It's Cal State Bakersfield on Wednesday

So it's the Field of Bakers coming to town Wednesday night, specifically Walt McPherson Court, 7 p.m. The Roadrunners are struggling but is a team with a mix of talent and potential. As expected, Coach Keith Brown has encountered difficulty bringing in 'bigs' but he certainly has some players who can do damage.

Such as, from the 'We've Been Saving This For Quite A While' and 'The For What It's Worth' Departments comes this pre-season item from Rivals:

Rivals Independent Teams Preseason Picks
First team

F Trent Blakley, 6-4, Sr., CS Bakersfield
F Tyler Cain, 6-8, Sr., South Dakota
F Cecil Gresham, 6-5, Sr., Bryant
G Travis Bledsoe, 5-11, Sr., North Dakota
G/F Dana Smith, 6-5, Sr., Longwood

Rivals Independent Teams Preseason Picks
Second team

F Santwon Latunde, 6-6, Sr., CS Bakersfield
F Carl Montgomery, 6-7, Jr., Chicago State
F Mark Yelovich, 6-5, Soph., SIU Edwardsville
G Brian Fisher, 6-2, Sr., Winston-Salem State
G Nick Weiermiller, 6-1, Jr., UT Pan American


On January 12 of this year, Cal State Bakersfield won 61-55. The RR's grabbed 40 boards, including 19 offensively, to SJSU's 33. Forward Santwon Latunde led the way with 12 points (6-11 shooting) and nabbed nine rebounds.


Currently, CSUB is 1-5:

Nov 13 Santa Clara University 81 - 84 (L)

Nov 17 Utah Valley University 58 - 51 (W)

Nov 20 UCLA at Westwood, CA 64 - 75 (L)

Nov 30 Cal State Northridge at Northridge, CA 74 - 81 (L)

Dec 02 UC Riverside at Riverside, CA 47 - 87 (L)

Dec 06 Oregon State at Corvallis, OR 39 - 74 (L)


The Roadrunner Starting Five

Santwon Latunde F 9.2 ppg. 8.8 rpg. (39 free throws attempts in six games)

Trent Blakley F 16.3 ppg. 5.0 rpg. (52 three-point attempts, hitting 30%, just one assist in six games)

Stephon Carter G 10.3 ppg. 4.5 rpg. (leads the team with 17 assists, best freshman recruit so far for Coach Keith Brown)

Donovan Bragg G 10.2 ppg. 3.2 rpg. (the best passer on the squad)

Bryan Emmanuel G (the best backcourt defender, started every game last season as a freshman)

Off The Bench

Donald Johnson G

Jose Lara C

Cory Brown C - has been ill, unsure if he will be available



The Bakersfield Roster (by position)

Donovan Bragg G 6-3 196 Jr
Stephon Carter G 6-3 180 Fr
Bryan Emanuel G 6-2 200 So
Marcus Hall G 6-3 185 Fr
Robert Hayes G 5-10 186 Jr
Alex Johnson G 5-10 170 Jr
Jeff Osborne G 5-10 163 So
Chris Smith G 6-1 175 Jr (a bigtime junior college scorer, redshirted last season, has yet to play this season)

James Albright F 6-6 212 Fr (Fremont High, Oakland)
Trent Blakley F 6-4 220 Sr
George DeLeon F 6-4 200 Jr
Donald Johnson 6-8 215 So
Santwon Latunde F 6-6 262 Sr

Jose Lara C 6-8 280 Sr
Cory Brown C 6-10 223 Jr


What To Expect

* Bakersfield isn't shooting well as a team, just 34% overall and 29% on threes, scoring 61 ppg and allowing 75. Does San Jose State play man or zone or a mixture?

* The Spartans will look to pound it inside both for scoring purposes and to get the Roadrunner 'bigs' in foul trouble.

* Can Adrian Oliver and Justin Graham get their outside shooting going in this contest?

Coverage: KSJS (90.5 FM, San Jose) originates San Jose State University basketball broadcasts. Mike Chisholm will call the play-by-play and air time is 6:30 p.m.