Another championship run...
If there is any question in your mind about where Maricopa junior college sports stands in the public eye, look no farther than today. Scottsdale Community College women's volleyball team is playing for the national championship tonight in NJCAA Division 2. Now, I realize it is Division 2, and that's a whole another story, but there is absolute no media coverage or mention of this event today. If they win, they might get a few lines in the Republic. If they lose- crickets. Anyway...
The next year in this epic was 2013-14, and was one of the most fun seasons I ever had in coaching. We had a huge loss right up front, though, as Mike Grothaus took off to be the head coach at Basha High School. We had five great years together, and that is the longest tenure of any assistant coach I had at MCC. We tried every which way to get him a full time job on campus, but, just like the high schools, assistant coaches are not valued in the local junior colleges. Mesa Community College lost someone who should have stepped right in to the head position when I was ready to go, which, as it turned out, was not too far down the road. It was definitely a win for Basha High School, however, and within four years of his arrival there, they had their first state championship.
Getting back to the season, the team had a fabulous chemistry, but going into the summer, not nearly as much size as would be necessary to contend nationally. That problem was soon fixed by the arrival of Cam Boone, who transferred to us from Grand Canyon University. Besides being a wonderful human being, he was everything you would ever want as a player- skilled, dedicated, and a fabulous teammate. Although not particularly tall at about 6’6”, he was enormously strong and could rebound and finish in a crowd. He complimented the players we had perfectly and we were off to a 26-5 season, 20-2 and conference champions in the ACCAC, and Fiesta Bowl champions. Of the five losses, all were to Division 1 programs and three of them were by five points or less. We travelled to Iowa right off the bat to play in a tournament at perennial powerhouse Indian Hills CC. Although we lost to Indian Hills the last night, anyone can tell you what a ferociously tough place that is to play. We led at the half 51-49, but Cam was in foul trouble the whole night. Indian Hills had watched him get 35 points and 20 rebounds the night before, so I’ll let you use your imagination on how the refs were the next night. Yes, that sort of thing still goes on in the juco world.
A couple of other interesting tid-bits from Indian Hills- it is way out there in Iowa. They view visiting teams more as unwelcome strangers. Since the media pretty much ignores the juco world, we watched the night before as the Indian Hills team ran onto the floor right through the other team’s warmup routine. Normally, if you do that, you are trying to intimidate your opponent and that will bring trouble- as it did that night. Both teams squared off and had to be separated before the game even started. I had to call the Indian Hills coach after the game and ask him to not do that before our game, because I knew our guys would not take it well. He feigned ignorance that his guys did what we saw with our eyes, but promised not to do it. When they ran out on the floor before our game, it was obvious that they had been talked to, so they ran around us. A few of them were laughing and faked like they were going to run through our warmup, but didn’t. The other thing that I found interesting, if not amusing, was that the section of fans right behind our bench was largely comprised of elderly people. I don’t know about you, but I expected them to be supportive of the home team, but be rather genial. All during the game, however, they were some of the most foul-mouthed people I have ever encountered. I was incredulous at what I was hearing and one time turned around to see a woman, clearly in her 70’s or 80’s, flipping me off and dropping f-bombs. Life must really be tough on the farm. It felt like a scene from the movie Hoosiers. This is the twenty first century, right?
We got out to a quick lead in the conference and would go wire-to-wire in first place. Our only two losses in the league were to Arizona Western. In both games, we led in the second half, and at Yuma, we were up 14 midway through the final period. Those really didn’t sit well with our guys, and when we met Western in the conference finals, we won 108-63, leaving no doubt with that one. The 45 point margin of victory still stands as the most one-sided region championship game victory in ACCAC history. We also won the Fiesta Bowl tournament title, beating Monroe, New York, who was ranked number 1 in the nation in the finals. Monroe had come to the Fiesta Bowl a few years earlier, also ranked number 1 at 13-0. They lost all three games in the tournament, and the coach swore he would never return. But, it ate away at him and they came back in 2013 to try and get justice. This time they were 14-1. The final score was 78-64, and the game was never really in doubt. Monroe opened the game in a 1-3-1 zone, but I guess they were unaware of our two great shooters, Sami Bzai and Tre Ogles, and with them in the corners knocking down 3’s and Cam Boone in the paint, we neutralized their size advantage. Sami and Tre made thirteen three’s. There was a pretty good crowd in attendance- not great considering this was the championship game of the best junior college holiday tournament in the nation and had a local team, which had cracked the top 25 in national rankings, playing against the number 1 team in the nation. If this had been ASU in the top 25 playing, let’s say Gonzaga, the Desert Financial Center would have been packed, and the national and local media would have been all over the upset. But that’s the scene in the Maricopa jucos.
After winning the region title, we once again had to fly up to Salt Lake to play the Region 18 winner. This time, their champion was Salt Lake City CC and we had to play them in their gym. It is one of the nicest junior college facilities in the country, and it is really tough to play them there. They were a top five team nationally and had Gary Payton II as one of the star players. We knew this would be a tough task. It became even tougher, if not impossible, when our big guy, Cam Boone, severely sprained his ankle in a shooting drill two days before the game. It was a classic case of a ball from another player rolling under Cam’s feet right when he was in the act of shooting. He came down on it, and went down as did our chances of upsetting the Bruins. He tried to play on it, but could barely move. Somehow he scored nine points, which tells you a lot about Cam. We ended up losing by nine points.
This was the first year that the NJCAA would have at-large teams in the national tournament, so we had some glimmer of hope that we would get an invitation, given the kind of season we had. But the NJCAA, which is really kind of a mom and pop outfit, kept it really simple. They went to the top 25 list and started at number one, giving invitations to any team, in order of ranking, that had been knocked out in regional play. Remember- we had won our region by 45 points and had lost in a super regional. That made no difference to them and our 15th rank was too far down the list to get a bid. It was crushing, because this was really a great basketball team. You wouldn’t know it, though, unless you were there, because there was zero media coverage.
Next time: the beginning of the end...
If there is any question in your mind about where Maricopa junior college sports stands in the public eye, look no farther than today. Scottsdale Community College women's volleyball team is playing for the national championship tonight in NJCAA Division 2. Now, I realize it is Division 2, and that's a whole another story, but there is absolute no media coverage or mention of this event today. If they win, they might get a few lines in the Republic. If they lose- crickets. Anyway...
The next year in this epic was 2013-14, and was one of the most fun seasons I ever had in coaching. We had a huge loss right up front, though, as Mike Grothaus took off to be the head coach at Basha High School. We had five great years together, and that is the longest tenure of any assistant coach I had at MCC. We tried every which way to get him a full time job on campus, but, just like the high schools, assistant coaches are not valued in the local junior colleges. Mesa Community College lost someone who should have stepped right in to the head position when I was ready to go, which, as it turned out, was not too far down the road. It was definitely a win for Basha High School, however, and within four years of his arrival there, they had their first state championship.
Getting back to the season, the team had a fabulous chemistry, but going into the summer, not nearly as much size as would be necessary to contend nationally. That problem was soon fixed by the arrival of Cam Boone, who transferred to us from Grand Canyon University. Besides being a wonderful human being, he was everything you would ever want as a player- skilled, dedicated, and a fabulous teammate. Although not particularly tall at about 6’6”, he was enormously strong and could rebound and finish in a crowd. He complimented the players we had perfectly and we were off to a 26-5 season, 20-2 and conference champions in the ACCAC, and Fiesta Bowl champions. Of the five losses, all were to Division 1 programs and three of them were by five points or less. We travelled to Iowa right off the bat to play in a tournament at perennial powerhouse Indian Hills CC. Although we lost to Indian Hills the last night, anyone can tell you what a ferociously tough place that is to play. We led at the half 51-49, but Cam was in foul trouble the whole night. Indian Hills had watched him get 35 points and 20 rebounds the night before, so I’ll let you use your imagination on how the refs were the next night. Yes, that sort of thing still goes on in the juco world.
A couple of other interesting tid-bits from Indian Hills- it is way out there in Iowa. They view visiting teams more as unwelcome strangers. Since the media pretty much ignores the juco world, we watched the night before as the Indian Hills team ran onto the floor right through the other team’s warmup routine. Normally, if you do that, you are trying to intimidate your opponent and that will bring trouble- as it did that night. Both teams squared off and had to be separated before the game even started. I had to call the Indian Hills coach after the game and ask him to not do that before our game, because I knew our guys would not take it well. He feigned ignorance that his guys did what we saw with our eyes, but promised not to do it. When they ran out on the floor before our game, it was obvious that they had been talked to, so they ran around us. A few of them were laughing and faked like they were going to run through our warmup, but didn’t. The other thing that I found interesting, if not amusing, was that the section of fans right behind our bench was largely comprised of elderly people. I don’t know about you, but I expected them to be supportive of the home team, but be rather genial. All during the game, however, they were some of the most foul-mouthed people I have ever encountered. I was incredulous at what I was hearing and one time turned around to see a woman, clearly in her 70’s or 80’s, flipping me off and dropping f-bombs. Life must really be tough on the farm. It felt like a scene from the movie Hoosiers. This is the twenty first century, right?
We got out to a quick lead in the conference and would go wire-to-wire in first place. Our only two losses in the league were to Arizona Western. In both games, we led in the second half, and at Yuma, we were up 14 midway through the final period. Those really didn’t sit well with our guys, and when we met Western in the conference finals, we won 108-63, leaving no doubt with that one. The 45 point margin of victory still stands as the most one-sided region championship game victory in ACCAC history. We also won the Fiesta Bowl tournament title, beating Monroe, New York, who was ranked number 1 in the nation in the finals. Monroe had come to the Fiesta Bowl a few years earlier, also ranked number 1 at 13-0. They lost all three games in the tournament, and the coach swore he would never return. But, it ate away at him and they came back in 2013 to try and get justice. This time they were 14-1. The final score was 78-64, and the game was never really in doubt. Monroe opened the game in a 1-3-1 zone, but I guess they were unaware of our two great shooters, Sami Bzai and Tre Ogles, and with them in the corners knocking down 3’s and Cam Boone in the paint, we neutralized their size advantage. Sami and Tre made thirteen three’s. There was a pretty good crowd in attendance- not great considering this was the championship game of the best junior college holiday tournament in the nation and had a local team, which had cracked the top 25 in national rankings, playing against the number 1 team in the nation. If this had been ASU in the top 25 playing, let’s say Gonzaga, the Desert Financial Center would have been packed, and the national and local media would have been all over the upset. But that’s the scene in the Maricopa jucos.
After winning the region title, we once again had to fly up to Salt Lake to play the Region 18 winner. This time, their champion was Salt Lake City CC and we had to play them in their gym. It is one of the nicest junior college facilities in the country, and it is really tough to play them there. They were a top five team nationally and had Gary Payton II as one of the star players. We knew this would be a tough task. It became even tougher, if not impossible, when our big guy, Cam Boone, severely sprained his ankle in a shooting drill two days before the game. It was a classic case of a ball from another player rolling under Cam’s feet right when he was in the act of shooting. He came down on it, and went down as did our chances of upsetting the Bruins. He tried to play on it, but could barely move. Somehow he scored nine points, which tells you a lot about Cam. We ended up losing by nine points.
This was the first year that the NJCAA would have at-large teams in the national tournament, so we had some glimmer of hope that we would get an invitation, given the kind of season we had. But the NJCAA, which is really kind of a mom and pop outfit, kept it really simple. They went to the top 25 list and started at number one, giving invitations to any team, in order of ranking, that had been knocked out in regional play. Remember- we had won our region by 45 points and had lost in a super regional. That made no difference to them and our 15th rank was too far down the list to get a bid. It was crushing, because this was really a great basketball team. You wouldn’t know it, though, unless you were there, because there was zero media coverage.
Next time: the beginning of the end...
