By Peter Castillo

Sports Editor

After the two most successful seasons in program history at the Division I level, the CSU Bakersfield men’s basketball enters this season in a state of transition.

A year after advancing to the NCAA Tournament for the first time, CSUB won its first outright regular season Western Athletic Conference title and made a historic run in the National Invitation Tournament, becoming the first eight-seed to advance to the semifinals in Madison Square Garden.

Despite the success in recent seasons, the Roadrunners were selected to finish in the third place on the WAC in the coaches’ poll and fourth in the media poll.

The Roadrunners will have to replace roughly 55 percent of the team’s scoring from last season after Jaylin Airington, Dedrick Basile, Matt Smith and Justin Pride all graduated.

With the loss of all of the scoring, redshirt-senior guard Brent Wrapp is expecting to take on a larger role on the offensive end.

“I’ve got to be more of a scorer and do whatever it takes for the team to win,” said Wrapp. “Whether that’s scoring or passing, I have to do so on any given night to get the win.”

CSUB Head Coach Rod Barnes doesn’t feel that there will be much of a dropoff this season in terms of offensive production.

“We don’t really talk about replacing,” said Barnes to the WAC Digital Network at an introductory press conference. “We’ll be a different team, but our identity is in defense, rebounding and playing hard. But, obviously, we’re going to miss those guys.”

This year’s team will be led by Wrapp and redshirt-junior guard Daminye Durham.

“You can say CSUB or Roadrunners and Brent Wrapp is our face as far as men’s basketball goes,” said Barnes. “He’s one of those kids who someday should have his jersey retired.”

Wrapp led the Western Athletic Conference for the third straight season in assist-to-turnover ratio. He also led CSUB with 3.6 assists per game.

Wrapp was a member of both of the teams that reached the postseason in each of the last two seasons. He said he would like to see even more success in his final season at CSUB.

“I want to do something this year that we’ve never done here,” said Wrapp. “It would be cool if we could win both the regular season title and tournament in the same year.”

Wrapp has been dealing with a foot issue that may keep him from missing some time early in the season, but he has been practicing.

Durham was the Roadrunners’ sixth man and was second on the team with 12.7 points per game last season.

Durham is expected to start for CSUB at small forward.

He was named to the All-WAC first team in the preseason coaches’ poll.

“He’s bigger and stronger now,” said Barnes. “It’s exciting to see his growth and I think he’s a much more complete player.”

CSUB’s frontcourt includes senior forward Shon Briggs, senior center Moataz Aly and redshirt-senior Fallou N’doye who should once again anchor a stout defensive team this season.

Briggs was named to the 2016 All-WAC Newcomers Team and played well in the NIT.

Aly was selected to both the newcomers team and the All-WAC Defensive Team.

The Roadrunners’ roster includes many new faces this season. However, one notable thing about the newcomers is the majority of them are freshman rather than junior college transfers.

Incoming freshmen include Jarkel Joiner, a guard from Oxford, Miss., who scored 36.5 points per game as a senior in high school, Cartrell Thompson, a 6-foot-8-inch forward from Compton, and Justin McCall, a Bakersfield native and Ridgeview High School graduate who is the son of CSUB women’s basketball coach Greg McCall.

Freshman forward Darrin Person Jr., a forward from Immanuel High School in Fresno, will be redshirtting this season as he recovers from a hip injury.

The only transfer Barnes brought on board this year is Rickey Holden, a junior guard who transferred to CSUB after playing two seasons at Jones County Community College in Mississippi. The left-handed point guard will likely share starting backcourt duties with Wrapp.

Holden is looking forward to his opportunity to play at an up and coming program like CSUB.

“I’m looking to make a major impact with whatever coach Barnes wants me to do, on defense, getting people involved and scoring,” said Holden.

Also, redshirt-freshmen Greg Lee, a forward from Houston, Tex., and guard Justin Davis will be active this season. Taze Moore, a sophomore guard who was lost for the season with a leg injury in January, is fully healthy.

This season’s schedule features nonconference road matchups against the University of Arizona on Thursday, Nov. 16, UCLA on Wednesday, Nov. 29, Fresno State on Tuesday, Dec. 5, and the University of Arkansas on Wednesday, Dec. 27.

Notable nonconference home games include Northern Arizona University on Saturday, Dec. 2, the University of Idaho on Saturday, Dec. 9, and Georgia Southern University on Saturday, Dec. 16.

Also, the Roadrunners will be competing in the Great Alaskan Shootout on Thanksgiving Weekend in Anchorage, AK.

“I scheduled these games because coming off the success we had, I wanted to keep our name at the forefront of people’s thoughts,” said Barnes. “A schedule like this does so much for our program and our league.”

After winning the WAC with a 12-2 record last season, New Mexico State University and Grand Canyon University, who is now postseason eligible, will be the Roadrunners stiffest competition in the conference.

Conference play begins for CSUB on the road on Saturday, Jan. 6, against Utah Valley University.

CSUB will host an exhibition game versus Biola University on Saturday, Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. in the Icardo Center.

The regular season begins on Friday, Nov. 10 when CSUB takes on Whittier College at 7 p.m. at the Icardo Center.