To say that the 2013-14 season is a fresh start for the Long Beach State men’s basketball team would be an understatement.
It’s been almost eight months since LBSU walked off the court at Baylor’s Ferrell Center, fresh off a 112-66 loss in the National Invitational Tournament that was one of the worst in school history.
It’s been almost six months since the scholarships of four players, including two starters, were not renewed, effectively dismissing them from the team.
It’s been little more than four months since the 49ers’ best player from a year ago, James Ennis, was drafted by the Miami Heat. Ennis is currently dominating competition in Australia.
The similarities between this year and last start with returning starters Mike Caffey and Dan Jennings, and that’s where they end. LBSU introduced eight new players for the 2013-14 season, and the amount of baggage, if any, is minimal.
“This year we’ve got a lot of guys that are willing to learn,” said Caffey, the 49ers’ starting point guard and a first team All-Big West selection last year. “We’re not as athletic as last year’s team, but we listen to the coach, and that’ll be better for us.”
Head coach Dan Monson praised the makeup of this year’s team as well. He also said, though, that it’s hard to get a team that’s as tough as it is easy to work with.
“These are great kids that have good chemistry and good work ethics, but then they become a little bit soft that way,” Monson said. “Sometimes it’s good to have guys that buck the trend a little bit and have a little bit of nasty to them.”
As always, the 49ers will take on a nonconference schedule that will introduce them to toughness almost immediately.
LBSU will face two teams ranked in the Associated Press preseason top 10 in No. 6 Arizona and No. 7 Michigan, as well as vote-getting teams Creighton, Washington and Missouri. That number could grow depending on what happens at the Puerto Rico Tip-off, where No. 14 Virginia Commonwealth and Georgetown are possible opponents.
“This team, especially with all the new guys, it’s going to be a work in progress,” Monson said. “Our preseason is always set up to be a work in progress … The schedule and the travel that we do is all to set up adversity and try to navigate through that.”
Following a nonconference slate that ends with a Jan. 4 trip to Missouri, the 49ers will begin their quest to return to the top of the Big West. The ‘Niners own the last three
regular-season Big West titles, but they have only won one Big West tournament in that time.
Last year, they fell to UC Irvine in the semifinals after finishing with a 14-4 record in conference play.
“When we lost last year I kind of felt like it was all on me,” Caffey said. “Just to basically get to that tournament again is my one goal.”
LBSU will have to get by the Anteaters once again this year, as UCI was picked to win the conference in the Big West preseason media poll. The 49ers were picked to finish fourth.
“A preseason poll is about who you have returning and what you are at physically,” Monson said. “It doesn’t measure anything else.”
When asked if it’s a relief to not be the subject of incredible hype and high expectations for the first time in years, Monson said the expectations do more good than bad.
“I would much rather be picked first,” he said. “You enjoy being favored and all that, but it also is very motivational. It’s like, OK, we’ve got to get going here. Because finishing fourth or fifth is unacceptable.”
To navigate their conference schedule and tournament successfully, the 49ers will have to keep going in the right direction with their attitude and chemistry as a team.
“We’re really starting to come together to be a team,” junior transfer McKay LaSalle said. “We don’t have any jerks on the team or that kind of stuff. A lot of times, at the schools that I’ve been through at the junior college level, there’s always those one or two guys that are all about themselves … we don’t really have that this year.”
The atmosphere has changed at The Beach. The 49ers have a fresh start.
They’ll take it to the court on Nov. 9, when they host Hawaii-Pacific in the annual homecoming game. The contest is set to start at 3 p.m. at the Walter Pyramid.