Men's Basketball, Men's Sports, Sports

BASKETBALL GUIDE: Next step for Mike Caffey is growing as vocal leader

First-team All-Big West. Team leader in assists. Second in points only to a man drafted by the Miami Heat.

The accomplishments go on and on for Long Beach State point guard Mike Caffey, who was a prized recruit before he even set foot on The Beach. The 6-foot junior emerged from Corona Centennial High School as one of the top 15 point guards in the country, and he has lived up to the hype under the tutelage of 49er great Casper Ware and head coach Dan Monson.

“The coaches told me I was going to be getting at least 20 minutes a game as a freshman … so I felt that it was a good opportunity for me,” Caffey said. “In my freshman year, I came out and was playing a little over 20 minutes and getting better and better, so I feel like my decision was perfect.”

By the time he was a sophomore, Caffey was ready to break out of Ware’s shadow. He was greeted by the 49ers’ famously rigorous nonconference schedule and a lack of depth at his position, forcing him to log nearly 40 minutes against some of the top teams in the country.

“Growing up in high school, I was always playing against the top players,” Caffey said. “To get here and still be playing the top players, it’s a good opportunity.”
Though the experience was good and helped prepare the team for Big West Conference play, Caffey said his conditioning wasn’t good enough at the time to make the same contributions in the second halves of games as he could in the first.

This year, after he spent his offseason focusing on his conditioning, Caffey is “in the best shape he’s been in since he got [to LBSU].”
Those are the words of Monson, not Caffey.

“I feel like when I’m playing I’m not getting as tired,” Caffey said. “We played a scrimmage, and I was just coming up and down the court just going as fast as I can, and I wasn’t really getting tired. I feel like the conditioning I did in the offseason and then during conditioning really helped out.”

Caffey is always the fastest on the court when the team is doing sprint drills in practice, and he often has enough time left to do an extra run. It’s safe to say that the example he’s setting is nearly perfect, but Monson said there’s one thing he’d like to see more out of Caffey.

“We’re still trying to make [Caffey] emerge as a leader,” he said. “Any great quarterback, point guard or ace pitcher has also been a great leader.”
It’s a challenge star 49ers have faced in the past. James Ennis was never very vocal, electing to let his thunderous dunks do the talking instead. Monson said Ware was the same way.

“It’s not in [Caffey’s] personality to be vocal, and he prefers to lead by example,” Monson said. “But he’s got to be a leader on and off the court.”
Caffey will have that to work on as he tries to lead the 49ers back to the NCAA tournament this season.

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