WarriorBasketball Notebook: Complete PDF Version

The defending California Collegiate Athletic Association tournament champion Cal State Stanislaus opens its defense of the title this weekend as the Warriors travel to L.A. Friday's CCAA match-up pits the Warriors against the Golden Eagles before Saturday's game at Cal State Dominguez Hills.

Friday, Dec. 5, 7:30 p.m.
at Cal State L.A. Golden Eagles (2-1, 1-0 CCAA) | Live Stats | Live Video

Series Notes: The Warriors beat Cal State L.A. twice out of three meetings (including CCAA tournament) in 2013-14 and are now 12-22 against the Golden Eagles (3-14 on the road).

Last Time We Met... was March 6, 2014, during the first game of the CCAA Championships. Rob Walters scored 17 points and pulled 14 rebounds to lead the Warriors over L.A., 58-52.

About the Golden Eagles: Cal State L.A. has won two straight, including a conference win over CSUDH, 70-59, last Saturday … The Golden Eagles are led by Labradford Franklin, who averages 10.3 points per game.

Saturday, Dec. 6, 7:30 p.m.
at Cal State Dominguez Hills Toros (3-3, 0-1 CCAA) | Live Stats | Live Video

Series Notes: Cal State Stanislaus swept Cal State Dominguez Hills in 2013-14 and improved to 15-22 against the Toros alltiime (5-11 in Carson).

Last Time We Met... was Feb. 14, 2014, when Marcus Bell dropped 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the Warriors over the Toros, 76-64. Chris Read added 17 points and Shey Mataele scored 13 to pace Stanislaus.

About the Toros: Cal State Dominguez Hills is coming off the lost versus Cal State L.A. on Saturday (70-59) … The Toros are led by Darnell Martin with 13.2 points and 9.8 rebounds per game. Martin leads the CCAA in rebounding.

Opening the CCAA Schedule on the Road
Last year, the Warriors had a single game at home against Chico State to start the CCAA season. In their first CCAA road trip, the Warriors went 1-1 with a win at Sonoma State (67-61) and loss at San Francisco State (56-71).

Road Warriors
Speaking of being on the road. The Warriors begin this regular season schedule with six straight road contests over four weekends (including spending Thanksgiving Weekend together as a team in Riverside). The Warriors went 11-7 away from Turlock last season (5-1 in neutral site games). Stanislaus will finally make its home debut on Wednesday, Dec. 10.

Back-to-Back Ranked Teams
Cal State Stanislaus played against two top 20 teams last weekend at the CBU Thanksgiving Classic (No. 17 Dixie State and No. 11 California Baptist). It was the first time the Warriors played back to back games against top 20 teams during the regular season since Jan. 29-Feb. 3, 2011 (No. 4 Cal State Dominguez Hills and No. 14 Humboldt State). Last year during the NCAA tournament, the Warriors faced two top 25 teams (No. 11 Seattle Pacific and No. 24 Cal Poly Pomona) in consecutive games.

Not Shooting Particularly Well
Through four games, the Warriors offense have not been sharp as they have shot 35 percent or worse in each contest. As a team, the Warriors are shooting 33.5 percent for the season (74 for 221) with Rob Walters (.433) and Chris Read (.413) the only players at 40 percent or better.

Living — and Dying — By the 3's
The Warriors have shown they will shoot the triples so far, but they have not been as successful as they'd like. The Warriors did not shoot better than 35.7 percent from the arch in any of the four games with a 31.7 seasonal average. In four games, the Warriors are 19 for 60 with Tyler Barber, Alek Carlson and Clinton Tremelling each with five.

Local Talent In Recruiting Class
A number of area prep stars have joined the Warriors program including league MVPs Kyle Gouveia (Calaveras High School; Mother Lode League) and Brennan Pope (Davis; Modesto Metro Conference) plus all-league pick Ryan Donnelly (Central Valley; Western Athletic).

Program's Best Record
Cal State Stanislaus set a program record with 23 wins in 2013-14, more than doubled the win-total from the previous year (10). The last time a Stanislaus team posted 20 wins was in 1992-93 under John Jones (20-8), the only other time a Warrior team had 20 wins since Cal State Stanislaus became a Division II program.

First CCAA Tourney Win
In the team's third appearance in the conference tournament, the Warriors didn't just earn their first postseason win as a Division II team, but they also captured the program's first conference title. The Warriors made it to the CCAA Championships two other times (2011 at Humboldt State, 68-54, and 2012 at Cal Poly Pomona, 69-67) and lost in the first round.

20-Win Seasons
Last year's 23-win season was the program's  fourth-best all-time. The Warriors had 20-plus wins as a Division III program when they went 20-8 in 1986-87 under Bob Thomason. John Jones took the Warriors to a 21-8 record in 1988-89, CSU Stanislaus final year as a Division III program.

20-Win Seasons
1986-87    Bob Thomason    20-8
1988-89    John Jones    21-8
1992-93    John Jones    20-8
2013-14    Larry Reynolds    23-9

Oh, How Sweet It Was
The Warriors made the NCAA Division II tournament for the first time at the end of the last season and posted two victories to advance to the Sweet 16 round. The Warriors beat Seattle Pacific, 80-72, in overtime and took down Cal Poly Pomona 75-69, also in extra time. Chico State rallied late to edge the Warriors, 81-80, in the regional championship game.

CCAA Basketball Championships
The 2014-15 CCAA Men's & Women's Basketball Championship tournament will be held March 5-7. Six teams qualify for the event to be held at the Stockton Arena in Stockton. The winner of the tournament would receive the automatic bid for the NCAA tournament.

CCAA Preseason Coaches Poll
The defending CCAA tournament champions Cal State Stanislaus Warriors were picked to finished third in the upcoming season in a preseason poll of the league's head coaches. The Warriors received two first-place votes and earned 98 points, 10 points behind Cal State San Bernardino, which was picked to finish second. Cal Poly Pomona, which received eight first place votes, was the favor to win the 2014-15 title.