It is generally understood that the Chico State men's basketball program was undergoing a rebuild during the 2018–19 season. Only two players with starting experience returned to a program that had lost its three leading scorers to graduation. The team's youth and inexperience, and a rash of injuries, took their toll during an up-and-down 9-14 campaign. The Wildcats finished 10^th in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) and missed the postseason for the first time in nine years.
 
With four starters and eight of 11 letterwinners returning, the question now is whether the 2019–20 campaign will mark another step in the rebuilding process, or if the foundation that has been laid will be a cornerstone that another CCAA and NCAA Tournament run as soon as this coming March can be assembled upon.
 
A win or two this weekend would certainly be a good start to building something special. Head Coach Greg Clink will be testing his Wildcats right off the bat, with games against Seattle Pacific and Azusa Pacific, anticipated to be among the top teams in the West Region this season, at the Seattle Pacific Sodexo Classic.
 
Chico State opens the regular season against Seattle Pacific Friday at 7 p.m. and faces Azusa Pacific Saturday at 5:15 p.m. Both games will be aired locally on FM 93.9 KPAY, with the pre-game show starting 25 minutes prior to tipoff. Links to streaming audio, streaming video and live stats are available on the top-right corner of this release, on the men's basketball schedule page, and in the calendar section on the homepage.
 
Cal Poly Pomona will also be playing, taking on Azusa Pacific Friday and Seattle Pacific Saturday.
 
Seattle Pacific, picked to finish second in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, is ranked preseason No. 3 in the West Region and as high as No. 23 in the nation in the various preseason polls. The Falcons finished 22-7 and reached the second round of the NCAA Championship Tournament last season.
 
Picked to finish second in the Pacific West Conference, Azusa Pacific is ranked No. 5 in the West and as high as No. 8 in the nation. The Cougars finished 20-11 last season and return three starters from that team, including preseason PacWest Player of the Year Selom Mawugbe.
 
The CCAA's coaches ranked Chico State No. 6 out of 13 teams in the annual Preseason Coaches' Poll.
 
Clink expects this season to be a "continuance of the rebuilding process." But he's also hoping for a postseason push, with another season of experience under the belts of Second-Team All-CCAA forward Malik Duffy, Honorable Mention All-CCAA point guard Isaiah Brooks, and last year's leading scorer, Kevin Warren, and the return of big man Justin Briggs from injury.
 
"We have the potential to be pretty good," Clink said. "You get a year older. You get a year wiser. You become more mature. But again, there are a handful of guys who haven't played a ton of minutes that we're counting on."
 
The team's only two seniors,  Briggs and Keith Datu, are returning after injuries cut short their junior campaigns. Briggs' 31 career starts are the most among the program's active players. Brooks started 22 games last season, and Warren and Duffy 21 apiece.
 
Calvin Geraci (two starts last season), Spencer LaShells (one), Josh Lavergne (one), and Joshua Curls also return. Eight Wildcats will be new additions to the program: Redshirt freshmen Kelvin Wright, Jr., Joshua Hamilton, Amari Stroud, and Andrew Parker; sophomore Brennan Wheeler (who missed 2018–19 due to injury); true freshman Julian Vaughns; and junior college transfers Colby Orr and Trenton Mitchell. Vaughns and Mitchell will redshirt this season.
 
The team's relative youth and inexperience isn't keeping its returning core from setting high expectations.
 
"You've got a group of guys—the junior class specifically—that feels some expectations from themselves to have a good year. They've seen the guys ahead of them and the success they had through the years and they feel the expectation to live up to that. They want to experience the same success those guys had," Clink said. "So, they are putting a lot of expectations on themselves to perform well. You hear them talk about it."
 
Brooks is perhaps the most vocal member of that crew. Coming off a sophomore campaign in which he ranked second in the CCAA in assist-to-turnover ratio and third in assists per game, the athletic junior is ready to put his stamp on the program as its general, both on and off the floor.
 
"He wants his legacy to be similar to that of Jay Flores, Michael Rosaroso, Jalen McFerren, Giordano Estrada, and all of the great point guards that have come through this program," Clink said. "He's seen the guys who have gone before him win big and he wants to experience the same type of success."
 
Duffy established himself as one of the CCAA's most gifted big men last season, averaging 10.1 points and 6.6 assists while establishing an ability to score from outside the arc and in the paint. Warren led the team in scoring and came on strong toward the end of the season, averaging 14.1 points per game over the last 10. Briggs was averaging 8.8 points, 7.4 rebounds, and more than a blocked shot per game. He enters his final season needing 32 more rejections to become the program's all-time leading shot blocker.
 
But Clink and the 'Cats understand that it will take more than just those four for the Wildcats to have the success they crave.
 
That will require important contributions from fellow returners Geraci, LaShells, LaVergne, and Curls, along with the team's exciting newcomers.
 
"We are counting on a lot of young guys to step up and make a difference early in their career," Clink said.
 
Right now, Clink is especially focused on the defensive side of the ball.
 
"We've been focusing a lot of our time and energy on the defensive end because I think this team could be special defensively because of our size and quickness," Clink said. "We just need to continue to improve."
 
That size and quickness was apparent during Chico State's two-game exhibition games in Arizona. They grabbed 19 offensive rebounds in an 84-74 win at Arizona Christian and then gave the 17^th-ranked University of Arizona all it could handle before falling 74-65. Arizona Head Coach Sean Miller mentioned Chico State's size as something his team struggled to deal with during his postgame comments.
 
Seven Wildcats measure 6-feet-7 or taller.
 
"Our size is one of our advantages," said Clink. "We not only have big guys but we have some big guys who can really move. They are all bigs with a lot of quickness and agility. They can do things inside and on the perimeter. They can defend multiple positions, and they give us an advantage on the boards."
 
According to Clink, they also have the ingredients that it takes to build something special.
 
"They're really coachable. They're really eager. I like our depth and I like the character of our team," said Clink. "They are good guys who are doing a good job in the classroom. I really like what I've seen so far."
 
Chico State fans are hoping he likes what he sees this weekend as well.