Anyone got an all-decade team for Pomona?  Redlands?  Whittier? Caltech? 

I can get something started for Pomona, though I'm sure I'm missing some...

F Alex Lloyd
F Wexlor-Beron or Jabarri Reynolds?
C Justin Sexton
G David Knowles
G Liss/Chaimowitz?

And for Redlands, you have

F Billy Shivers
F Patrick Coffey
G Amir Mazerei
?
?

Quote from: OxyBob on March 16, 2010, 07:17:01 PM

Quote from: sciac_is_fun on March 13, 2010, 10:41:32 PM
my all-decade team for CLU:

G Victor Esquer
G Kyle Knudsen
F Zareh Avedian
F Ryan Hodges
C Justin Muth

Good team, but I might replace Esquer with Deshion Inniss, one of the most clutch players CLU ever had.

OxyBob

Inniss would be on my second team (along with Andy Meier, who deserves mention as well).  Esquer is there because he's the best perimeter defender I've ever seen at this level, and because of his leadership.  He was really the only consistently solid guard on those good CLU teams of the early part of the decade.

Hey everybody, got an idea.

Now that the SCIAC offseason is upon us again, how about some stimulating All-Decade discussion to keep some interest going?  I know it might be a year late, but here's what I propose: give your All-Decade team for the school you support, and then at the end we can pick some SCIAC all-decade teams from those.  That way we get some intra-school debate, as well as overall debate. 

So for example, my all-decade team for CLU:

G Victor Esquer
G Kyle Knudsen
F Zareh Avedian
F Ryan Hodges
C Justin Muth

Quite the team, if you ask me   Plenty of size, scorers, and defenders.

The "biggest" big man I can recall was CLU's Justin Muth, circa '98-'01.  He was about 6'10" and quite athletic and strong.  He was POY his senior year, and I believe made an all-region team, with CLU winning SCIAC.  CLU has had quite a succession of taller players since then, including Zareh Avedian (who played more like a scoring '3') and Ryan Hodges (probably a natural '4'), down to Meier and Van Klaveren these the last couple years.  Actually Muth, Hodges, and Avedian (the latter two both freshmen) were all on that '01 team (quite the recruiting coup there), but there wasn't room for Big Z to find much PT as a frosh.

CLU-Whittier was an unbelievable game.  I don't know if I've ever been to a game with so many emotional turns in the final minute. 

Disclaimer: I know OxyBob posted while I was writing, but this was a game so good it's worth reading about twice. 

Whittier pulled ahead in the first half and once again CLU found themselves down significantly at the half, this time by 11.  But just like the CMS game, they came out in the second half and would not be denied.  It seemed like most of the building knew the game was far from over, especially after the CMS game.  After the Poets made the first hoops of the half to up 37-24, CLU fought back and finally took the lead at 44-43 with a Greg Grimm jumper at a bit over 12 minutes to go.  CLU had the lead for most of the rest of the game, until the final minute.

That's when Travis Crow hit a huge 3 with :55 left to put Whittier up by 2.  After a timeout by CLU, Knudsen comes down with ice in his veins and just nails a 3 to but the Kingsmen back up by 2.  Marcus Gibson comes back and hits to put the Poets back up by 1, before Knudsen comes back and posts up on the right block, spins back to his left and laying it in with his left hand.  With :14 left, Whittier inbounds the ball without calling a timeout, but as a play begins to develop they finally do call one with 3 seconds left.  After CLU calls a timeout after seeing how the Poets are lining up, Whittier inbounds under their own basket.  CLU deflects the first inbounds pass, leaving 2.8 seconds.  Marcus Gibson catches the inbounds on the left wing, maybe 6 feet behind the 3 point line and jacks from there.  Nothing but net.

Most of the Whittier players start celebrating - meanwhile there is still .8 on the clock, and if the Kingsmen were alert they may have had a good last shot with very little defense - most of the Whittier team was in a pile along the bench where Gibson hit the shot.  But a couple of Whittier players realize the game's not over, and get over half court before CLU can throw a long inbounds.  Instead CLU ends up with a 60-foot heave that actually got quite close before falling just short of the rim. 

Obviously a heartbreaking loss for the Kingsmen, and now they'll have to go on the road for the first game of the tournament. 

Knudsen almost willed CLU to victory in the 2nd half, scoring  19 of his 21 and shooting 7-10 in that frame.  Aaron Fisher, who along with Knudsen played all 40 minutes, had another strong game and some hugh buckets with 16 pts, 7 rebs, and 4 stls.  Van Klaveren fought through some foul trouble to contribute 9 pts and 14 rebs.  Unfortunately he probably had about 5 would-be 3 point play opportunities roll off the rim, and shot just 5-12 from the line. 

For the Poets, Keegan Hoover had 15 and 12, Gibson had 13 pts/4 asts, and Archuletta had what looked at times to be a very frustrating 6 pts and 8 rebs.

Before the final minute, the play of the game was Knudsen's almost-dunk (it went in, just wasn't a clean dunk) over Hoover to put CLU up by 6 with just under 10 minutes to go.  Didn't know he had that in him.

Quote from: hoopdville on February 22, 2009, 07:53:13 PM
Hats off to CLU, as I surely didn't think they had the maturity or depth to win 5 games in a row without Meire....Tuesday's game will be interest at CLU with Whittier.  Can the young iron five continue to prove the critics wrong? 

Depth in college basketball is overrated.  Partially depends on style of course, as  I'm sure Puget Sound depends on have some sort of depth.  But I think "flow" can be just important as depth at this level (and lower levels).  In some cases, supposed depth can interrupt the rhythm that good players get into. 

Looking forward to Tuesday night's game.

CMS has effectively clinched at least a share of the conference title (vs. Caltech on Tuesday).  Now it's up to Cal Lu to beat Whittier to share it with them.

It's all set up for two big showdowns on Saturday.  If CLU and Whittier want to have a chance at the regular season title, they'll have to win Saturday.  PP and CMS have LaVerne and Shirley, I mean Caltech, respectively, on the last night of the regular season.

What a fun end to the season!

My predictions:
CLU  L/W
Whittier W/L
CMS  L/W
PP  W/W

PP 11-3
3 teams @ 10-4

Quote from: hoopdville on February 13, 2009, 01:16:49 AM
Question of the day, does CLU have enough depth and courage to win any games down the home stretch of SCIAC play without their warrior/heart and sole/leader Andy Meir being out with a season ending knee injury?  Will they be able to hold onto the fourth spot and make the post season tourney or fade into the Southern California sunset?   

Guess we have our easy answer to that question already...

Kingsmen Defeat Caltech, Clinch SCIAC Tournament Berth

Surprised not to see any posts about last night's games, so I thought I'd fill in the gap, at least with the game I saw...

CLU-CMS was a very entertaining game.  The Kingsmen came out flat at home in the first half, and ended the the half on a sour note with what looked like a knee injury to Andy Meier.  It was one of the Andrew Bynum-esque plays with a teammate falling on his leg, and Meier going down in obvious pain.  Haven't heard if and how long he'll be out. 

The game didn't look good for Cal Lu, down 37-26 at the half and without their leading scorer for the rest of the game.  But they came out after halftime looking like a different team.  They picked up the intensity big time, even getting the crowd into it, and CMS just couldn't hang.  Knudsen (27 pts), Greg Grimm (13 pts, 9 asts), Aaron Fisher (11 pts, 8 rebs, 3 big blks), and Van Klaveran (14 pts, 5-5 FG) all picked up their games in Meier's absence, and the Kingsmen shot nearly 70% in the second half.  CLU won by a comfortable margin, 80-71.  80 points was quite the accomplishment considering the kind of suffocating D CMS plays. 

This was only my second time seeing them this year, but I'm excited for what the future may hold for this CLU team, without a senior on the roster. 

For CMS, Chris Blees was impressive with 23 pts, 13 rebs, and some great athletic plays. 

the SCIAC, by contrast, is definitely one of the most methodical, physical brands of basketball that I've experienced.  for the most part, the teams that have been successful over the years are the teams that played the best defense combined with 2-3 good scoring options (or one dominating scoring presence, like Whitman or Avedian). 

it seems to me that SCIAC coaches preach shot selection, perhaps to a fault at times.  We always have a couple teams among the DIII leaders in FG%, in spite of what is in all honesty a relatively low level of offensive talent.  certainly this style makes sense given the state of the talent, but it doesn't do much for developing the talent you do have. 

Quote from: OxyBob on March 05, 2008, 04:09:08 PM
I'm disappointed that a deserving Cal Lutheran team was excluded from the NCAA tournament, but I'm also surprised that the only outcry from the apparently resigned-to-their-fate CLU fans was about Deshion Inniss not making first team all-SCIAC.

Here's one Cal Lutheran fan that's pissed off they didn't get into the tournament - especially when I really feel like they had the tools this year to make a run.  I think most of us just don't know what to say and who to say it to.  Apparently the regional rankings don't mean jack...who makes up the tournament committee anyway? 

I too was surprised about the (lack of) CLU guard representation on the All-Sciac teams, but I come at it from another angle (as I shared before the teams were chosen).  I think Acerboni was (sad that I have to use the past tense now) every bit as important to that team as Inniss.  Acerboni actually took over the primary point duties this year - Inniss mostly played off the ball.  From my (admittedly limited) vantage point, he was the heart of that team.  But I guess a 6 ppg avg keeps you off the all-conference teams.   It's nice to see Owens recognized, but he's got two more years.  Would've been nice to see the senior, who was probably more important as a whole to the team this year.

good season for the Kingsmen...too bad it had to end the way it did. 

Cal Lu and Oxy are both in the top 6 of the latest West Regional rankings, and have been mainstays there all year.  If they meet again in the SCIAC tourney championship, why aren't both of them in?

box score is up: CLU 70, PP 51

Looks like another big game for Owens (23 pts, 9-13 FG, 6 rebs), with Meier solid as usual (17 pts, 5-10 FG, 8 rebs, 3 assists).  Inniss and Acerboni combined to shoot 6-8 on 3s.  Congrats to the seniors on a well-played game on senior night.

I wasn't there, but it looks like CLU was pretty much in control throughout, shooting 52% for the game to PP's 39%.  PP gets another chance on Friday, as they do it all over again at CLU. 

Quote from: scandihoovian on February 27, 2008, 12:34:37 AM
Nice win for the Tigers.  Solid seasons for both them and the Kingsmen.  Is it correct that they are co-champs with Oxy getting the #1 seed because it won both meetings?

According to the box score, Cal Lu "earns share of the conference title with Occidental."