2007-08 Season Preview

Hoping to improve on last year’s disappointing 4-22 season, the Young Slugs will be looking for leadership from 6’6” Sophomore Power Forward All-Independent nominee Greg Palmer, 6’5” Senior Small Forward, Jon Morrison and 5’11” Junior Guard, Jon Mercado.  Palmer led the team in scoring 12.3 points per game and was second in rebounding with 4.7 per game.  Both Morrison and Mercado missed last season due to personal reasons, which really hurt the Slugs since they both averaged over 15 points each in last year’s preseason.  Palmer along with fellow Sophomores, 5’10” Point Guard, Ehson Mortazaie (who was second on the team averaging 10.3 points per game and second on the team averaging 2.2 per game) and 6”9” Center, Niel Brennan (third on the team in rebounding at 4.5 per game and the team leader in blocks with 31) are expected to be even better than last year, where each averaged over 20 minutes a game and produced 70% of the teams scoring and rebounding last season.

The team will return 6 players from last year’s team, not counting Morrison and Mercado.  Sophomores; Palmer, Mortazaie, Brennan, 6’5” Forward, Ari Ben-Avram, 5’8” Guards, Miguel Smith and 5’9” Carlos Leon Jr., all logged major minutes on last year’s team with Palmer, Mortazaie and Brennan being starters.       

Head Coach Gordon Johnson feels this year’s team should be much improved in several areas such as scoring, team defense and athleticism.  “We are still going to be young”, states Johnson but that could be a good thing for the program.

“We will be very deep this year and a lot more aggressive on both ends of the floor with the addition of several newcomers and the returnees’ who are bigger and stronger than last year,” states Coach Johnson.

The newcomers are: 5’9” Junior transfer, Eric Davis from West Point (a hard nose Point Guard that adds some needed toughness in the back court); 6’1” Junior Small Forward, Ted Monson and 5’11” Sophomore Point Guard, Brandon Sanchez (both add much needed scoring and solid defense).  The team will add three impressive Freshmen; 6’4” Guard, John Buck, Elsinore H.S., 6’2” Guard, Ryan Matsuoka, Cupertino H.S., and 6’7’ Center, Jacob Moore, Hughson H.S.  All three come from solid high school programs and are bringing a positive winning attitude to the program, the ability to put the ball in the hoop, and relentless defensive pressure.  Each will give some of the returnees a run for their money for starting spots before the season’s end.

Coach Johnson feels this year’s team has the potential to be a better overall squad that will be solid in every position.  This team could be the beginning of a new era for the Men’s Basketball Program.