March 2011 Archives

*If you wanted something of a "blueprint" for what Arizona did to Duke tonight, just recall what St. John's did to the Blue Devils in Madison Square Garden on Jan. 30 (93-78). It's hard to pressure dribblers if you're not quick enough to stay in front of them.

*As good as Kemba Walker was tonight -- and he seemingly toyed with the Aztecs at times -- Connecticut doesn't beat San Diego State if Huskies' freshman Jeremy Lamb wasn't as impressive as he was.

If Lamb were to enter the draft pool after this season (as Walker, a junior, is expected to do), there are some NBA teams who would select him before Walker.

*San Diego State -- via Kawhi Leonard and D.J. Gay -- took ill-advised 3s down the stretch. And those Ts to Leonard and Jamal Franklin (in which Walker "flopped" after walking into the freshman and baited the officials into making the dead-ball call) were critical.

*Butler continues to look like the best-coached program in college basketball. How in the heck was Wisconsin a five-point favorite Thursday night in New Orleans?

How amazing would it be if the Bulldogs returned to the Final with the program that beat them in the 2010 final -- Duke -- home in Durham?

*I'm amused by ball of those Tweeters mocking the defense of Jimmer Fredette tonight. C'mon, you just noticed he doesn't play a lot of D? Guess what . . . he won't be the worst defender in the NBA, you knuckleheads.

SOUTHEAST REGIONAL
Game-by-Game
First Four: UNC/Asheville over Arkansas/Little Rock
Upper Bracket
Second Round
Pittsburgh over UNC/Asheville
Butler over Old Dominion
Utah State over Kansas State
Wisconsin over Belmont
Lower Bracket
Gonzaga over St. John's
BYU over Wofford
Michigan State over UCLA
Florida over UC Santa Barbara
Third Round
Butler over Pittsburgh
Wisconsin over Utah State
BYU over Gonzaga
Michigan State over Florida
Regional Semifinals (at New Orleans)
Butler over Wisconsin
Michigan State over BYU
Final
Butler over Michigan State (Butler to Houston)

SOUTHWEST REGIONAL
Game-by-Game
First Four: USC over Virginia Commonwealth
Upper Bracket
Second Round
Kansas over Boston University
Illinois over UNLV
Richmond over Vanderbilt
Louisville over Morehead State
Lower Bracket
USC over Georgetown
Purdue over St. Peter's
Texas A&M over Florida State
Notre Dame over Akron
Third Round
Kansas over Illinois
Richmond over Louisville
Purdue over USC
Texas A&M over Notre Dame
Regional Semifinals (at San Antonio)
Kansas over Richmond
Purdue over Texas A&M
Final
Kansas over Purdue (Kansas to Houston)

WEST REGIONAL
Game-by-Game
Upper Bracket
Second Round:
Duke over Hampton
Tennessee over Michigan
Arizona over Memphis
Oakland over Texas
Lower Bracket
Missouri over Cincinnati
Connecticut over Bucknell
Penn State over Temple
San Diego State over Northern Colorado
Third Round:
Duke over Tennessee
Arizona over Oakland
Connecticut over Missouri
San Diego State over Penn State
Regional Semifinals (at Anaheim)
Duke over Arizona
San Diego State over Connecticut
Final
San Diego State over Duke (SDSU to Houston)

EAST REGIONAL
Game-by-Game
First Four: Texas-San Antonio over Alabama State; Clemson over UAB
Upper Bracket
Second Round:
Ohio State over Texas-San Antonio
George Mason over Villanova
West Virginia over Clemson
Kentucky over Princeton
Lower Bracket
Xavier over Marquette
Syracuse over Indiana State
Washington over Georgia
North Carolina over Long Island
Third Round
Ohio State over George Mason
Kentucky over West Virginia
Xavier over Syracuse
Washington over North Carolina
Regional Semifinals (at Newark)
Ohio State over Kentucky
Washington over Xavier
Final
Ohio State over Washington (OSU to Houston)

The Long Beach State basketball banquet, scheduled for Monday night in the Grand, will be rescheduled sometime following the 49ers' participation in the NIT, Director of Sports Information Director Todd Miles said Sunday evening.

The NIT has just announced its 32-team field and the Long Beach State 49ers -- who lost in the Big West Conference title game Saturday night -- are headed to Pullman.

The 49ers will play Washington State in the first round Wednesday night at 7 o'clock in a game that will be televised by ESPNU.

The Cougars finished in sixth place in the Pacific 10 Conference and lost to Washington, 89-87, in the Pac-10 Tournament Thursday night in the conference tournament in the Staples Center.

Junior Klay Thompson led the Pac-10 in scoring (22.1 points per game) and had a conference tourney-record 43 points against the Huskies.

The 49ers were dominated the final 15 minutes and UCSB is going to the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive year: 64-56.

The Gauchos are leading the 49ers, 51-43, with 4:55 to go

UC Santa Barbara was up 10 (19-9) early but Long Beach State was able to draw at intermission at 27.

The 49ers have been awful, offensively, hitting just 10 of 36 shots from the field -- missing 17 of those inside the lane. They are also just five of 10 from the free-throw line.

UCSB is 12 of 25 from the field with nine assists. Long Beach has just three assists on its 10 buckets.

The team that played for the Big West Conference's NCAA Tournament bid a year -- the sames teams picked to finish 1-2 in the conference this season -- will get a "rematch" in Anaheim Saturday night.

Twelve months ago the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos beat the Long Beach State 49ers, 69-64, in the conference final in the Anaheim Convention Center.

The rematch will be played in the same city Saturday evening at 5 but in a larger and slicker venue -- the Honda Center.

With nine of the same starters on the floor -- five of those belonging to UCSB -- will the result be different.

Based upon the results of the regular season, with the Gauchos were a disappointing 8-8 in conference while the 49ers were rolling along to 14-2, one could surmise so.

But -- led by 2010 regular-season and tourney Player of the Year Orlando Johnson (who scored 62 points in the Thursday and Friday blowouts of Pacific and Cal State Northridge -- the results of the first two days say differently.

UCSB has looked like the team that was projected to earn a second consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament.

And, despite extending their winning streak to 11, the 49ers haven't strung an extended period of consistently good play in one game since beating Montana in the BracketBuster on Feb. 19.

It should be a heck of a game Saturday night.

A 20-point advantage shrank to six late in the second half but the 49ers hung on for a 74-63 victory to advance into the Big West final for the second year in a row.

Saturday at 5 o'clock they will play the winner of the UCSB-CS Northridge game that is about to tip off.

The 49ers burst out to a 15-0 zip lead five minutes into the game but carelessness with the ball and five or six missed shots inside enabled the UC Riverside Highlanders to get to within eight points twice.

But Larry Anderson, after a pass from Casper Ware, hit a 3 from the right wing with 3 seconds to go put them up, 40-28, at intermission.

Advice: If you're planning to attend the Poly-Mater Dei boys' Southern Regional Division I semifinal Saturday night at Long Beach City College, get the early.

In a battle between the best team in California now (the Jackrabbits) and next season (the Monarchs, if all of their non-seniors stay in place), look for Poly to prevail by eight to 10 points.

The other D-I semi between Corona Centennial and L.A. City champion Taft is being played at Roosevelt High in Corona.

Centennial knocked off Taft in a consolation game at the Torrey Pines Tournament after Christmas.

I think Taft gets the Huskies this time around, especially with Long Beach State-bound point guard Michael Caffey at well below 100 percent with an ankle sprain.

Gahr plays San Diego Lincoln in a D-II semifinal in San Diego. It's been a great season for my alma mater's progam but the season comes to an end in the 858 AC tonight for the Gladiators.

Larry Anderson and Casper Ware make multiple big plays down the stretch as Long Beach held off UCI, 79-72, to advance to Friday night's semifinals.

UCI has hit back-to-back jump shots and leads the 49ers, 51-47, with 8:48 to go . . . .

Despite a 3-for-15 shooting start -- and a 7-for-21 effort for the first 20 minutes -- Long Beach State is up on UCI, 30-29, at intermission in the Honda Center this afternoon.

The 49ers are going to have to play remarkably better in the second half or else their nine-game winning streak -- and their aspirations of playing in the NCAA Tournament -- will come to an abrupt and painful halt.

UC Irvine is up, 13-7, and WIlson High grad Mike Wilder is about to shoot two free throws with 11:53 remaining as Long Beach has played poorly to star the Big West Conference Tournament game in the Honda Center this afternoon.

Junior point guard Casper Ware of Long Beach State was chosen Big West Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year and the 49ers' other four starters also received all-conference recognition, the conference announced this morning.

Ware, a graduate of Gahr High, was also chosen the conference's Defensive Player of the Year.

Larry Anderson, a graduate of Jordan High and another LBSU junior, joined Ware as a first-team all-conference choice. Anderson was also a first-team selection two years ago when he was the Freshman of the Year.

Junior T.J. Robinson of the 49ers, a first-team pick last season, was a second-team all-conference choice.

One more junior, Eugene Phelps, was a honorable mention all-Big West honoree, as was the team's only senior starter, Greg Plater.

LBSU's Dan Monson was the Coach of the Year.

The 49ers (20-10 overall and 14-2 in conference) open conference tournament action as the No. 1 seed Thursday at noon against UC Irvine.

Here are my projected pairings for the State Southern Regional Division I boys playoffs

UPPER BRACKET
Clovis West (Central runner-up) at L.B. Poly (Southern Section I-AA champ)
Aliso Niguel (Southern Section I-A semifinals) at Westchester (City runner-up)
Mater Dei (Southern Section I-AA semifinals) at Capistrano Valley (Southern Section I-A runner-up)
Palisades (L.A. City semifinals) at La Costa Canyon (San Diego champ)

LOWER BRACKET
Washington (L.A. CIty semifinals) at Loyola (Southern Section I-A champ)
Etiwanda (Southern Section I-AA semifinals) at Fresno Bullard (Central Champ)
Redlands East Valley (Southern Section I-A semifinals) at Corona Centennial (Southern Section I-AA runner-up)
Torrey Pines (San Diego runner-up) at Taft (City champion).

Here is how the first round of the ampm Big West Men's Basketball Tournament looks for Thursday in the Honda Center:

Noon, No. 1 seed Long Beach State vs. No. 8 UC Irvine
(30 minutes after conclusion of above game), No. 4 Pacific vs. No. 5 UC Santa Barbara

6 p.m., No. 2 seed Cal Poly vs. No. 7 UC Riverside
(30 minutes after conclusion of above game) No. 3 seed Cal State Northridge vs. No. 6 Cal State Fullerton.

Friday semifinals:
6:30 and (approximately) 9 p.m.

Saturday final:
5 p.m.

Based upon UC Irvine's loss at UC Riverside tonight and Cal State Fullerton's victory at UC Davis, the first-round opponent for Long Beach State's men's basketball team in the Big West Conference Tournament Thursday at noon in the Honda Center has been determined.

The 49ers will face UCI -- the last team to beat them before the started a nine-game winning streak

It was never close as the Jackrabbits rolled past Corona Centennial, 68-52, for the Southern Section's I-AA title.

The Jackrabbits will be the No. 1 seed in the Southern portion of the State Regional Tournament when the pairings are unveiled Sunday afternoon.

Look for L.A. City champ Taft to be the No. 2 seed and, possibly, Loyola -- the Southern Section I-A champ -- the No. 3 seed.

Ryan Anderson led the Jackrabbits with 18 points and 21 rebounds while fellow seniors Alexis Moore and Alex Carmon added 12 while sophomore Roschon Prince scored 11.

The Poly High boys' hoop team leads Corona Centennial by 16 points at halftime of the I-AA title game in the Anaheim Convention Center Arena tonight.

The Jackrabbits committed seven turnovers in the second quarter but still outscored the Huskies by nine in that eight-minute stretch.

The Jackrabbits superior size is paying major dividends.

Leading the way for Poly are Alex Carmon (11 points), Ryan Anderson (10) and Alexis Moore (10).

The first three of six boys' CIF Southern Section basketball championships are : :

*IV-A: Oaks Christian 66, Buckley 48
*III-A: Harvard-Westlake 47, Inglewood 45
*II-A: Ventura 56, Mission Viejo 55 (ot)

Next up --- Loyola-Capistrano Valley in the I-A, with Poly-Corona Centennial (I-AA) at 6 and Mayfair-Gahr (II-AA) at about 8.

Aaron Wright, a 6-foot-2 senior point guard who averaged 19.3 points and 5.6 assists for the Cerritos High basketball team, has accepted a scholarship offer by the UC Irvine coaching staff, Dons' Coach Jonathan Watanabe said Saturday morning.

Wright was chosen the Suburban League's Most Valuable Player as the Dons knocked off South Torrance and Calabasas before losing to Harvard-Westlake in the CIF Southern Section III-A quarterfinals.

The Long Beach State men's basketball team will play at noon Thursday in the Honda Center as the Big West Conference Tournament's top seed -- that is a given.

The 49ers' opponent will not be determined until Saturday night, however.

It will be one of three teams:

*UC Riverside (if the Highlanders lose to the UC Irvine Anteaters at Riverside Saturday night):

*UC Irvine (if the Anteaters lose at UCR and Cal State Fullerton beats UC Davis);

*Cal State Fullerton (if the Titans lose at UC Davis and UC Riverside beats UC Irvine).

Coach Dan Monson's team had leads of 19 points (late in the first half) and 15 points (early in the second half) but had to survive a UCR dunk try that would have tied the score with about 25 seconds to go before the 49ers prevailed tonight, 82-76, in their regular-season finale.

The 49ers (20-10 overall and 14-2 in the Big West Conference) open conference tournament action a week from Thursday in the Honda Center.

The 49ers' men's basketball team held a 19-point advantage -- at 37-18 -- with 5:39 to go in the first half at UC Riverside tonight.

But multiple ill-advised shot attempts and a multitude of jump shots by the Highlanders down the stretch have got the hosts back into things at intermission.

Long Beach's lead has been cut to nine points -- 44-35.

The Long Beach State women's basketball team trails host UC Riverside 34-30 at intermission of the 49ers' final regular-season Big West Conference game this evening.

Roschon Prince turned in a solid fourth-quarter effort as Poly finally pulled away down the stretch to beat Etiwanda, 60-53, tonight and advance to Saturday night's I-AA championship game with Corona Centennial.

The scored is deadlocked at 43 going into the fourth quarter. Etiwanda led by as many as five points in the third quarter but Alexis Moore and Roschon Prince helped the Jackrabbits get a deadlock.

The Poly Jackrabbits lead the Etiwanda Eagles, 27-25, after the first half of their Southern Section I-AA semifinal in the Anaheim Convention Center Arena tonight.

Poly jumped out to an 8-2 advantage and also led 20-15 midway through the second quarter but has been unable to pull away in the defensive-oriented contest it was expected to be.

Future USC Trojans Byron Wesley (eight points) of Etiwanda and Alexis Moore (seven points and three assists) of Poly have played well, as has Poly forward Chris Camper (seven points).

Ryan Anderson of the Jackrabbits has been limited to two points.

Long Beach State signee Michael Caffey scored 25 points and played excellent defense in the second half against future USC guard Katin Reinhardt to lead Corona Centennial to a come-from-behind 60-58 victory over Mater Dei in a CIF Southern Section I-AA semifinal tonight.

Poly vs. Etiwanda is next up with the winner playing Centennial in the title game Saturday night at 6 o'clock.

A computer/e-mail glitch on my part prevented my column from being posted in time for the Tuesday print edition of the Press-Telegram.

My apologies! Here it is:

As a college basketball commentator the past couple of seasons for the ESPN ``Family of Networks'', former Mater Dei High and University of Arizona standout Miles Simon has witnessed, up close, the evolution of the Long Beach State program under Coach Dan Monson.
And he's impressed with what he watched - from courtside - during the three 49ers' games he's served as an analyst for this season.
``I really like the growth and maturity they've shown as players,'' Simon said prior to working the 49ers' home-finale against UC Santa Barbara for ESPN2 Saturday evening.
``You can tell they are upper-classmen now - they (current starting juniors Larry Anderson, Eugene Phelps, T.J. Robinson and Casper Ware) don't make the same mistakes they did as sophomores.
``As a team, they are much more `under control'. They're not as wild and `loose' with the ball.''
Simon - who worked a few LBSU games last season and has been part of the crews that have broadcast the Jan. 12 and Feb. 19 Montana games with the 49ers in the Walter Pyramid - said the on-court chemistry is quite evident.
``With (senior guard Greg) Plater on there, that's a whole lot of games these guys have played together,'' the 1997 NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player said.
``They're playing with great confidence and there doesn't seem to be any jealousy. They've got five guys (scoring) in double figures and that is such a rarity.''
And he likes what he has seen of the 49ers when the cameras are nowhere to be found and there just a handful of people in the Walter Pyramid.
``I'm really impressed at how Monson has them compete in practice,'' he said. ``They really push themselves.''
Simon, who will do commentary during the ESPN broadcasts of the March 11-12 Big West Conference Tournament semifinals in the Honda Center, believes the 49ers - should they win the conference tourney - might not play strictly like a team ``just happy to be there'' if they get to the NCAA Tournament.
``With the right matchup as a 15 or 14 seed, they will give someone problems,'' he said. ``After the tough non-conference schedules they've played the past couple of years, they will have no fear going into a (tournament) game.''
OTHER STUFF
I'm curious to see how many people show up in the 7,000 or so-seat Anaheim Convention Center Arena today and this evening to watch the CIF Southern Section I-AA girls' and boys' playoff semifinals.
The crowd will reach its apex sometime during the 6:30 p.m. Mater Dei-Corona Centennial boys' game - which follows the Monarchs' girls clash with Santa Monica at 4:45 and precedes the Poly-Etiwanda boys' game which is scheduled to tip off at 8:15.
I would guess that that is why Fox Sports decided that the Prime Ticket live broadcast would be of the Mater Dei-Corona Centennial game - because of the probability that the most fans would be in the building at the time.
The Poly-Etiwanda game will be webcast live by www.foxsportswest.com, though.
*There will probably be at least a dozen players from among the four boys' squads in Anaheim tonight that will ultimately play college basketball on the Division I level.
The players with the most immediate Division I futures are Ryan Anderson (Boston College) and Alexis Moore (USC) of Poly; Byron Wesley (USC) and Jordan Daniels (Boston College) of Etiwanda; and Michael Caffey (Long Beach State), Dominique Dunning (New Mexico) and Gelaun Wheelwright (Weber State).
One of Mater Dei's two-best players - 6-5 junior Katin Reinhardt - is committed to USC.
And another Monarchs' junior - 6-7 Xavier Johnson - is being recruited by dozens of programs, including the Trojans and the UCLA Bruins.
The 6-foot Caffey is Casper Ware's heir apparent at point guard for the 49ers and averaging 17.5 points, 6.0 assists and 3.0 steals per game for the Huskies.
In the Poly-Etiwanda game, the (probable) Anderson-Wesley and Moore-Daniels matchups could dictate the outcome.
*Can anyone recall a more significant upset involving a Long Beach area-high school team than Poly's girls getting beat - at home - in an I-AA quarterfinal last Wednesday night?
* In terms of college basketball emotion, how can the UCLA walk-on and great-grandson of the late John R. Wooden (Tyler Trapani) scoring the final basket in Pauley Pavilion Saturday afternoon against Arizona before its two-year renovation ever get topped?
*Coach Dan Monson and his staff will hold a couple of sessions of the LBSU Individual Skills Day Camp this summer in the Walter Pyamid.
Session I runs June 27-30 and Session II goes Aug. 1-4, with fundamentals instruction and competition running from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The camp is for boys ages 6-14. Each session is $200, with a $25 discount if registered by today.
To register or to get more information, contact Ryan Hellenthal at (562) 985-1610 or rhellent@csulb.edu.