MBB: Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[WoostAr]

In other news:  pretty interesting general midnight madness article...

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/story/15726282/midnight-madness-just-isnt-what-it-used-to-be

[Gray Fox]

...Caltech hosting a Midnight Madness event....

http://gocaltech.com/information/2011MidnightMadness

This is the second year they are doing this.  Does that mean they will beat Oxy twice?

[WoostAr]

Good question...after checking out their freshman last night it certainly looks to me as though they have landed some high level talent...good job Eslinger...interested to see how much they play this season...might see one or more in starting line-up???  Big gap to fill with no Ryan Elmquist....and no seniors!...might make for a weird senior night.

I'm ready to watch some games!!

[CMSfan]

I'll be in Claremont Oct 22 weekend, so if anyone is around I'll try and sneak into a practice and let you know how the squad looks.

From what I hear, CMS is looking very good.  I'll be curious to hear your thoughts.

[stag44]

Congrats to Chris Blees for his selection to the D3Hoops.com Pre Season 2nd Team All American!!!

Very excited to see them on Saturday and how they look!

[OxyBob]

Everyone has been awful quiet this pre-season. I think it could be a very exciting year again across the board.

Defending D-III champ St. Thomas will be at Oxy on Friday, November 18, at 7:30 p.m.

OxyBob

[cmsme]

The following article was in US Today about the Wisconsin Conference and D3 sports.

http://msn.foxsports.com/collegefootball/story/The-conference-no-one-leavesschools-boast-unique-stability-63484108

[cmsme]

Also, CMS people, CMS is playing Afghan team tonight (10/29) and it is on video-- ustream.tv

And the following is a link to an article about the Afghan national team, which i always wondered about.
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/2010-11-12-3216169951_x.htm   

[WoostAr]

Went and saw CMS game tonight...

Was excited to see Chris Blees play...heard a lot about him last year, hadn't seen him in person before....he looked to be in great fitness...took it end to end hard multiple times...had a few good moves to the hoop...missed a few chippies....I'm sure that'll all be fixed by the time the season rolls around....he looked frustrated with himself at times....in other words, he looked like a guy who was returning from an injury....certainly an impressive player.

But the best player on the floor for CMS (and was a complete surpise to me) was #22...Mani Maceira...holy cow where did he come from?!?!....I guess the story is he took some time off to start a family??.......he looked GOOD!

Gaffaney looks to have hit the weight room...looks stronger....played well.

Sullivan looks very out of shape and he may have eaten too many donuts this summer....10 lbs heavier...maybe more?...limited minutes tonight.

The game itself...Afghanistan was winded after 10 minutes and it was a ~20 point blow out....CMS looks to be in great shape, not quite crisp in the offense yet, but hey it was a scrimmage and they creamed a more physical opponent.

All in all, CMS looks good.

[stag44]

Thanks for the update WoostAr!

I was able to catch the game streaming online. Some of my takeaways:

Overall, for only having 2 weeks of practice the Stags looked very formidable. Still lots to be desired on the defensive end though. Too many open shots and blowbys with over showing help. Offensively, this team might be the best under Scali from the last 7 years. They can flat out score. From Blees, Maciera, Gaffney, Sullivan on down they are all natural scorers. The motion still is raw, but once Scali gets them to start hitting and screening for each other, this team could very easily be scoring 75+ ppg which is unheard of in Stagland.

Blees: The knee and speed looked good. I spoke to him a week ago and he said some of the rust is still coming off, but he feels confident and ready. I was very impressed with his Lamar Odom like rebound and start the break. He has tremendously improved his court vision showing hitting open men on multiple occasions for layups or open jumpshots. That's going to be huge for the team as opposing coach's really cannot double him if he continues to find the open man.

Maciera: I was lucky enough to have played with him for 2 years, and to see him back really makes me happy. To be honest, it did not look like he was away from competitive college hoops for 3 years at all. He fit right back into the system and is one of the most naturally gifted athletes and scorers we have in the D3 level. I'm excited to see him and Blees mesh together and play off each other.

Gaffney: From all accounts, he has come back as the most improved guy from the summer. Everyone says he is 10-15 pounds stronger and improved all facets of his game. I'm excited to see him evolve as a combo guard and provide leadership in the backcourt. 

The rest of the crew looked great as well. It was nice to see Mivshek out there playing hard. His defensive intensity is exactly what the Stags need and he can put points up in bunches as well. He'll be an important guard for the Stags and will win some games with his scoring. Anderson was his usual athletic self, making a couple are-you-kidding-me athletic rebounds and layins. It was nice seeing a couple frosh getting run as well. Grodahl looks like he will become a legit 2/3 for Scali in the next year or two, and showed flashes of why he was all-state in Oregon. It was also nice to see Christian get some run as a 5 man. The 5-8 minutes available as a backup 5man on this team will be crucial. The Stags need a bruiser inside to take rebound, bring energy and set some screens.

Overall, I'm very exicted to see the Stags play this year. I'll be lucky enough to go watch them Nov 18th weekend in Austin, TX. If anyone is going, please let me know!

[OxyBob]

Maciera: I was lucky enough to have played with him for 2 years, and to see him back really makes me happy.

Maybe if CMS looks very carefully they can find some unused eligibility for Miles Taylor, too.

OxyBob

[stag44]

Maciera: I was lucky enough to have played with him for 2 years, and to see him back really makes me happy.

Maybe if CMS looks very carefully they can find some unused eligibility for Miles Taylor, too.

OxyBob

Miles would love to come back - he's still active in the men's rec leagues and dominant as usual!

Maybe i'll start digging into it just in time for the CMS Oxy game

[Hoopsallthetime]

Maciera: I was lucky enough to have played with him for 2 years, and to see him back really makes me happy.

Maybe if CMS looks very carefully they can find some unused eligibility for Miles Taylor, too.

OxyBob

Miles would love to come back - he's still active in the men's rec leagues and dominant as usual!

Maybe i'll start digging into it just in time for the CMS Oxy game

Manny left after his Junior year and still had one year of eligibility left. The biggest thing that we should get out of all of this...is that Manny not only got to come back and finish his career as a Stag, but also is going to complete his required hours to graduate and get his degree which I believe is the best thing to come out of this situation. But I'm not going to lie...I can't wait to see Blees and Manny kill it this year. Good luck SCIAC!

For those who don't know...Manny was SCIAC player of the year a couple of years ago before he left and 1st team along side Miles Taylor and John Parsons!

[WoostAr]

Caltech posted a very optimistic season preview today.  http://gocaltech.com/sports/mbkb/2011-12/releases/20112012MBBOutlook

I only saw part of their scrimmage last week against ASU...noticed a few things:

Cramer and Edwards looking good.

Andrew Hogue looks like he could be 25...he's big, strong, and has a motor that doesn't quit....I'm sure that the plan is for him to fill in some of the gap left by Elmquist...visually, his size is impressive for a freshman and he could be quite intimidating.

Caltech definitely hit more shots than they did last year...granted the opposing defense was not stellar.

The competition (American Sports Univeristy) was weak....Caltech looked bored after the opening 10 minutes.

Scrimmage this weekend against some D2 competition probably will provide a more accurate view of the team.

[WoostAr]

In other news, Occidental had a scrimmage against DI Pepperdine....and it was tight.

http://www.oxyathletics.com/sports/mbkb/2011-12/releases/20111106jj3614