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.

Another Game, Another Win

Caltech won its second game in a row in fine fashion. The Beavers led start to finish as the home crowd witnessed some spectacular plays and contributions from everyone.

Read about the game and check out some of the highlights at gocaltech.com.

D3hoops also featured the Beavers on the home page.

Caltech Wins on Third Day of Fulmer Tourney

Caltech was very competitive in the Fulmer Tournament at Redlands. On Thursday, the Beavers faced the Banana Slugs of UC Santa Cruz, a team that recently beat Pomona-Pitzer and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. After Caltech held a slight edge midway through the first half and action that featured nine ties and nine lead changes, UCSC pulled out the win, 79-64. Mike Edwards and Ryan Elmquist scored 18 points a piece while Mike Paluchniak totaled 13 points. Todd Cramer added six assists and nine rebounds as the Beavers recorded 20 assists on their 26 made field goals.

The next day, the Beavers took on Southwestern (AZ), but were unable to convert several open shots. Southwestern gradually pulled away and won 77-58 despite Caltech's courageous efforts to stay competitive. The Beavers' bench scored a season-high 17 points and won the points in the paint 22 to 10 while Caltech as a team boasted a 13 to 11 assist to turnover ratio. Cramer posted a double-double with 15 points and 14 boards and added four assists.

Finally, on the third day of the tournament, the Beavers broke through with a win over American Sports University, 74-67. After a hot start that saw Caltech jump out to a 10-0 lead, the Beavers held a 40-20 halftime advantage. Several runs by ASU made the game closer but Caltech was able to stave off the opponent with great execution and accurate free throw shooting. The Beavers shot 85 percent from the charity stripe (23 of 27) and hauled in 18 offensive rebounds en route to a 17 to 9 advantage on second chance points. For the second day in a row, they held a positive assist to turnover ratio at 14 to 11. Cramer duplicated his performance from the day prior with 15 points and 14 rebounds, plus five assists. Edwards added five assists to go along with a season-high 19 points, many of which came on explosive moves to the basket. Elmquist led all scorers with 25 points and he swatted three shots. Caltech won the battle of the benches, 15-10, paced by Mason Freedman's 9-point, 3-rebound outing.

For the 3-day, 8-team tournament, Cramer led all players with 37 rebounds (12.3 RPG). Elmquist received the All-Tournament Team Sportsmanship Award after averaging 17.3 points during the event.

From the Pasadena Star-News:


From the Redlands website: