been through it all, and I kind of know a little bit more than the other guys,” he said. “I just try to help everybody out and get them ready for the season.”
LBSU is transitioning from one era to another, but it is still expected to produce similar results on the court.
The leadership of Caffey and Ennis will go a long way toward accomplishing those results.