The Blues are back in action tonight vs PLU: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/whitman/

The John Lamanna era features a slimmed down roster with only three returners (Weston Crump, Kanoa Johnson, and Carlos Angel), and only Crump has played significant minutes in the past. Interesting to see Bryce Mulder listed as a "Student Assistant Coach" and not showing on the roster. Is he not playing this year? Roster: https://athletics.whitman.edu/sports/mens-basketball/roster

There are some intriguing new faces, including a couple transfers from JCs in CA.

Here's hoping everyone stays healthy and we get a fun NWC season!

Whitman's new coach: https://athletics.whitman.edu/news/2020/5/21/john-lamanna-hired-as-whitman-mens-basketball-coach.aspx

Quote from: Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) on April 15, 2020, 06:20:43 PM

Quote from: BluesBrother on April 15, 2020, 05:41:43 PM

Quote from: Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) on April 15, 2020, 05:21:27 PM
https://www.goredlands.com/sports/mbkb/2019-20/releases/20200415no2d4i

Well shoot. Not a good time to be looking for a new head coach.

Good chance Whitman promotes the assistant there?  I've heard nothing but great things from lots of people about him.

Well, the longtime assistant, Matt Airy, left a year ago to become the head coach at Aurora. He probably would have been an obvious choice. The other assistants are great, but don't have quite the same longevity/experience. I'd bet on a national search.

Quote from: Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) on April 15, 2020, 05:21:27 PM
https://www.goredlands.com/sports/mbkb/2019-20/releases/20200415no2d4i

Well shoot. Not a good time to be looking for a new head coach.

Quote from: Ryan Scott (Hoops Fan) on April 15, 2020, 04:30:27 PM
I don't know how he feels about Amherst's opening, but I suspect, if Bridgeland leaves Walla Walla, it would be more for a program like that than the one at Redlands.

For what it's worth I'd be shocked if Bridgeland went to a place like Amherst. I think Redlands would be a better fit in a few ways.

If true, Redlands basketball will be a force to be reckoned with in the near future...

Yikes...hope that's not true, but I think the Bridgelands have ties to SoCal so that could make sense.

Quote from: Gregory Sager on March 13, 2020, 12:09:26 AM
Look, we all know that the teams in D3's geographic islands get a raw deal with the travel. But at the end of the day, are you going to pack that excuse in your travel bag and take it with you when you board the plane so that it's handy right where you need it when you lose, or are you going to suck it up and prove that you're an "absolute national contender" on at least a semi-regular basis? Because the record does not back up Blues Brother's statement. And that's all I'm saying.

I agree about the travel. It's reality and something that can be dealt with.

But there's nothing you can do about a bracket that pits all three west coast teams against each other...only one can advance. It's still not worth complaining about, but I also think it's wrong to say the best teams in SCIAC and NWC aren't national contenders these days (note the present tense...). And that's one of many reasons why it's a shame this tournament got cut short -- it would have been fun to see if Whitworth and Pomona could have made deeper runs.

Quote from: Gregory Sager on March 11, 2020, 10:54:11 AM

Quote from: BluesBrother on March 10, 2020, 03:42:00 PM
It's also nice to see SCIAC advancing after three consecutive years of getting knocked out in the second round vs Whitman. I know these conferences aren't as deep as others, but the top end programs are absolutely national contenders

History has not demonstrated that to be true, especially for the SCIAC -- and keep in mind that the SCIAC has been part of D3 since the late '70s. No SCIAC team has ever reached the Final Four, and only the 2017 Whitman team has gotten that far from the NWC. The list of SCIAC and NWC teams that have reached the Elite Eight is not extensive, either:

1981 Whittier
2002 Lewis & Clark
2003 Occidental
2006 Puget Sound
2011 Whitworth
2017 Whitman
2018 Whitman

It would seem that the West Coast teams have made strides in the new millennium, seeing as how they've made six of the 20 Elite Eights played since Y2K. But their performance once they've reached that level has been dismal. The five teams listed above that have reached the Elite Eight but gone no further since 2000 each lost their Elite Eight game by double digits, and the average margin of defeat in those six games was 15 points.

No doubt about it, Whitman has been very solid over the past four seasons. But the 2017 Whitman team distorted what has been the actual record of NWC teams over the past two decades -- and the SCIAC's legacy is in fact far more dismal than the NWC's in the big dance.

Right, I'm mostly thinking about recent history, like the past five years. For instance, the Claremont teams that knocked off Whitworth two years in a row and then nearly beat Whitman were pretty darn good. Same for last year's Pomona team. Basically, I would argue that the past four years Whitman, Whitworth, and the top SCIAC team were all Elite Eight caliber teams. But for three of those years, because of bracketing, only one team could advance to the Sweet 16. I'm not complaining. I understand the reality. But given that reality, I don't think you can accurately evaluate the quality of the top-tier NWC and SCIAC teams based on advancement in the national tournament.

It's awesome to see NWC making it to the Sweet 16 yet again. I wish my Blues had made it, too, but the inconsistency they displayed all year was evident vs UWEC.

It's also nice to see SCIAC advancing after three consecutive years of getting knocked out in the second round vs Whitman. I know these conferences aren't as deep as others, but the top end programs are absolutely national contenders and it's nice when they get a chance to advance without knocking each other off.

Good luck to Whitworth and P-P this weekend!

$4: Texas Dallas, Mount Union
$3: St. Thomas, Colby, Marietta, Wash U
$2: Whitman, St. Joseph
$1: Pomona-Pitzer,

A different path, but the same result in the NWC as Whitman takes the NWC crown and the pool A bid. Guessing Whitworth will be on the wrong side of the bubble, but who knows?

Duckett has been up and down this year, but he showed up huge the last two games. If he, Vickers, and Kirkley are on, the Blues are tough to beat.

Curious to see where Whitman goes for the first weekend...

Fun game in Walla Walla last night, with Whitworth finally getting a regular season W over the Blues for the first time in ages after bursting out of the gate to a 17-2 lead. To Whitman's credit, they battled back and had a chance to win, but it felt like poor shooting and/or poor shot selection and/or solid Whitworth defense kept them from getting a lead down the stretch.

There's a chance the Blues could fall to third in the conference if they drop the game at Linfield this weekend, which would be a somewhat shocking result after starting out 11-0. Still, I like their chances to win the conference tournament and make a run in the tournament again. I think they have more upside (and more volatility) than the other teams in the NWC.

The Blues 67-game NWC regular season winning streak is over, after Lewis & Clark prevailed on Saturday.

The Pios shot really well and held Whitman to just 83 points, well below their season average. Whitman was just 6-21 from 3 and 15-28 from the line...tough to win with that kind of shooting. Rob Colton dominated the offensive glass with 8 boards, but his 5-14 from the line really hurt.

It's been a while since Whitman laid an egg during conference play, but this feels a lot like some of the early season losses. Unlike previous years, this Blues team will have a harder time winning on an off night.

Also concerning is that Trevor Osborne went down in the waning seconds with what looked like a knee injury and had to be helped off the floor. Hopefully he's back in action this weekend.

Quote from: OxyBob on February 01, 2020, 11:49:29 PM
First place in the conference on the line at Claremont. If you haven't been to a Pomona vs. Claremont game, then I highly recommend you go. Always a great battle.

+1. I wish I could make it to this one!