MBB: Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[OxyBob]

gordonmann, thanks for the link to the article about Zach Baines.

The Tigers took another step in that direction by beating Cal Lutheran 64-62 on Wednesday night.

Baines had 23 points and 16 rebounds in the win.

Six-foot-7 forward Austin DeWitz joins fellow junior Baines in double-figures scoring with 15.3 points and leads the club with 9.9 rebounds a game.

DeWitz scored 26 and had 9 rebounds against CLU. He scored Oxy's last 11 points, including the winning jumper with 3.6 seconds left.

Pretty good game between Cal Lu and Oxy last night.   

Sorry I missed you at the game.

Here's the schedule for Saturday:

La Verne (0-17, 0-8 SCIAC) @ Oxy (15-2, 8-0) 2:00 p.m.
Claremont (9-7, 7-1) @ Cal Lutheran (6-10, 4-5) 2:00 p.m.
Redlands (5-13, 3-6) @ Whittier (6-12, 4-5) 5:00 p.m.
Chapman (12-6, 5-4) @ Caltech (4-14, 2-7) 5:00 p.m.

Pomona is idle.

OxyBob

[OxyBob]

Oxy 54 La Verne 50

Oxy hung on for dear life and beat winless La Verne. Austin DeWitz scored 26, and Zach Baines had his second straight double-double with 17 points and 12 rebounds. Oxy only shot 29% on 21-for-72 and only 1-for-11 on 3-balls. The Tigers will have to play a lot better than that when they meet up with Claremont next Saturday.

Claremont 76 Cal Lutheran 57 -- Stags run away from Kingsmen in 2nd half.
Whittier 93 Redlands 92 -- 3-pointer at the buzzer wins it for Poets.
Chapman 82 Caltech 63 -- CIT led early but Panthers easily win.

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

Cal Lutheran (6-11, 4-6 SCIAC) @ Whittier (7-12, 5-5)
Caltech (4-15, 2-8) @ Pomona (8-10, 6-3)
Chapman (13-6, 6-4) @ Redlands (5-14, 3-7)
Claremont (10-7, 8-1) @ La Verne (0-18, 0-9)

Oxy (16-2, 9-0) is idle.

OxyBob

[stag44]

nice to see OxyBob has revived now that his Tigers are playing well..

potential look-ahead game for the Stags @ ULV... They need to stay focused and take care of business in the Tent against a pesky La Verne team that was very close to beating Oxy on Saturday.

[OxyBob]

nice to see OxyBob has revived now that his Tigers are playing well..

I returned only because I missed you.

potential look-ahead game for the Stags @ ULV

Oxy may have been looking ahead. Claremont won't be. Everyone played against ULV the first time the Stags throttled the Leos. It'll be the same result again this Wednesday.

OxyBob

[Gosox]

It is good to see Oxy Bob back!

Was at the game and I do not think Oxy was looking forward...I think they simply played bad...They shot 9% from 3's...29% from the field...obviously not what they have been displaying as of late...ULV actually had a chance to win in regulation with 8 seconds left and missed a tear drop layup...they have struggled all year with various facets of the game,  young team and some senior leadership struggles....but Oxy to their credit...found a way to win, even on a bad night....from my experience...that is what championship teams do....find a way regardless of what they might be facing, bad play, sickness, etc.... they  have some nice chemistry going....Look forward to Oxy Bob's insight on the CMS bout coming up....!!!

Cheers to all!

[OxyBob]

ULV actually had a chance to win in regulation with 8 seconds left and missed a tear drop layup...they have struggled all year with various facets of the game,  young team and some senior leadership struggles

Real tough year for Rich Reed and the team. They should play the Edwards kid more. I heard he's pretty good.

OxyBob

[OxyBob]

Oxy may have been looking ahead. Claremont won't be. Everyone played against ULV the first time the Stags throttled the Leos. It'll be the same result again this Wednesday.

As expected, Claremont manhandled La Verne 72-53.

On Saturday at 5:00 p.m., second place Claremont (11-7, 9-1 SCIAC) meets first place Oxy (16-2, 9-0) at CMS. The Stags no longer play in shoe box-sized Ducey Gym, dubbed by me as The Temple of Doom, which was demolished and replaced by the magnificent Roberts Pavillion, which I guess is the Taj Mahal of Doom. Oxy will have to play its very best basketball to get a win.

The rest of Saturday's schedule:

Pomona (9-10, 7-3) @ Redlands (5-15, 3-8) 2:00 p.m.
Cal Lutheran (6-12, 4-7) @ Chapman (14-6, 7-4) 2:00 p.m.
La Verne (0-19, 0-10) @ Whittier (8-12, 6-5) 5:00 p.m.

Caltech (4-16, 2-9) is idle.

OxyBob

[OxyBob]

From Saturday:

Claremont 70 Oxy 60

Claremont handed Oxy its first conference loss. The Stags led by 11 at the half. In the second half the Tigers got within 4 but that was as close as they got. Pretty even statistically shooting-wise, but CMS out-rebounded Oxy 36-26.

For Oxy, Zach Baines scored 21, Austin DeWitz scored 13, and Jonny Crosthwaite had 11. For Claremont, Michael Scarlett scored 20, Kendrick Morris had 14, and Miles President scored 12.

With the win Claremont took over first place in the SCIAC at 10-1. The Stags are 12-7 overall and have won 9 straight. With the loss Oxy is 16-3, 9-1, and had their 10-game winning streak snapped.

Here's the SCIAC schedule for Wednesday, all games at 7:00 p.m.:

Oxy (16-3, 9-1 SCIAC) @ Caltech (4-16, 2-9)
Redlands (5-16, 3-9) @ La Verne (0-20, 0-11)
Pomona (10-10, 8-3) @ Claremont (12-7, 10-1)
Whittier (9-12, 7-5) @ Chapman (15-6, 8-4)

Nonconference:

Cal Lutheran (6-13, 4-8) @ UC Santa Cruz (15-7)

OxyBob

[stag44]

Difference in the game was a 10-0 run from the Stags in the middle of the 1st half that pushed the lead from 20-19 to 30-19. From there the Stags controlled the game.

Jack Ely had a very strong game rebounding and guarding Baines.

As I expected, Oxy came out and guarded the Stags with an aggressive switching defense - they had a week to prepare for the Stags and have Mike Wells on the staff, son of CMS legend David Wells. Mike basically grew up in Ducey and probably has the motion offense in his bloodstream. Oxy was prepared to guard the Stags, but the beauty of the motion is the counters it provides to any defense thrown at it.

The game was an even matchup and I look forward to the rematch in a week.

No rest for the Stags - another huge game on Wednesday against Pomona. CMS and Pomona both are riding hot streaks going a combined 17-1 in the new year (only loss was PP @ Oxy). This should be a great game at Roberts and I expect there to be a pretty good crowd for this one.

Both teams are stacked at the guard positions (Rosenbaum, Elan, Koch, Rees for PP); (Scarlett, Lynds, President, Ely for PP). The Stags do have an edge down low with their 3 headed monster of Morris, Meyers and Horn - they are getting a combined 18 and 10 from the 5 position which is huge for the guards and the motion.

I expect a very good and close game throughout. Pomona will throw their usual combination of 2-2-1 soft press, 2-3 zone and will go under screens in the motion and then press up to the shooters. I'm very excited to see this game play out.

Both teams are pretty much a lock for the SCIAC playoff at this point and are playing for seeding. Pomona needs this one to stay in the hunt for the championship.

No news here, but winner of the SCIAC playoff will be shipped up to Walla Walla and will play Whitworth in the opening round like last year. Winner likely plays Whitman (assuming they get past their 1st round opponent). I don't really see another outcome here given NWC will get 2 teams barring a meltdown from Whitworth.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

No news here, but winner of the SCIAC playoff will be shipped up to Walla Walla and will play Whitworth in the opening round like last year. Winner likely plays Whitman (assuming they get past their 1st round opponent). I don't really see another outcome here given NWC will get 2 teams barring a meltdown from Whitworth.

That doesn't necessarily have to happen. Thanks to the bracket being a complete 64-team set-up, two teams have to most likely go to Walla Walla (some assumptions right now) and most likely one or two teams will have to go to Texas. We have already seen the women's committee ship SCIAC teams to Texas. There is nothing that would keep the men's committee from doing the same ... or elsewhere. Wherever there is a challenge to fill a bracket with four teams - there aren't enough to bus there.

There is no rule that says they must fly them the shortest distance possible. Flight is a flight in the grand scheme of things. They may not fly a west coast team to New England, but plenty of options there if the committee needs it. All depends on who is the tournament, who is (or can/will) host, etc.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

If, for example, Sul Ross State and Colorado College get in from the ASC and SCAC, two teams that are more than 500 miles from each other, you could see those schools in Washington and the SCIAC winner elsewhere.

[stag44]

That doesn't necessarily have to happen. Thanks to the bracket being a complete 64-team set-up, two teams have to most likely go to Walla Walla (some assumptions right now) and most likely one or two teams will have to go to Texas. We have already seen the women's committee ship SCIAC teams to Texas. There is nothing that would keep the men's committee from doing the same ... or elsewhere. Wherever there is a challenge to fill a bracket with four teams - there aren't enough to bus there.

There is no rule that says they must fly them the shortest distance possible. Flight is a flight in the grand scheme of things. They may not fly a west coast team to New England, but plenty of options there if the committee needs it. All depends on who is the tournament, who is (or can/will) host, etc.

If, for example, Sul Ross State and Colorado College get in from the ASC and SCAC, two teams that are more than 500 miles from each other, you could see those schools in Washington and the SCIAC winner elsewhere.

Very helpful context - I didn't realize that flight distance was not a criteria. I guess at the end of the day the SCIAC team will like be a plug to make the bracket work. In any situation, the SCIAC will have to travel their way through.

Random thought - if there was an endowment provided for D3 by the schools to make travel a non-issue (ie really provide parity in the brackets, similar to D1), would that be something the NCAA would go for? Just thinking out loud because in the current situation, the SCIAC would only host in a similar fashion to how the NWC is right now. I'm guessing it would cost something around $1.5-2M for all the flights and hotels for the teams to be traveling. So if you endowed it, you would need something like ~$40-50M to make the math work.

My initial thought its that the NCAA would squash it if it was just for 1 sport, because that would not provide equity, but I'm not sure if that is the case or not. 

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Random thought - if there was an endowment provided for D3 by the schools to make travel a non-issue (ie really provide parity in the brackets, similar to D1), would that be something the NCAA would go for? Just thinking out loud because in the current situation, the SCIAC would only host in a similar fashion to how the NWC is right now. I'm guessing it would cost something around $1.5-2M for all the flights and hotels for the teams to be traveling. So if you endowed it, you would need something like ~$40-50M to make the math work.

My initial thought its that the NCAA would squash it if it was just for 1 sport, because that would not provide equity, but I'm not sure if that is the case or not.

Your last statement is pretty much the key - you can't do it for just one sport. Thus there are 64 teams in the women's D1 tournament when if you ran the tournament like all others in the NCAA, I don't believe the access ratio would allow 64 teams (D1 men wouldn't be at 64, either).

If you are curious how the budget works, here you go (DIII releases this every year): http://www.ncaa.org/sites/default/files/2018DIII_FactsandFigures_20170919.pdf

Notice you think it might be $40-$50 million dollars for travel. Notice the entire DIII budget is just over $30 million currently and 75% of that goes towards 28 championships. Not sure how you could create an endowment that would dwarf the overall budget. Also, not sure how the rest of the NCAA would feel about it. When it comes to finances, that is usually an all-NCAA voting item, not a DIII specific one.

And to be clear, the "NCAA" doesn't approve or disapprove of items. Member institutions and conferences vote on these things. Those in Indy are tasked with carrying out the rules set by its members. So the "NCAA" approving something like this really means all members of the NCAA, not the home office in Indy.

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

Men's first regional rankings this season: http://www.d3hoops.com/notables/2018/02/men-regional-rankings-first

[OxyBob]

Wednesday night's scores:

Oxy 63 Caltech 52
Redlands 79 La Verne 73
Claremont 73 Pomona 60
Cal Lutheran 74 UC Santa Cruz 73
Chapman 77 Whittier 74

Saturday's schedule:

La Verne (0-21, 0-12 SCIAC) @ Chapman (16-6, 9-4) 2:00 PM   
Pomona (10-11, 8-4) @ Cal Lutheran (7-13, 4-8) 2:00 PM   
Whittier (9-13, 7-6) @ Oxy (17-3, 10-1) 2:00 PM   
Redlands (6-16, 4-9) @ Caltech (4-17, 2-10) 5:00 PM

Claremont (13-7, 11-1) is idle.

Conference standings: CMS 11-1, Oxy 10-1, CU 9-4, PP 8-4, WC 7-6, CLU 4-8, UR 4-9, CIT 2-10, ULV 0-12

OxyBob