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| | Friday, November 10 Big West Breakdown | |||||||||||||||||||||||
ESPN.com
Senior, 6-4, Long Beach State Senior, 5-10, Utah State Senior, 6-9, Cal Poly Senior, 6-6, Utah State Senior, 6-7, Cal State Fullerton Player of Year ... Ramel Lloyd, G, Long Beach State The 49ers lost last year's Big West Player of the Year, Mate Milisa, but we expect Lloyd to return to his level of two seasons ago when he transferred in from Syracuse and averaged 18 points a game. Last year's 14.8 averaged was due in part to Milisa's presence inside. The ball stays on the perimeter more this season and goes through the 6-4 Lloyd. Introducing ... Jamaal Scott, G, Cal Poly Never shy to throw his freshmen into action, especially ones as good as Scott, head coach Jeff Schneider doesn't figure to keep the 6-5 shooter on the bench long. Scott averaged 14 points a game at Shadow Mountain (Phoenix) High School and was named Arizona's top prep player. He had offers from several Pac-10 schools, as well as Gonzaga and Pittsburgh before choosing the Mustangs. Best backcourt ... Utah State: Bernard Rock and Tony Brown. Brown shot 43 percent from 3-point range, while Rock directed the offense just fine without much tutoring (10.0 ppg., 4.4 apg.). The 6-3 Brown also grabbed nearly eight rebounds, while averaging 11.6 points a night. The depth is very young -- four freshmen, led by 5-10 Thomas Vincent. Best frontcourt ... Long Beach State: Travis Reed, James Williams and Grant Stone. Williams (12.2 ppg., 7.3 rpg) is the only proven frontline player in a 49ers' uniform, but his friends up front have nice credentials. Reed sat out last season after transferring in from UCLA, while Stone should see much more time in his senior season after showing a tendency to step up his game in the spotlight -- scoring 15 points in a win over New Mexico State and 10 in a win over USC. Juco newcomer Vance Lawhorn (6-8, 210) will come off the bench quickly after averaging 18.6 points while shooting 65.3 percent at Dixie JC (Utah). Team on way up ... Boise State: After suffering its first losing season in 10 years and finishing 6-10 in the Big West, look for a more experienced group of Broncos to at least get back to the conference tournament this season. Team on way down ... Cal State Fullerton: Matching last year's three wins in conference will be a chore, not to mention the eight victories overall. We feel for new head coach Donny Daniels in his return to his old stomping grounds. Tournament tough ... NCAA: Utah State. NIT: Long Beach State. | ALSO SEE ESPN.com Preseason Top 25 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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