California State University, East Bay’s men’s basketball head coach, Bryan Rooney, has been named coach of the week by HoopDirt.com.
Rooney and the Pioneers are in the midst of a stellar season and Rooney was honored for week 14’s division two coach of the week. Duke’s division one coach Mike Krzyzewski also made the list.
“As with any individual recognition in a team sport, this is shared by all in our program,” Rooney told The Pioneer. “The selfless hard work by our staff and student-athletes is inspiring to witness every day.”
In just his second year with the Pioneers, Rooney and his team have engineered the pro- gram’s best season in 20 years. The Pioneers won their 20th game on Feb. 16, in a thrilling 66-65 vic- tory over Sonoma State. With the victory, the Pio- neers reached 20 wins for the first time since the
1999-2000 season. “This is an extremely fun group to work with, and maybe the most exciting part is the room for growth that still exists,” Rooney said.
The Pioneers are led by senior guards Juwan Anderson and Evan Wardlow, but the program also has junior forward Ant Navarrete and sophomore guard Nai Carlisle, among others, returning after this season. The Pioneers are 20-5 heading into Saturday’s matchup against California State Uni- versity, San Marcos. Currently, the Pioneers sit atop the California Collegiate Athletic Association
(CCAA), with a 15-4 record in the conference. CSUEB’s men’s basketball team has lost just one game outside of conference play, and the Pioneers
are on a four-game win streak since Feb. 7.
The Pioneers will wrap up their regular season
play on March 2, at the University of San Diego. The CCAA postseason semifinals and champion- ship games in both men’s and women’s basketball will be held in the Pioneer Gymnasium on March 8 and 9. The seeding and participants for both tour-
naments have yet to be determined.