Sunday, December 16, 2007

Go ahead and hold the Mayo

I was going to write about Cal Poly’s upcoming opponent and how the Mustangs plan on defending USC star guard O.J. Mayo, but I really have no idea how they’re going to defend this guy. And I’m not sure if the Mustangs have a clue either.
I asked Cal Poly coach Kevin Bromley about the matchup problems the 6-foot-5 Mayo would present for the Mustangs’ undersized backcourt toward the tail end of an interview after the CS Bakersfield win, but instead of answering the question Bromley wanted to talk journalism.
“I’d like to talk about how there was nothing in today’s paper about today’s game,” he said. “That’s what I’d like to talk about. There wasn’t even one thing in today’s paper, not an ad or nothing.”
I was going to explain why there wasn’t a preview for Saturday’s game, but the coach turned his back to me after his “response,” so apparently we won’t know how the team’s going to defend Mayo until they play next weekend.

• • •
As far as our previews go, those who read the paper regularly know we don’t typically preview games against nonconference opponents unless it’s at least a decent DI opponent, like the Trojans, who I was trying to write a preview for, oddly enough. A game against a 1-8 Division II program that drew 1,600 fans didn’t fit that requirement with everything going on for Saturday’s paper. ... As far as footing the bill for advertisements, AD Alison Cone is probably the best contact for that one, not a beat writer who doesn't make a third of the coach's $160,000 salary.
• • •
Luckily Cal Poly forward Titus Shelton was willing to talk about the matchup with USC, although he was uncertain exactly how the Mustangs would be defending Mayo, too. All he knows is Cal Poly’s big men are going to have to play physical and might have to offer some help up top.
“I have a lot of confidence in our guards, defensively,” said Shelton, who at only 6-7 (two inches taller than Mayo) is the Mustangs’ starting center. “If they need help, we’ll help them. I have a lot of confidence in our guys, and they usually take the challenge when there’s leading scorers on other teams.”

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bromely is probably on a diet and any thought of Mayo or any other high calorie condiment causes him to possibly wane from his diet. So strategically he spun it on Mr. Milne. What a clever man. Unfortunately that Cal Poly game will be oozing with OJ Mayo.

Anonymous said...

Like the teams Bromely is bringing in deserve previews. As your previous post, http://calpolysportsblog.blogspot.com/2007/11/sos-distress-call-from-mustang-fans.html, mentioned, Cal Poly won't host a team in the RPI top 100 this year. Not that I don't like watching bad NAIA and Divsiion 2 hoops every weekend. Menlow and Bakersfield hung with the Mustangs until late in the games. Now they place SC at their place? Maybe Wozniak can suit up for this one.

Anonymous said...

I do agree with Bromley in that all games should have some sort of preview. It's good to promote the local teams. I also agree with Milne in that Cal Poly's home schedule is absolutely TERRIBLE and it's hard to get excited about TERRIBLE teams coming to play us. Take a deep breath and try and remember the last time a BIG TIME team came to Mott Gymf?? UNLV in the Shawn Marion days? 10 years ago? You look at every other low major team in California and every year they bring some quality team to town. St. Mary's had Oregon this year, Pepperdine had UCONN a year or two ago, UCSB had UNLV this year. Bring us some good teams BROMLEY and then I'm sure the Tribune will promote you.

Anonymous said...

hmm technical error or what? good to see this blog back

Anonymous said...

Sounds Bromely is feeling the pressure after being picked to finish second in the league and starting out with a losing record against the first 9 D1 teams they've played