MBB: Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Gray Fox]

Wednesday's SCIAC schedule:

La Verne @ Claremont
Pomona @ Redlands
CLU @ Whittier
Caltech @ Oxy

OxyBob

[(509)Rat]

Claremont 77, Caltech 42: No contest.

Kinda what I figured.

Cal Tech is solid

Caltech might not surprise anyone, but they're a solid team and can win any game they play

From the Stags perspective, this could easily be a trap game

In the past this would be a nice warmup game for the Stags and get them an easy win to start conference. This is no longer the case as CalTech is 5-6 and has been competitive in most games.

Why does everyone but OxyBob keep insisting on pretending that Caltech is a good team??? They needed a perfect storm to beat a bad Oxy team last year in their ONE conference win. The team's they have beaten this year have combined for somewhere around 15 wins...the only reason I can't put an exact number on it is because they've played teams who barely have athletic websites let alone an updated men's basketball results page...Caltech is bad. They might always be bad. But they can hold their heads high knowing that they will most likely change the world, whereas Redlands grads struggle with changing their own underwear.

[breakfromcoaching]

Claremont 77, Caltech 42: No contest.

Kinda what I figured.

Why does everyone but OxyBob keep insisting on pretending that Caltech is a good team??? They needed a perfect storm to beat a bad Oxy team last year in their ONE conference win. The team's they have beaten this year have combined for somewhere around 15 wins...the only reason I can't put an exact number on it is because they've played teams who barely have athletic websites let alone an updated men's basketball results page...Caltech is bad. They might always be bad. But they can hold their heads high knowing that they will most likely change the world, whereas Redlands grads struggle with changing their own underwear.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

I don't know what your definition of "bad" is, but Caltech isn't even close.  Lets look at a couple of their games. 

They beat Pacifica 11/22 (without Todd Cramer BTW).  Pacifica then turns around and beats Occidental the next night.  Caltech also won handly @ West Coast Baptist 12/1 (after West Coast Baptist beat Oxy 11/29 @ Oxy).  Both Caltech and Oxy beat University of Dallas and lost to Stevens and Chapman.  Caltech also beat Babson, a very respectable team out of the NEWMAC who is 8-6 on the year.

I didn't meant to make this into a comparison of Caltech and Oxy's schedules, my point is, if you're saying Caltech is "bad", Oxy must be too.  My opinion is both are probably middle of the pack teams taking all 400+ DIII teams into account.

Oxy will be an extremely tough matchup for Caltech this Wednesday with Montoya back, revenge aside.

(modified by GS for formatting)

[(509)Rat]

...my point is, if you're saying Caltech is "bad", Oxy must be too...

Ding, Ding, Ding!

I won't even go into how terrible your schedule comparison logic is...

But we disagree, no big deal. You think Caltech and Oxy would finish near the middle of the pack in most conferences around the country (they would have to in order to be ranked right around 200). And I think since they can't win more than a game in their own conference that they'd have a snowball's chance of finishing in the top half of any conference in the country. When in Rome.

[breakfromcoaching]

If you read my post again, I said middle of the pack of 400 or so + DIII teams.  I didn't mention in any conference.  I won't get into where they'd finish if they were in other conferences because some they'd fare better in (Skyline, North Atlantic) and some they'd clearly be outmatched (UAA, NEWMAC, WIAC).

Again, the topic of my post was that Caltech wasn't bad.  Check the Massey ratings (which I just checked after my original post) and Caltech is 206.  There are 412 teams total.

If Caltech (and Oxy as you say) are bad, and they're in the middle, the other 206 teams must be terrible, right?

[(509)Rat]

"Terrible" meaning a good high school team would beat you? Yes, terrible.

The bottom of DIII hoops is some really bad basketball. Just like the bottom of DIII football, when I played, was some really bad football. And I mean high school level.

When Caltech's record drop to 6-19, where will Massay have them ranked? 206?

[stag44]

Eyewitness report from Caltech:

CMS 77 CIT 42

The Stags won on Saturday night in relatively convincing fashion. While there were no backbreaking runs, CMS methodically grew their lead through the entire game.

Blees might have had his worst game of the year, going for 8 and 4 missing lots of bunnies and going 2-6 from the FT line. Overall, though, the Stags had 8 players score 5+ pts and 5 players with 8+pts. They were +13 in the rebounding category (40-27) and force 22 turnovers.

While Caltech was beaten soundly, they are tough, physical and play very hard. I am still a believer that they will win 3-4 SCIAC games this year. Obviously losing Cramer hurts, but they have the skill on the team to win a few games this year.

Since I saw them last live in Austin, the Stags have further improved on the defensive end and have become more refined in their motion offense. I really want to see them play this SCIAC slate and see how different teams defend and attack them.

The other think I noticed was how close and jovial the team is. They all seem to get along extremely well with each other, both on and off the court, which I can truly attest to being making a big difference in tight game situations.

I went 3 for 4 on my predictions on Saturday, with the only hiccup being Oxy defeating ULV in OT. Seems like Redlands is for real, putting up 100+ on Whittier and that the SCIAC as a whole will be very competitive on a nightly basis.

[etule]

Cal Tech is much improved and I think that is what people are trying to say! No way can they beat CMS. Oxy should handle them soundly! Oxy has some serious talent. They lack a good big guy.
Redlands has fire power! they can shoot the ball and play hard.
SCIAC is down this year! Except for CMS NWC much stronger top to bottom. That being said Redlands beat a good UPS team a couple weeks ago!
Fun year in D3 BB!

[WoostAr]

Caltech missed a lot of shots they usually make this game...hard to win a game hitting only 13 field goals. 

I thought Caltech played defense well in the half court, but they gave up a lot of offensive rebounds and they turned the ball over a lot which led to run outs.  Caltech actually picked up a lot of offensive rebounds as well (10) where CMS had 14....on defense, clearly CMS has more chances at rebounds because Caltech missed just about everything. 

A lot of Caltech's missed shots were compelled by CMS's defense which (as Stag44 pointed out) is top notch.  I have seen them take teams completely out of their games 4times this season....each time the team is completely frustrated.  I've seen 2 play their next game and they look much sharper and they run their offenses better......if Caltech can run their offense, which has worked all season (yes they're missing Cramer and that's a bit of a variable) they should be right in it with Oxy. 

If we bring in common opponents, Oxy has a loss to Pacifica where Caltech beat them, without Cramer....granted Oxy then later beat Pacifica.  Guess that's why they play the games!

January 14th and 18th should be a very telling games...Redlands at CMS and CMS at PP....should give us a better idea of how the conference will shake out.

[stag44]

Preview of Wednesday's games:

La Verne @ CMS
The last time these 2 teams met was the semi-finals of the SCIAC Tournament last year. CMS controlled the game and held off a late rally to win the game.

This matchup should be drastically different from the CMS perspective as they have Blees and Maciera back while Lacey has graduated.

La Verne returns most of their contributors from last year, though the loss of Wolpe (injury?) really hurts them inside and defensively. They are led by Woodland and Napolitano who are both big-time scorers. Lay and Veith are guards with range and pesky defensively. While they still are winless vs D3 competition, they have been very competitive in many of their games. I'm not sure what is holding them back in getting in the win column, but in the past ULV teams have been disjointed or had inner bickering which I think can cause teams to wilt down the stretch of close games. They got beat on an end of game layup vs Oxy to open conference after clutch 3s by Woodland at the end of regulation at OT. They will be hungry and up for the challenge vs the #17 team in the nation.

CMS comes off a comfortable yet sloppy win at Caltech. There are parts of me that worry bad habits will carry over from the Caltech game and preparation into this ULV game. When preparing to play Caltech you practice pressure all over the court and tend to gamble and expect to be getting fastbreak and transition points. In the halfcourt, CMS looked very ordinary and beatable. I expect them to be much sharper in their screening and motion. ULV is traditionally a weak halfcourt defensive team that is susceptible to a well run offense.

This game will be physical and hotly contested. I think the Stags will wear down the Leos and win running away.

CMS over ULV 74-56

Pomona @ Redlands
This is going to be the marquee matchup of the night. Both teams got impressive wins on Saturday, especiall PP going into CLU and winning.

These 2 teams will provide a serious challenge for CMS and the SCIAC crown. They both score and rebound by committee with various players leading the team on a nightly basis. They both run their systems really well and have players who fit.

I have a feeling this will be a low scoring battle and the team who has the fewest turnovers will win. Playing @ Redlands is never easy and in their first matchup Redlands won in the title game of the Lee Fulmer tournament.

Both teams have improved since then and will be better prepared. Redlands wins a close one

Redlands over PP 62-57


Caltech @ Oxy
Oh this is just great - I wonder if ESPN cameras will be around for the first meeting between the two teams since last years Caltech victory.

In all honesty though, I think Oxy comes focused, prepared and looking for revenge and blows Caltech out of the water. Montoya coming back really helps complete their team. They have 3 All SCIAC caliber players in Montoya, McCoy and Hanley which will make they a tough out for any team.

Caltech will try to be prepared, but I just think they will be overwhelmed by the Oxy pressure.

Oxy wins in a laugher 82-46


Cal Lu @ Whittier
This game pits teams with opposite playing styles. Whittier is run and gun, pressing and high octane offense while CLU is traditionally a methodical, post-dominated, and patient team.

CLU had a tremendous 2nd half vs PP from Martin Flower. This performance reminds me alot of what Kyle Knudsen did to alot of teams after Andy Meier went down in 08-09. To score 25 pts in a half vs PP is simply tremendous. Let's see if the frosh can build on that performance. They will also need a big game from Van Klaveran around the rim. He will be counted on to finish and protect the rim as things get hectic on the court.

Whittier continues to just put and give put tons of points. I still haven't had a chance to watch them play but think I will tune in for this one. Based on box scores, its seems to be scoring from all as well.

This is the biggest guess from them all, but I have Whittier winning and wearing down the CLU bigs

Whittier over CLU 94-80

[dahlby]

Monday night result: West Coast Baptist College over Chapman 66-64.
I haven't seen any stats and game was not steamed.
Surprise to me, to say the least.

[stag44]

Monday night result: West Coast Baptist College over Chapman 66-64.
I haven't seen any stats and game was not steamed.
Surprise to me, to say the least.

WOW! Thats something fully unexpected. That's a long bus ride back from Lancaster. Probably hurts not having Jordan Young not playing as well.

[oldchap]

Chapman had to play against West Coast Baptist College without Brandon Lin who got a concussion in the game against La Verne and Jordan Young who sprained his ankle badly during practice on Saturday. These are two starters and the second and third highest scorers in the team. This is no excuse though because Chapman has plenty of other options on the bench and WCBC isn't quite at the level of even an average D3 team.

I wasn't at the game but from what I heard, West Coast Baptist had the perfect game, shooting near 50% from downtown and making virtually all their free throws. Chapman was up by 11 points in the first half, but lost ground in the second half as the other team started making their 3's against an ill-fated zone defense. On the offensive end, the Panthers also had to contend with a 2-3 zone, although the bigs did relatively well despite it being crowded under the basket. The Panthers were really missing Lin and Jordan Young, as these guys would have easily hit some open 3's and forced West Coast Baptist to open up the paint.

Brandon Lin should return to the lineup for the next game on Saturday at Pacifica. The bad news is Jordan Young who is out for at least two weeks. We wish him a good recovery.

Hopefully, this isn't going to hurt Chapman chances at an elusive bid for the playoffs, as WCBC isn't a D3 team. But it sure doesn't look good on their record!!

[CMSfan]

Eyewitness report from Claremont

CMS 73, ULV 63 (OT)

Box: http://www.cmsathletics.org/sports/mbkb/2011-12/files/ULV-CMS.HTM

A shocker tonight!  I mean, CMS still won, but La Verne didn't go down easily thanks to a huge game (29 pts) from Trevor Woodland.

The Stags jumped out to an early double digit lead thanks to stifling defense and a fast start from Blees.  But after Woodland missed his first five or six shots, he was on fire the rest of the night.  He made tough shot after tough shot, including a 3 to tie the game with 36 seconds in regulation.  Blees had a decent last shot near the rim that didn't fall, sending the game to overtime.

CMS pulled away in OT thanks in part to a questionable flagrant foul against Woodland early in OT that seemed to thrown ULV off.  More importantly, the Stags shot a perfect 5 for 5 from the field in extra time.  La Verne shot 60% in the second half, but couldn't keep it up in OT, sealing their fate.

Blees was huge, going 13-23 from the floor and tallying 31 points (despite 5-11 from the line) along with 10 boards.  Gaffaney, Anderson, and Maceira all chipped in double digits.  CMS got just 6 points from the bench in this game (all from Mivshek) and all the starters logged 30+ minutes.

Other notes:

• CMS shot 0-10 from three-point range and 60% from the line, helping keeping La Verne in the game.
• La Verne out-rebounded CMS 36-33, which may be the first time all year the Stags have been beaten on the boards.  Of course, that was partly because the Stags shot relatively poorly and the Leos hardly missed in the second half.
• Napolitano turned the ball over eight (!) times.

It'll be interesting to see how the Stags fare on Sunday against Redlands.  Will they be worn out from the tough battle tonight?  Will they benefit from their first close game in weeks and bring a renewed focus against what may be their biggest challenger for SCIAC supremacy?  Will Redlands have more fans at Ducey than CMS (the semester has started at U of R, but not at The Claremont Colleges)?

As for La Verne, if they can shoot this well consistently, they can beat anyone in SCIAC.  That's a big if, though.  Still, kudos to them for nearly knocking off CMS.

[OxyBob]

Eyewitness report from Eagle Rock:

Oxy 81 Caltech 55

Sorry, not this time, Caltech. This was no contest. Oxy led 16-2 to start the game, and led 43-27 at the half. After Deshun McCoy made 4 straight free throws it was 59-37 and goodnight, thanks for coming. Oxy pounded CIT on the boards 53-23. McCoy and Kris Montoya each scored 19, Conrad Liebowitz had 12 plus 13 rebs, and Ryan Chong scored 12. Only bad stat for the Tigers was 17 turnovers, many of them unforced.

For Caltech, Mike Edwards had 18 and Andrew Hogue scored 14.

Oxy is 7-6, 2-0 SCIAC and is home to Whittier (9-4, 1-1) on Saturday. The Poets polished off Cal Lutheran 74-57. Caltech (5-8, 0-2) is at Pomona (7-5, 2-0), which got a 60-51 road win at Redlands.

In the other two SCIAC games, Claremont (13-0, 2-0) is home to Redlands (6-7, 1-1), while hard luck La Verne (3-10, 0-2) is home to Cal Lutheran (4-8, 0-2).

OxyBob