San Francisco, Calif.--- For the second week in a row, the SF State men’s basketball team coveted votes in the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Division II Top 25 Poll. The Gators are off to their best start in school history with a 7-0 record. The last time that a Gator men’s basketball team was ranked in the top 25 was on January 3, 1994, when SF State was 17th.
SF State will return to the court this weekend, when the Gators host the Inaugural SF State Invitational. The Gators will face the fourth ranked team in the NAIA Division I, Concordia (Calif.) at 5:30pm this Friday, December 12. Then this Saturday, December 13 at 7:30pm, the Gators will host the Urban Knights of Academy of Art University.
Alex Thomas (Vallejo, California, Dominican University) leads the Gators with his 17.6 points per game average. He is shooting 48% from the field and 78.9% from the charity stripe while dishing out 16 assists and recording 12 steals.
Thomas was named the Wilson/California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Men’s Basketball Player of the Week for the week of December 1-7. He averaged 20.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 2.0 steals per game in SF State’s two CCAA wins over Cal State Stanislaus and Chico State.
Robert Hayes (San Diego, California, St. Augustine's) is next on the team in scoring with his 14.6 average and also leads the team with his 21 assists and 15 steals. Senior forward
Will Logan (Apple Valley, California, Apple Valley)is third on the Gators with his 9.1 scoring average and is shooting 49% from the field, 50% from three-point land while grabbing 4.4 rebounds per game.
Robert Hayes is 2nd on the Gators in Scoring
SF State has six players that are in the top 20 in this week’s CCAA statistical report that was released yesterday afternoon. Thomas is fourth in scoring, ninth in free throw percentage, tied for ninth in steals, and 13th in three-point field goals made. Hayes is fifth in steals, eighth in scoring, 11th in assist/turnover ratio, and 11th in assists.
Darryl Robinson (San Mateo, California, Canada College) is eighth in blocked shots and 11
th in rebounding and steals while
Brad Visman (Placerville, California, UC Riverside) is tied for third in blocked shots, seventh in rebounding, and ninth in field goal percentage.
Phoenix O'Rourke (San Mateo, California, Junipero Serra) is tied for ninth in steals and tied for 15
th in three-point field goal percentage while
Ryan Wessels (Napa, California, Napa Valley College) is tied for 12
th in free throw percentage.
Phoenix O'Rourke Leads the Gators with his 40% shooting from 3-point land
Four of the Gators’ seven victories have been against NCAA Division II West Regional opponents, Northwest Nazarene (87-73), Seattle Pacific (70-65), Cal State Stanislaus (70-67), and Chico State (60-49). They went 2-0 in two classic format tournaments in the Ron Logsdon Classic and Otter Classic.
Hayes was named the Tournament MVP of the Ron Logsdon Classic while
Brad Visman and
Alex Thomas were selected to the All-Tournament Team.
After their two games this weekend, SF State will be off until January 2nd, when the Gators finish of their 2008-09 regular season with 18 straight conference games beginning at Humboldt State at 7:30pm on the second. They will conclude their regular season on February 27 at home against Cal State San Bernardino at 7:30pm in their regular season home finale. The Gators are looking ahead to the 2008-09 CCAA Basketball Championships which will take place on March 3, 6-7 with the semi-finals and finals being in San Bernardino. The top eight teams in the CCAA at the regular season on February 27 will receive bids to the conference tournament with the winner receiving the automatic bid to the 2009 NCAA Division II Basketball Championships which begin on March 14.
NABC Coaches Polls- Division II
RANK SCHOOL (1ST Place Votes) Record Points Prev. Rank
1. Findlay, Ohio (8) 5-0 200 1
2. South Carolina Aiken 4-0 190 2
3. Augusta State, Ga. 3-0 183 4
4. Southwest Baptist, Mo. 7-0 178 5
5. Gannon, Pa. 4-0 163 6
6. Minnesota State 8-1 156 8
7. Central Oklahoma 8-1 142 3
8. BYU Hawaii 3-0 140 9
9. LIU-CW Post, NY 4-0 134 10
10. Catawba, NC 8-0 129 14
11. Grand Valley State, Mich. 6-1 124 7
12. Central Washington 4-1 101 19
13. Arkansas-Monticello 8-0 97 23
14. Kentucky Wesleyan 7-1 83 12
15. North Alabama 6-2 60 11
16. Northern Kentucky 5-2 58 20
17. Pittsburgh-Johnstown, Pa. 6-1 57 15
18. Missouri Southern 9-0 52 NR
19. St. Martin’s, Wash. 9-2 49 25
20. Ouachita Baptist, Ark. 7-1 45 NR
21. Bellarmine, Ky. 5-0 27 NR
22. Cal State Dominguez Hills 7-0 26 NR
23. Elizabeth City State, NC 8-0 25 NR
24. Valdosta State, Ga. 8-1 24 NR
25. Southern Indiana 9-2 19 NR
Receiving Votes: Drury, Mo. (18), Tampa (Fla.) 12, West Liberty State (WV), 12, Arkansas Tech 11, Bentley (Mass.) 10, SW Oklahoma State 10, Edinboro (Pa.) 9, Angelo State (Tex.) 7, Northern State (SD) 7, Clayton State (Ga) 5, Merrimack (Mass.) 5, Benedict (SC) 4, St. Edward’s (Texas) 4, San Francisco State 3, Augustana (SD) 2, Francis Marion (SC) 2, Northern Michigan 2, West Texas A&M 2, Western Washington 2, Ashland (Ohio) 1, Southwest Minnesota State 1.