Fresno State Bulldogs men's basketball

Fresno State Bulldogs
Fresno State Bulldogs
	2024–25 Fresno State Bulldogs men's basketball team
University	California State University, Fresno
Head coach	Vance Walberg (1st season)
Conference	Mountain West; (Pac-12 in 2026–27)
Location	Fresno, California
Arena	Save Mart Center ; (capacity: 14,544)
Nickname	Bulldogs
Colors	Cardinal red and blue;
Uniforms
NCAA tournament Elite Eight
	NCAA Division II ; 1963, 1966
NCAA tournament Sweet Sixteen
	NCAA Division II ; 1958, 1960, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966; NCAA Division I ; 1982
NCAA tournament round of 32
	1982, 2001
NCAA tournament appearances
	NCAA Division II ; 1958, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966; NCAA Division I; 1981, 1982, 1984, 2000, 2001, 2016 ; vacated by NCAA
Conference tournament champions
	1981, 1982, 1984, 2000, 2016
Conference regular season champions
	1978, 1981, 1982, 1996, 2001, 2003

The Fresno State Bulldogs men's basketball team represents California State University, Fresno, located in Fresno, California, in NCAA Division I basketball competition. They play their home games at the Save Mart Center and since 2012–13 are members of the Mountain West Conference. Vance Walberg is the head coach for the Bulldogs. They were members of the Western Athletic Conference from 1992 to 2012.

Postseason results

The Bulldogs have appeared in six* NCAA Tournaments, with a combined record of 2–6.

Year	Seed	Round	Opponent	Result
1981	6 W	Round of 48	(11) Northeastern	L 53–55
1982	4 W	Round of 32 Sweet Sixteen	(5) West Virginia (1) #6 Georgetown	W 50–46 L 40–58
1984	7 MW	Round of 48	(10) Louisiana Tech	L 56–66
2000*	9 W	Round of 64	(8) Wisconsin	L 56–66
2001	9 S	Round of 64 Round of 32	(8) California (1) #3 Michigan State	W 82–70 L 65–81
2016	14 M	Round of 64	(3) #13 Utah	L 69–80

*The appearance in 2000 was vacated due to the use of an ineligible player.

The Bulldogs appeared in seven NCAA Division II men's basketball tournaments, where they had a combined record of 8-8.

Year	Round	Opponent	Result
1958	Regional Semifinals Regional Finals	San Francisco State Chapman	W 69–56 L 49–52
1960	Regional Semifinals Regional Finals	Chico State Chapman	W 62–49 L 62–70
1962	Regional Semifinals Regional Third Place	Cal Poly Pomona Seattle Pacific	L 81–88 L 68–73
1963	Regional Semifinals Regional Finals Elite Eight	UC Santa Barbara Chapman South Dakota State	W 68–60 W 71–59 L 71–84
1964	Regional Semifinals Regional Finals	Seattle Pacific Cal Poly Pomona	W 68–53 L 72–79
1965	Regional Semifinals Regional Finals	Nevada Southern Seattle Pacific	W 74–61 L 68–82
1966	Regional Semifinals Regional Finals Elite Eight	Nevada Seattle Pacific Southern Illinois	W 127–78 W 64–58 L 70–93

The Bulldogs have appeared in ten National Invitation Tournaments, with a combined record of 14–10; they were champions in 1983.

Year	Round	Opponent	Result/Score
1983	First Round Second Round Quarterfinals Semifinals Championship	UTEP Michigan State Oregon State Wake Forest DePaul	W 71–64 W 72–58 W 76–67 W 86–62 W 69–60
1985	First Round Second Round Quarterfinals	Santa Clara New Mexico UCLA	W 79–76 W 66–55 L 43–53
1994	First Round Second Round Quarterfinals	USC BYU Kansas State	W 79–76 W 68–66 L 77–115
1996	First Round Second Round Quarterfinals	Miami (OH) Michigan State Nebraska	W 58–57 W 80–70 L 71–83
1997	First Round	Nevada	L 86–97
1998	First Round Second Round Quarterfinals Semifinals 3rd Place Game	Pacific Memphis Hawaiʻi Minnesota Georgia	W 73–70 W 83–80 W 85–83 L 89–91 L 79–95
1999	First Round	California	L 71–79
2002	First Round	Temple	L 75–81
2007	First Round	Georgia	L 78–88
2017	First Round	TCU	L 59–66

The Bulldogs have appeared in one College Basketball Invitational, with a record of 4–2.

Year	Round	Opponent	Result/Score
2014	First Round Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals Game 1 Finals Game 2 Finals Game 3	UTEP Princeton Old Dominion Siena Siena Siena	W 61–56 W 72–56 W 71–64 L 57–61 W 89–75 L 68–81

The Bulldogs have appeared in The Basketball Classic one time. Their record is 4–0, and they won the Championship in 2022.

Year	Round	Opponent	Result/Score
2022	First Round Second Round Semifinals Championship	Eastern Washington Youngstown State Southern Utah Coastal Carolina	W 83–74 W 80–71 W 67–48 W 85–74

Pacific Coast Athletic Association (3)

Western Athletic Conference (3)

No.	Player	Pos.	Tenure	No. ret.	Ref.
Fresno State Bulldogs retired numbers
2	Jerry Tarkanian	G ^{[n 1]}	1954–1955	2014	^[2]
24	Paul George	SF	2008–2010	2019	^[2]

Courtney Alexander
Rafer Alston
Ron Anderson
Desi Barmore (born 1960), American-Israeli basketball player
Melvin Ely (born 1978)
Paul George (born 1990), basketball player
Nate Grimes (born 1996), basketball player in the Israeli Basketball Premier League
Chris Herren (born 1975)
Tyler Johnson (born 1992), basketball player
Tito Maddox (born 1981)
Rod Higgins
Deshon Taylor (born 1996), basketball player for Hapoel Haifa of the Israeli Basketball Premier League
Bernard Thompson
Art Williams

v t e Fresno State Bulldogs men's basketball
Venues	College Gym (1953–1967) Selland Arena (1967–2003) Save Mart Center (2003–present)
People	Head coaches NBA players Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25

v t e Mountain West Conference men's basketball
Current teams	Air Force Falcons Boise State Broncos (leaving in 2026) Colorado State Rams (leaving in 2026) Fresno State Bulldogs (leaving in 2026) Nevada Wolf Pack New Mexico Lobos San Diego State Aztecs (leaving in 2026) San Jose State Spartans UNLV Runnin' Rebels Utah State Aggies (leaving in 2026) Wyoming Cowboys
Future teams	Hawaii Rainbow Warriors UTEP Miners (both joining in 2026)
Championships & awards	Mountain West Conference men's basketball tournament Player of the Year
Seasons	1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23