Dear Monkey on Back...exit stage right.

I hope his feelings aren't hurt but the proverbial monkey on the back or albatross around the neck has just been shown the door. For the first time in the Division One era and for the first time in nearly three years the CSUB Men's Basketball team has won a game outside the state of California beating Utah Valley 63-58 in Orem UT.
For CSUB it was especially gratifying because it is just their second win this season on the road, the previous coming at Pepperdine back in November. Tonight it was all about defense and rebounding. The Runners didn't shoot well, just 28 percent from the floor but a commanding rebounding advantage helped CSUB control the ball and jump out to a 16 point lead in the second half.
To Utah Valley's credit they clawed back into it, pulling within three in the final minute thanks to timely shooting and officials who gave them every chance to win that game (and before you give me the 'don't blame the officials line' I will inform you Utah Valley hand selects it's officiating crews for home games). Even with that against them CSUB played defense, pulled down rebounds and hit free throws down the stretch to improve to 7-20 on the year and sweep the season series with the fellow NCAA Division I Independent.
It's back home Saturday for the guys, home for a few days before taking off for San Luis Obispo and their final road game of the season Wednesday at Cal Poly. Hopefully CSUB can sweep that season series as well.
What a trip, it feels nice to fly home with a win under your belt. The guys definitely deserve it.

Gameday Again...

It's game day again. We only have a few of these left as the schedule is winding down. Today we're at Utah Valley University, a team the Runners beat at home 69-60 a few weeks back, matter of fact it was the last Roadrunners win.
UVU is very talented, the Runners hold a post advantage but the Timberwolves have one of the best shooters in College Hoops Ryan Toolson on the team. He scored 22 vs CSUB last time but I think the defense still did a great job on them, he could have had more for sure.
Utah Valley is an Independent as well, for now at least. They're joining the Great West Conference next season. That used to be a football only conference with teams like UC Davis and Cal Poly, but they've decided to expand to all sports. New members next year include other transitional and Independent schools Texas Pan-Am, North Dakota, South Dakota, New Jersey Tech and Chicago State.
CSUB was offered membership as well but turned it down. First of all that's a grueling travel schedule, second of all the teams are all unproven and unknown and third they don't have any automatic bids for postseason tournaments. So what good is a conference title if it doesn't guarantee you a shot at the big dance?
We'll hold out for awhile, hopefully the Big West rewards our patience. In the meantime there's another game to play. CSUB is trying to win out of state for the first time since the 2006 NCAA Div II West Regionals in Seattle. Hopefully we get that monkey off our backs today.
Gametime, 6pm on KERN 1180.

Couldn't be Prouder...

So it goes in the books as a 21 point loss to No. 23 Utah State. If you would have been there, it would have felt different.
CSUB, overmatched, outgunned and undersized struck a little fear into the Aggies last night in Logan UT. Leading on several occasions in the first half the Runners forced the Aggies into playing a near perfect game to win...and unfortunately when the bell rung, the Aggies did just that.
Keith Brown put it best in the post game interview "Utah State had to hit every big shot to beat us tonight and they did."
CSUB struggled at the end of the first half giving up 16 unanswered points to the Aggies for a 15-pt halftime deficit. The Aggies trailing by one with 6:30 to go went on a three-point terror to jump ahead of CSUB at the break, hitting one big three after another. The Runners were set on shutting down big man and leading scorer Gary Wilkinson, which they did (9 pts for a guy who averages 17), but it was the outside shooting they eventually hurt CSUB.
But it was what happened in the second half that should make Bakersfield proud of their boys. Down 24 with 10 minutes to go, the Runners could have packed it in. Instead CSUB went on a 12-0 run out of a timeout thanks to big shots from Alex Johnson, Trent Blakely and Donovan Bragg to cut the lead to 12 with 8 mins to go. That forced Utah State into a timeout and the crowd into silence.
The Aggies would eventually hit more big three pointers to extend the lead to the game ending 21, but it wasn't without a lot of effort.
It was another showing that simply wasn't enough, but the best effort out of CSUB in a couple weeks. If they give that sort of effort against Utah Valley on Friday they should be poised to sweep the season series with them.
I hope Bakersfield understands that we're making progress. Rome wasn't built in a day and neither were an Division I contenders. It's a process that takes time and this team has proven time and time again they can play with the best, last night was a perfect example. We're on our way folks. I hope you'll jump on the bandwagon now, so when things get better, you can appreciate the sacrifices and efforts of these first few Division I squads that are paying the price for success down the road.
Heading out from Logan today to Provo, UT where CSUB will face Utah Valley on Friday. More updates to come.

Gameday with a little National attention

It's gameday, the reality has set in, CSUB is facing a ESPN/USA Today Top 25 team. They've never beat a Top 25 team, in their short Division I history, CSUB has never played a Top 25 team. Sure a few opponents have ended up in that poll after playing CSUB, but Utah State is already there. Having being ranked as high as #20, they enter tonight at #23 after a loss to Boise State last weekend. That loss snapped the nation's longest winning streak, but Utah State still has one streak in tact, their 31-game home winning streak at the Spectrum.
It's not an easy place to play, Logan isn't an easy place to find, or get to for that matter. No doubt a huge home court advantage. Hopefully the Runners make some history, if they don't, hopefully they represent themselves, their university and their town well.
Below is a screen shot from ESPN this morning. Playing nationally ranked teams gets you into the spotlight as well. I don't remember seeing this when we faced Chico State back in the day.

Arrived and Ready for a Big Showdown.

It was almost a flawless trip. Snow in Utah almost derailed our arrival in Logan Utah this afternoon but after the main pass between Salt Lake City and Logan was closed because of blowing snow, our resourceful bus driver took a back way (he's orginally from Bakersfield, you know how we do 'backways') and we arrived in Logan safely this afternoon.
A quick practice for the team tonight at Utah State went well, the team is fed and heading to the racks before one of their biggest games of the season. We had a chance to watch a few game films on the bus this afternoon and what an atmosphere we will be welcomed with tomorrow night.
When the team was here two years ago the students were on break, granted 5,000 still showed but that was 5,000 less-rowdy non students in the crowd. Utah State's faithful do a fine job of securing home court advantage for their guys. Loud, rowdy and totally into the game can best describe the large student section at Utah State. It should be quite an experience. There's a reason why Utah State's home winning streak is somewhere in the 30 in a row mark right now. It's as big a college basketball environment that there is.
It will be a challenge to not only beat this team, but to take their crowd out of it as well. If CSUB hits their shots, we'll be very competitive. Shoot like they did Monday night against Seattle and it will be a long night.
Videos and photos on the way tomorrow.

Bad Start to a Long Week

Departing at 6:25 tomorrow morning with the CSUB men's basketball team for Wednesday's game at Utah State. Not a good start to a busy week for CSUB as the Runners dropped a 24 point home loss to Seattle University on Monday night. With plenty of time to prepare, having not played since last week, I expected more out of the guys. But Seattle came out firing early and built a huge first half lead, shot over 50 percent all game and dominated on the glass to lead from start to finish.
It was definitely an off night for CSUB, not sure why but they looked out of it a little. Offense struggled with perimeter pressure applied by Seattle and they never got into an offensive flow.
It's going to be a long trip to Logan UT. Despite their loss over the weekend to Boise State, Utah State is still in first place in the WAC and 24-2 on the year with a dominating home win streak. The place in Logan in nuts, it was two years ago when we were there and the students were on break. I'm expecting near 10 thousand for Weds night, should be crazy. Hopefully the Runners bring their best or it could be another disappointing night.
Check back for updates, photos and videos from the road. Talk to you from Logan on 'Home Turf.'

'Nitro' not leaving anything on the table...

I hope by now you've had a chance to hear my interview with Dan Clark, AKA 'Nitro' from the original American Gladiators. He's the author of the book "Gladiator: A Tale of Roids, Rage and Redemption, released Wednesday to the public. If you haven't heard it yet, click HERE for the audio.
Clark was honest in his memoir and he was honest with me on the program Wednesday, not holding anything back in recalling his tales of steroid side effects such as lack of sexual performance and male breast growth. He also admitted making mistakes in his life, with steroids being the glaring regret.
Clark also criticized the lack of honesty out of Alex Rodriguez and his "confession" of steroid use earlier this week. While Major League Baseball dominates the steroid discussions, Clark is a reminder that there is a problem with steroids all across the board and it's not just limited to the diamond. Clark recalled the story when he first started taking roids back in the 80s, he even named the substance, and the drugs he also took to counteract the side effects. So how does A-Rod "not remember" the drugs he pumped into his body a mere 5 years ago? Dan didn't buy it and neither do I.
I will say this, while I respect Dan Clark's honesty and candor regarding his steroid use, I would be naive if I were to expect the same brutal honesty out of A-Rod, or any other Major Leaguer for that matter. The reason? Legacy.
While Clark has turned activist in hopes of keeping kids off the damaging steroids that ruined his life, nobody is calling for his records in American Gladiators to be wiped off the books, nobody is asking for his 'powerball' and 'joust' wins to be thrown away because he cheated...it was a TV show, not the National Pasttime.
Alex Rodriguez is trying to protect a legacy, his records, his stats, his possible election into the baseball Hall of Fame, all things Clark doesn't have to worry about. While I would love Clark's honesty to rub off on A-Rod, it just won't happen.
I also ask myself, that in some parallel universe, if the roles were reversed and it were 'Nitro' worried about "The American Gladiators Hall of Fame," would he be so inclined to pen a tell-all memoir? Rediculous as it sounds, it's a valid question to think about. And while I know there is no "Hall of Fame" for Dan Clark or other Gladiators, I will say his new quest, his new efforts to prevent other athletes from getting hooked on the juice are Hall of Fame in my book.

Big D...

Now this feels like a Division I basketball game. CSUB and Southern Methodist out of Conference USA lock it up this afternoon here in Dallas. This is the second game in the last three to be played in the afternoon. While most of the Runners games have been played in the evenings, there's something to be said about Saturday afternoon games having them being played at the same time as a lot of other big time college games throughout the country.
CSUB had a crowd of 2300 show up last Saturday at Rabobank Arena with Utah Valley in town and I think the experience was favorable for fans, putting the Runners on at the same time as games in the Big East, ACC and PAC 10. Gives it more of a 'real' college basketball feel.
Today's game in Dallas will be another test for CSUB, not only is the time a factor, but CSUB had just a one day turnaround from Thursday's loss at Northridge. So far the Runners have faired well in the afternoon, but not well on the road. They look to improve on their 1-11 road record this season and a nearly three-year out-of-state drought. They last won out of California in March of 2006 when the then Division II Runners won their first round game in the West Regional in Seattle.
Here's to hoping Texas-hospitality rubs off on CSUB and the team gets a couple ominous streaks snapped this afternoon.

Another road trip, so far another loss for CSUB

Back on the road with some of the same results. A 79-62 loss at Cal State Northridge for the CSUB Roadrunners to fall to 1-11 on the road this season. Coming off one of their best performances of the season with a school record-low four turnovers, the Runners let the road get to them again turning the ball over a season-high 26 times which turned into 35 points for Northridge, tough to win with those numbers.
CSUB struggled against a tenacious defense brought by the Matadors, despite getting out to a 14-4 lead, CSUB was outscored 28-3 over the next ten minutes and were never able to recover tonight. Donovan Bragg looked uncomfortable all night as did Alex Johnson, both guards had 6 turnovers apiece. The Runners were out of synch offensively as well, unable to get the ball in the post, settling for outside shots early in the shot clock, with only 35 percent of them falling in the net.
Not a good game by any means, not many positives for CSUB. Fortunately they only have a day to wait before they get back in action, Saturday at Southern Methodist in Dallas. Usually a bad performance for CSUB is followed by a very good one, let's hope that's the case as the Runners look to stop this skid on the road.
More to come from Dallas.