Season Preview 2005-06

After 2 years of rebuilding, the Slugs doubled their win total of Coach Johnson's first year to 6 wins. This year's Slugs should be called the "Running Slugs" as they look to run their way into the history books as the first men's basketball team to make it to the NCAA Division III post-season tournament.

Last year's team finished the season winning 6 of their final 10 games, nearly winning all 10, they showed Slug fans what the future will look like. Unfortunately, 8 players have been lost from last year, five to graduation. This year's team will miss those players, with the biggest loss being Derek Jones (2nd Team All-Independent, now playing professionally with the Los Angeles Aftershock in the ABL) and Matt Robles, who has joined the coaching staff at the University of Puget Sound.

This year's returnees of Jimmy Herrera (All-Independent Honorable Mention), Jon Mercado, Lorenzo Hutton, Bryan Maeda, Fernando Barreda and Murphy Holmes will be counted on to resume where they left off and to jump start an influx of talented newcomers.

Senior Jon Miller (coming back after a year off), Junior Jarrod Heredia (transfer from UC Davis), Sophomore Nick Holland-Lassiter, Freshman Charlie Peck and Freshman Michael Hicks, are going to bring added depth, along with their overall basketball skills.

The coaching staff feels that this year's team is much improved in several areas and could potentially be one of the best teams to come through UCSC in the past few years. This year's team is bigger, stronger, and faster. They will be a better defensive team, as the focus this year is to stop opponents with their overall speed and strength. "We are going to be a pressing team and very explosive on the offensive end as well," states Johnson. Coach Johnson also feels this year's team will be a better scoring and rebounding team than last year and this alone should make them an overall better squad and a lot of fun to watch.

With a great mix of solid returners and talented newcomers, Coach Johnson and the Slugs are looking forward to a successful 2005-06 season.