CCAA Bigger, Tougher but Postseason Bids Don’t Reflect It

The Division II men’s basketball selection committee apparently wasn’t impressed by the California Collegiate Athletic Assn’s. five-team expansion.

The Division II tournament pairings were announced Sunday and, with expansion having brought the defending national champion to the CCAA and made it the best conference in the country, the CCAA has three teams in the tournament--the same number it had last year.

And considering that UC Davis, which won the CCAA title and has a first-round bye, won the national championship last year as a member of the Northern California Athletic Conference, there were four current CCAA teams in the tournament a year ago.

Davis, which finished 22-5 overall and 16-4 in the conference, was followed by Sonoma State (20-6, 16-6), which was also in the NCAC a year ago. Cal State San Bernardino (20-7, 16-6), the only CCAA team from a year ago to make it, plays Sonoma in the first round Thursday at 7:30 at Ellensburg, Wash.

“It’s going to be tough because we’ve played each other twice and we know each other pretty well,” said San Bernardino Coach Larry Reynolds, whose team got back from Sacramento early Sunday and has to fly to Washington this morning. “It’s a rushed experience, but it’s a nice rush. I’d rather be rushed than not going.”

For Cal State Los Angeles and Cal State Bakersfield, the fourth- and fifth-place teams, which didn’t get bids, the size of the conference might have hurt. The conference is so big now, most teams had only four or five nonconference games to get ready. Cal State L.A., although it won at Davis in conference play, was only 1-4 in nonconference games.

“If you take six [conference] games away and let us play other people, instead of 16-11, I could be 22-5,” said Cal State Bakersfield Coach Henry Clark, whose team won five in a row to get back into contention for a bid before losing to Grand Canyon last weekend. “We’ve always said this is the toughest conference in the nation and it is.”

And, the conference has become so competitive, CCAA teams spent the season defeating one another. Only Davis finished with more than 20 victories.

The Pacific West, the other conference in the Western Region, has two divisions, and all the teams don’t play each other. There was less parity than in the CCAA and only five of 16 teams had at least 10 conference victories. But three PWC teams had at least 21 victories, and all three are tournament bound.

“The overall records are deceiving,” Clark said. “But when you lay it out on paper, you have to look at those records.”

On the women’s side, the CCAA also has three teams going to the tournament. Again, Davis (24-3, 18-2) and Sonoma (23-4, 17-3) finished one-two. Sonoma will play Cal Poly Pomona (22-5, 16-4) on Thursday at 8 p.m. at UC Davis.

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In the Division III Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, Cal Lutheran’s women’s basketball team got 12 points from Nicole Sanchez and beat Pomona-Pitzer last Saturday, 44-42, in a playoff for the conference’s berth in the NCAA tournament. The teams tied for first at 10-2. Cal Lutheran, 22-4 overall, will play at Pacific Lutheran (19-5) on Wednesday in the first round. Pomona-Pitzer did not make the tournament.

But the Pomona-Pitzer men, led by SCIAC player of the year Ray Portela, who was 25th in scoring, eighth in rebounding, 12th in assists and steals, and seventh in blocks in the SCIAC, did make the NCAA tournament after winning the conference title with a 12-2 record, 17-8 overall. Pomona will play at Gustavus Adolphus (21-5) in St. Peter, Minn., on Thursday.

Brian Smith of Claremont-Mudd-Scripps won the conference’s Ted Ducey Award, given to the player who best displays leadership, sportsmanship and academic excellence.

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For the first time in the history of the Golden State Athletic Conference, one school won both the men’s and women’s regular-season basketball championships.

The sixth-ranked Azusa Pacific men, led by GSAC player of the year T.J. Walker, finished 26-4 overall and 12-2 in the conference for their seventh consecutive conference crown. Twelfth-ranked Westmont, led by GSAC rebounding leader Brian Gomes (10.79 a game) and GSAC coach of the year John Moore, finished a game behind the Cougars and No. 13 Biola was two behind.

The women, whose coach, Danielle Jorgenson, was named GSAC coach of the year, tied with Southern California College at 11-3 in the conference and earned the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament. The women’s tournament begins today and the men’s Wednesday.

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Feb. 20 was a big day for two local baseball players. Cal Poly Pomona’s John Heaton, making only his third start since taking two years off from baseball to go on a Mormon mission, pitched a no-hitter against 12th-ranked Chico State. It was the first for Cal Poly Pomona since Randy Shauer threw one in 1980. And Cal Lutheran first baseman Brad Smith tied a school record with three home runs in a 9-3 victory over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.

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Claremont-Mudd-Scripps’ Jason Reed set SCIAC meet records in the 100- and 200-meter butterfly and also won the 200 backstroke at the SCIAC swimming and diving championships, earning SCIAC swimmer-of-the-year honors and leading his team to the conference title.

The CMS women also won the conference championship, and Gretchen Ballard of Redlands was named swimmer of the year. Ballard set conference records in the 100 and 200 freestyle and also won the 200 individual medley. Both Reed and Ballard won in relay events, as well.