San Francisco Dons
Overall Rank: #100
Conference Rank: #5 WCC
San Francisco Team Page
2010-11: 19-15, 10-4
2010-11 postseason: CIT
Coach: Rex Walters (42-52 at San Francisco, 73-85 overall)
Coach Rex Walters has started building a winner at San Francisco. The expectations were pretty low last season after the Dons lost their leading scorer Dior Lowhorn. And they did start off slow, but a 10-4 conference record was good enough for third place in the West Coast Conference. It was the play of former role players Michael Willams and Rashad Green that catapulted San Francisco into the postseason. Williams is a superb outside shooter and a very good rebounder for a 6-0 junior. He led the team in scoring last year and should again this year, unless Green can catch up to him. Green, at 6-4, can hit some outside shots, but he does most of his scoring by attacking the basket. After averaging 12.5 points, 5.8 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.1 steals per contest as a junior, expect another balanced year from Green.
Who’s Out:
Outside of the five usual starters, who are all returning, it was Moustapha Diarra and Marko Petrovic who provided much of the depth. Those two will be missed a bit, but there are certainly other options ready to step up and get the job done. Diarra was the big man under the basket who could score, rebound and block shots. There is not really another big man on the roster that can do all of those things as well as Diarra…at least not immediately. Petrovic was pretty much a shooter off of the bench and occasionally he did provide a nice offensive spark.
Who’s In:
Of the two incoming freshmen, shooting guard Chris Adams is the more likely candidate to work his way into the regular rotation. With plenty of talent in front of him, Adams will find it difficult, but this group could use a shooter off of the bench if sophomore Avery Johnson is not up to the job. Mark Tollefson is a 6-8, 170 pound power forward who needs to spend a year or two adding some strength. A couple of redshirt freshmen will likely make a bigger splash. Khalil Murphy can be a solid big man off of the bench and Charles Standifer played in nine games last season and showed some flashes during his limited action. Walk-on transfer Jay Wey could even see a few minutes as a backup point guard if injuries continue to plague that position.
Who to Watch:
Angelo Caloiaro was the only starter returning a year ago and like the roleplayers that picked up the slack, Caloiaro did the same. He upped his production from 8.9 points and 3.7 rebounds per contest to 9.9 points and 7.3 rebounds. The 6-8 senior spends a lot of time on the perimeter, where he knocked down 1.6 three-pointers per game in 2010-2011, but he managed to toughen up when the team needed him to do so and get real tough on the glass. While Caloiaro is not often around for offensive rebounds, Perris Blackwell is. Three of his 7.0 rebounds per game came on the offensive end. Blackwell also emerged as a consistent interior scorer and big things are expected from the 6-9, 240 pound junior. Cole Dickerson and Justin Raffington, along with the newcomers, most notably Murphy, will handle a majority of the frontcourt minutes off of the bench. However, Caloiaro rarely gets into foul trouble and he actually led the team by averaging 33.4 minutes per game last season, so barring an injury, there is not a huge need for a lot of depth in the frontcourt.
Final Projection:
The Dons turnover problems came to an end last season with the emergence of Cody Doolin. As a freshman he dished out 3.5 assists and only turned the ball over 1.9 times. With a year of experience under his belt the combo guard should be even more efficient. Dominique O’Connor actually started the first two games of his redshirt freshman campaign before suffering an injury. For now he needs to get healthy, but he should be a fine backup point guard as long as he can stay on the floor. With five starters returning and plenty of depth up and down the bench, the Dons should be in for a big year. However, the conference got tougher with the addition of BYU and nobody is going to look past San Francisco this year and that may make it difficult for Coach Walters’ team to take the next step.
Projected Postseason Tournament: CBI/CIT
Projected Starting Five:
Cody Doolin, Sophomore, Guard, 7.7 points per game
Michael Williams, Junior, Guard, 14.7 points per game
Rashad Green, Senior, Guard, 12.5 points per game
Angelo Caloiaro, Senior, Forward, 9.9 points per game
Perris Blackwell, Junior, Forward, 10.7 points per game
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