San Jose State moves on after losing coach, best player

Note: This is the seventh in a series of 10 season previews of Mountain West basketball teams.

San Jose State, a typical Mountain West cellar dweller, was no longer a guaranteed victory for opponents last season, going 14-16, including 7-11 in the conference.

Then coach Dave Wojcik, citing personal reasons, left in July. A month and a half later, the Spartans’s best player, Brandon Clarke, transferred to Gonzaga.

San Jose State hired Colorado associate head coach Jean Prioleau in August to be its head coach, putting him far behind other schools in the country and with only four returning players.

“Things have moved really fast,” Prioleau said. “Obviously, when you take a job, the first thing you have to do is meet with the players. I basically had to do what most coaches do in April (he chuckled) all the way till the first day of school. I had to do that in two weeks. Made it through all of that, and we’re continually trying to build and work through everything. The team, they’re getting to know me, and I’m getting to know them.

“But things are going well.”

Losing Wojcik was difficult enough, but Clarke had worked his way into becoming one of the conference’s best players. He averaged 17.3 points and 8.7 rebounds last season.

The Spartans’ second-best player, 6-foot 9-inch junior forward Ryan Welage, is back. He averaged 13.2 points and 4.5 rebounds.

“I’ve always eyed this job,” Prioleau said. “I think it’s a gold-mine job. It’s in Silicon Valley. We have a rich basketball tradition in the whole state of California, not just the Bay Area. When I was at Colorado, we recruited California heavily.”

Contact Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @markanderson65 on Twitter.