Next up: Fresno State and Santa Clara

The Cardinal opens regular season play at home against Fresno State on Friday evening, then boards the bus Sunday afternoon for the short trip to Santa Clara.

It will be interesting to see the Cardinal rotation begin to coalesce against these familiar, not too challenging opponents.

You can listen to both games on KZSU and watch both on the web. The Fresno game will be streamed by Pac-12 Live and the Santa Clara game by Stretch Internet Game Central.

  Fresno State Bulldogs

Ki-Ki drives against Chiney at the Savemart Center last year

After 20 years in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC), Fresno State moved to a different conference — the Mountain West (MW).

The Bulldogs are led by a new coach, Raegan Pebley, who inherits a veteran squad that returns four of five starters and nine players from last year's team that set a new program record with 28 wins and won the WAC regular season and tournament championships. They've been picked to finish second in the MW conference this season, behind San Diego State.

The Bulldogs had the fourth-best turnover margin in the nation last season, turning the ball over 7.1 fewer times per game than their opponents, and were ranked #3 in 3-pointers per game (9.8).

They're a guard-oriented team that likes to play a fast up-tempo game.

The probable starters are:

• #24, 5'8" junior guard Ki-ki Moore is the Bulldogs' standout player. She was the 2012 WAC Player of the Year, 2012 WAC Newcomer of the Year and 2012 WAC Tournament MVP as a first-year starter for the Bulldogs last season (she transferred from Washington State after her freshman year). She led the team with 16.8 points per game, 7.2 rebounds per game and 2.8 steals per game. This season, she's been named to the preseason All-MW team and tabbed as the preseason MW Player of the Year.


• #25, 6'1" senior guard/forward Rosie Moult was the Bulldogs' second-best scorer last season and their most prolific 3-point shooter. She took about 70% of her shots from beyond the arc and made 35 % of them, led the WAC with 92 3-pointers made, and ranked eighth nationally in 3-pointers per game (2.94).


• #33, 5'5" junior point guard Taylor Thompson had the best assist-to-turnover ratio in the WAC last year – #13 in the nation at 2.1.


• #10, 6'1" sophomore forward Alex Sheedy is the fourth returning starter. As a freshman last year, she averaged 6.6 points and 4.0 rebounds in just over 20 minutes per game. She's been named to the preseason All-MW second team.


• #5, 5'10" junior guard Bree Farley came off the bench last season and averaged 5.6 points and 2.4 rebounds in 18 minutes per game.

Also likely to see action against the Cardinal are the Bulldog Bigs — #21, 6'3" senior center Jeanna Furst and #15, 6'6" freshman center Jacinta Vandenberg.

Here are Fresno's 2011-12 statistics and its current roster.

  Santa Clara Broncos

The Broncos generally have good long-range shooters that are fun to watch, but the team hasn't otherwise been strong in the past few years. They won the West Coast Conference (WCC) six years ago, but have since been overshadowed by Gonzaga. They've been picked to finish sixth (of nine) this season.

The Broncos were ninth-best in the nation last season in 3-pointers per game (7.7), but did a poor job of handling the ball. They had three more turnovers than assists per game, and were near the bottom of the conference standings in points allowed and rebounds.

Five-year head coach Jennifer Mountain and new assistant coach Rich Brown plan to focus on the fundamentals this season and improve the Broncos' defense, so perhaps the team will do better than predicted.

Santa Clara's leading scorer and 3-point shooter graduated, but the other starters have returned.

The starters on Sunday are likely to be:

• #3, 5'7" senior guard Meagan Fulps has been a star performer and a starter for Santa Clara for three seasons. She's been voted to the WCC Preseason All-Conference Team this season. She ranks 11th in SCU career scoring average (11.3 ppg). She took about half her shots from beyond the arc last season and made 37% of them.


• #4, 5'10" junior guard Ricki Radanovich is primarily a long-range shooter. She took almost 70% of her shots from beyond the arc last season and made 37% of them.


• #32, 6'2" redshirt senior forward Lindsay Leo is a strong presence in the paint for Santa Clara. She averaged 1.8 blocks per game last season and ranks fifth in SCU career blocks (70). She's been named to the All-WCC First Team by College Sports Madness. (Her younger sister, Vanessa, a 6'4" center joins the team this season after red-shirting her freshman year.)


• #33, 6'4" redshirt junior center Ruta Zurauskyte was a starter last season until she tore her ACL in mid-December. She was the Broncos' best rebounder (7.9 rpg) and second-best scorer (12.8 ppg).


• #12, 5'7" sophomore guard Nici Gilday was a key reserve for Santa Clara as a freshman last season. She played about 20 minutes per game and averaged 4.2 points and 3.8 rebounds.

Here are Santa Clara's 2011-12 statistics and its current roster.