A consistent roster please! (FSU-SJSU preview)

Are we all up on our classwork this semester?

FSU heads to San Jose to begin road swing:

The Fresno State Bulldogs will play rival San Jose State Thursday night and avoid losing back to back games in San Jose for the first time in 17 years. This will be the first game of the two game road swing. On Saturday, the Dogs will be in Hawaii to take on the Warriors. At the end of the road trip the Bulldogs will have begun WAC play with four of their first five on the road.

Also, the Dogs were dealt another blow to an already difficult season when sophomore guard Bryan Harvey became academically ineligible for the spring semester. Harvey was averaging 10.6 points per game, and although he never became a consistent offensive force, he had been a big help on the boards and stepped up his game on defense. He joins Rekalin Sims and Dwight O’ Neil as would-be starters missing parts or all of the season.

The Dogs coming in:

The Bulldogs enter the SJSU game off of a 69-53 home victory over Idaho. Eddie Miller matched a career high with 27 points, including 7 three pointers. Kevin Bell added 17 points and 7 assists, continuing his stellar season. The Dogs only turned the ball over a season low 4 times. That ties them for the lowest in school history.

Ned Golubovic had 8 points, making three of the last four games in which he has scored 8 points, including 3 WAC games in a row. The victory came despite the fact that Idaho was able to corral 16 offensive rebounds to the Dogs 7.

Getting to know San Jose State:

The Spartan are maybe the most improved team in the WAC, although Idaho has made major strides, the Spartan cemented themselves on January 10 with a home victory over Nevada, their first in 7 years. Guard Justin Graham is the Spartans leading scorer at 12.7 points per, unfortunately he went down with an elbow injury that will keep him out the rest of the season.

The Spartans are led by former Porterville JC head Coach George Nessman who is in his third season in San Jose. Nessman has done a very nice job mixing D1 transfers, JC transfers, and overlooked High School talent.

What to looks for:

This will be a very difficult game for the Dogs, San Jose will be confident as they split the series last season, and they have defeated Nevada at home this season. With the loss of Harvey on top of the already thin bench and difficult matchup and personnel issues, the Dogs have a tough road ahead in WAC play. The difficulty begins Thursday against SJSU.

MBs Take:

No, Harvey, a thinner bench, on the road against a team that beat Nevada, I say Dogs win 73-71.