MBB: Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[nwhoops1903]

Mar 5  Thursday
Rain and snow showers. Highs in the mid 30s and lows in the upper 20s.

Is the game being played outside?

OxyBob

He's probably thinking that those southern Californians will be shaking from the cold & unable to shoot!

Nah, WW knows better after that OXY kid shot the lights out first half last year.

[bbaddict]

So, he graduated, I hope?  (The Oxy kid.)

[LogShow]

Mar 5  Thursday
Rain and snow showers. Highs in the mid 30s and lows in the upper 20s.

Is the game being played outside?

OxyBob

lol, thats great!  Just be careful getting off the bus and walking to the gym...those sidewalks are slick

[bbaddict]

That's because pineconefan & his buddies are out there hosing em down before the games!   The cold wind does the rest of the work.  A little home court advantage, huh, pinecone?

[pineconefan]

Whatever it takes...

[cmsme]

Will Whitworth have video or audio of the game?  If so, does anyone know the link?

If i go to Spokane (despite the snow) how would i get a ticket?  Is a certain quantity reserved for CMS people, or can i buy from Claremont?

Are the teams seeded?  If so, where is that information?  Do they just seed the teams that are geographically close to each other?  And why is Whitworth seeded above Claremont if CMS beat them in the tournament?

Freshman mother  (please excuse my ignorance)

ps  This is pretty exciting.  I hope they win.

[bbaddict]

Will Whitworth have video or audio of the game?  If so, does anyone know the link?

If i go to Spokane (despite the snow) how would i get a ticket?  Is a certain quantity reserved for CMS people, or can i buy from Claremont?

Are the teams seeded?  If so, where is that information?  Do they just seed the teams that are geographically close to each other?  And why is Whitworth seeded above Claremont if CMS beat them in the tournament?

Freshman mother  (please excuse my ignorance)

ps  This is pretty exciting.  I hope they win.

Here's where you can find some of your answers.   There is streaming video (usually) & audio of the games also available through a link on the Whitworth Athletics site.   Bob Castle is one of the best, maybe the best, announcer I've ever heard at this level of sports.  Congrats to your son!  Have fun in Spokane.

http://www.whitworth.edu/Athletics/Teams/Basketball_Men/Releases/08_09/NCAA.htm

[cmsme]

This is what i have found out:

If you come to the game, tickets will be $6 and are available at the door.  All seats are General Admission, but there will be 200 seats reserved for only C-M-S fans.  There will be no problem getting a spot.

If you can't make it, there will be links to live video, audio and live stats on the Whitworth men's basketball web page.  The live video is limited to about 60 viewers at a time, so you'll have to get in early.

There is livestats and audio and video feeds although the video feed is limited to 60 users.

Here is the link to all three:

http://www.whitworth.edu/Athletics/Teams/Basketball_Men/Releases/08_09/LiveIndex.htm

[P4L]

CMS fans and watchers:

Having seen WW at the beginning and end of the year I can safely say this is a very different team.  Much more physical, a bit tougher, and the emergence of Gebbers as not only a defensive stopper, but a scoring threat have been the keys to change. 

Has CMS made any improvements or DE-provements?  Looks like everything was fairly consistent throughout the year.  Jason Toney looks to be playing well as of late.

[P4L]

I can also tell you that there will be a crazy air-plane hangar like gym and about 750 more fans than your SCIAC championship game.

[OxyBob]

Item about the Claremont-Whitworth game from the "Campus Life 5.0" column in the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin:

The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men's basketball team is being sent to the Northwest for its first-round Division III playoff game. The Stags (21-6) will be heading to Spokane, Wash., to square off against Whitworth (Wash.) on Thursday.

The winner of that game will play Puget Sound (24-3), which is ranked third nationally and has a first-round bye. That's one of the scenarios Stags coach Ken Scalmanini saw happening when his team qualified for the draw Saturday night by beating Pomona-Pitzer in the SCIAC tournament championship.

Whitworth finished second in the Northwest Conference to Puget Sound, but the Pirates upset Puget in the conference tournament final behind the 24-point performance of senior guard Ross Nakamura.

The Stags have won seven of their last eight games. They are led by sophomore forward Chris Blees (12.5 points per game, 7 rebounds per game), who was named SCIAC MVP earlier this week. Junior guard Jason Toney (10.8 ppg, 2.8 assists per game) was also named to the first team.

Rounding out the starting lineup are senior guard Austin Soldner (8.9 ppg, 4.3 rpg), senior center Tejas Gala (4.1 ppg) and junior forward Michael Bagby (7.4 ppg).

OxyBob

[Hoopsallthetime]

CMS fans and watchers:

Having seen WW at the beginning and end of the year I can safely say this is a very different team.  Much more physical, a bit tougher, and the emergence of Gebbers as not only a defensive stopper, but a scoring threat have been the keys to change. 

Has CMS made any improvements or DE-provements?  Looks like everything was fairly consistent throughout the year.  Jason Toney looks to be playing well as of late.

Well I'm sure glad that WW is much more physical, a bit tougher, and that the emergence of Gebbers has become a defensive stopper because if they didn't improve since the last time we beat you...it may get ugly.  I have checked in on WW and they look like they have improved as the season has gone on..and congrats on the win against Puget Sound. That was a good win for you guys!

[Hoopsallthetime]

CMS fans and watchers:

Having seen WW at the beginning and end of the year I can safely say this is a very different team.  Much more physical, a bit tougher, and the emergence of Gebbers as not only a defensive stopper, but a scoring threat have been the keys to change. 

Has CMS made any improvements or DE-provements?  Looks like everything was fairly consistent throughout the year.  Jason Toney looks to be playing well as of late.

Well I'm sure glad that WW is much more physical, a bit tougher, and that the emergence of Gebbers has become a defensive stopper because if they didn't improve since the last time we beat you...it may get ugly.  I have checked in on WW and they look like they have improved as the season has gone on..and congrats on the win against Puget Sound. That was a good win for you guys!

The Stags have won 11 out of the last 12 games and are on a roll. They are led by SCIAC player of the year Chris Blees (12.5 pts, 7 rebs a game) and 1st team All-Sciac Jason Toney (10.8 pts, 2.8 asst per game). Austin Soldner (8.9 pts, 4.3 rpg), Mike Bagby (7.4 ppg) and Patrick Lacey (8.6 ppg, 4.3 rgp) round out the starting line-up. The stags bring 5 off the bench, with sharp shooter Conner Faught bringing 8pts off the bench.  The Stags have made improvements on the offensive end the last couple of games, but the defense intensity is what pulls them apart. The Stags will get after you for 40 minutes, and will play rough throughout the game to set a tone. So I am glad that WW has gotten tougher because the first time they played WW got hit in the face. I know my STAGS will be ready to play Thursday Night, and regardless of the outcome will leave it all out on the floor for there school and for Coach Scalmanini!

Good Luck Stags

[CMSfan]

Has CMS made any improvements or DE-provements?

I didn't see the Whitworth game earlier this year, but I have seen quite a few CMS games throughout the season.  One change since when they played Whitworth is that they're more cohesive now.  (Of course, I would imagine that's the case for most team's as the season progresses).  With three transfers getting big minutes, it looked like the team was a little out of sync early in the season.  Those three transfers - Toney, Bagby, and Lacey - are now all in the starting lineup and are integral parts of the team.  Toney now seems to be the unquestioned leader of the offense, even though he's not a huge scorer.  And on defense they are communicating well and staying aggressive.  The increased contributions from the transfers has, in turn, strengthened the Stags bench.  Faught and Gala were starters at the beginning of the year and are now big contributors off the bench.  I think the depth CMS has is what set them apart in SCIAC, in part because it allows them to play such tough defense for 40 minutes.

The most concerning trend for the Stags has been their tendency to lose leads in the second half.  They usually rally late to preserve the victory, but they're not always sharp for 40 minutes.  For them to be successful in the tournament, they can't have prolonged lapses.  The championship game against P-P was encouraging in that they were up 10 at the half and P-P never got closer than 6 the rest of the way.

[P4L]

Very confident cmsstagg.  I like your enthusiasm.  I don't know if I would say "WW got hit in the face" It was close the entire game with WW leading with 4 mins. to go last time.  WW is a better rebounding team now and the only category that CMS had over WW last time around was +6 in the rebound column.  

The NWC also has a different level of atmosphere and fan support.  You should know, your SCIAC teams have continuously failed at tourney time up here.