Fresno State will be a work in progress during the 2012-13 men's basketball campaign, probably all season and most definitely through the nonconference part of its schedule.
Ready or not, progress will start to be measured in wins and losses Friday, when the Bulldogs play at USA Today No. 24-ranked Texas -- a game that second-year coach Rodney Terry said will be a "tremendous challenge for us."
The Bulldogs welcome an influx of talented freshmen and some key returning players, including leading scorer Kevin Olekaibe, Jerry Brown, Kevin Foster and Tyler Johnson. But there is a lot of work to do to get all of the moving pieces to mesh before beginning their first Mountain West Conference season.
"There will be a learning curve for the young guys -- the game is a whole lot faster and they've got to play a whole lot harder," Terry said.
"That's going to take some time with them. There will be growing pains throughout the nonconference with all those guys."
Junior guard Kevin Olekaibe led the team in scoring last year at 17.8 points per game.
And there are other issues right up front -- starting with the Longhorns, who are waiting for a ruling on the eligibility of guard Myck Kabongo, reportedly the subject of an NCAA investigation involving alleged improper benefits from an agent.
Texas, which has won 20 or more games for 13 consecutive years and played in the past 14 NCAA Tournaments, has two returning starters and a recruiting class that was ranked as high as 11th in the nation.
Fresno State also will be without 7-foot freshman center Robert Upshaw and power forward Braeden Anderson to start the season. Upshaw is sidelined with a knee injury suffered in the first week of practice and Anderson will not be eligible until after the fall semester.
The Bulldogs have a new point guard in Allen Huddleston, who had trouble taking care of the basketball in an exhibition victory over Fresno Pacific, committing eight turnovers.
And they have a lot of room to improve coming off a 13-20 season in which they ranked seventh out of eight teams in the Western Athletic Conference in field goal percentage and last in 3-point percentage.
Olekaibe ranked second in the conference in scoring at 17.8 points per game, but he hit only 37.2% of his shots -- including 33.8% of his 3-point attempts.
What the Bulldogs did well was compete and matching the tenacity of that team, which lost eight games by four points or fewer, will be a key marker going forward.
Tests along the way include Texas and December games against Pac-12 opponents Washington State, Colorado and No. 13 UCLA.
Only the game against Colorado is at the Save Mart Center.
"They have to understand that you have to work the game," Terry said.
"That's the thing that the group a year ago really understood -- you have to really work the game. Nobody is going to come out and knock you out in the first round, and if you finish the 40 minutes then you will always have an opportunity to win the game. With that group, that was their identity. They were going to fight you from start to finish and that's the thing we're trying to stress to this group every day, you have to finish.
"We didn't start one young guy a year ago, in terms of being a freshman. All the guys had been in the program for at least a year. It's a hard learning curve for young guys. They'll grow and they'll get better, but you may need a seat belt. It might be a roller coaster ride."
Ready or not, progress will start to be measured in wins and losses Friday, when the Bulldogs play at USA Today No. 24-ranked Texas -- a game that second-year coach Rodney Terry said will be a "tremendous challenge for us."
The Bulldogs welcome an influx of talented freshmen and some key returning players, including leading scorer Kevin Olekaibe, Jerry Brown, Kevin Foster and Tyler Johnson. But there is a lot of work to do to get all of the moving pieces to mesh before beginning their first Mountain West Conference season.
"There will be a learning curve for the young guys -- the game is a whole lot faster and they've got to play a whole lot harder," Terry said.
"That's going to take some time with them. There will be growing pains throughout the nonconference with all those guys."
Junior guard Kevin Olekaibe led the team in scoring last year at 17.8 points per game.
And there are other issues right up front -- starting with the Longhorns, who are waiting for a ruling on the eligibility of guard Myck Kabongo, reportedly the subject of an NCAA investigation involving alleged improper benefits from an agent.
Texas, which has won 20 or more games for 13 consecutive years and played in the past 14 NCAA Tournaments, has two returning starters and a recruiting class that was ranked as high as 11th in the nation.
Fresno State also will be without 7-foot freshman center Robert Upshaw and power forward Braeden Anderson to start the season. Upshaw is sidelined with a knee injury suffered in the first week of practice and Anderson will not be eligible until after the fall semester.
The Bulldogs have a new point guard in Allen Huddleston, who had trouble taking care of the basketball in an exhibition victory over Fresno Pacific, committing eight turnovers.
And they have a lot of room to improve coming off a 13-20 season in which they ranked seventh out of eight teams in the Western Athletic Conference in field goal percentage and last in 3-point percentage.
Olekaibe ranked second in the conference in scoring at 17.8 points per game, but he hit only 37.2% of his shots -- including 33.8% of his 3-point attempts.
What the Bulldogs did well was compete and matching the tenacity of that team, which lost eight games by four points or fewer, will be a key marker going forward.
Tests along the way include Texas and December games against Pac-12 opponents Washington State, Colorado and No. 13 UCLA.
Only the game against Colorado is at the Save Mart Center.
"They have to understand that you have to work the game," Terry said.
"That's the thing that the group a year ago really understood -- you have to really work the game. Nobody is going to come out and knock you out in the first round, and if you finish the 40 minutes then you will always have an opportunity to win the game. With that group, that was their identity. They were going to fight you from start to finish and that's the thing we're trying to stress to this group every day, you have to finish.
"We didn't start one young guy a year ago, in terms of being a freshman. All the guys had been in the program for at least a year. It's a hard learning curve for young guys. They'll grow and they'll get better, but you may need a seat belt. It might be a roller coaster ride."
