The Cleveland State basketball program starts its regular season tonight against Saint Bonaventure. Bonaventure loos like it will be an improved team this season after a .500 finish last season. The Bonnies feature Andrew Nicholson who stands 6' 9'' and was the Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year last season. The Vikings are finding themselves learning on the fly with only two starters back and four players who gave big contributions in a season that won over the city with wins against ranked opponents such as Syracuse, Butler, and Wake Forest, who fell to the underdog Vikings in dramatic fashion in the NCAA Tournament last season.

With the team being so young, Waters wants to keep expectations for his new team low early, but says he hopes the team will gel once they hit conference play. The head coach says that the one concern he has is keeping the confidence up after playing a brutal schedule that awaits them (the Vikings play BCS schools Kentucky, Virginia or Stanford, West Virginia, Kansas State, and Ohio State along with many quality mid-major programs in the coming weeks) He realizes that the team will take their lumps early but hopes come January that they reap the rewards of playing higher level opponents. The biggest thing the team has to work on is making the experienced guards mesh with the inexperienced post players who have not seen action on the floor.

"We are starting from the bottom. The fans saw what occurred last year. How many teams have only 4 players that seen time on the floor. This is a process and what we are hoping that each game the teammates feel more comfortable together."

As for the first game against Saint Bonaventure, Coach Waters is impressed at what he has seen out of the Bonnies, saying:

"They are very good - even better than what I thought they were. Saw them dismantle Dayton on game film. They can really score and move the ball. They have an inside presence (Nicholson). He can really put the ball in the basket."

Saint Bonaventure is known to have one of the toughest places to play in the country. The Reilly Center has die-hard fans who know when to get behind their team. On playing in a hostile environment Waters says this about his young team:

"They haven't been in this yet. They are going to do this a lot early. We are playing so many strong opponents early and I want them to learn something from each game we play."
__________________________
Here is what Coach Waters says about some of the newcomers:

On Nigel Ajere:

"He is a scorer. I don't care if it's midngiht, he can put the ball in the basket. That is what he does. In prep school he averaged about 30."

On Lance James:

"He is still learning and finding out where he can contribute the most for us."

On Jared Cunningham:

"I don't think he has touched his potential. He is thinking the game instead of playing it. He can really shoot the basketball and once he gets going he can really help us on the offensive end."

On Strongsville product Tim Kamczyc who is a redshirt freshman:

"Tim Plays hard. I like Tim and I think he will help us this year. He is in the mix because he had a chance to practice last year and learn the system a little more. The thing about him is Strongsville liked to press and our pressing style clicks with him. He will be one of the ten guys getting minutes Friday."

__________________________

Notable News

--Aaron Pogue has been battling an illness the past few weeks that limited his minutes against John Carroll and the scrimmage against Akron.

--10 players will see substantial minutes. D'Aundray Brown and Norris Cole will play upwards to 30 minutes while fellow starters and bench players will play roughly 20 minutes each.

--This is the first in a set of 4 games against Saint Bonaventure. The next two seasons, Cleveland State will host the Bonnies.

--CSU is trying to finalize a tournament in the Cleveland next season. Administrators are currently trying to reach agreements with the opponents that would play here next fall.

__________________________

Cleveland State (26-11 in 2008-09) at St. Bonaventure (15-15)
Date: Friday, November 13, 2009
Time: 7:00 p.m. EST
Site: Reilly Center (5,780), Olean, NY
Radio: WHKW 1220 AM (Cleveland), WHKZ, 1440 AM (Warren) (Al Pawlowski)
Series: SBU Leads 5-0
Last Meeting: @SBU 81, CSU 67 (1/28/03)