MBB: Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[middhoops]

Not exactly.
Baines was playing for Middlebury in December. 
You can transfer instantly in D3 under the right circumstances.
Our loss is your immediate gain.

[Gray Fox]

You are right.  I checked.  He's been a starter and key player.

A good pickup for Oxy.

[Gray Fox]

From nescac1

  "The only connection I could find between Baines and Occidental hoops is that a current senior at his former high school has committed to play for Occidental next season. "

[Gosox]

Laverne played solid last night even though the regular bigs were both out...either injury or flu...as the team has been bit by the bug as of late....yet they played as if they were missing no one...energy and aggressiveness...fun team to watch...

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Not exactly.
Baines was playing for Middlebury in December. 
You can transfer instantly in D3 under the right circumstances.
Our loss is your immediate gain.

Right circumstances being.. there are no restrictions (unless within some conferences like the CCIW).

[Pat Coleman]

Not exactly.
Baines was playing for Middlebury in December. 
You can transfer instantly in D3 under the right circumstances.
Our loss is your immediate gain.

Right circumstances being.. there are no restrictions (unless within some conferences like the CCIW).

Well, also, that the student-athlete was academically eligible at the institution they are transferring from.

[Gray Fox]

From my friend whose son is a pitcher at Middlebury:

Zach Baines and the NESCAC have a breakup

The Panthers have hit another bump in their road to a second consecutive league title. Zach Baines is no longer 'out indefinitely' as Pete put it. He is definitely out. Baines transferred to Occidental College in the SCIAC conference in sunny Southern California after eight games this season, all of which he started. The high flying sophomore forward averaged 13.8 PPG and 6.8 REB/G in the early season and he will be sorely missed down the stretch run, giving Nick Tarantino '18 a lot of weight to carry after taking over in the starting lineup. Vermont is cold and dark, and it won't be shorts weather until April. I have no idea why he would leave such a place. Good luck to Baines and the Tigers, they got a good one.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

From my friend whose son is a pitcher at Middlebury:

Zach Baines and the NESCAC have a breakup

The Panthers have hit another bump in their road to a second consecutive league title. Zach Baines is no longer 'out indefinitely' as Pete put it. He is definitely out. Baines transferred to Occidental College in the SCIAC conference in sunny Southern California after eight games this season, all of which he started. The high flying sophomore forward averaged 13.8 PPG and 6.8 REB/G in the early season and he will be sorely missed down the stretch run, giving Nick Tarantino '18 a lot of weight to carry after taking over in the starting lineup. Vermont is cold and dark, and it won't be shorts weather until April. I have no idea why he would leave such a place. Good luck to Baines and the Tigers, they got a good one.

It's only shorts weather in April if you're from New England.  If you're from SoCal, you have to wait until July - and you'll be home by then anyway.

[middhoops]

Update from former Baines-ville.
Middlebury misses Zach, for sure.  He was a big fan favorite here.
Other players are getting opportunities that wouldn't have happened had Zach stayed.  The team is good.
Next year his absence will be felt far more severely.  He won't be replaced.

Thus far, no one has repeated one negative word about Zach Baines.  We were lucky to have him.
Occidental may be even more lucky.

[Gray Fox]

Update from former Baines-ville.
Middlebury misses Zach, for sure.  He was a big fan favorite here.
Other players are getting opportunities that wouldn't have happened had Zach stayed.  The team is good.
Next year his absence will be felt far more severely.  He won't be replaced.

Thus far, no one has repeated one negative word about Zach Baines.  We were lucky to have him.
Occidental may be even more lucky.

I'll pass this along to my Middlebury friend.

[stag44]

We've had 5-6 games in the SCIAC and have what looks to be a conference race set up.

CMS, ULV, PP and CLU have seemingly separated themselves as the top 4 in the conference with records better than 4-2 while Chapman, Oxy, Redlands, Whittier and Cal Tech are saddled with 2 or fewer wins each thus far.

Top 4
CMS - the Stags are playing well and opening their new Robert's Pavilion with a strong season. Early on they were winning while shooting a ridiculously high 3pt % and overall FG%, but have since cooled off but are getting it done on the defensive end. The dynamic backcourt of Lynds and Scarlett provides leadership and scoring, while Hall is the captain and glue of the team that does things beyond the stat sheet. The 3-headed 5 man monster of Morris / Meyers / Horn has been remarkable.

ULV - I go back and forth between CLU and ULV as the most explosive team in the conference. ULV has been on a tear lately and have 3 players in Arnold, White and Stokes who are legit scorers. Reed is playing up tempo with his athletic and deep team and trying to run and gun. The key to their success is playing at a fast pace, being unselfish and putting pressure on defense. It will be interesting to see how they play against CMS

PP - Kats has 4 legit starters and a well balanced team, particularly top 8. For all their struggles earlier in the year, the team has come together and as always is in the discussion at the top of the conference. The Sagehens go as their guards go. Koch, Rosenbaum, Elan and Gale all can pump 3s and have the green light. They will continue to get better as the season goes along and contend for a championship

CLU - I'm not sure if Francis is done for the year or not, but against PP landed awkwardly and has not played since. Since that, the team has been on a tear upto tonights loss @ ULV. Ritchie is their car keys and is the engine that gets them going. Cole, Ferreira are knock down shooters and Wood is an inside - out 4 man that will cause most teams a matchup nightmare. They will score a lot, not play a ton of defense and will leverage their skill and athleticism

Oxy has all the talent in the world and arguably 3 of the top 10 players in the conference. Johnson, Miller and newcomer Baines are big time players and are all capable of going for 25+ in a game. They have yet to click and have been struggling in conference. I expect them to continue to get better as the season progresses.
 
Chapman has struggled this year without their POY Cam Haslam who is supposedly out for the year with an injury. Losing Luke Hamlin to graduation also hurt as their starting dynamic guard combo is not there. They are still a tough team to play, but may have some tough nights scoring.

Whittier is a step down talent wise relative to some of their teams the past few years, but still can be explosive. The issue as usual with them will be around defending and discipline. They are often the most talented and athletic team in their matchups, but are often beat because of better execution.

Redlands - this is a tough team, that similar to Chapman is having a hard time scoring. they will beat some teams at home but I'm not expecting much from them this year

Caltech - after a strong start to SCIAC they are struggling to put points on the board. Nasser is a load on the block and they have some guys that can play. They will play some teams really close and I think will win 4-5 games.

[D O.C.]

Thank-you.
I was wondering what games to maybe go see.
None. Wait for the tournament.

[stag44]

Thank-you.
I was wondering what games to maybe go see.
None. Wait for the tournament.

Without question I would go to both CMS - PP games this year. The game this Saturday will be electric with them being the top 2 teams in conference. The game Feb 7th will be the first game of the rivalry in the new Roberts Pavilion at CMS.

[D O.C.]

Thank-you for the heads up.
Claremont has been way too cold as of late so I scheduled a Reno trip this weekend. 

[WoostAr]

Caltech beat Chapman last night for the first time since 1954!