Glendale Community College Men’s Basketball Preview: Vaqueros expect to hit ground running

With opening tip-off set for Friday, the Glendale Community College men’s basketball team continues to outline its goals.

The Vaqueros advanced to the playoffs last season despite having to rebuild following a 2014-15 season in which the campaign ended with forfeits due to a depleted squad. With a 14-player squad, GCC Coach Vigen Jilizian said there’s no reason Glendale can’t achieve its main objective of returning to the postseason.

“It’s going to be a situation where we need to be ready from the start,” said Jilizian, whose team finished 12-15, 8-6 in the Western State Conference’s South Division to tie for third place before falling to Mira Costa, 71-59, in the first round of the Southern California Regionals last season. “We have a lot of new players and we have just three returners. Of the returners, we have just one with any kind of major playing time.

“We’re going to be playing some very good teams in nonconference games and in tournaments. So, we’ll need to see how they hold up going up against that type of talent. It will take some time, but we need to have them find a way to play beyond their means. If they can do that, then we have a good shot to make the playoffs.”

Glendale will begin its season at 2 p.m. against College of the Canyons in the Canyons Tournament.

“We want to see them be relentless in all skills at both ends of the court,” said Jilizian, a former player with the Vaqueros from 1988-90 and former assistant. “That’s why it’s so important to see them be ready so we know what they are capable of doing once we start conference [in January].

“We feel like we have the talent that can win our division. That’s one of the goals we have talked about the last month.”

Glendale, which went 1-4 in its last five contests last season, will have four sophomores and 10 freshmen looking to earn playing time.

The projected starters are sophomore Freddy Kuo at center and freshmen Jack Karapetyan and Frank Irowa at forward. They will be joined by freshmen guards Dominic Gully and Serigne Athj.

“We saw Freddy do a lot of good things last year and he’ll look to build off that,” said Jilizian, a former Hoover High boys’ basketball coach. “When he’s on, we’ll go.

“We have some guys coming in from other programs, so they’ll have to learn how to play our system and play with energy. I like the potential we have.”

Glendale will take part in five tournaments and four nonconference contests between Friday and Jan. 8.

The Vaqueros will then participate in the newly formed Western State Conference East Division, which will include Victor Valley, Barstow, Citrus, L.A. Valley and Antelope Valley.

Glendale will begin conference Jan. 14 at Victor Valley. Its first conference home game will occur Jan. 18 against Barstow. The Vaqueros will conclude the regular season Feb. 18 at Antelope Valley, which finished second in conference and reached the regional semifinals last season.

“We’ll have a much better idea of where we stand come conference,” Jilizian said. “I like the 10-game set-up in the division because it keeps your attention span going. When you play 14 conference games, that’s not always the case.

“We’re quite familiar with Citrus, Valley and Antelope Valley and we’ve seen Victor Valley a bit the last few years. I think we have a chance to do some damage and contend in conference.”