MBB: Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[cmsme]

  Interesting article.  I can imagine the coaches e mailing the players every day.  If the players don't want to be on the team that looses to Caltech, think of the coaches.  They make their living doing this.  Which is why I don't understand the league letting this go on for 20 years. 
I live in an area where a high school football team had won every game for ten years.  In the end, each game was about the fear of loosing, not the fun of winning.  And, once they lost, they lost several.  I think this will also be true of Caltech winning several, if they can win the first one, and it is not too late in the season.

My predictions for today:
CMS over Redlands at home
Cal Lu over Oxy at home
Whittier over Caltech at home
La Verne over Pomona Pitzer

I keep hearing this basketball wisdom:  It is hard to beat the same team three times in the same season.  I know this was true of CMS and PP l ast season.  How true is it? and why?

[OxyBob]

Which is why I don't understand the league letting this go on for 20 years.
...
I think this will also be true of Caltech winning several, if they can win the first one, and it is not too late in the season.

Good job contradicting yourself in the same post.

OxyBob

[stag44]

Huge game in Ducey tonight!!!!

The Stags (6-0) host Redlands (5-1) in a battle of the top 2 teams in conference. This will be a game contrasting 2 styles of play. The Stags try to impose their will on you defensively with man-to-man tough defense and wear you down with the motion, while Redlands tries to exploit mismatches and runs all sorts of defenses depending on situations.

From a personnel standpoint, it seems to be a similar story to the CMS-La Verne game. The Bulldogs will come out with Mills and Sanvictores who are both HEAVY lefthanded but very skilled big men. They run the floor extremely well and will test Lacey's conditioning tonight. They are long and lanky and it seems Redlands hi-lo offense is predicated on those 2 getting post touches. They run a triangle-like series which ends with a 2-man game with either of the bigs and a shooter feeding the post. The key here for the stags is how they double/help the post. Scali is incredible with bringing pressure and doubles at different timing and from different areas depending on situations, so I look for them to fluster the bigs and wreak havoc on the bounce.

Lacey should also have a good day against them. Both the Redlands bigs are talk and finesse type players. Lacey's big frame should create space and his footwork should do him right vs the Bulldogs. I look for a heavy dose of him early on to slow pace and create a foul count.

On the perimeter, the stags have been scoring by committee there. Each game seems to be a different scorer. Pinson, Gaffney, Heidrich, Smith, Sullivan, Mivshek, Davis have all scored 9+ points in SCIAC games this years, so you really cant key on one player and they all bring something different to the table. I couldn't tell you who has the big game tonight, but if I was betting on it I'd say Heidrich and Mivshek have big games.

Redlands counters with Deitrich Kent, Kirk amongst others. I think that they also run by committee on the perimeter and we can see any of them go off.

I think the team who wins the rebounding battle as well as limit turnovers will win tonight. I have the Stags pulling away late 67-58.

This would be a HUGE win for the Stags going into the 2nd half. They would have a 2 game lead and with away games at Redlands Oxy and PP to close out. Not sure if 14-0 is possible with this young crew, but they have defied all odds thus far.

[Gregory Sager]

I keep hearing this basketball wisdom:  It is hard to beat the same team three times in the same season.  I know this was true of CMS and PP l ast season.  How true is it? and why?

It's not true at all, nor does it qualify as wisdom.

The more you beat a team, the more you are likely to continue beating them. That's because you: a) demonstrate your superiority over them with an increasing number of successful outcomes to prove it; and b) create the dual psychologies of confidence among the winners and self-doubt among the losers.

[greyskies]

I think Pomona put all the pieces of the puzzle together tonight and take it at home against La Verne.

[Hugenerd]

Caltech falls by just 2 at Whittier.  February 12?

[CMSfan]

Redlands 65, CMS 55

Box Score: http://www.goredlands.com/sports/mbkb/2010-11/boxscores/20110129_hsgz.xml

There's a two-way tie for 1st place in SCIAC after Redlands stymied CMS in Ducey Gym tonight.  Redlands did a good job of disrupting the CMS offense and used timely shooting and a 15-15 night from the line to pull away from the Stags.

The game was tied late in the first half, but consecutive threes put Redlands up six at the break.  CMS stayed with Redlands the entire second half, but never regained the lead as poor shooting prevented them from making any significant runs.  Trailing by 4 with a minute to go, CMS looked awful in the last minute and Redlands cruised to a 10-point victory.

I thought CMS did a good job of keeping Redlands' big men away from the basket, but they gave Redlands far too many open looks throughout the game.  That combined with 40% shooting from the floor, including 4-17 from three-point range did the Stags in.

I believe that is Jim Ducey's first win in Ducey Gym, which I believe was named for his father.  So, congratulations are in order for him for a big win with a little added significance.

Redlands proved that they are a top team in SCIAC tonight, and while I think CMS is a stronger team overall, they'll have their work cut out for them when they head out to Redlands on 2/16.

[OxyBob]

Caltech falls by just 2 at Whittier. 

From the San Bernardino Sun:

Caltech's bid to end streak falls just short against Whittier

The streak is alive. Barely.

A 12-foot running jumper from Caltech freshman guard Mike Paluchniak hit off the side of the rim and stayed out with no time remaining to preserve Whittier College's nail-biting, 70-68 win over the visiting Beavers in SCIAC play Saturday night.

The defeat failed to end the Beavers' conference losing streak, which hit 304 games and extends over two decades. Caltech also dropped to 4-14 overall and 0-7 in conference.

Whittier College (9-9, 4-3), on the opposite end of the spectrum, is in fourth place in the SCIAC after winning its second consecutive game.
...

The Poets failed to ice the game with 14 seconds left when a 3-pointer from sophomore guard Paul Davis rimmed out and was rebounded by Caltech sophomore forward Mike Edwards.

The ball was brought up court when Beavers coach Oliver Eslinger called a timeout with 7.7 seconds left.

Freshman Todd Cramer struggled inbounding because of the pressure of the Poets' Greg Preer (Cerritos College).

Cramer got the ball to Will Dooris, who passed to Paluchniak on the wing with 4.4 seconds remaining.

As Paluchniak took possession, he first looked to pass before dribbling about four feet and taking a final shot.
...

Poets senior forward DaMon Perry hit 8 of 9 shots and finished with 17 points and eight rebounds.

Perry shared the game-high honors with Preer, who totaled 17 points and seven rebounds.

Davis also had 13 points.

Ryan Elmquist paced Caltech with 16 points and a school-record 11 assists while Cramer added 13 points and eight rebounds. Edwards contributed 11 points.

Cal Lutheran 55, Oxy 52 OT

Greg Grimm scored 29 as the Kingsmen prevailed at CLU. Oxy tied the game 47-all on Jack Hanley's off-balance 3-pointer with 6 seconds left in regulation. Oxy took a 50-47 lead in OT, but Grimm tied it up with a 3-ball. After Hanley hit a couple of FTs, Grimm hit another 3-pointer with 1:34 left, and CLU held on for the win.

For CLU, Grimm had 29, Jayvaughn Nettles scored 10, and Van Klaveren had 10 points and 10 rebounds. For Oxy, Hanley scored 16 and Sam Stapleton had 12. Jake Copithorne had 11 rebounds.

Wednesday's schedule, all games 7:00 p.m.:

Pomona (6-12, 2-5) @ Cal Lutheran (9-9, 3-4)
Whittier (9-9, 4-3) @ Claremont (10-7, 6-1)
Oxy (8-10, 2-5) @ Redlands (9-9, 6-1)
La Verne (10-8, 5-2) @ Caltech (4-14, 0-7)

OxyBob   

[WoostAr]

San Bernardino Sun article correction:

it was Cramer with 11 assists, not Elmquist.

Cramer had an amazing game...3rd almost triple double this season...2 rebounds shy this time.

...saw this game live...great game to watch...tested the ticker for sure...really thought Caltech would pull this one off.

[OxyBob]

Article in today's Los Angeles Times about Oxy's Ty Cobb, the great-grandson of the legendary baseball Hall of Famer:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-ty-cobb-20110131,0,7912374.story

OxyBob

[Pat Coleman]

Thanks, great piece and added it to What We're Reading.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

First Regional Rankings: http://www.d3blogs.com/d3hoops/2011/02/02/ncaas-mens-regional-rankings/

[Hugenerd]

Caltech only down 2, 55-57, 2 minutes to play.

Now only a 1 point game, 32 s to play, 58-59.

Wow, another 1 point loss, 61-60.  La Verne pulls it out.  Dont have a box score yet, I wonder if Caltech had the lead 60-59 before La Verne made their last shot?

[Pat Coleman]

Caltech only down 2, 55-57, 2 minutes to play.

Now only a 1 point game, 32 s to play.

And final 61-60 LaVerne. Darn.

[Hugenerd]

Yeah, the score was 59-58 with 32 s left.  I wonder if Caltech briefly took the lead at 60-59?