MBB: Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[OxyBob]

Tuesday's schedule, all games 7:00 PM:

Cal Lutheran (7-17, 5-10 SCIAC) @ Whittier (9-15, 6-9)
Caltech (10-14, 4-11) @ Pomona (22-2, 14-1)
Chapman (10-14, 6-9) @ Claremont (18-6, 12-3)
La Verne (1-23, 0-15) @ Redlands (14-10, 9-6)

Final games of the conference season.

Whittier 93 Cal Lutheran 66 -- No mercy by Whittier in win over CLU.
Pomona 90 Caltech 67 -- Caltech hangs in there but Pomona pulls away with 10 minutes to go.
Claremont 62 Chapman 45 -- Yet another superior defensive effort by Claremont.
Redlands 72 La Verne 56 -- Redlands led by 22 at halftime and cruised. La Verne finishes 0-16 in SCIAC. Ouch.

SCIAC Conference Tournament Semifinals, Friday, February 22, 7:00 p.m. Seeding: 1 Pomona, 2 Claremont, 3 Oxy, 4 Redlands.

Redlands (15-10, 10-6 SCIAC) @ Pomona (23-2, 15-1)
Oxy (21-4, 12-4) @ Claremont (19-6, 13-3)

Winners play in final Saturday night at highest remaining seed.

OxyBob

[Dave 'd-mac' McHugh]

The third public NCAA Division III regional rankings are out: https://www.d3hoops.com/notables/2019/02/men-regional-rankings-third

[Gray Fox]

Pomona has fallen to number 14 in the D3 Poll.
Oxy has dropped a couple of votes to 19.

[greg21grimm]

Cal Lutheran (7-17, 5-10 SCIAC) @ Whittier (9-15, 6-9)

Final games of the conference season.

Whittier 93 Cal Lutheran 66 -- No mercy by Whittier in win over CLU.

OxyBob

[AlltheKINGSmen99]

First time poster.
Longtime lurker.
CLU grad of 99.

The current state of the program is embarrassing, no doubt about it.
What I don't understand is the romanticizing of the Rider era. 20 years and 2 tournaments? They were so consistently mediocre with some of the best talent in the league it was unreal. Dunlap was the last time the program thrived at any kind of national level. They 100% made the wrong hire but would keeping Rider's assistant have been any different? Maybe a few games here and there but they wouldn't be in the conference tournament with him either.

It amazes me that CMS and PP are able to compete and stay at the top of the league every year with their academic standards. Puzzles me why CLU and Redlands aren't better with much lower academic standards.

[OxyBob]

SCIAC Conference Tournament Semifinals, Friday, February 22, 7:00 p.m. Seeding: 1 Pomona, 2 Claremont, 3 Oxy, 4 Redlands.

Redlands (15-10, 10-6 SCIAC) @ Pomona (23-2, 15-1)
Oxy (21-4, 12-4) @ Claremont (19-6, 13-3)

Winners play in final Saturday night at highest remaining seed.

Redlands has a very, very tough assignment. Pomona has been great all year. The Sagehens are ranked No. 14 in the D3hoops.com men's Top 25. They are the only team to have beaten No. 2 Whitman (25-1). Pomona scores 83 ppg and gives up 68. Redlands scores 78 and gives up 75. UR's David Menary (20.0 ppg) and Joey Sponheim (17.4 ppg) will have to be on fire, and hope the Sagehens have an off night. Reality: Pomona's 1-2-3 punch of Daniel Rosenbaum-Micah Elan-Alex Preston will be too much for Redlands to overcome.

Prediction: Pomona 85, Redlands 70.

Oxy also has a tough assignment. Claremont has been a tough place for the Tigers, who are 3-10 at CMS since 2007. This season Claremont won two close games against Oxy, 63-60 and 65-57. The Stags are No. 1 in scoring defense in D3, allowing only 60 ppg. Oxy is no slouch in that category; they're No. 25, giving up 65.4 ppg.

I've watched Claremont play for a long time. They consistently play the best defense in the SCIAC. Their game plan has always been to hold the other team under 60, and this season that's all they give up. In my opinion, Oxy needs to score at least 70 to win the game. On offense, Claremont relies on Nicolas Segura Dobjanschi (16.0 ppg), Miles President (11.2 ppg) and Jeremy Horn (10.6 ppg), while Oxy's scorers are Zach Baines (21.1 ppg), Austin DeWitz (16.8 ppg), Caleb Yellin-Flaherty (13.7 ppg) and Jacob Adler (11.0) ppg.

Admittedly biased prediction: Oxy 71, Claremont 67.

OxyBob

[Gray Fox]

All SCIAC Team has been announced.

http://sciac.prestosports.com/sports/mbkb/2018-19/releases/20190221yjqsc3

[Teddy_Ballgame]

All SCIAC Team has been announced.

http://sciac.prestosports.com/sports/mbkb/2018-19/releases/20190221yjqsc3

Congrats to Daniel Rosenbaum! The first PP hoopster to win POY since, I believe, Alex Lloyd in 2004-2005.

Fun fact, Daniel's older brother Simon (who's actually taller than Daniel) was the SCIAC Baseball POY in 2014 while at Pomona.



Separately, tonight is a huge game for the Hens. Despite their guady record and win over Whitman, a fairly low SOS means they are by no means guaranteed a spot in the dance if they don't win the tournament. An early exit would put them in precarious position.

[OxyBob]

SCIAC Conference Tournament Semifinals, Friday, February 22, 7:00 p.m. Seeding: 1 Pomona, 2 Claremont, 3 Oxy, 4 Redlands.

Redlands (15-10, 10-6 SCIAC) @ Pomona (23-2, 15-1)
Oxy (21-4, 12-4) @ Claremont (19-6, 13-3)

Winners play in final Saturday night at highest remaining seed.

Oxy 64 Claremont 62 OT Final -- Oxy survives Claremont 3-pointer barrage, wins it on DeWitz's jumper in OT.

Pomona 79 Redlands 77 Final -- Redlands down 21 in first half, down 68-50 with 10:45 to play, roars back, has chance to tie or win it at buzzer, but can't get over.

Excellent Oxy-Claremont game recap from CMS website:

https://www.cmsathletics.org/sports/mbkb/2018-19/releases/201902230nno2w

SCIAC Tournament Final, Saturday, Feb. 23, 7:30 p.m.

Oxy (22-4) @ Pomona (24-2)

OxyBob

[CMSfan]

A couple great semifinal games tonight. Congrats to Oxy for a gutty win. I'm hoping they pull out a victory tomorrow and that SCIAC ends up as a two-bid conference.

[Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan)]

A couple great semifinal games tonight. Congrats to Oxy for a gutty win. I'm hoping they pull out a victory tomorrow and that SCIAC ends up as a two-bid conference.

If P-P loses, they are no lock.  I'd be real worried if I were them and didn't get the automatic bid.

[AlltheKINGSmen99]

There is no example of East Coast bias more evident than in NCAA D3 basketball.
Budgets for most D3's are limited. The ability to play other D3's from the West Coast is limited.
The NCAA some how considers Wisconsin part of the West Region.
West Coast D3 never has a chance at multiple bids unless it is a rare year.
PP and Oxy are both tournament teams.

[(509)Rat]

West Coast D3 never has a chance at multiple bids unless it is a rare year.

Whitman and Whitworth say hi...look at those two programs' schedules over the last 4-5 years (and Whitworth's over the last 10-15). Nothing is stopping Oxy from scheduling like them other than their administration not wanting to spend the money on men's basketball.

Oxy only deserves a bid if they get the AQ, their non conference schedule was a total dumpster fire.

[Gregory Sager]

There is no example of East Coast bias more evident than in NCAA D3 basketball.

There is no "East Coast bias" in NCAA D3 basketball.

Budgets for most D3's are limited. The ability to play other D3's from the West Coast is limited.

The two West Coast leagues are on geographical islands. There's nothing that anybody can do about that. Bu there are ways around that in order to lessen the weak SOS racked up by West Coast teams. The SCIAC and NWC play plenty of crossovers already; the serious SCIAC and NWC programs need to try to schedule each other more often in order to boost their SOS. There are large tournaments held in Vegas and Phoenix over the holidays; plenty of opportunities there to pick up games against good teams from the East Coast and the midwest. And every SCIAC program should be hosting a tourney if at all possible in order to attract snowbirds. CLU got a big SOS boost from hosting Whitman, UWSP, and Illinois Wesleyan this season in their tourney, although the Kingsmen didn't do well enough within their own circuit to make use of it.

The NCAA some how considers Wisconsin part of the West Region.

No, it doesn't. The WIAC is in the Central Region. The MWC is in the Central Region. The CCIW is in the Central Region And the NACC is in the Central Region. Those are the four leagues that have multiple Wisconsin member schools. The only Cheesehead institution that's in the West Region is UW-Superior, which is a member of the Minnesota-dominated UMAC.

West Coast D3 never has a chance at multiple bids unless it is a rare year.

Not true. The NWC has had two teams in the tourney in each of the past three seasons.

PP and Oxy are both tournament teams.

We'll find that out if that's true on Monday morning.

[Smitty Oom]

The NCAA some how considers Wisconsin part of the West Region.

No, it doesn't. The WIAC is in the Central Region. The MWC is in the Central Region. And the NACC is in the Central Region. Those are the three leagues that have multiple Wisconsin member schools. The only Cheesehead institution that's in the West Region is UW-Superior, which is a member of the Minnesota-dominated UMAC.

I mean this is just semantics, but Northland College is in Ashland, WI and is also a member of the UMAC. Your point is still 100% correct, though.