Thank you, sir.  Looks like I'll be making a trip in the rain to get tickets tomorrow.

Quote from: Liger Hoops on February 27, 2006, 06:39:03 PM
When is conference MVP announced? As the season ended, it looked like Taylor had it locked up but if the Tigers can pull out a win at home this week, would Betty be the pick?

No way.  MVP is based on conference games only...even if Betty had a huge game on Thursday it wouldn't make a difference.  Typically, the MVP is awarded to a player from the conference champion.  The only exception I can think of is two years ago, when Avedian from CalLu won it after Pomona won the conference.  He was clearly the best player in the conference, however...you can't make the same argument for Betty over Taylor.

Does anyone know if Oxy is selling tickets to Thursday's game, or is it free as usual, or what?  When they hosted a playoff game three years ago, we bought tickets in advance.  It was a full house then, and I'm sure it will be even more so on Thursday with CMS fans making the easy trip.  I want to be sure I get a seat for CMS-Oxy III - this is gonna be awesome!


 

Thanks. guys.  Wish I could have been in two places at once.

What the heck happened at the Claremont - LaVerne game?  I went to that game first tonight, but left early to check out the PP-Oxy second half.  The reason I left early was that CMS was up 40 to 15!  They were hitting all their shots, and LaVerne was stinking their gym up so bad you couldn't smell the new paint.  I'd like to know if the Stags simply tanked the second half to squeak it out by 2, or LaVerne got red hot.  Stags4Life or another poster who may have seen the whole game, please let me know.

The consolation of leaving that game early was that Oxy-PP was a great game.  I'm not really partial to any particular team, but I was hoping Oxy would pull it out and save their shot at a possible playoff birth.  Do you suppose their non-conference record could still get them in?

Excellent game played by CMS to clinch a share of the SCIAC Saturday.  They truly proved they are the best team in the conference.  My respect for Scalmanini as a coach has continued to grow over the last few years - this year he got  more out of his players than anyone else.  This is his first conference title with players he recruited solely ('02 seniors Donlan & Co. had been recruited by Coach Wells).  He also seems to be a really cool guy, going out of his way to say "hello" or "thanks" to the fans before or after a game.

Nice effort by Phillips in the Oxy loss.  He seemed to want it more than the rest of his team combined - probably because he's a senior and won't get another shot.  Glad that he won it at least once with the 2003 squad.

I was very impressed with the Oxy turnout Saturday, and with the way they handled themselves.  In my opinion, they are overall the classiest, most knowledgeable and most supportive fans in the conference.  If Oxy Bob or any any other Oxy poster has influence in this, they are to be commended.

BTW, nice summary of the game itself, Stags4Life.  I would have posted my own but there was really nothing much I could add to what you posted.

UNBELIEVABLE!

I have never seen a performance quite like the one Amir Mazarei put on tonight for Redlands.  The guy was absolutely unstoppable.  I wasn't there when Shivers dropped 63 on Whittier a couple of years ago, but even that was against an inferior team, in a game they won by 30.  Oxy knew he was going to get the ball, they knew he was going to shoot it, but there was nothing they could do to stop him.  His range knew no boundaries tonight.

I almost talked myself out of going to the game at Eagle Rock tonight, thinking it wouldn't even be competitive.  I would have been kicking myself if I had.

I'm glad to see the subject of rude fan behavior at games has been brought up. There's one particular sickening display of it that I've seen numerous times this season, just about every time I've gone to watch Pomona play an away game (or even home against CMS).  The chants if "You are ugly!" directed at certain reigning Player of the Year makes me sometimes wish Alex would lose his cool and show these terds what ugly really looks like.  Luckily for them, he outwardly does not seem to be bothered by it.  That guy has had to put up with garbage about his looks every season I've watched him play (all four, or five if you include the year he was hurt).  That kind of attack is much more personal than chanting that someone is gay (they probably don't know if they player's gay or not, and chances are he's not).  I'm sure Alex realizes he's not never going to be on the cover of GQ so if you want to get on him about his game than leave it at that.

I'll be heading out to the CMS-PP in about an hour.  Tough to say how this one's gonna go, as usual.  Pomona needs this game more - their season's done if they lose.  Right now though, I think Claremont is the better team.  And considering the way they handled Pomona the first time, with Taylor not even having a very big game, they would seem the favorite.  Parsons was huge last time though; it would be tough for him to duplicate that performance.

Like WCW said on an earlier post, I think Knowles will have a big game -  maybe like Parsons did in the first game for Claremont.  One thing I can't understand, whatever happened to Thomas Hollo? He sems to have fallen off the face of the earth his senior year.  It doesn't seem possible now that he was first team all-SCIAC a year ago.  He did absolutely nothing against Claremont the first game, and he's been Shaq-like in his free-throw shooting.
If he can play like the Hollo of old tonight, I would give the edge to Pomona.

Saw a good game out at Whittier tonight.  In the end, Claremont's defensive pressure was a little too much for the Poets.  Whittier actually had the ball with a chance to tie at the end of the game, but they were unable to get an open 3 and Miles Taylor blocked the shot.  He once again showed why he's the best all-around player in the conference.  He just seems to want it more than anyone else out there.

Whittier started strong and had the lead much of the first half.  The turning point in the game was with about 4 minutes left in the first half.  Gibson for Whittier was picked as he drove to the basket, then reacted with what the refs called an intentional foul.  A couple seconds later the refs added a technical (not sure if this was on Gibson or the coach) for arguing the call.  Claremont had just gained a 4 point lead, and the four subsequent free throws pushed it to 8.  Whitter never led again, and Gibson was benched from that point until about 9 minutes left in the game.

Scalmanini had definitely become one of the top coaches in the conference, IMO.  He's got his team playing better overall team basketball than anyone else in the conference.  Their defensive intensity is the best I've seen in a while.  Hopefully for Stags fans, they can keep the Scalmanini/Connor Henry combo there a while.

DJ-
I'll be there Saturday night, but first I'll be at Whittier Wednesday to see if the Poets can pull off the back-to-back upsets.  Being a Sagehen fan, you got to be pulling hard for CMS to lose (even more so than usual).  This could be Pomona's best chance at getting back in the SCIAC race.  If Whittier wins and CMS beats OXY next time, PP still controls their own destiny.

I would expect a much more lopsided score when Pomona plays Cal Tech this time.  I think Cal Tech has shown they've improved enough for teams to actually prepare for them in the second round.

Wow, that La Verne-Oxy score is definitely a surprise.  I went to Whittier  thinking that would be the only competitive game on the schedule.  It was a great game, played in front of a VERY small crowd.  There were probably less than 75 people in the stands.  Pomona could have put the game away in regulation, but poor free-throw shooting by Hollo and Lloyd kept the Poets in it.  Whittier's guards also came up with some clutch 3's when they really needed them.  Lloyd carried Pomona for most of the night - Wexler Baron wasn't a factor and didn't seem to get many touches in regulation.

My bad on last post. I keep wanting to call  Marcus Gibson "Aaron" (looks like someone I know).  Maybe first team a little much - he definitely looks like best freshman player I've seen in the SCIAC for a while, though.

Quote from: mr_rayburn on February 02, 2006, 01:18:20 PM
I'll start it here...Jordan Carlson (Cal Tech) for 1st Team!

15 pts. against P-P
24 pts. against CMS
21 pts. against La Verne
29 pts. against Oxy

The last person I remember getting on any level of All League from Cal Tech was Jonathan Bird who I believe was 2nd Team a few years ago.

I'd have to agree.  Any other opinions on mid-season all-conference teams? I think mine would be as follows:

Player of the (1/2)Year:  Sam Betty, OXY

1st Team:
Miles Taylor, CMS
John Parsons, CMS
David Knowles, PP
Ed Wexler-Baron, PP
Aaron Gibson, WC
Jordan Carlson, CTU

2nd Team:
Zach Phillips, OXY
Connor Whitman, OXY
Manny Maceira, CMS
Alex Lloyd, PP
Chad Acerboni, CLU
Amir Mazarei, UR

MVP would be Taylor if CMS had beaten Oxy.  Noticeably missing is Greenlee from La Verne - he's been having a down year.  Hopefully he can pick it up in the second half.

I also went to the game out at Thousand Oaks.  Tough choice between that game and PP/Redlands, but I decided to make the long haul in hopes that it would be a more competitive game than it actually was.  I also wanted to see a game in that gym one more time, since apparantly it's being replaced after this season.  Taylor was money as usual - CalLu had no answer for him.  For whatever reason the student section was all over Miles from the opening tip, which did not do the Kingsmen any favors.  The game actually was not as close as the score indicated, IMO.  Had Borengasser been able to make his lay-ups, it would have been closer to twenty.  He seems to psyche himself out occasionally.