City Ranked No. 4 in State and No. 2 in SoCal in First CCCMBCA Poll

"It's great to be recognized, especially after a complete rebuild of the program from scratch last year and after coming back from USD with no returners that had played for me," said Head Coach Mitch Charlens who is beginning his 18th season with San Diego City. "But, it's just opinions and it doesn't mean anything if we don't continue to improve. We have the toughest schedule in the state to start the season so we will have our hands full and hope to keep getting better every day."

 

San Diego City earned that ranking after an impressive showing at the SoCal Showcase in September coupled with a strong group of returners that includes Al Green, Kjay Bradley, Logan Huston, Keavie Love and Denis Kamburov that were major contributors a year ago. 

 

Green, who has already committed to Louisiana Tech, was joined by three others in receiving Division I offers after the SoCal Showcase, including Bradley and newcomers Alex Crawford and Dillon Cubit.

 

In all, the Knights have nine sophomores and only three freshmen on this year's roster. One of those freshmen is Nick Strecker who was a part of last season's team as a red shirt.

 

The No. 4 state ranking is the highest in six years when they entered the 2017-18 season as the No. 1 team after winning the 2017 state championship.

 

The Knights got as high as No. 5 in the state last season in early December after a 7-1 start.

 

With a more experienced team, the Knights will be looking to improve upon what they accomplished in 2022-23 when they advanced to the sweet sixteen.

 

City's season will start on Thursday, Nov. 2 against Rio Hondo at Santa Monica College's O'Fallon and Singui Classic. That game is scheduled for a 4 p.m. tipoff. The Knights will then play host No. 12 Santa Monica on Saturday, Nov. 4 at 6 p.m.

 

The first home games will be on Nov. 9 and 10 as part of the Knights Invitational. City will host Chabot on Nov. 9 at 3 p.m. and West Valley on Nov. 10 at 12:30 p.m.