Player Profiles: Casper Ware - Long Beach State
This season, College Chalktalk will be highlighting players from around the nation in both BCS and non-BCS conferences who are deserving of ink. As we continue with the series, we travel to the left-coast and check-in with Casper Ware of Big West favorite Long Beach State.
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With the 49ers the frontrunner to capture the Big West title, perhaps no player will play a larger role than the diminutive Ware at 5-10, 175 pounds. Expect the senior from Cerritos, California to serve as the director, producer, and lead actor of the show that is the 49ers 2011-2012 basketball season.
Ware enters this season third in school history in assists, fourth in free throws made, and fifth in steals, while checking in at number 10 on the school’s all-time scoring list. During his junior campaign in 2010-11, No. 22 became the first player in Big West history to be named the conference POY and defensive POY in the same season, averaging 17.2 points, 4.4 assists, and 1.6 steals per game while starting all 34 games and lead the team in minutes played (34.9 MPG). So why is there a shortage of love for the Gahr High School alum?
It could be the small school issue. Maybe it’s the lack of television exposure to a national audience. Who knows? But whatever the reason, beginning from the time he stepped foot on campus, Ware continues to disprove it each year by elevating both his individual performance and that of his team.
Long before becoming the first Long Beach State player to be named to the John Wooden Award Preseason top 50, Ware was the head of a recruiting class (Larry Anderson, T. J. Robinson, and Eugene Phelps) back in 2008 that arrived at Long Beach State with the program mired in tough times. At that point, the returning leading scorer averaged a whopping 1.4 points per game. Coach Dan Monson remembers telling the media before the season about his team. “I laughed, but it wasn't funny," Monson said. "One thing I did, though, was recruit four kids and they're four-year starters. They are all seniors and they'll have an opportunity to rewrite the record books." (Diane Pucin – Los Angeles Times).
As that 2008 class which includes Ware has matured, so has LBSU, which has increased its win total from 15 to 22 games since then and is now garnering national recognition (received two votes in preseason top 25). LBSU will also never be confused with a program gun-shy about playing top tier opponents. It faces five top 15 opponents in the teams’ first 11 games. Squaring off against the likes of No. 8 Louisville (November 28th) and No.1 North Carolina (December 10th) could certainly get Monson's squad additional attention if it performs well, but the most integral part to their success begins with Ware. He's accomplished a great deal in his time at LBSU, but his next mission is helping his team qualify for the 2012 NCAA Tournament.
And with Ware, no mission is impossible.
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