The Nation’s Only Perfect Team

There are three divisions in NCAA men’s basketball, but only one undefeated team: Cal State Bakersfield.

Bakersfield tore through the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. season and the NCAA Division II West Regional en route to a 30-0 record.

Next week, the Roadrunners will head to Springfield, Mass., to play North Carolina Central in the Elite Eight tournament to determine the Division II national champion.

Although Bakersfield is undefeated, Coach Pat Douglass said he thinks of his team as an underdog.

“No team has won from California, so we’re kind of an underdog in that respect,” Douglass said. “We’ve not thought about being undefeated. The pressure is to get out of the regionals and get to Springfield. There’s no pressure now.”

Much of the load offensively has been carried by ballhandler Tyrone Davis and post man Raheen Oats. Both arrived at Bakersfield from New York by way of Columbia Junior College in Sonora, Calif. Davis averages 14 points and was MVP of both the CCAA regular season and CCAA tournament. Oats was named to both All-CCAA teams.

But what might make the difference is the ability of others to step up and make big plays. Kenny Warren typified that last weekend.

Warren, a spectacular leaper with a great outside shot, scored 40 points in Bakersfield’s 98-68 victory over Grand Canyon in the NCAA West Regional. He made 11 of 15 three-point shots, a Division II tournament record.

Warren, who averaged 13 points during the season, set school single-game records for points, three-point shots, three-point shots made and percentage of three-point shots made.

“It’s been a trademark of this team that if one player gets hot, the team will get him the ball,” Douglass said.

Last season, Bakersfield was eliminated in the semifinals by Virginia Union, 69-66.

Is there a difference between this season’s team and last season’s that might take Bakersfield to the national championship?

“Well, this year I think that we have more offensive weapons,” Douglass said. “But we just focus on trying to get better each week. This group has fun.”

Cal Poly Pomona’s women’s basketball team is in the Division II Elite Eight after breezing through its West Regional games last weekend.

The Broncos will play North Dakota State on Friday at Fargo, N.D. In the West Regional, the Broncos beat UC Riverside, 62-49, and Portland State, 59-51.

If the regionals were a breeze, though, the CCAA tournament was a tempest.

In an ugly and violent game, Pomona beat Cal State San Bernardino for the CCAA championship at Bakersfield, 80-72.

Some of the muck:

--San Bernardino’s Chery’ll Few made a vulgar gesture and remark to Pomona Coach Darlene May in the first half, according to three people on the sideline, including May.

--The taunting between the teams and physical fouls escalated to the point where three times opposing players squared off before being separated.

--Pomona’s Tyeast Brown asked to be removed from the game because she did not want to retaliate for on-court threats.

--When Pomona had a 70-60 lead with 2 minutes 48 seconds remaining, San Bernardino had to foul to have any chance of pulling the game out. Frustrated by the inability to get a hand-checking, reaching-in or a bumping foul, San Bernardino point guard Lynn Sherman made a sweeping swipe at the ball, but hit Pomona’s Rose Jong in the eye instead.

She was called for a flagrant foul and did not apologize.

--After the game Pomona’s players refused to shake hands with San Bernardino’s. Pomona assistant Paul Thomas physically stopped San Bernardino players from talking to Pomona players by taking them by arm and pulling them back.

“I will take complete responsibility for not going over to shake their hands,” May said after the game. “I felt it was in our best interests. I was willing to shake hands with their coach (Luvina Beckley).”

Tournament MVP Mildred Conston, who scored 26 points and had 12 rebounds in the championship, said that the rough play reduced the pleasure of winning.

“It doesn’t feel good at all,” she said. “They didn’t have to foul that hard. Some of them came over after the game and were apologetic, but others didn’t. Sherman came over and started with the same trash.”

It was an unfortunate ending to a good season for San Bernardino. Beckley finished her first season 18-10 with eight new players. Last season San Bernardino was 8-18 and last in the CCAA.

“I’m proud of them to be able to come in and do something good,” Beckley said. “It’s hard to see things clearly after a game like that. It could have and should have ended better.

“You know I’m not going to take the blame--nor am I going to blame anyone--about what happened. It’s unfortunate. We tried to foul three times and (the officials) wouldn’t call it. We could talk about their grabbing my players and saying, ‘Get out of here.’ Both teams needed to settle down a bit.”

College Division Notes

Asuza Pacific is in Kansas City, Mo., for the the National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics men’s basketball tournament. The Tigers, 30-3, are second seeded and play Minnesota Morris (20-9) in the first round today. In the District 3 championship, Ronnie Winbush scored 25 of his game-high 30 points in the second half of the Tigers’ 79-58 victory over Westmont. It is the first District 3 title for Azusa Pacific since 1974.

Dave Jacobs, Whittier athletic director and basketball coach, is taking a leave of absence this spring to travel around the United States and observe other programs, then will direct Whittier’s semester-in-Copenhagen program from August to December, thus missing next year’s basketball season. Jacobs, who has coached the team for 22 years, will return for the 1994-95 season. He has a 308-273 record, including 6-18 this season. Assistant Rock Carter will coach the team next season. . . . Augustana of Rock Island, Ill., beat La Verne in an NCAA Division III third-round men’s basketball game last Friday, 87-84.