Before the Cal Poly Pomona men’s basketball team settles into its Division II scheduling in the middle of November, the Broncos will first get on the road to challenge Division I powerhouses Stanford and Arizona this week.
On Thursday, CPP plays Stanford at the Maples Pavillion in a 7 p.m. tipoff. Then on Sunday, the Broncos will take on Arizona at the McKale Center in Tucson, Ariz. Sunday’s game will be televised on Pac-12 Network and it’ll start at 3 p.m. PST (4 p.m. MST in Tucson).
Entering the 2014-15 campaign, CPP is featured at No. 3 in the Basketball Times and Sporting News polls while holding the No. 19 spot in the Division II Bulletin rankings. At the D-I level, Arizona is listed at No. 2 in the USA Today preseason poll and Stanford is receiving votes at the No. 26 spot.
The Broncos’ roster consists of 11 returners and just three newcomers. Junior forwardJordan Faison, an All-CCAA First Team selection last year, averaged 14.2 points per game through 2013-14. Terrence Drisdom, a senior from Corona, returns to the court after redshirting last season. Drisdom is a Preseason All-American heading into 2014-15.
On campus and off campus, support continues to grow for Bronco Athletics. At the 2014 Homecoming game in Kellogg Gym, fans set a school attendance record of 2,757. That weekend proved to be of the many highlights of 2013-14, the university’s 75th Anniversary.
Men’s basketball has experienced plenty of success under the leadership of head coach Greg Kamanksy, who enters his 15th season in the role. The CPP defense has ranked within the top six nationally in each of the past six seasons, including owning the No. 1 spot in the last two years. While with the Broncos, Kamansky has collected 292 wins to just 117 losses. That puts his winning percentage at .714, the highest mark in program history.
Joining Kamansky on the sidelines will be associate head coach Damion Hill and first-year assistant coach Matt Okada. On the opposite benches this week, Stanford is led by head coach Johnny Dawkins while Arizona is coached by Sean Miller.
Thursday’s game in Palo Alto will represent a chance for three Broncos’ student-athletes to return to Northern California. Junior guard Barry Bell is from Oakland while sophomoreJeremy Dennis hails from Richmond and senior Chad Haysbert grew up in Sacramento. Joe Ritzo (@JoeRitzo) will serve as CPP’s play-by-play commentator and the audio stream will be available at ustream.com/cppbroncos.
Sunday’s showdown in Tucson will air on the Pac-12 Network with Kevin Calabro and Don MacLean as the announcers. In the Pomona area, Pac-12 Network is available on AT&T U-Verse (Channels 761, 1761), Dish Network (Channels 406, 409) and Time Warner Cable (369, 375, 376).