MBB: Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[scandihoovian]

Sounds like the bank was open last night for the Kingsmen.   Glad to see that they came away from the newly remodeled Rush with a win.  Oxy may be a little short handed this year, but Newhall is always able to get the most out of what he has, and with the addition of Goltz (is this his first year playing BB at Oxy?) I am sure the Tigers will, at a minimum, have a significant impact on the conference race.

Looking forward to the Kingsmen's trip to the Temple of Doom, hoping they can sneak out of their with a W.

[OxyBob]

Item about Claremont's win over Redlands from the San Bernardino Sun:

CMS STARTS SCIAC PLAY WITH NARROW WIN

The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps men looked to have a breather in their opener against University of Redlands, which entered with a losing record. But it didn't turn out that way, as the Stags (9-3, 1-0) had to hold on for a 70-67 win at Currier Gymnasium.

"You have more pressure when you have loftier expectations," CMS coach Ken Scalmanini said. "It's a lot different when people expect you to be good. And give Redlands credit. They were ready to play."

While CMS may not have played its best, Scalmanini said it did play smart down the stretch. Making free throws helped. Jason Toney hit all four tries he had, the first coming with his team up 64-62 and 1:02 remaining.

The veteran coach will be looking for a better rebounding effort as his team lost that department 32-23. The Stags compensated for that by forcing 21 turnovers.

OxyBob

[OxyBob]

The new D3hoops Top 25 is out. Some crumbs thrown the SCIAC's way: Claremont (9-3), which beat No. 24 Whitworth, and which has only one D-III loss to 12-2 Chapman and 2 losses to the GSAC (which, as we learned from one of the resident college basketball mavens, "is one of the top 2-3 NAIA I leagues"), received 5 points in the "Other Receiving Votes" category. (No surprise, Chapman received no votes.) Meanwhile, Carthage (10-3), which was easily beaten by Cal Lutheran (9-3), received 30 points, while CLU got none. And, of course, no surprise again, Illinois Wesleyan (8-5) still got 8 points, no matter how many games they lose.

What a joke.

OxyBob

[oldchap]

The new D3hoops Top 25 is out. Some crumbs thrown the SCIAC's way: Claremont (9-3), which beat No. 24 Whitworth, and which has only one D-III loss to 12-2 Chapman and 2 losses to the GSAC (which, as we learned from one of the resident college basketball mavens, "is one of the top 2-3 NAIA I leagues"), received 5 points in the "Other Receiving Votes" category. (No surprise, Chapman received no votes.) Meanwhile, Carthage (10-3), which was easily beaten by Cal Lutheran (9-3), received 30 points, while CLU got none. And, of course, no surprise again, Illinois Wesleyan (8-5) still got 8 points, no matter how many games they lose.

What a joke.

OxyBob

Amen to this, my friend!!
I wonder if the people who vote even bother to read the boards. Of course, there's a lot of BS to wade through, but there are actual gems of information in there, if you bother to look.

Of course, if you read the response I got from one of the Whitworth supporters, they're God's gift to the world, while Chapman and Claremont are... well, not even on the radar screen.

But, hey! We have the good weather here, so who's complaining... 

[OxyBob]

I wonder if the people who vote even bother to read the boards.

Objective analysis is unnecessary. Shameless homers never let the facts get in the way of what they believe to be true. Example: If you believe that one of your overrated conference teams is No. 7, then when one of your even more overrated conference teams beats overrated No. 7, it justifies voting for the overrated team which beat overrated No. 7, and further justifies the strength of your thoroughly overrated conference.

OxyBob

[Pat Coleman]

I wonder if the people who vote even bother to read the boards.

Objective analysis is unnecessary. Shameless homers never let the facts get in the way of what they believe to be true.

Which is exactly why 99% of what's on the boards is useless to a voter, because it's from a shameless homer.

BTW, your vaunted homer votes for IWU came not from within 500 miles of IWU. You'd be surprised how many of your assumptions are baseless, OB.

[West Coast Bias]

WHO ARE THESE GUYS?

I was just checking out stats and box scores the other night I realize that I have no idea who anyone is in the SCIAC this year.  Other than Whittier it seems like everyone else is new...

Oxy - Who are Goltz and Hanley?  They hit league play and all of a sudden they have 2 new guys playing 38+ minutes?

Cal Lu - No Owen?  I was expecting the Meier- Owen tandem to dominate the inside.

PP - As Oxy Bob said, they now have Sexton Kristof and Porter back...Where were they?

CMS - 3 of their top 6 players weren't on their roster last year...but they aren't freshman? Transfers?


Is the SCIAC going the way of the GSAC where you never know who is going to be on a roster until you show up at the game that night?

[OxyBob]

WHO ARE THESE GUYS?

Welcome back, WCB.

Oxy - Who are Goltz and Hanley?

Justin Goltz is Oxy's all-conference quarterback who hasn't played basketball since high school. Jack Hanley's the new kid in town. Oxy lost Whitman, Hunt, Sasich, Pitcher, McBride and Impleman to graduation. Conti is in the south of France, and Alexander, Jordan, Schultz and Nip didn't come back for various reasons. Oxy's offense has really struggled. So far watching the Oxy guards is like watching me hit on a woman in a singles bar -- about 35 seconds of passes but little scoring and no penetration.

Cal Lu - No Owen?  I was expecting the Meier- Owen tandem to dominate the inside.

Mychal Owens didn't come back. Neither did Danny Hagen or Lucas Gums, the Ron Lee of the SCIAC. If Owens had stayed and played on the front line with Andy Meier and Aaron Van Klaveren, yikes.

PP - As Oxy Bob said, they now have Sexton Kristof and Porter back...Where were they?

Pomona had players studying abroad and injured. The Sagehens appear to be healthy now. Not good for everyone else.

CMS - 3 of their top 6 players weren't on their roster last year...but they aren't freshman? Transfers?

Jason Toney, Patrick Lacey and Michael Bagby are all transfers. The Stags look like the team to beat.

BTW, your vaunted homer votes for IWU came not from within 500 miles of IWU.

I don't care if the votes are coming from Bloomingtom, IL, Bloomington, IN, or any other blooming Bloomington. IWU is 8-5 and in its last 6 games is 3-3 with wins over 0-12 Chicago, 4-7 Illinois College, and 6-11 NAIA Missouri Baptist, and 2 straight conference losses. They shouldn't be getting any Top 25 votes, let alone more than Claremont.

OxyBob

[Pat Coleman]

I agree. However, your assumption that they are homer votes is pretty far off base, sir.

[oldchap]

Which is exactly why 99% of what's on the boards is useless to a voter, because it's from a shameless homer.

BTW, your vaunted homer votes for IWU came not from within 500 miles of IWU. You'd be surprised how many of your assumptions are baseless, OB.

May I'll sound like a "homer" but according to NCAA statistics, Chapman is second in the Nation in opponents points per game, 19th in win/loss percentage, 19th in scoring margin, 15th in field goal percentage offense, 21st in field goal percentage defense, 10th in 3-pt field goal offense, 2nd in 3-pt field goal defense, 18th in rebound margin, yet they don't garner even one vote for the Top 25.

I understand about strength of schedule but nevertheless, I wonder, compared to other teams which get votes, if there isn't some kind of bias...

[scandihoovian]

While acknowledging the limitations of living in SoCal, the D3 wilderness, I do think we have seen enough this year to be have a little perspective on the current Top 25.  Just here in Thousand Oaks we've seen Carthage (who beat #11 Augustana, and got 30 points in the most recent poll) lose to CLU.  We've seen Lawrence (who beat #4 Stevens Point) get thumped by CLU. We've seen #5 Byoooooo-na Vista narrowly escape with wins over PLU and CLU.  If these teams are representative of Top 25 quality play, then I feel confident that the SCIAC is not as far from Top 25 caliber as many would assume.

Yes, the teams we've seen all had to make long journeys to get here  , but those games were played on what amounted to a neutral court.  The Gilbert Center is a nice building, but it is so architecturally straightforward that it offers little in the way of home court advantage, especially during the winter break when games draw about 150 fans.

I understand while CLU might not be on a lot of ballots.  Losses to middle of the road teams from Tufts and Pacific don't do them any favors.  CMS, on the other hand is a different story, and has put together a pre-conference record worthy of greater recognition.

[OxyBob]

Yes, the teams we've seen all had to make long journeys to get here, but those games were played on what amounted to a neutral court.  The Gilbert Center is a nice building, but it is so architecturally straightforward that it offers little in the way of home court advantage, especially during the winter break when games draw about 150 fans.

By saying that you are buying into the No. 1 lame excuse for losing -- "We had to travel to get there." The only teams who complain that they lost because they took a plane ride are teams who took a plane ride and lost. Carthage came out to California and played at Redlands and won by 12. No excuses, I assume. The Red Men then had a day off before playing Cal Lutheran, who waxed them. Same goes for Lawrence, who first had a leisurely scrimmage with Caltech and won by 41, rested up for a day and then played Cal Lutheran, who thumped them by 20. Carthage and Lawrence lost for no reason other than CLU was clearly the better team. And travel certainly didn't affect Buena Vista, which won two close games at CLU.

I understand while CLU might not be on a lot of ballots.  Losses to middle of the road teams from Tufts and Pacific don't do them any favors.  CMS, on the other hand is a different story, and has put together a pre-conference record worthy of greater recognition.

Wednesday night: Cal Lutheran (9-3) @ Claremont (9-3). Great match-up in the Temple of Doom. CMS second semester classes don't begin until Jan. 20, so Ducey Gym won't be full of students, but still a definite edge for the Stags. CLU lost 9 straight at Claremont before breaking the streak last season, when they won convincingly. The Kingsmen better be ready to go tomorrow night, unlike they were against Tufts.

OxyBob

[scandihoovian]

OB-

With our long history of posting together, I would have thought you'd seen my implied  .  In response, I've edited my earlier post. 

[rook]

Regarding traveling, the double standard will apply of teams losing because they travled so far and winning because the other team is inferior (obviously).  Until SCIAC teams travel to the Midwest/East and win on the road this will happen.

Only problem is they'll have no one to play as everyone is trying to escape the snow to play out West...

[April]

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