Bulldogs open exhibition schedule with a win

Well, you can call it a good start to the basketball season for Fresno State, but I for one am a little worried after Fresno State knocked off Fresno Pacific 97-88 on Tuesday night.

The reason that I'm a little concerned you ask? Should the Bulldogs be giving up 88 points to Fresno Pacific? What's going to happen when teams like Nevada and Boise State come calling? Yes, I know this is a young team and they are definitely in a rebuilding mode with a lot of young players and just one senior, but the defense needs to tighten up. They'll face off against Cal State Stanislaus on Saturday afternoon at 2pm from the Save Mart Center.

The promising thing I take away from the victory is freshmen Paul George and Mychal Ladd, who led the Bulldogs in scoring. George lit up the scoreboard with a 28 point performance, on 11-of-17 shooting, as well as collecting five steals while Ladd chipped in with 21 points of his own, lone senior Dwight O'Neil added 16 points and 7 assists also for the Bulldogs.

Head coach Steve Cleveland, "I am most proud that these guys found a way to win the game by making plays. I appreciate all the fans that came out to watch and know that the support is going to continue to grow."

The attendance on the night was 8,657 at the Save Mart Center, not a bad turnout for an opening night exhibition game.

Bulldogs, Fresno Pacific open exhibition schedule tomorrow night

College Basketball has returned! Well, not officially, not yet anyway. Fresno State will open the exhibition portion of their schedule as they welcome in Fresno Pacific, tomorrow night at 8pm, then they'll face off against Cal State Stanislaus on Saturday afternoon at 2pm.

Though these won't be the toughest tests this young team will face, it'll give the fans as well as head coach Steve Cleveland and his staff an idea of how this team will perform in certain situations and against certain calibre teams.

The exhibition schedule will prepare this team for when they open the season on national television on November 17th. Fresno State will take part in a 24-hour basketball coverage being held on ESPN. That game will be at the Save Mart Center and will tip off at 11pm local time. It will be the first of two games that will get national exposure, the second of which will be on February 19th as they'll host the Hawaii Warriors at the Save Mart Center.

This is a very young team with just one senior, that being Sr guard Dwight O'Neil, but O'Neil has take the role of the leader on this team. We'll see if he makes enough of an impact on these young players to hopefully make a good showing in the Western Athletic Conference.

Bulldogs begin preperation for 2008-2009 season Friday

The anticipation for the 2008-2009 Men's basketball season officially kicks into gear this coming Friday as the team will have their first official practice. Unfortunately for head coach Steve Cleveland and his staff, he will be at a disadvantage with only 9 allotted scholarships instead of the usual 13 due to rule violations by former coaches and players.

The Bulldogs basketball team will open their exhibition schedule on November 5th against Fresno Pacific and then follow that up with their 2nd of 2 exhibition games on November 9th against Cal State Stanislaus. The Bulldogs will then open their regular season schedule at home on November 14th against Sacramento State, their official home opener at The Save Mart Center.

On Tuesday, the media and coaches voted on how the WAC conference would shake out, the pre-season All-Americans as well as their votes for player of the year. Fresno State was voted to finish 7th in the media poll while the coaches poll had them finishing 8th. Head Coach Steve Cleveland and Sr Guard Dwight O'Neil were part of a WAC Teleconference that afternoon. If you didn't get a chance to hear that teleconference, you can click this link and hear their thoughts on the upcoming 2008-2009 season.

Fresno State will be a part of ESPN's College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon, 23 hours of college basketball coverage, that will get underway at 11pm EST with a tripleheader. The first game, tipping off at midnight easter, will be Massachussetts at Memphis followed by Fresno State at St. Mary's at 2am EST and Idaho State at Hawaii at 4am EST. Coverage will finish at 9pm EST with Kentucky at North Carolina. For coverage breakdown as far as what you can look forward to seeing during those 23 hours, you can click HERE.