MBB: Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Hugenerd]

In case you missed it, the LA Times this morning ran a piece on whether or not our next President ever played SCIAC ball.  Am I crazy, or could someone just ask him?

That story is pretty pointless. Every person says something different.  One guy says he wore high socks, another says he wore no sucks.  None of the players remember him playing, but the coach does.  There are no records of him playing, but the coach somehow remembers his stats from 30 years ago.  Either way, a couple things look pretty clear, he definitely didnt play varsity at Oxy, and I think he made the right career moving by going into politics.

[OxyBob]

Returning fans will barely recognize the Tiger squad, which graduated seven seniors and is missing four other potential returning players due to a variety of reasons (study abroad, wish to focus more thoroughly on academics, etc.). Coach Newhall faces the challenge of a rebuilding year.

I had the opportunity to speak with CLU coach Rich Rider. His roster has also undergone some drastic changes from last season. Starting guards Deshion Inniss and Chad Acerboni graduated. Non-returning players include super sub guard Lucas Gums, power forward Mychal Owens, and mountainous Danny Hagen. Losing Owens is huge; he averaged 11.2 pts and 6.3 rebs per game. Andy Meier and Kyle Knudsen will now lead the way for the Kingsmen.

Pomona's roster looks like it thinned out as well. Only 10 players are listed on the Sagehens roster, 5 of them freshmen. Jabarri Reynolds graduated, and Pomona has some other players taking a year abroad, including Justin Sexton, who averaged 11.8 pts and 8.0 rebs per game.

Claremont's roster lists a couple of transfers. Patrick Lacey is a 6'6", 230 lb. center from the University of San Diego. According to the USD web site:

2007-08 at USD: Enters his sophomore season with USD as a walk-on... Will compete for playing time at the forward position.

2006-07 at USD: Appeared in just 6 games in a reserve role... Scored a late basket in home win over Pepperdine (Jan. 12, 2007).

Lacey's name doesn't appear on the Toreros' final stats from last season.

Claremont also has a guard named Bryant Oberg listed as a transfer from UC Berkeley, but I can't tell if Oberg attended Cal or played at Cal.

Whittier lost Vernon Covington to graduation, but they still have Mike Archuletta, Travis Crow, Marcus Gibson and Jeff McLean. The Poets are always real tough at home. If they ever figure out how to win a road game, look out.

OxyBob

[OxyBob]

Item from the "Cal Lutheran notebook" column in the Ventura County Star:

Short shots: The Cal Lutheran men's basketball team opens its exhibition season on the road Friday night at 7:05 p.m. against Cal State Northridge. The Kingsmen return home Saturday night to host the Afghanistan national team at 7:30 p.m. at the Gilbert Sports and Fitness Center.

CSUN beat La Verne 82-49 at the Matadome on Nov. 3. The Leopards led once early in the game but were otherwise overmatched by the Matadors, who outrebounded ULV 57-23. Coach Rich Reed played 20 guys, so everyone got some experience playing against a Big West team.

OxyBob

[TigerOldSchool]

In case you missed it, the LA Times this morning ran a piece on whether or not our next President ever played SCIAC ball.  Am I crazy, or could someone just ask him?

That story is pretty pointless. Every person says something different.  One guy says he wore high socks, another says he wore no sucks.  None of the players remember him playing, but the coach does.  There are no records of him playing, but the coach somehow remembers his stats from 30 years ago.  Either way, a couple things look pretty clear, he definitely didnt play varsity at Oxy, and I think he made the right career moving by going into politics.

Come on... Zinn is senile and making stuff up.  Obama probably played IBA against many of those guys if he was good enough to get invited and certainly IM's for his dorm.  That's probably where the memories come from.  If he was in the locker room and on the Bengal Bus with them they'd know for sure and attest to it.

[Sabretooth Tiger]

The folks who played pick-up ball in Rush remember Obama from that . . . I haven't heard anyone discuss him playing for the team. Newhall would know and I think he was pretty clear in the LA Times piece.

[OxyBob]

Recap of UC Riverside's Tuesday night exhibition win over Redlands, from the UCR web site:

Highlanders End Preseason With 80-50 Win Over Redlands

Sean Cunningham's 14 points led six Highlanders in double-figures as UCR ended its preseason with an 80-50 win over the University of Redlands Tuesday evening at the UCR Student Recreation Center. Bryson Hampton chipped in with a 12-point, 10-rebound double-double and Javon Borum paced the Highlanders with six assists on the night.

The biggest key for UCR in the win was the team's ability to control the paint. The Highlanders outscored the Bulldogs in the lane by a 52-24 margin and grabbed 22 offensive rebounds to Redlands' nine. UCR turned that rebound advantage into a 22-12 differential in second chance points. Hampton had six of the Highlanders' offensive rebounds on the night while Jesse LoBue added five

The game was tight for the first 12 minutes of play as a pair of free throws by Kent Ervin gave the Bulldogs a 21-20 lead with 8:57 to go before the half. However, UCR went on a 14-2 run led by Christian Soto's eight points to push the Highlanders lead to 11. An Ervin three-pointer cut the lead to eight with 1:07 left in the first, but Borum countered with a three of his own to send UC Riverside into the locker room with an 11-point advantage.

Redlands cut the lead to five on two occasions early in the second and remained within striking distance for most of the period reducing the Highlanders lead to 43-37 with 8:38 to play, but UCR scored 24 of the next 26 points over the next 6:12 to put the game out of reach. UC Riverside forced a number of Bulldogs turnovers during the run that propelled them to a 31-13 differential in points off of turnovers.

Obama probably played IBA against many of those guys if he was good enough to get invited and certainly IM's for his dorm.  That's probably where the memories come from.

To hear it from the right-wingers, there's no way Obama could have played varsity ball because Obama can only go to the left.

OxyBob

[Gregory Sager]

To hear it from the right-wingers, there's no way Obama could have played varsity ball because Obama can only go to the left.

On the other hand, they'd say that he would've made a good PG for the Oxy varsity because he's a good redistributor.

[OxyBob]

Caltech opened its season last night under new head coach Oliver Eslinger, who replaced Row Dow, now the women's coach at Cal Lutheran. Unfortunately the result was all too familiar for the Beavers, who lost to La Sierra 79-64.

CIT's best chances for a nonconference win appear to be November 26 against Oberlin, November 29 against UC Santa Cruz, and January 5 against Polytechnic. The 24th anniversary of Caltech's last SCIAC win is coming up next January.

OxyBob

[OxyBob]

Cal State Northridge 73, Cal Lutheran 62

Cal Lutheran held its own against Big West Conference favorite Cal State Northridge this past Friday. Josh Jenkins scored 16 and Rob Haynes had 12 to lead the Matadors. CLU led 32-31 at halftime. CSUN was up 41-39 in the second half and then outscored CLU 18-6 run to take a 59-45 lead with 8 minutes left. Aaron Fisher and Kyle Knudsen scored 16 points apiece for the Kingsmen. Fisher also had 10 rebounds. CLU was outrebounded 47-39 and was only 19-of-34 FTs.

Cal Lutheran played an exhibition game against the Afghanistan National Team last night. Here's an article about it from the Ventura County Star:

Basketball players hope to show different side of Afghanistan

OxyBob

[Hugenerd]

Caltech opened its season last night under new head coach Oliver Eslinger, who replaced Row Dow, now the women's coach at Cal Lutheran. Unfortunately the result was all too familiar for the Beavers, who lost to La Sierra 79-64.

CIT's best chances for a nonconference win appear to be November 26 against Oberlin, November 29 against UC Santa Cruz, and January 5 against Polytechnic. The 24th anniversary of Caltech's last SCIAC win is coming up next January.

OxyBob

It wasnt as bad as recent years though.  The final margin, 15 points, was far less than the 42 point loss last year to La Sierra (83-41) and the 46 point loss 2 years ago (78-32).  When you are trying to turn a program around that has been that bad for so long, you have to look for glimmers of hope wherever you can.

[OxyBob]

Chapman 61 @ Claremont 56 Final

Chapman: Aguilar 12, Ramme 13, Consani 10
Claremont: Faught 12, Toney 11, Blees 9

Halftime: CMS 32-29

OxyBob

[Former Player/ Former Coach]

OxyBob,
        did you get the stats from the web or were you at the game?

[OxyBob]

did you get the stats from the web or were you at the game?

I did not go to the game. I got the stats from the box score, which you can see here.

That's a great way for Chapman to open its season. It's never easy getting a road win in the Temple of Doom.

OxyBob

[TigerOldSchool]

Does LaVerne still have the Nipple Dome?
aka Circus tents.  That was a freaky place to play.
It's been 20+ yrs since I've been there.

[OxyBob]

Does LaVerne still have the Nipple Dome? aka Circus tents. 

Yep, the Leopards still play in the Super Tents.



OxyBob