Best of College Basketball

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

Elmquist Named to Men's All-West Region Team

Senior Ryan Elmquist has just been named to the D3hoops.com All-West Region Team.

This is the first time any Caltech player has been awarded this honor.

According to the website:

Players were nominated for these awards by the Sports Information Directors at the various schools, who were contacted multiple times as the season wound down to remind them to make their players eligible. There were 680 players nominated nationwide, a new high. The ballot was then made available to SIDs, who voted for a predetermined number of players in their region.

Elmquist will graduate this spring as the program's 2nd all-time leading scorer, leading shot blocker, and leading free throw maker. Last month, he was awarded the SCIAC Ted Ducey Award and named Academic All-District. He is a 2-time SCIAC Athlete of the Week.

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.

SCIAC Honors

Congratulations to Caltech and two of its players for being recognized by the SCIAC for the 2011 conference season.

Ryan Elmquist received the Ducey Award, the prestigious honor granted to a senior each season who truly exemplifies the term student-athlete. Besides hitting the game clinching, streak busting, out-of-this-world free throw in last Tuesday's season finale, Elmquist made his mark(s) on the basketball program. He'll graduate as the 2nd all-time leading scorer, leading shot blocker, and leading free throw maker in Tech history.

For a Q & A with Elmquist from TwinCities.com, click here. Other articles featuring the senior headed to Google are the StarTribune.com and Rivals.com.

Todd Cramer was named 2nd team all-conference. He is the only freshman on the all-SCIAC teams and the first all-conference Caltech player since Bryan Hires in 2007-08. Cramer led the league in assists and was second in assist to turnover ratio. He was the only player to be ranked in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and free throw percentage. He also eclipsed the Institute record for assists.

For Cramer quotes, check out Rick Reilly's latest column and NBC Sports.

Update (3.2.11) From Philly.com:

FORGET THOSE NOBEL PRIZES

The California Institute of Technology has produced 31 Nobel Prize winners. (Caltech) had also lost 207 consecutive basketball games until a huge win in 2007. The team had lost 310 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference games until beating Occidental in the final regular-season game, 46-45, last week. (Caltech) finished 5-20.

The second leading scorer in the Occidental game was freshman Todd Cramer of Blue Bell. He went to Chestnut Hill Academy and is a two-time Philly Maccabi gold-medal winner. Next season, (Caltech) needs to play at the Palestra. And bring Occidental along.

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.

Third Annual Alumni Event Recap

This past Saturday, basketball players from the past enjoyed another successful alumni event. Twenty-one alums laced up their sneakers for an intense alumni versus alumni game. This year, alums from Page House (the white shirts team) took on alums from all other houses (the black shirts team).

Yang Yang '09 got the black team off to a strong start as he scored seven points in a tightly contested first half. Ben Turk '98 aided the black attack with six points in the stanza while Scott Davies '06 led Page with seven points. Page Boys Paxon Frady '08 and Mike Underhill '08 supplied five points a piece in the first 20 minutes. Black led 29-27 at halftime.

As the second half became more heated, black shirts heated up. Wei Li '09 and Jon Bird '03 supplied strong offense while Matt Mayernik '03 hit two clutch jumpers to spark a black team run.

Bryan Hires '08 did his best to keep Page close as he erupted for a 9-point second half. Davies added five more points and Travis Haussler '09 had four.

In the end, the mixed house representatives took down Page in an action-packed contest, 63-57.

Black was led by its co-players of the game, Turk and Bird. Turk added to his already hefty career with 13 points, 15 rebounds, and 4 blocked shots. Bird scored 12 points, hauled in 10 boards, and dished out 5 assists. Li had 12 points, 5 rebounds, and a steal.

Page co-players of the game were Hires and Davies. Hires scored 13 points and added 3 steals, 2 rebounds, and 1 blocked shot. Davies had 12 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals. Underhill helped Page with 8 points, 7 boards, and 3 steals.

After the alumni game, past and current players enjoyed a wonderful meal at the Alumni House prior to the varsity game. During halftime of the varsity game, Paxon Frady hit a half court shot that won him the Nobel Ball (a basketball signed by the five Nobel Laureates on campus).


Alumni Game Stats

Page Boys

Scott Davies: 12 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals
Paxon Frady: 7 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal
Travis Haussler: 4 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assists, 1 block
Bryan Hires: 13 points, 2 rebounds, 3 steals, 1 block
Don Keenan: 1 rebound, 1 steal
Jeremy Leibowitz: 3 points, 3 rebounds, 1 steal
Dennis McCreary: 2 assists
Dean Reich: 4 points, 1 rebound
Eric Stout: 4 points
Steve Tsai: 2 points, 1 steal
Mike Underhill: 8 points, 7 rebounds, 3 steals
Paul Updike: 6 rebounds

Black Team

Jon Bird: 12 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists
Dan Kollmorgen: 3 rebounds
Jeff Lamb: 2 points, 2 rebounds
Wei Li: 12 points, 5 rebounds, 1 steal
Matt Mayernik: 7 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 blocks
Peter Plavchan: 6 points, 2 rebounds
Ben Turk: 13 points, 15 rebounds, 4 blocks
Jay Turner: 4 points, 1 rebound
Yang Yang: 7 points, 4 rebounds, 3 steals

Stay connected and see more pictures on Facebook at www.facebook.com/caltechbasketball

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!