The Cleveland State mens basketball team made a major investment in their program this season by putting in some major upgrades to their locker room. Among the upgrades include:

-18 New Wooden Lockers
-Flat Screen TVs and Video Cabinet
-Padded Carpets
-Dropped Ceilings
-Increased Shower and Restroom Area
-Lighting Upgrade
-Magnetic Dry Erase Board for Diagramming Plays

The program has raised $85,000 for the new rooms which is half their goal. If you would like to contribute to the program and reward the players and future players of the rising Vikings you can call Mike Dolsak at 216-871-9714 or visit this website.

Former Cleveland State men's basketball players J'Nathan Bullock and Cedric Jackson will each get an opportunity to play professionally this winter in the NBA Development League after each had their rights claimed this week.

Jackson will play for the Erie Bayhawks after his rights were assigned to the team, which is affiliated with both the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Toronto Raptors, while Bullock was tabbed as a sixth round pick (96th selection) by the Albuquerque Thunderbirds in Thursday's NBA Development League Draft.

Bullock, a 6-5, 240-pound forward from Flint, Mich., earned first team All-Horizon League honors in each of his final two seasons. Bullock, who is one of three players to lead the team in scoring in four straight seasons, finished his Viking basketball career by ranking fourth in CSU history with 1,800 points. He played in a school-record 130 games, also holding records for career starts (124) and consecutive starts (106), and is the only player to score more than 1,500 points and grab more than 750 rebounds in a career.

Adidas terminated its $3 million endorsement contract with the University of Central Florida's athletic department after one of Michael Jordan's sons played in a game for the school wearing the Nike shoes named after his father. Marcus Jordan, a freshman guard at UCF, said he would only wear Nike Air Jordan shoes in deference to his father.

Everyone on the team except Marcus, 18, wore Adidas shoes in the UCF Knights' 84-65 win over St. Leo University in an exhibition game Thursday night.

Adidas spokeswoman Andrea Corso said:

"The University of Central Florida has chosen not to deliver on their contractual commitment to Adidas. As a result, we have chosen not to continue our relationship with them moving forward."

The school was operating under a tentative contract with Adidas that ran through 2015 and was valued at $3 million. The Germany-based company supplied the UCF's sports teams with shoes, apparel and equipment.

UCF spokesman Leigh Torbin responded:

"We are disappointed to learn that Adidas has chosen to discontinue its relationship with UCF Athletics. Once we receive official notice, we will be able to further respond."

On November 28, 2009, Cleveland Leader staff and readers, young and old, will converge upon the Wolstein Center for the second annual Cleveland Leader Day Out at Cleveland State University. This year's match-up features a young Vikings squad taking on the Wichita State Shockers, who are expected to contend in the Missouri Valley Conference, which is regarded as the top mid-major conference in the entire nation. The tip-off for the Saturday afternoon game is set for 2 p.m.

Tickets are available at the special group rate of just $6 per ticket, which is $2 less than the regular price of $8. But buying one ticket for the Wichita game will also get you into another game. All fans at the Wichita game will also receive a voucher to redeem for a free ticket to a future game of your choice (excluding the Butler and West Virginia games). The game will also feature a ring ceremony celebrating the Vikings' trip to the NCAA basketball tournament last season.

If you are interested in joining the fun, please email us at editor @clevelandleader.com for further info, including online payment options.

The Butler Bulldogs got some more preseason kudos as they topped the poll in the initial Mid-Major College Poll. The Horizon League favorites took all but 3 first place votes in the polling. Last week, the school who is returning all their players from last years Top 25 team, the coaches poll placed them in the Top 10 of their national poll.

The highest ranked Ohio Mid-Major was Akron who was ranked eight. Pundits project Wright State to have a fine year placing the Dayton area Horizon League team right behind the Zips at number 9.

Cleveland State scored the 27th most votes with Kent State at 29th in the initial poll. Here is the entire Top 25 from College Insider:

The Cleveland State mens basketball team held an open scrimmage for their season ticket holders yesterday. Here is what I took out of the contest:

-Much talked about sophomore Aaron Pogue looked very good on the green side. Pogue’s big build and court awareness (great passing skills for a big man) will be a delight to watch this season.

-D’Aundry Brown, coming back from knee surgery, looked sharp playing for the green side. It also looks like he is developing a nice rapport with Pogue making a nice cut inside for an easy layup for one of the highlights of the scrimmage.

-Junior College transfer Lance James looked sharp with his quickness and ball handling ability. James, who helped lead the white team to victory, also made a great steal in the open court. James is a bit smaller in stature than his listed height of 5′ 11” so that could come into play when he is faced with facing bigger guards on opposing teams.

-Kevin Anderson had a couple nice plays on both the offensive and defensive end. Anderson played on the winning White side in the scrimmage and had a nice blocked shot and followed it up on the other end with with a hook shot that could be a great offensive weapon if the 6′ 11” JUCO transfer can make it consistently.

Gary Waters addressed Cleveland State's season ticket holders after the school's 6th annual green and white scrimmage. The scrimmage was the most attended in the history of the long struggling basketball program which turned its fortunes around last year with an NCAA Tournament bid and most successful season in over two decades.

Waters thanked the faithful fans their support and had his 2009-2010 squad, which is predicted to finish third in their conference this season to introduce themselves to the fans. Waters ended the mini-pep talk by stating its his goal to "bring the curtain down" which decreased the arenas capacity of almost 14,000 to 8,500 after playing to an empty arena for years. Here is the video of the speech by Waters:

Do What We Do, a 60-minute documentary about the success that Cleveland State had during the 2008-09 basketball season, will debut on Monday, Nov. 2 beginning at 6:00 p.m. on SportsTime Ohio. A second airing will be replayed on Thursday (Nov. 5) at 8:00 a.m.. The Thursday airing will be preceded by the second edition of the CSU Basketball Insider, a three-part preseason look at the 2009-10 Viking basketball team.

Produced and edited by Dean Cummings, Do What We Do is a joint production of SportsTime Ohio and Cleveland State athletics, giving basketball fans unprecedented behind the scenes access during the 2008-09.

If you didn't realize exactly how hard the Cleveland State Vikings basketball schedule this year is maybe this will wake you up. Gary Waters' men will be playing 3 teams ranked in the USA Today Preseason Top 10. Kentucky comes in at 5th, West Virginia at 9th, and Butler has tabbed as the 10th best in the nation in the coaches poll. Ohio State managed to crack the Top 25 being placed at 17.

Two of the schools you can catch at the Wolstien Center. Bobby Huggins and West Virginia visit on December 19th. Butler comes in for a Horizon League showdown on February 13th. If you want to see the Vikings face the Buckeyes make sure to book your trip on the Viking Voyage.

Here is the whole rundown of the USA Today Top 25 with Kansas taking top honors:

Kailey Klein is the preseason pick for Horizon League Player of the Year. Klein is the leading returning scorer in the conference The Vikings had a great showing on the first team with fellow guard Shawnita Garland also earning a spot.

"This is a very deserving honor for both Kailey and Shawnita that each have earned through hard work and dedication," head coach Kate Peterson Abiad said in a press release from the school. "There are not many players who are going to outwork either Kailey or Shawnita and that has allowed them to become two of the top players in the league. "

University of Illinois at Chicago senior guard Jessie Miller, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay junior guard Celeste Hoewisch and Butler University senior forward Susan Lester joined Klein and Garland on the Horizon League's preseason first team.