MBB: Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[diehardfan]

Thanks to D3hoopguy for the lowdown on the 47 joke. If someone tells a joke and no one laughs, is it still a joke?

diehardfan, "Angel, angel on the rim, please don't let that ball go in!"? Rim and in rhyme kinda sorta. Wouldn't that cheer work better as "Angel, angel on the rim, make this guy choke in our gym!"?

As a big fan of doing inside jokes with myself, yes, it was still a joke... and a darn funny one!

Sorry, the hard and soft sound order in that mess up the iambic thing going on in the original. Plus, I've always been a big fan of slant and sight rhymes as opposed to actual rhymes myself, like the ones found in Shakespere's Sonnet 116, for example.

I just want to say that I heard tonight at the Redlands game that the Tiger stuffed animal thing was a copy! Sad! They apparently faced a school this year who had skewered a Bulldog. Bummer. Oh well, it was still funny!

Redlands won in overtime against Whittier, incidentally. But since the Redlands SID is good, I assume the box score is already up anyway!

And look, I'm right.

http://www.redlands.edu/prebuilt/pdf/athletics/2007basketball_mens/wc-ur.htm

This was a brutal game. And I don't mean that it was painful to watch, I mean that the players were being brutal to eachother. It was one seriously physical game, as games involving systemesque teams often are. After five minutes when Redlands had already scored 20, and Whittier was at 16(?) I thought, oh geeze, will someone play some defense? Redlands is on pace to score 160! And then they all did. Lots of pushing and fouls and audible from the stand slaps, and hustling for rebounds and forced TOs, and players falling to the ground. Both teams played with a lot of heart, and both were pretty determined not to lose which made the game a lot of fun to watch as a fan.

Mazarei had a nice Senior Night, with 37 pts and 4 steals. My personal favorite was the swish on the trey while falling down due to a foul that led to a 4 pt play. OH MY GOSH! Tim Fanning of Whittier, in addition to having a great game himself (12-21fg,  8-143pt,  5boards, 34pts and an A-TO of 5-2) played fairly solid D on the Redlands guys inc. Mazarei gets the brunt of all teams defensive game plan, and the fact that he still manages to do well says a lot about him!

But, I actually thought that Daniel Markus's performance tonight was more impressive. He scored 25 with 10-18 shooting (inc 5-8 from behind the arc) and just started off the overtime with a killer steal and trey combo that gave some huge momentum to Redlands that they carried through the rest of the overtime, going up as much as 11ish before Whittier started fouling with a minute and change on the clock.

I am looking forward to seeing how the Redlands big guys do under a normal system next year. They return everyone but Mazarei from this year's squad, which is obviously much improved compared to last year... even to the point where OxyBob had to stop referring to them as a freak show! I think Travis Miller is a gamer, and will get a chance to prove it under a more big guy friendly system. He hardly gets to shoot at all, but does it well when he does. And he already grabs plenty of boards. And he's only a Soph!  I saw flashes of talent in other young big guys as well.

While most people don't like system teams, I enjoy watching Redlands play because of the quality passing I get to see. The players are very aware of what's going on around the court, so even when they're driving they know where the open guy is outside along the arc. Seeing good passes is my favorite part of basketball, hands down. I get at least excited by a good pass as I would for a dunk. To be fair, Whittier definitely had a few passes that made me stand up and cheer tought. (In fact, a redlands fan came up to me after the game and said, so which team were you cheering for? You were applauding both teams! And I said, that's cause I was cheering for both teams! ) But Redlands, in addition to forcing bad passes out of their opponents (they had 26 steals as a team tonight) posted an even A-TO ratio which is pretty healthy in a game that had this much physical play and was even to the point of being wild at times. With the pace of system ball, you have to pass fast and well to get the ball to the other players scampering about at the speed of light. And that's what makes what other people are rude enough to call "not basketball" good basketball to me. And incidentally, under a more patient offense their strong passing skills will come in handy and could make for some very fun to watch basketball.

And this is one heck of a long post, so I better quit while it's only barely tomorrow. I hope that all counts as saying something nice about Redlands, Donald. 

[Gray Fox]

dhf,

If you like good passing, I hope you have a chance to see Mississippi College.

[TeeDub]

From the Pool C board:

Through Sunday's games:

Rank   Points   Team
    1   11.818   UW-Stevens Point
     9   10.667   Occidental
  10   10.640   St. Thomas
  18   10.364   UW-Oshkosh
  19   10.318   St. John's
  40     9.905   Loras
  44     9.864   Whitworth
  46     9.857   UW-La Crosse
  58     9.529   Lewis and Clark
  68      9.400   Redlands 
  74      9.263   Cal Lutheran
  87     9.050   Puget Sound
  89     9.000   Coe
  91      9.000   Pomona-Pitzer
101     8.810   Simpson
106     8.700   Buena Vista
131     8.450   UW-Platteville
143      8.267   Claremont-Mudd-Scripps
156     8.118   Chapman
170     7.889   Pacific
171     7.875   Gustavus Adolphus

[Browneagle64]

Congratulations to the Tigers on taking one gaint leap further towards getting the SCIAC crown back at the Rock.

To all of you posters that attended the games over the weekend, thank you for your opinions, details about the games and analysis. After reaidng several post, it sounds like Whitman is back to his old self (as a good player), betty continues to grow stronger, and the rest of the team is supporting like a strong cast. I am glad that Coach Newhall and Co. are doing their best to get their offense strong and their defense stronger. Something that sure will be needed in the next games.

[DIIIghetto]

Kats with a sweep over Scali.  Yeeoowch.  Payback.   

Can someone who actually understands how this works explain the scenarios for the dance.   From what JR clipped, it looks like Oxy may be looking at a home game.  I am sure that scenario is likely to have some NWC fans in a frenzy.  How much of a pipedream is a regional at Cal Lu?

[scandihoovian]

Ghetto-

I'd like to know as well - I know that when CLU's facilities were designed they were built with hosting regional/national events in mind (e.g. numerous visiting locker rooms, separate practice gym, etc.).  I don't know what kind of chance there is for the NCAA to set up a regional at CLU - but I'd love to see it, I might even be inspired to provide chocolate chip rolls for the Oxy student section 

[Browneagle64]

Scandii----
That sounds like a good idea and great exposure for the SCIAC, but, when all is said and the powers that Be pick a setting for Oxy's first round at the dance, i rather that the game is played at the Rock. You could still bring your famous Chocolate chip T.o. Rolls, btw.

Here's to the final step in taking on Whitter Thursday night. I hope the men in Orange and Black do not look past this game, as well. 

[diehardfan]

Ghetto-

I'd like to know as well - I know that when CLU's facilities were designed they were built with hosting regional/national events in mind (e.g. numerous visiting locker rooms, separate practice gym, etc.).  I don't know what kind of chance there is for the NCAA to set up a regional at CLU - but I'd love to see it, I might even be inspired to provide chocolate chip rolls for the Oxy student section 

Uhm, unless two things are true, this won't happen. Unless:

1) there is a college too small to host a sectional and they apply to host it at CLU. Regionals don't have a size limit and well, I also can't think of any that are too small to host a sectional out here anyway since the limit is a mere 1000. Maybe Cal Tech? Does their gym fit 1000? I can't recall...

2) CLU makes the playoffs

Who would give up the home advantage of something like an Oxy student section to play somewhere just cause it's pretty and new and shiny an hour away?

From the Pool C board:
     9   10.667   Occidental

Wow, that's even better than I thought it would be from the win against Redlands. Nice. Maybe we'll get a home playoff game out here after all! Wooo!

dhf,
If you like good passing, I hope you have a chance to see Mississippi College.

I hope I get to see them too! Perhaps in Salem?

diehardfan:

>>I've always been a big fan of slant and sight rhymes as opposed to actual rhymes myself, like the ones found in  Shakespere's Sonnet 116, for example.<<

>>They return everyone but Mazarei from this year's squad, which is obviously much improved compared to last year... even to the point where OxyBob had to stop referring to them as a freak show!<<

What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as freak.

OxyMercutio

That is obviously not Sonnet 116. And there isn't an intended slant or sight rhyme in that original line. Shame on your house and all your English Literature teachers' houses.

(yes, I do get it, and yes it's very clever)

[scandihoovian]

Ghetto-

I'd like to know as well - I know that when CLU's facilities were designed they were built with hosting regional/national events in mind (e.g. numerous visiting locker rooms, separate practice gym, etc.).  I don't know what kind of chance there is for the NCAA to set up a regional at CLU - but I'd love to see it, I might even be inspired to provide chocolate chip rolls for the Oxy student section 

Uhm, unless two things are true, this won't happen. Unless:

1) there is a college too small to host a sectional and they apply to host it at CLU. Regionals don't have a size limit and well, I also can't think of any that are too small to host a sectional out here anyway since the limit is a mere 1000. Maybe Cal Tech? Does their gym fit 1000? I can't recall...

2) CLU makes the playoffs

Who would give up the home advantage of something like an Oxy student section to play somewhere just cause it's pretty and new and shiny an hour away?

Thanks for the insight - I didn't figure it was likely, just a lot of fun for yours truly if it did fall that way. 

[diehardfan]

Ghetto-

I'd like to know as well - I know that when CLU's facilities were designed they were built with hosting regional/national events in mind (e.g. numerous visiting locker rooms, separate practice gym, etc.).  I don't know what kind of chance there is for the NCAA to set up a regional at CLU - but I'd love to see it, I might even be inspired to provide chocolate chip rolls for the Oxy student section 

It's cool, I'm still hoping against hope that SoCal gets to host right though the elite eight
Uhm, unless two things are true, this won't happen. Unless:

1) there is a college too small to host a sectional and they apply to host it at CLU. Regionals don't have a size limit and well, I also can't think of any that are too small to host a sectional out here anyway since the limit is a mere 1000. Maybe Cal Tech? Does their gym fit 1000? I can't recall...

2) CLU makes the playoffs

Who would give up the home advantage of something like an Oxy student section to play somewhere just cause it's pretty and new and shiny an hour away?

Thanks for the insight - I didn't figure it was likely, just a lot of fun for yours truly if it did fall that way. 

NP... I'm still hoping we host out here in SoCal right thought the Elite 8... a girl can dream, no?

[tigersports]

We've decided to broadcast Oxy's game at Whittier this Thursday.  www.oxybroadcast.com. 

[DIIIghetto]

OB, good analyses but without Knowles, I'm giving the early nod to CLU for next year.  If CMS can get a win against CLU, couple that with a very strong W over Oxy and you see that the Stags will be fighting for a spot in the conference tourney.  The Stags can beat anyone in the conference on a given night.   If Oxy can't recruit some bigs who can contribute immediately - something they haven't done in several years - then even though they will be tough with CW and what they have coming back in the backcourt, they will struggle against bigger SCIAC teams.

Here is to hoping Redlands doesn't go after Pacific's coach.   The Admin and SID out there like winners. 

We need the Tigers to get a W so we can all clamor for a home game or two.  Absent that, they are likely to get shipped up to the NW.  Oxy played UPS tough for 35 minutes last year in Tacoma.  Tough to win on the road without a Song Cun.   CW would have to show a lot more than he did last year.  Somebody told me he was sick in that game but some UPS fan told me he thought Oxy's guards looked scared.   With another year under their belt, and a host of seniors, I think this Oxy team is definitely capable of making some post-season noise and coming through in a difficult, unfamiliar environment. 

[NWCer]

Greetings from the NWC.

Ghetto, Redlands would go after Pacific's head man, I don't want to see that obviously (my loyalties ride with the Boxers), why don't you want to see it?

Our tourney starts today, either way I think your guys' Oxy Tigers are going to get a home game and we'll send someone down there.  I think you want UPS to win our tourney, LC and Whitworth are better teams (than UPS).

[DIIIghetto]

NWCer, it looks from a distance that Whitworth is the best team but for some reason has problems matching up with UPS.  Your tourney should be very interesting and is a great example of why I am eager to have a similar format in the SCIAC.   We don't want KL at Redlands because I think he is the type of coach who could use the admin support they have out there and get some conference titles in short order.    I am one who is going to miss the TFS at Redlands mostly because as OB pointed out, although fun to watch, it was a system that the conference leaders could usually count on to get two Ws against. 

OB, the NWC is relevant because until we can prove that we can beat them in the post-season, we are their red-headed step-child.   I'll talk about it all day long until we do that.  As far as CMS goes, I'm giving them kudos because they spanked the Tigers convincingly at home.  They definitely had an implosion this year and I'm not sure why.  CLU may be boring but they take care of the ball and have good bigs - recipe for success.  It remains to be seen what PP will look like in the post-Knowles era.   With Kats, I always have them in the consideration set, but will have to see how they replace that stud. 

[NWCer]

Ghetto, like you I hope Redlands doesn't take our coach, he has my Boxers turning the corner for the first time in a decade.

You're right, your representative needs to prove at some point they can beat ours in POST-season.  I know it's been nearly 50-50 in the regular season lately, barring this year I think.  I know our 6th place team Willamette and 4th place team Pacific both spanked CLU at home, and Whitworth beat CLU over on the island, CLU did however beat our co-champ LC over there.  Give CLU credit though for playing nearly half our league, looks like they have a nice schedule.  We admit that UPS ducked your better teams on this year's trip, pretty lame going down and playing Whittier and La Verne.

Last year was good for you guys having P-P and Oxy both get Whitworth, but equally bad having your conference champs swept up at Fox and Pacific.

I think the stars are aligned for you to get one of our teams at your place for the first time ever in the postseason, if you don't get it done this year at home, there can be no more talk about comparing the NWC and SCIAC, there will no longer be a comparison.