Caltech Hoops in the News

Lots happening in Pasadena. Caltech posted it's second win of the season this past Sunday as it defeated the University of Dallas on the second day of the Thanksgiving Classic, 69-53. After a slow start, the Beavers found their way back to .500 (2-2) as they shot 6 of 12 from behind the arc and 56.7 percent overall in the second half. Todd Cramer paved the way with 16 points, 12 rebounds, 7 assists, and 2 steals. Michael Edwards led all scorers with 21 points while freshmen Bryan Joel and Andrew Hogue combined for 23 points, 14 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals.

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Collin Murphy, a junior captain from Wasilla, Alaska, is contributing periodically to the new blog, HoopSpeakU. You can read his first post here.

Coach Eslinger is also writing for HoopSpeak on the new Coaches Forum. His first post is here.

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And, if you haven't heard, Caltech made Esquire's Best of 2011 for it's record-breaking victory last February.

Best of College Basketball

Seth Davis mentions Caltech's historic win on CBS special: Best of College Basketball 2011

What They Are Saying

David Aldridge (NBA.com Feb. 28)

Team of the Week

Caltech (1-0): The Beavers defeated Occidental 46-45 on Tuesday to finish their regular season with a 1-13 record in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Oh, and the win snapped a 310-game losing streak in SCIAC play going back 26 years, to 1985. (The SCIAC, a Division III conference, features Pomona-Pitzer, the school where Gregg Popovich got his coaching start.) And Caltech is getting better at this basketball thing, having broken a 207-game overall losing streak in 2007. On the other hand, Kentucky doesn't have 31 alumni who have won the Nobel Prize, or 67 alums who have won the National Medal of Science or Technology.

The Vancouver Sun (Feb. 26)

Rolfsen, on the Caltech men's basketball team snapping a 26-year, 310-game conference losing streak: "The only people who can comprehend the magnitude of those numbers are Caltech students.''

Phil Jackson (LA Times, Feb. 24)

The first question Jackson faced during his pregame session with reporters was not about the Lakers or the trade deadline. It was about Caltech ending a 26-year losing streak in conference games Tuesday.

"Congratulations," Jackson said, smiling. "About time too."

Henry Abbott (TrueHoop, Feb. 23)

Caltech won a league game for the first time in 26 years. (Via College Basketball Nation Blog.) Great stuff. Couldn't be happier for Caltech coach Oliver Eslinger, who has been a friend of TrueHoop since he was back at M.I.T. (you may recall my linking several times to his blog "Doc's head games" -- he has a Ph.D. in counseling and sports psychology). A footnote (literally) to that game: Click that link above, and look for #22, a guard with his back to the camera as the final free throw is attempted. That's Collin Murphy. Met him on Sunday morning, and he's an Alaskan Packer fan, and as nice as can be. And here's the funniest damn thing: Look at his shoes. They're outrageous yellow Adidas. Now, in yesterday's bullets I linked to some video from a blogger game early Sunday morning. Look what I'm wearing: Outrageous yellow Adidas. Same exact pair! ESPN has restrictions on the kinds of gifts journalists can accept, and I take it seriously. When I happen into free sneakers -- even though the vast majority are below the value outlined by the policy -- I give them away. In this case, Adidas offered me some shoes. I had two pickup games to play in and no shoes. So I accepted them, knowing I'd use them for just a morning before finding somebody who'd want them. I wrapped up the final run of the morning in Caltech's gym, as Murphy walked in, and he just happened to be size 11.

The Moment

If you haven't heard by now, Caltech did it and the entire Institute is proud.

For lots and lots of links, consult the Facebook Fan Page and GoCaltech.com.

Big News for Beavers

Beaver Basketball continues to develop. Some big-news items:

Senior Ryan Elmquist was recently named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District First Team. This honor qualifies him for the national ballot for Academic All-American. Elmquist has played in every game since his freshman year and is the program's all-time leader in blocked shots. Already a 1,000 point scorer, he continues to move up the top 10 scoring list. He needs just four more rebounds to make the 500 rebound club.

In Saturday's close contest with Redlands, freshman Todd Cramer collected 11 points, 8 assists, and 5 rebounds. The array of assists moves Cramer into program lore as he is now the record holder for assists in one season (103).

And on Monday, in a grand demonstration of support, Caltech President Jean-Lou Chameau highlighted the efforts of the team in his periodic message to the community.

I would first like to applaud Coach Eslinger and his players for their hard-fought game against La Verne Wednesday night, and I know I'm not alone. The Beavers have played great team basketball and have been very competitive all season. I believe that our first conference win is coming soon, with many more to follow.

It will be a proud day, of course, when the Beavers get that victory, but on Wednesday I was excited just to see Braun gym full of students, faculty, and staff cheering in support of Caltech student-athletes.

Go Beavers!

Close Conference Calls

What a stretch of games for the Beavers.

Last Wednesday, they played a close one at Occidental. Down 10 points with 3:42 left in the game, they cut it to five as Mike Edwards hit a jumper, a layup, and a free throw, but couldn't close the gap. Edwards finished with 11 points while Todd Cramer and Mike Paluchniak each had 12. Cramer, the SCIAC leader in assists, had four helpers.

Official Game Recap
Pasadena Star-News

On Saturday, Caltech traveled to Whittier and played its closest conference road game in 50 years. The Beavers again found themselves down 10 points in the second stanza (at the 13:21 mark) but chipped away and pulled within two points on a Paluchniak 3-pointer with 9:56 on the clock. From there, Whittier responded and grabbed a brief 8-point lead only to see Caltech fend off the Poets and climb to within two points again, this time on a free throw by Ryan Elmquist. A Whittier layup was the last field goal for the home team at the 2:31 mark. Elmquist responded with a driving layup of his own 23 seconds later to make the score 70-68, which ended up being the final. Caltech prevented Whittier from scoring on its next three tries and the Beavers had possession with 8 seconds, but weren't able to convert.

Cramer set a Caltech record with 11 assists. He added 13 points and 8 rebounds. Elmquist had 16 and 7 while Edwards added 11 and 7. Paluchniak scored eight points and Will Dooris and Ethan Boroson came off the bench to combine for 14 points with a combined 6 of 12 field goal effort. Caltech won the battle of the boards.

Official Game Recap
Whittier Daily News

Last night, in front of another huge crowd in Caltech's Braun Athletic Center, the Beavers battled La Verne for the second time this season (La Verne, who is now tied for second place in the SCIAC standings, won the first meeting 76-70). Once again, Caltech was down 10 in the second half, 48-38, with 12:57 remaining in the game. Over the next 11 minutes, the Beavers cut into the deficit and grabbed the lead, 58-57, with 1:03 left. La Verne took a 1-point lead a half minute later but Cramer made a contested layup to give the Beavers a 60-59 lead. With 12 seconds left La Verne drove the lane but Elmquist blocked the shot attempt and the ball was deflected out of bounds. The Leopards managed to get the ball to their best shooter who hit a contested jumper in the corner. Caltech's last second shot attempt missed and La Verne clung to a 61-60 final.

Caltech held the visitors to a 2 of 14 clip from behind the arc. The Beavers shot 57 percent from the field in the second half and again outrebounded their opponent. Edwards scored a game-high 18 points. Elmquist had 17. Cramer turned in another all-around performance with 14 points, 5 boards, and 6 assists. Paluchniak had five points, three assists, and a steal. Collin Murphy played a tremendous game with four points, two steals, and a game-high seven rebounds.

Official Game Recap
Pasadena Star-News

The New Year

After opening the new year in a tough game against Eastern Connecticut, the Beavers got back on the winning track with a solid victory over Wisconsin Lutheran last Monday. The fourth win of the season was seized in the second half of the game as the Beavers outscored their opponent 44-31. Mike Edwards poured in 26 points while Todd Cramer and Ryan Elmquist scored 19 and 14, respectively. Cramer also tallied seven assists and six rebounds.

Caltech next opened SCIAC play with a much anticipated home game after a nice preview in the Pasadena Star-News. Hosting Pomona-Pitzer in front of a packed Braun Gym, the Beavers held a 7-point lead early in the second half but were unable to extend it. The Sagehens continued to pull closer and eventually took the lead, one that it managed to secure, 46-41, despite Caltech holding them to 29.5 percent shooting. Edwards was the game-high scorer as he went 6 of 12 from the field for 15 points. The Star-News and KCAL9 were there to cover the event.

Elmquist Named Athlete of Week

The SCIAC announced Caltech senior captain Ryan Elmquist earned Athlete of the Week honors for the week ending December 10.

Read the Caltech release here.

See the official news on the SCIAC site here.

Coasts Converge: Caltech in the New York Times

The Beavers are presented in today's New York Times. The story by John Branch was posted online Wednesday where it ran on the home page for much of the evening. The national edition in print featured the first part of the story on A1 just below the fold. The article made the top 20 most e-mailed during its first 24 hours. Here is the original story as it was when first released on December 15.

Big Math in Finals

Want some intriguing discussion on the cataclysmic chance that a Phil Jackson team will lose a playoff series after winning the first contest? Turn to the brilliant math folks at Caltech:

Are you telling me that if the Lakers win in the opener Thursday night at Staples Center, the Celtics aren't going to be peppered with that number [47-0] for the next two weeks? And that at least some of it isn't going to stick?

"I know when I go to the free-throw line, the odds of me missing one grow if I haven't missed one in a while,'' Boston's Ray Allen said with a grin. ''So I'll think of it like that.''

The Celtics act like the number is a coincidence. Smarter people than both of us say it is not ... I decided that, yes, I should consult with someone from the brainiest university in the country.

So I called the folks from Caltech.

A couple of grad students in applied and computational mathematics —Stephen Becker and Mike McCoy — figured that the odds of going 47-0 by coincidence were less than three in a billion.

''I would be demoralized if I were the other team,'' Becker said.

Gary Lorden, a Caltech professor emeritus in mathematics, added, ''If I were a huge basketball fan and ran into this stat, I would say, wow.''