SoCalHoops College News
SoCalHoops College News
D-III National Tournament Time:
SoCal Comes
Up Big With Oxy--(Mar. 2, 2003)
All season we've been getting weekly e-mails from Occidental College head
coach Brian Newhall telling us about the progress of the Oxy Tigers in the SCIAC
Conference, and we have to admit, we've entirely neglected writing anything about the
SCIAC in general, and Oxy in particular. But we can no longer ignore them, and what
with UCLA and USC both going into the tank and both being on the verge of possibly missing
the Pac-10 Conference tournament, it's nice to read about at least one SoCal team that's
not in the WCC or Big West that is doing well. And Occidental is one program
that is tearing it up this year. How good have they been? The Tigers are now
23-2 overall and 14-0 in the SCIAC. Those 23 wins represent the highest win total in
the school's history, and the 14-0 SCIAC season represents the only
undefeated team ever in conference history since the league became an 8-team
conference 14 years ago.
Occidental is currently ranked No. 1 in the Western Region and No. 11 in the Nation in the NCAA Division III poll. The team this year consisted of the following players (links are to the official Oxy website with player profiles where available):
No. |
Name |
Year |
Position |
Ht. |
Wt. |
Hometown |
2 |
Dan Murphy |
jr |
G |
6'1" |
195 |
Alamo, CA |
5 |
Finn Rebassoo |
sr |
F |
6'4" |
215 |
Seattle, WA |
11 |
Song Cun |
sr |
G |
5'7" |
155 |
Los Angeles, CA |
20 |
Derek Renee |
jr |
G |
6'0" |
185 |
Billings, MT |
21 |
Dallin Wilson |
so |
F |
6'7" |
215 |
Phoenix, AZ |
22 |
Chase Young |
sr |
G |
6'0" |
185 |
Seattle, WA |
24 |
Joey Cabarrus |
sr |
G |
6'0" |
180 |
Albuquerque, NM |
30 |
Gavin Keohane |
sr |
F |
6'4" |
190 |
Coupeville, WA |
33 |
Jelani Kelly |
jr |
F |
6'1" |
190 |
Oklahoma City, OK |
40 |
Tyler Rogers |
sr |
F |
6'4" |
200 |
Portland, OR |
42 |
Zach Phillips |
fr |
F |
6'5" |
200 |
Upland, CA |
| Jamal Thornes | Oakland, CA | |||||
| Dan Morris | Seattle, WA | |||||
| Chris Wilson | Washington, DC |
Head Coach: Brian Newhall
Assistant Coaches: Brad Hall, Jim Hennacy
So what's next for the Occidental Tigers after winning the SCIAC? The D-III NCAA Tournament, of course. Today, at 6:00 p.m. PST, the NCAA Seeding Committee will select the top 48 teams for the National D-III Men's Tournament, which will begin this week. Where are the games going to be played? The first and second-round games are held at the higher seed, on March 6 and 8. Obviously, those game will be played this coming week. There will be 16 first round games played (featuring 32 teams), and 16 second round games as well featuring another 16 teams that received byes in the first round, for a total of 48 teams in all. The first and second round games are held as "sectionals" and this year, four teams will play in each "Sectional" finals to be held at four different campus sites.
The Final Four will be held at the Salem Civic Center at Salem, Va., on March 21 and 22. The bracket has not yet been compiled, but it will be released later tonight at which point we'll have the matchups for the first and second rounds. Stay tuned.
