MBB: Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[greg21grimm]

Have to agree with Oxy Bob....they should have never let Dains and Rider get away...seems like it was a "Friend" hire there...but only an opinon...definitely gotten away from thier winning ways and develpment for sure though...have to agree...a once competitive program too...

Not sure how it all played out, but having talked with several alums, everyone was blindsided. Will take in the game tonight against Whitman as I head south. Saw the score last night, and it looked like CLU was very overmatched. Interested to see Whitman's style as I have heard a lot about them.

[greg21grimm]

Huge win for Point tonight against a good IWU team out in California. I feel bad for the hosts. The Dawgs smoked Cal Lutheran last night and Whitman was up about 45-18 at intermission tonight. Ouch!

I don't feel sorry for Cal Lutheran at all. Nobody forced the CLU coach to send out those contracts. You let the big dogs on your porch, you can't complain about getting bitten.

Whitman did what Whitman does to overmatched opponents and dismantled CLU yesterday. They won by about 50. Forced over 30 turnovers.

I went to the CLU/Whitman game. Actually just the Whitman game, because CLU wasnt in the game. Left at halftime when it was 45-18. Several alumni/staff in attendance that are utterly embarrassed.

[(509)Rat]

Yeah that's a bummer. I too dont feel bad for CLU (the team or program), but I do feel a little bad for those alumni/former players/fans who appear to have nothing to be excited about. I've said this for years, Whitman's style tends to exaggerate talent disparities against undisciplined/less talented teams. ie Whitman's pressure and pace will lead to a 50 point win where that same team may stay within 15-20 of Whitworth even in years when the Whits appear to be evenly matched. But I'm not sure even the worst NWC team this year will be held to 18 at half and end up losing by 50 with 30+ turnovers. That is brutal.

[OxyBob]

I went to the CLU/Whitman game. Actually just the Whitman game, because CLU wasnt in the game. Left at halftime when it was 45-18. Several alumni/staff in attendance that are utterly embarrassed.

It's grim, says Grimm.

Meanwhile, Oxy improved to 11-0 as they slugged UC Santa Cruz 71-56. The Tigers shot 70% in the first half and led 52-23 at halftime.

Caleb Yellin-Flaherty 19, Zach Baines 16, Austin DeWitz 14,  Jonny Crosthwaite 11.

Edit: Oxy (11-0, 2-0 SCIAC) is next at Caltech (6-3, 0-0) on Jan. 5 at 4:30 p.m. home against Chapman (5-5, 1-0) on Jan. 2 at 7:00 p.m. CIT (6-3, 0-0) opens its SCIAC season on Jan. 2 at CLU (2-7, 0-1) at 7:00 p.m.

OxyBob

[greg21grimm]

Yeah that's a bummer. I too dont feel bad for CLU (the team or program), but I do feel a little bad for those alumni/former players/fans who appear to have nothing to be excited about. I've said this for years, Whitman's style tends to exaggerate talent disparities against undisciplined/less talented teams. ie Whitman's pressure and pace will lead to a 50 point win where that same team may stay within 15-20 of Whitworth even in years when the Whits appear to be evenly matched. But I'm not sure even the worst NWC team this year will be held to 18 at half and end up losing by 50 with 30+ turnovers. That is brutal.

Well, when the new coach took over at CLU he sent out a letter to all alumni stating his intentions of getting back to the NCAA tournament and winning a national title there. I think that was just window dressing to calm the uproar we alumni showed for our displeasure of Coach Dains not getting a fair shot. Looking at the scores against the likes of Whitman and Stevens Point (who CLU did beat when they were #3) there is a HUGE discrepancy. I have heard of taking one step back to eventually get two steps forward, but I think they have taken so many steps back that there will be no recovery.

[OxyBob]

Stevens Point (who CLU did beat when they were #3)

I remember that game. UWSP had a big lead but CLU came back and took it to overtime. I believe Deshion Innis hit the winning basket in OT.

OxyBob

[greg21grimm]

Stevens Point (who CLU did beat when they were #3)

I remember that game. UWSP had a big lead but CLU came back and took it to overtime. I believe Deshion Innis hit the winning basket in OT.

OxyBob

I was a freshmen on that team. Innis did hit the game winner, but he also hit a 27 foot jumper to send it into over OT.  UWSP did have a big lead, but it never hit a 50 or 40 or 30 or even a 20 pt lead that game.

[Gray Fox]

I remember when Mike Dunlap was their coach.  He is now at Loyola Marymount.

[socalcoach]

I think Cal Lutheran looked at a program that has had very little success. 2 NCAA appearances in 22 years and only 3 SCIAC titles in 22 years and said we need to do something different to make the program better. That job is a complete rebuild and will take 4 years to get it to be respectable again.

[OxyBob]

Edit: Oxy (11-0, 2-0 SCIAC) is next at Caltech (6-3, 0-0) on Jan. 5 at 4:30 p.m. home against Chapman (5-5, 1-0) on Jan. 2 at 7:00 p.m.

Oxy 75 Chapman 63 Final

Oxy won again and improved to 12-0. The Tigers led 39-19 at halftime.

Austin DeWitz 24,  Caleb Yellin-Flaherty 17-13, Zach Baines 15, Jacob Adler 11.

Next up for Oxy (12-0, 3-0 SCIAC) is Caltech (6-4, 0-1) @ CIT this Saturday at 4:30 p.m.

SCIAC Standings: Oxy (12-0, 3-0), Pomona (10-1, 3-0), Redlands (6-5, 1-1), Chapman (5-6, 1-1), CLU (3-7, 1-1), Whittier (4-8, 1-2), Caltech (6-4, 0-1), Claremont (6-4, 0-1), La Verne (1-9, 0-2).

OxyBob

[greg21grimm]

Good to see CLU got back on track with their win over Cal Tech! Two more home games against Redlands and Pomona. They need to win the home games to have any chance at SCIAC tourney.

I think Cal Lutheran looked at a program that has had very little success. 2 NCAA appearances in 22 years and only 3 SCIAC titles in 22 years and said we need to do something different to make the program better. That job is a complete rebuild and will take 4 years to get it to be respectable again.

Socalcoach, I could agree that CLU may not have been a "championship" team year in and year out, but to call it a "complete rebuild" and WAS not respectable, you are completely off base. Remember they did have 20 wins and ranked in the region. That was the top 11% (45/416) of all D3 programs by record. The SCIAC is much tougher than people give it credit. My Senior year, we were tied for 3rd in the SCIAC, and we beat 4 or 5 NCAA tourney teams during the year. Redlands (SCIAC champs), Chapman (only SCIAC loss), Luther, Concordia Wis, and Hobart.

But you are correct that the job is a complete rebuild..........now.

[Gregory Sager]

Good to see CLU got back on track with their win over Cal Tech! Two more home games against Redlands and Pomona. They need to win the home games to have any chance at SCIAC tourney.

I think Cal Lutheran looked at a program that has had very little success. 2 NCAA appearances in 22 years and only 3 SCIAC titles in 22 years and said we need to do something different to make the program better. That job is a complete rebuild and will take 4 years to get it to be respectable again.

Socalcoach, I could agree that CLU may not have been a "championship" team year in and year out, but to call it a "complete rebuild" and WAS not respectable, you are completely off base. Remember they did have 20 wins and ranked in the region. That was the top 11% (45/416) of all D3 programs by record. The SCIAC is much tougher than people give it credit. My Senior year, we were tied for 3rd in the SCIAC, and we beat 4 or 5 NCAA tourney teams during the year. Redlands (SCIAC champs), Chapman (only SCIAC loss), Luther, Concordia Wis, and Hobart.

Four. Hobart didn't make the field that season, although the Statesmen did finish with a fine 21-7 record in 2010-11 and they made the tourney the three seasons after that. But the four D3 tourney teams that Cal Lutheran beat -- three automatic-bid winners from lightly-regarded conferences plus Pool B entrant Chapman -- were cannon fodder in the 2011 tourney. The four teams played each other in the first round, with Chapman bouncing Redlands and Luther eliminating Concordia (WI), and then in the second round Whitworth knocked out Chapman by 14 and UWSP crunched Luther by 20.

Chapman did get the satisfaction of being ranked #16 in the final d3hoops.com poll that season, while Concordia (WI) (12 points) and Luther (1 point) were in the Others Receiving Votes category.

[socalcoach]

Socalcoach, I could agree that CLU may not have been a "championship" team year in and year out, but to call it a "complete rebuild" and WAS not respectable, you are completely off base. Remember they did have 20 wins and ranked in the region. That was the top 11% (45/416) of all D3 programs by record. The SCIAC is much tougher than people give it credit. My Senior year, we were tied for 3rd in the SCIAC, and we beat 4 or 5 NCAA tourney teams during the year. Redlands (SCIAC champs), Chapman (only SCIAC loss), Luther, Concordia Wis, and Hobart.

But you are correct that the job is a complete rebuild..........now.
[/quote]

If you look back what was left was mostly 1-2 year transfers not sustainable to build a long term winning program. Look at the top SCIAC teams they are built from strong recruiting classes that looks like had been missing for years. Going to need 2-3 strong freshman classes to get the program back on track and that is "rebuild". If 4 years from now they are losing by 40 to the stronger teams and aren't competing at the levels of the Pomona/CMS teams then I think you can have strong judgement. I think any alum should look at it and say that the previous 22 years were just "ok" and should want the program to be elite like Cal Lutheran seems to be in other sports.

But looked like a solid win over Cal Tech who is much improved this year overall!

[OxyBob]

Next up for Oxy (12-0, 3-0 SCIAC) is Caltech (6-4, 0-1) @ CIT this Saturday at 4:30 p.m.

Oxy 61 Caltech 49 Final

Oxy won again and improved its record to 13-0 and 4-0 in conference. Zach Baines 15, Jacob Adler 13,  Ryan Kaneshiro 10. Austin DeWitz had 6 points and 14 rebounds.

The Tigers (13-0, 4-0 SCIAC) have a serious challenge at home this Wednesday against Claremont (7-4, 1-1). Game time 7:00 p.m.

SCIAC scores from Saturday:

Whittier 80 Chapman 67
Claremont 73 Redlands 71 OT
Pomona 89 La Verne 46

OxyBob

[Gray Fox]

Latest D3 Top 25 has Pomona at 23 and Oxy five place from the top 25.