The Litter Box

It felt good to be back in the gym Friday night. Live pep bands, the smell of nachos, a couple CCAA teams getting inside from the cold ... all good things. It’s basketball season, and I like it.
What I don’t like is that I can’t be there again tonight, but hey, E-R sports editor Dave Davies deserves a vacation, especially since he’s working all seven days next week. I don’t mind working when I get to cover basketball, but not all my shifts can be winners.

Speaking of winners, Chico State coach Greg Clink had at least 24 hours to call himself that following Friday night’s win over UC Colorado Springs. I’m not quite sure what to make of this game. You never got the feel that Chico State had developed an identity yet, which admittedly is a tall order facing such a new group.

But I liked how they tried to be defensively tough, and the stats reflected a toughening-up from the first half to the second. These guys just have to get used to each other. Onto the grading...

UPS
Whoa, a Wildcat center. Andy Bocian looked good in his ability to give Chico State a presence in the paint. He’s been the leading scorer for this team before, so his 19 points and nine rebounds weren’t necessarily surprising, but it’s nice to see him getting used. I thought he got absolutely assaulted on several non-calls, and still hung tough in the post. And, despair not, Mike Martin fans, you’ve still got a big man who can shoot the 3. Pretty well, too.

I’d like to see what an offense with Bocian and Chris Sharp looks like; nobody could on Friday because Sharp sat out with an ankle injury sustained in Wednesday’s practice. The Wildcats aren’t commenting on it other than to say it’s probably not too serious; Sharp said it’s “not that big a deal.” He knows his ankle a lot better than I do, but in my defense, I haven’t spent much time with it.

Roderick Hawkins hates you if you have the ball. At least that’s how Hawkins looked on Friday. Defensively and on the boards, he stood out more than any other player on the floor. He grabbed nine rebounds and two steals, was stepping in front of people to take charges, diving for loose balls, and then when I went to get a soda, he stepped in front of the cashier and grabbed it. I went to throw my gum wrapper away, and he swatted it from the trash can. Then he taunted Mountain Lions ballhandlers, shouting “Come on!” at them (That part actually is true). Awesome.

A new York. Well, new to Chico State anyway. We’re talking, of course, about York Sims, who returned from knee surgery to change the tide of the whole game. Look, I like half-court offense just as much as the next guy, but sometimes it needs a shake-up. It’s like pudding. It’s fine by itself, but every once in a while, if you don’t stir it up, it will get that skin on top and all you’ll want to do is poke it and leave your fingerprints on it. Wait.

My point is that every team needs its slasher, a guy who can get to the cup, and Sims looked like that guy. He’ll get defended a tad better just because he’s left-handed and will be going to most defenders’ strong sides, but 17 points is no joke.

DOWNS
Stupid, stupid free throws. Yep, believe it or not the NCAA still has this rule that puts you 15 feet from the basket to shoot if you take a shot but get fouled. The trade-off is that nobody can bother your shot. Sounds easy, right? You see where I’m going with this.

The Wildcats went 20-of-32 (62.5 percent), which might not look so bad when compared to the free-throw dump the Mountain Lions took (10-of-17), but it’s still pretty terrible. Hawkins (2-of-6) and Junior Russell (6-of-10) were the worst offenders, not a good sign when you consider that Russell’s style of play lends itself to getting to the line.

Mama said there’d be days like this, Zach Graves. The sophomore went 0-for-7 from the field, including a few that hit nothing, in 16 minutes. I’m sure he couldn’t have been thrilled when A Guy I Don’t Know Personally Named Dave hit the half-court halftime shot.

Graves had a bunch of decent looks and was getting to the basket, but he looked like he was pressing, which is understandable if not forgivable for a young kid in his home opener. My money would be on this being the aberration. I like his enthusiasm and energy; let’s see if he rebounds.

Rebounding. This one might be a little unfair on those who are supposed to rebound, because a lot of it had to do with shot selection. There were a few times where the Wildcats would let ‘er rip with nobody in rebounding position, which itself isn’t particularly encouraging. But Bocian and Hawkins aside, there wasn’t strong evidence of much boxing out; it was more of a “go-get-the-ball” kind of rebounding. That might explain the 43-34 differential, although the Mountain Lions were surprisingly big. Still, they weren’t that big.

Posted by Travis Souders at 06:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Butte College football team is 11-0 now. The Tennessee Titans haven’t lost yet, either. The New England Patriots got through a regular season unblemished last year; the Miami Dolphins were never bested in ‘72.

In one blogger’s opinion, none of ‘em have anything on Scott Bauhs’ 2008.

It’s one thing to have a season with no losses in sports, especially ones with crowded fields (races, golf, etc). It’s quite another entirely to have nothing but wins; in cross country, it’s just ridiculous.

But that’s just what Bauhs has done after blowing away everybody and their mothers at the NCAA Division II Championship to cap off a first-place-themed 2008. Every time he’s been a part of a race, he’s crossed the finish line first. Results-wise, the kid is living perfection.

There are rules they teach in journalism classes that say “nothing is ‘perfect,’” but Bauhs apparently lives outside those rules. I can only think of one other thing that’s even close to perfect:

And I bet Kate Beckinsale probably has morning breath sometimes.

A hell of a way to wrap up a hell of a year and career, and it will be somewhat sad to see what is probably Chico State’s best athlete ever move on. Looks like we’ll actually have to think about the Chico Sportsperson of the Year awards again.

Posted by Travis Souders at 08:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Thursday night’s season opener for the Chico State women’s basketball team, a too-close-for-comfort victory over Alaska-Fairbanks, was a spur-of-the-moment assignment, and therefore I have no photos for you. But hey, supposedly I can paint you a picture with words, being a writer and all. Here goes in my own opener of the season for Wildcat Report Cards:

UPS
Felt good to type that again, even if you thought you were going to read about a delivery service. It means “positives,” you scumbags. I’m not changing it, I’ve decided. Just now. But let’s get to ‘em.

Center of attention.
Oh, Renee Goldoff, how you can inspire. If you’re looking at just numbers alone (18 points, 12 rebounds, 8-of-10 FTs), it’s impressive enough, but there are two that you might not know the story behind. One steal, one block. That steal, essentially a strong safety ball-hawk in the final minutes — while the Wildcats were still trailing — sparked the comeback, and the block all but sealed it.

Yes, she has the “look-at-my-palms, they’re up here by my shoulders” style of running down the floor, but even against a Nanooks (awesome) team that bumped her constantly in the post, she was grittier than a Frank Miller movie. Somewhere around the 14-minute mark in the second half, she just decided she was going to the basket. More important than the points were her attitude: We’re going to do the things to win now. NOW. It rubbed off.

Agent Smith.
Natasha Smith wasn’t in the starting lineup, proving my silly assumptions wrong, and all she did was lead everybody in scoring with 22 points. As usual, her biggest contribution was her hustle, and quite a few of her points came from it. She just goes to the basket, gets the ball and does something with it. She’s still a little raw, and I thought she pressed a little bit defensively (no steals and three fouls is shocking for her), but her energy and ability to fill it up helped keep Chico State in the game.

1-0.
It looks a lot better than 0-1, doesn’t it? By most accounts, that’s probably what the Wildcats’ record should be. If not for the late surge and some sudden aneurisms by Alaska-Fairbanks (a charge, the ill-advised pass attempt through Goldoff, a travel on its last possession), we could very well be talking about what a disappointment the opener was. To get a win when a team is far from its best is always nice.

DOWNS
That thing they call "flow."
The Wildcats rarely had it. Thirteen turnovers isn’t as unsightly as 20, which is what the Nanooks had, but it’s still not the way to win a basketball game. They didn’t come off screens sharply or even make sharp cuts, and I think that is part of getting used to where they should be on the floor. For awhile, they were playing tentatively, and that should change. For now, though, it’s an early-season worry that will likely be addressed.

Not quite in the zone.
It was pretty clear on several effective swing passes by Alaska-Fairbanks that there is some work to be done defensively as far as post rotation in the zone defense goes. I’d say the hedging was probably too conservative — more of that tentativeness — and the rotation down low was about two steps slow. Anticipation is another thing that you hope improves with more time; keep in mind there’s a bunch of new personnel in new roles on this club. Which leads us to...

Identity crisis.
Well, crisis is a bit strong. But there were specifically some places I would have liked to see some more “Look at me and what I’m doing!”-type stuff. The first thing that come to mind is Synchro Bull, who wasn’t bad in her first game, but also looked determined not to shoot the ball unless she absolutely had to. Once that moment came — an expiring shot-clock heave that earned the Wildcats another possession — she let it fly a couple times.
Play at the wing was somewhat nondescript; the combination of Molly Collins, Taylor Lydon and Annelise Miller combined for four points on 2-of-8 shooting. How the 3 (or whatever Brian Fogel is calling it these days in his system) is integrated into the offense wasn’t apparent after one game.

That just about puts a lid on it. I tried to charm my way out of the Park Ave. Palace again to get to Acker on Saturday, but the forecast isn’t good.

Posted by Travis Souders at 05:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A small portion of my job is data entry, namely updating the E-R’s local calendar with Chico State events. It sounds tedious, but that’s only because it is. However, the silver lining is that seeing those dates sort of drives home just how close basketball season is to Acker Gym.

Like, for instance, Thursday.

The Wildcat women host Alaska Fairbanks to open up their season, and I’m trying everything in my power to cover it. I’m scheduled to be anchored to my desk tomorrow, but I think I can finagle a way out of here. It involves bribery and probably some yelling, but if you’re not doing those things in your daily life anyway, you’re just not trying hard enough.

Even if I can’t make it, I think you should. Come on, it’s Thursday. It’s not like you’re going to be playing disc golf at Bidwell anyway...

Keep an eye on these things in the first of Chico State’s dress rehearsals for the CCAA season; I know I will:

The hosts’ posts.
At some point, something is going to stop rhyming, and then I’ll probably be done blogging forever. Until then, Renee Goldoff and Christine Vest should be getting most of your attention as the Wildcats try to make the transition to a big, bad post team. Coach Brian Fogel has repeated that the blocks is where his team has the chance to shine, and if Goldoff can get off to the same start she did last year — and if Vest can carry over her strong finish — I think you’ll see Fogel proven right.

Natasha Smith.
Yep, I still think she has to be Jade Smith-Williams of a year ago. Or somebody does. If a player of that quality and leadership level doesn’t step forward early in the season, even the strongest of defenses will struggle to win games without a leader on offense. The good news is that Smith’s shown she has the tenacity to do it before. Defensively, I think the backcourt could be very strong with her as its focus.

Whoever’s singing the national anthem.
In my personal opinion, it should always be Vest, who did it last year beautifully. It would make her look that much more impressive before she went out and elbowed someone in the teeth.
Yes, Chico State does get some good anthems from time to time, and yes, I know how hard of a song it is. And I don’t particularly like laughing during it, but there was one that was so overly ridiculous last year that I couldn’t help it.

Just got penciled in to cover this game. It was about as painful as I thought it would be.

Posted by Travis Souders at 06:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The Chico State campus was a ghost town on Tuesday thanks to the holiday, but I managed to find myself there anyway. I had to stalk behind someone with a set of keys to get into Acker, capitalize on her leaving the door wide open and scampering in after, but I got in.

I immediately ran into ESPN Radio's Mike Baca, who himself had been stopping in to see the Wildcat men after a close six-point loss to Division I Pacific. It would take me an hour's worth of watching, but it's easy to confirm what Baca saw:

"I can't believe how good they are on defense."

"Defense" and "Chico State" don't usually go in the same sentence, at least not in the men's arena. But I can vouch for it, based on what I've seen. Junior Russell is stupid-quick, and the quick recognition and weakside help on post entry is better than I remember it being all of last year. Roderick Hawkins might be an undersized 4 offensively, but he's looking like a good on-the-ball defender for either forwards or 3s. I can see him grabbing somewhere around six or so rebounds nightly.

Coach Greg Clink couldn't understate the importance of Chico State's ability to defend in the half-court.

"It's huge. It's probably the most important thing for us," Clink said. "That's how we want to be identified in the CCAA — as the toughest defense to play against, every night."

Also impressed was newcomer Zach Graves, who put up 13 points against UoP.

"We look like we could be a real defensive force. We just have so much athleticism and quickness," Graves said. "That's what we want. We're not going to have too much trouble scoring points, but we want to be the team that holds you down."

He rolled an ankle early in practice after coming down on a foot in traffic, and was watching the rest of it on crutches and a boot, but he said it was just precautionary. He's broken three ankles before (well, he's broken one once and the other twice), so he seems like a reasonable expert, and he said it just needed a night of sleep and a day off it.

"I don't really care if it's broke, I'll play," Graves said. "But it's nothing. Nothing that will keep me out."

Here's a bold prediction:

Chris Sharp will lead the Wildcats in rebounding this year.

Or, at the very least, he'll be close to Andy Bocian. I just think Sharp has a really strong sense of where the ball is going, and he's an intelligent rebounder in a big body. A handful of times, if he couldn't get both hands on the ball, he had the court awareness to knock it to a teammate who could. Those extra two possessions a game so often prove to be critical.

One other thing about Sharp: The dude can hit 3s. I saw him go 3-for-3 from the corner. He'll be a force, methinks.

So, there's some changes to this club, and now the exhibition season is over. Chico State gets going against Seattle on Saturday, and it should be interesting to see how this team handles its new rotation. The starting lineup against UoP was Bocian, Sharp, Graves, Russell and Justin Argenal, and if Graves' ankle is fine, I'd bet that's what it will be most the year. Argenal appears to be in position to shoot more, which is nice, because the last three years he's been almost forced to pass just because he was one of the few Wildcats who could do it effectively.

His role probably won't change too radically, he said; he still wants to distribute. But with Russell providing a solid passing option as well, Argenal won't be depended upon as exclusively to handle the ball. But that 1-2 (or is it 1-1 ... ha ha, back-court joke!) punch should be tough defensively and potent offensively.

"Really, it's not that different. It's still about making good decisions and finding a way to help the offense," Argenal said. "But Greg (Russell) is such a good defender that I think we'll get a lot of points off our defense."

That part had Argenal particularly excited. Defense in theory is always nice, but to see it executed is a thing of beauty. He thinks the Wildcats can be stoppers.

"It's a great thing to see, just guys flying everywhere and denying," Argenal said. "I really love our defense."

Posted by Travis Souders at 11:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A turnaround season can do a lot for a guy’s rep.

Granted, after seven straight wins to open up the season, there were probably not too many doubters of Felipe Restrepo and what he could provide for the Chico State men’s soccer team. But 9-5 in the CCAA and a conference championship tournament berth have helped him earn the CCAA’s Coach of the Year award.

I was interested when the Wildcats hired Restrepo to see what he’d do with a young, talented team (Zac Crim and Kyle Crain, both midfielders, also earned All-First Team honors, by the way). I’m not so sure it was a soccer knowledge kind of thing; Mike O’Malley had the experience, so that wasn’t the issue. I think Restrepo’s biggest asset is his youth, and the ability to connect with younger players. The dude gets out and practices with them, from what I hear.

Speaking of getting out, I dragged myself over to Bidwell Park on Sunday to cover the Almond Bowl run, and it was pretty sweet. E-R photographer Ty Barbour got a few shots showing just how many people were there (participation was estimated at about 1,000); unfortunately I just can’t be bothered to upload them right now. Take my word for it, though, they’re cool.

Among those participants was a host of Chico State distance runners, and that’s precisely who won the top male and female spots in both the 5k and the 10k. If you ever want to feel really lazy, stand around at a distance race with no intention of joining it.

Joey Kochlacs, a redshirt freshman, won the men’s 10k, while Anthony Solis took the 5k. I walked up the the 5k finish line right as Kayla Silva was the first woman to cross, and it was kind of neat because the Wildcats were starting their chanting ruckus on the other side of the park to start the 10k. Or, maybe they have really good vision. And poor Julie Shaw, the winner of the 10k for the women, looked like she’d accidentally stepped feet-first into a chipper shredder. She’d put on booty socks, then subsequently saw her shoes rub the skin off her Achillies’.

Quick sidenote to this whole blog: One of the cooler places to be during an election is a newspaper office, if only because of the constant pressure to inform, inform, inform in the room. We sports writing folks don’t have to really deal with it, but it’s one of the rare times the TV in the office is actually turned up.

I, unfortunately, was stuck in class for most of the exciting stuff and actually had the day off (so I missed out on election night pizza, too). Right now there’s a bunch of fallout TV and I think everyone’s emotions are still pretty raw from last night. I had predicted that it would essentially be over before I was scheduled to get out of class at 9 (Obama passed 270 at 8:05, but won Ohio well before that, so my 7 p.m. victory prediction didn’t look so silly to pundit-friends of mine).

I did get out of class early enough to see Obama’s speech, and it rocked my world. If you’re looking for a Wildcat tie-in somewhere, there really isn’t one. Unless you count me running into Dave Taylor on my walk home. He’s a nice guy.

Posted by Travis Souders at 05:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you want to see a team look confused, catch it adjusting to playing a new defensive scheme for the first time.

Clearly, I walked into the Wildcat women’s practice at precisely that time as they were going through possession scrimmages.
I think it’s safe to say right now that once they get the basics down — spacing, positioning, etc. — they’ll be much better off. Right now, it’s still a very new group to each other, and coach Brian Fogel said that’s what the holdup is.

“What you saw was just the introduction, just trying to get everybody on the same page,” Fogel said. “Defensively, we really want to tune it up.”

If there’s one thing I’ve caught Fogel raving about, it’s last year’s defense. The Wildcats allowed the fewest points per game of any team in the CCAA, which was admittedly a nice crutch for an undersized team that also was last in rebounding. It will be interesting to see if that defensive mentality and performance come back.

“We got to a point last year that we knew when we got to 50, it was a win,” Fogel said. “If we got to 60, it was just cushion.”

Here’s what I saw from Thursday’s practice:

Christine Vest looks like a new player. She has developed some very nice low-post skills and will serve as a nice complement to Renee Goldoff, who looked like she can be dominant. Both have come in in good shape. I really like how all of the Wildcat bigs can pass in the post, too. Cory Edwards proclaimed to be healthy and looked like it. I like her more as a tall body and good passer in the key than any kind of mid-range shooter, but she can get some tough looks down low and be effective that way too. Ashley Washington, a freshman last year who really didn’t play much, made two particularly pretty high-to-low passes to set up easy buckets.

I knew it wouldn’t take long for me to do this...but Synchro Bull is still getting in synch.

OK, no more of those for awhile.

But she did look a little lost at times in the offense and defense; it sounds like Fogel will want the most out of her when the Wildcats don’t have the ball. Remember that Natasha Smith was exactly that kind of player last year, who always seemed to end up with four steals. I think Bull might be that player, but I didn’t get too much of a chance to see her athleticism.

One player that for some reason consistently goes underappreciated and undernoticed is Melissa Richardson, who I really like as a sharp-shooting wing. I know, she had a couple stretches last season where her shot was absent, but she’s a good fit in this system, and without a certain No. 24 in there, 3s are going to have to come from somewhere.

Fogel had some general thoughts. I’ll share ‘em:

“I wish we didn’t turn the ball over so much in the halfcourt work that we’ve done, but that’s part of us getting to feel each other out. Defensively, we need to do a better job of guarding the ball. We’re still learning a little bit.”

On the potential starters situation, which I can, in my own assuming and not-as-educated-as-Fogel’s brain, figure to include Smith, Goldoff, Vest, Richardson and Bull. He didn’t say it’s set, but it sounds close:

“It’s still a little murky, but I think Renee obviously will be in there. She and Christine in the post will kind of be our bread and butter and where we can probably exploit somebody. System-wise, not a lot will change. Natasha will be in there, and so will Mel (Richardson) probably. We’re getting to a point where we’ll try to see what works, but it’s not all decided yet.”

Posted by Travis Souders at 11:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

With about two weeks of practice in the books, the Wildcat men look to be settling into their roles on a new-look squad.

From what I’ve seen, there is a bunch of athleticism on this team and some very good post possibilities. Yes, it’s just scrimmage so far, but Chris Sharp looks promising as a guy who will be the most physically impressive for the Wildcats on the floor. He appears to have great post moves, a good understanding of how to move the ball from anywhere on the blocks and has great hands. I like ‘im.

What will be fun to watch is if he and Andy Bocian can be the solid 4-and-5 combo Wildcat basketball has been so desperate for the past few years. At first glance, he’s a good passer with good floor vision, something that is easy to overlook when gauging post players. He’s also a guy that has shown the ability fill it up, though it remains to be seen if he’ll be that same player after a one-year hiatus. Head coach Greg Clink said the Wildcats will be well-served to get Bocian as many touches as they can, and I tend to agree with him.

“We’ve got to get the right guys the ball in the right spots, and it will come soon,” Clink said after Wednesday’s practice. “Those guys, Bocian and Sharp, need to be the emphasis in our half-court game.”

No kidding. Last year, with tall-but-skinny-and-raw post players, Chico State was usually overplayed in the paint by a more savvy CCAA. I’m not so sure that will be the case now. Bocian and Sharp aren’t 7-footers, but they look to be strong, skilled and intelligent; Sharp impressed me from slight range with a couple short floaters.

The best part about it is the Wildcats look like they’ll have the guards to complement the post. Junior Russell, a transfer from Cal State Fullerton, appears to be an explosive second point guard to incumbent Justin Argenal, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be on the floor most the time.

“I’ve got to think that we’re set up better at the point than a lot of teams,” Clink said.

I can easily see Clink running a two-point system with those guys, just because they take care of the ball so well and create opportunities. Russell sounds like he is ready to pursue a prominent role in the Wildcats’ plans with aggression. Argenal has been the cream of the CCAA point guard crop, but Russell said he thinks there’s room for his play as well.

“Coming from D-I (at Fullerton), I think I’ll be able to blend in well. I have a chance to show what I learned on that level,” Russell said. “It will be about taking care of the ball, taking the steps to win. Justin is a type that likes to slow it down and play really effective in the half-court. I like to push and be aggressive, take shots. It’s going to be us on the floor a lot together, and I think it can be really good.”

Speaking of good, there was a moment during Wednesday’s scrimmage where one of the many new faces I didn’t recognize made me regret not having brought a roster. No. 22 jumped out from hedgeing his man on the wing to deflect a post-entry pass, knocking it the other way, streaking down the floor and throwing it down. I would soon find out that it was Zach Graves, the transfer from University of Montana, and that kid is impressive. What’s funny about it is Clink’s introductory statement about Graves when the Wildcats picked him up: He is an aggressive defender and loves to attack the rim offensively.” Huh. See, oh, about two sentences ago.

Clink hasn’t officially set a starting five yet, but if I were to make an assumption right now, I think you’ve just read about all of them. I can see Argenal, Russell, Graves, Sharp and Bocian being a formidable starting lineup in the CCAA as they start to gel some. We’ll see whether or not I can give you an account on how my foot tastes in a few weeks, but I’m sticking with that guess for now. Graves stands out as a player with a ton of upside, and a lot of it has to do with the attitude he presents. He makes it pretty clear he’s willing to work for wins.

“The best thing I can bring here is toughness and just playing hard,” Graves said. “Going as hard as I can is how I can get the most out of my ability.”

I also liked his unabashed desire to get the Wildcats to run on offense, an area that’s suffered for the program lately. I’m sure he didn’t know that Chico State shot the lowest percentage of any CCAA team last year, or that the Wildcats had the greatest margin of defeat (on average, they lost by 10), but he surely knows that the close, wide-open shots fall a lot more than the long ones with dudes in your face do. He also recognizes that Clink’s brought in the athletes from some high-pedigree pipelines in order to make it all work.

“Half-court offense is big, but we want to push it. We want to get teams on their heels and get out and run,” Graves said. “We’re real athletic, real quick, and that’s a place we can be solid. With the athletes on this team, there’s no reason not to run.”

Of course, that’s exactly what Clink wants to defend against, and half-court defense is the top area of concern for him right now. I can frankly only use last year as a reference point of what not to do anymore, especially since most of that team is gone, but there were times in the 2007-08 season that the Wildcats just refused to stop anybody in the half court, particularly against big, strong guards.

Another point that I really liked with Clink was a very positive attitude. I’m not necessarily a rah-rah kind of guy, but there was a lot to appreciate about how he and assistant coach Gus Argenal approached the practices. What stood out to me was a full team huddle in the middle of a scrimmage in which Clink explained the importance of a short memory. From hurriedly scribbled notes:

“What we can’t do is make a mistake and then react to it. We’re going to make mistakes, I promise you, and it’s OK to make them — but don’t dwell. If you turn the ball over, we can’t afford to roll our eyes about it. Get back down the floor and defend. Don’t think about a mistake and forget about playing the game. If you do that, one mistake turns into two mistakes.
You guys don’t do it when you make defensive mistakes, and I’ve seen a lot of those. So don’t do it when you make mistakes on offense. Just turn around and play. Stay in the moment, stay on your man.”

Posted by Travis Souders at 09:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

You may recall earlier this season in The Litter Box how I was interested to see what Felipe Restrepo and the Wildcats men’s soccer team would do. I all but guaranteed they’d be better, but I also kind of pumped my brakes a bit. This is from Aug. 15:

My initial feeling tells me that by the time the men get down to Rohnert Park for preseason-ranked No. 6 Sonoma State — Nov. 2, to be exact — Chico State will be on the fringe of competition and needing to win that game. I don’t see the Wildcats, at first glance, mowing through the CCAA, not with the Seawolves in the North Division and No. 11 Cal State Dominguez Hills also in the mix.

I was right, but not in the way I thought. The Wildcats are on the fringe, all right, but could conceivably win the North Division if Sonoma State chokes itself out the next two games. I was wrong in asserting that Chico State wouldn’t cut through the CCAA, though; they’re already locked into the CCAA championship tournament at 8-4 and five points behind the Seawolves.

Where a lot of people (including most coaches in the CCAA) surely were wrong was in picking the women to win the conference. I want to say that I don’t really know what happened to this team, but I feel like I probably do. The Wildcats lost a lot of impact seniors, including Katherine Bagwell, Ashley Gunther and Whitney MacDonald, and maybe some of the team’s offensive struggles have been due to a lack of that quality senior leadership. I honestly don’t know.

Keep your eyes open before Thursday; The Litter Box will have links to some regular-season reviews coming up (theoretically) and, for the men, a postseason preview. Hopefully Kim Sutton can offer some insight on a disappointing year from a wins-losses standpoint, and Restrepo can let us in on the experiences behind this impressive first season.

Posted by Travis Souders at 10:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

At first glance, the Chico State women’s basketball team is young. Even as you stare at the roster, though, it doesn’t seem to change.
The coaches of the CCAA have still picked the Wildcats to win the conference, despite a “new” coach (head man Brian Fogel was top assistant under departed Molly Goodenbour) and the absence of three of last year’s biggest starting contributors in Jade Smith-Williams (transferred to UC Irvine), Amanda Monteith (graduated) and Audi Spencer (transformed into the Force — I mean, graduated).

After seven practices, it’s not quite a case of identity crisis; it’s just that tryouts now are auditions for three parts that had been secured for the past two years.

“The roles will get defined as we get closer to games, but the experience is really hard to replace,” Fogel said. “There are things about all of them that just go overlooked. With Audi, I can’t tell you how many shots she made when there were 10 seconds or less on the shot clock, or she’d make a 3 in a five-point game to stretch it to eight, that kind of thing. Just really good with those clutch baskets. With time, something will have to happen and someone will step up.”

Fogel concedes that the toughest tangible for the Wildcats to replace that those three took with them will be defense. Monteith probably was the CCAA’s most underrated defender and the only true post in Chico State’s regular starting lineup (remember that Goodenbour went with a four-wing, one-center rotation).
Are the Wildcats hurting for defense?
“We are, right now, we really are,” Fogel said Thursday. “I think what people kind of underestimate was just how good a defender Amanda was last year. She could guard just about anybody, from the 2 through the 5, and Audi was pretty good at it as well. I don’t know if we’ll get back to that level, but obviously that’s the goal, and we’re a ways away from that right now. Last year we basically hung our hat on our defense; that was our identity. We have to get it back.”

The good news is that it’s just one week in.
“That’s the thing from a coach’s standpoint you have to remember: We didn’t start at the same level we finished at last year, either,” Fogel said. “We just have to get everybody on the same page. Right now, we’re doing a lot of teaching.”

That’s more in reference to getting the standbys and newcomers to mesh, which will be quite a task in all likelihood. Because Fogel played a large part in scheming as an assistant, don’t expect too much to change in terms of offensive or defensive planning this year, with the possible exception of a more traditional two-post setup. But getting everybody to synch up will be the challenge.

“On one hand, if you took all the returners and said, ‘Pick a lineup,’ we’re OK. When it gets funny is when you mix in the new people,” Fogel said. “We’re trying to balance that out right now. As we get closer to playing, the separation between everybody will come.”

There will likely be one big difference in gameplay this season, though, and that’s the involvement of center Renee Goldoff.

POSTS WITH THE MOST
Goldoff was envisioned last year as being a dominant CCAA center, and she had her moments, but injuries, a wealth of guards and a sometimes-apparent mini-clash with Goodenbour cut into her minutes and severed her starts. In her senior year, she has as big of an opportunity as anybody on this team to be the new leader, and she’s reportedly showed up to camp in that mindset.
“I’ve been really pleased with her efforts. She’s been more than solid,” Fogel said. “We’d ideally like to be a half-court team and pound the ball into Renee. I just think she has to get touches down low. If the ball can go through her, good things will happen. If teams decide not to double her, she’s confident and skilled enough to attack the basket.”

She’s probably one of two guaranteed starters (I’m going out on a limb and putting Natasha Smith at the point; she started at the 2 last year and spelled Smith-Williams occasionally), and I would also bet that Christine Vest will get some quality minutes on the block as well. Fogel was quick to name her as one of the biggest surprises of the early practice season, and Vest really came on late in the year in 2007-08.

“She really worked hard in the offseason and came in in really good shape. I’m really impressed with her,” Fogel said. “Ultimately, with her and Renee, I think the post is where we have the chance to be very good.”
Cory Edwards, who played a key sixth-or-seventh player role last year before hurting her back, is still apparently banged up a little but has made progress. If she’s healthy, she can be very valuable as a defender and passer from the post. Ashley Washington had a nice freshman showing last year in limited minutes and has made improvements.

SPREADING THEIR WINGS
E-R sports editor Dave Davies hates this phrase, but the way Chico State’s run its offense the past few years, there’s nothing else to call it. They’re not quite guards; they’re not quite forwards. The Wildcats seemingly have a legion of midsized shooters who can occasionally run into a rebound and won’t slow down the fast break. Melissa Richardson is the prime example of this; her shooting ability alone makes her a good player to have on the floor. She logged a ton of minutes, sometimes even at the 2 — whatever that means in Chico State’s offense anymore — and started most of the Wildcats’ games. I’m not sure if she will still, but I can’t imagine she won’t be in the competition for it.

Molly Collins blew up an ACL in last year’s nonconference schedule and obviously missed the rest of the season; she’s back and is said to be impressive. Taylor Lydon, another quintessential 3-type, has good shooting range to go with size. Annelise Miller (who, it’s interesting to note, is wearing No. 24 ... if you have to question that number’s significance, you’ll never know) is a junior transfer from Sierra College, and Fogel said she will tussle with Collins and Lydon for playing time.
“They are all versatile players that can be both on the wings and the post,” Fogel said. “How they help us will probably show up by the time we get to playing some games.”

EN GUARD
Aside from Goldoff, this might be the most set aspect of the team. Smith is lightning quick, an extremely pesky defender and can shoot the 3. She’s basically going to be expected to be what Smith-Williams was last year. So who’s going to be this year’s version of Smith?
Fogel says it’s Synchro Bull, who brings not only the new coolest name in the CCAA but a similar skill set as a freshman out of Emeryville High.
“She’s in that same mold as Jade and Natasha, that’s fair to say,” Fogel said. “What made it nice for Natasha was that Jade had a year to pick it up and was there last year. What makes it nice for Synchro is that Natasha’s there now. Having those two out on the perimeter ... they can really bother the basketball and create pressure.”
Brandi Foster has been putting in a solid body of work so far, as well, and the sophomore could see more playing time after being limited behind a stacked lineup in 2007-08.

Just as anybody could have expected, not too much is for sure at this point in the season. But Fogel likes the competition and the attitude so far.
“I couldn’t pick five to start right now,” he said. “Everybody’s doing a pretty good job. For now it’s going to be getting everyone into the system and familiar, and we’ll go from there as we see more things.”

Posted by Travis Souders at 06:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)