Long Beach State: 2023-24 Big West Men's Basketball Champions

Long Beach State entered the 2024 Big West men’s tournament a bit adrift. The once-proud Beach finished the regular season 17-14; they’d lost their last five games and an early victory over Michigan had proven misleading.

They responded by parting ways with coach Dan Monson—a veteran of the coaching ranks who helped mold Gonzaga into a proto-national power in the late 1990s. He would be allowed to coach his team in the conference tournament but would not return in 2025.

How did he respond? By leading Long Beach State to the NCAA tournament.

On Saturday, the Beach edged UC Davis 74-70 in the Big West tournament title game to complete an improbable conference tournament run in a year chock-full of them.

To make the moment even more special, Monson’s 90-year-old father Don—a decorated former coach of Idaho and Oregon—was in attendance.

The younger Monson discussed what the moment meant to him after the game.

On Sunday, Monson and Long Beach State will hear their names called for the Big Dance for the first time since 2012.

What a week.

How Long Beach State prepared for Bronny James' debut and won

ByMyron Medcalf 

Sunday, December 10, 2023 8:14PM

Long Beach State tried to stay cool.

The Beach were about to play the biggest college basketball game of the weekend, thanks to Bronny James, who was set to make his Division I debut for USC five months after suffering cardiac arrest during a workout in July.

The lines outside Galen Center -- where the school announced a sellout on Friday once the freshman star's debut was announced -- snaked down the street. Tickets on the secondary market had sold for hundreds -- and in some cases, thousands -- of dollars. LeBron James, Bronny's dad, was rumored to be attending. Still, the Beach believed they had settled down by the time tipoff approached.

As the national anthem echoed through the speakers in the arena, however, the Los Angeles Lakers superstar entered the building, and the entire roster turned their heads.

"LeBron is about 6-foot-9, 240 pounds. ... Of course we all noticed him," LBSU junior Jadon Jones, who finished with 18 points and eight rebounds after LBSU upset USC 84-79, told ESPN. "The crowd erupted as soon as his face was on the jumbotron. We saw Rich Paul there."

When Bronny entered Sunday's game early in the first half, the crowd cheered. The USC fans rose to their feet whenever he touched the ball. And they roared after his chase-down block on Jones. He followed the play with an assist to Vincent Iwuchukwu, his USC teammate who had also suffered cardiac arrest in 2022 during a team workout.

And just like that, the Trojans fed off the energy and entered halftime with a double-digit lead.

Facing Bronny & Co. in that building was going to be more difficult than Long Beach State had imagined.

"We just didn't fight early in the game," said longtime LBSU head coach Dan Monson.

Nearly 72 hours earlier, Monson forgot he was in a room full of Gen Z kids. He told his players that they weren't "the Washington Generals."

He was, of course, referring to the old nemesis of the Harlem Globetrotters, the flashy assembly known for its trick shots and dribbling maneuvers in the 1960s and 1970s. The Generals rarely won when the two teams played. Monson's point was that Long Beach State had a chance against the Trojans.

There was just one problem.

"None of them knew what I was talking about," Monson said.

But he also reminded them that Sunday's game could be memorable.

"There are a lot of games that come and go and you're not going to remember them," he said he told his team. "This is one of those games, for good or bad, you're going to remember the rest of your life because of the circumstances. You have to play with emotion, but you can't be emotional."

When he tried to revive the Washington Generals metaphor again at halftime, his team finally seemed to get it, and returned for the second half with renewed energy. Then Bronny made his first shot: a 3-pointer from the wing with 13:10 to go in the game.

All the talk about staying focused and poised seemed to disappear with the crowd on fire.

As the Beach looked around the arena and heard the noise, they realized they had entered an environment unlike anything they had seen in the past.

"I had to call a timeout," Monson said. "I had to settle that down a little bit. When he hit that 3-pointer, the crowd was at a decibel level few arenas will get to this year."

As play continued, though, he also noticed a strange change come over his team's opponent.

In the first half, the Bronny hype had driven the Trojans and fueled an emotional charge. In the second half, however, they began to show signs of fatigue. Maybe the pregame pageantry had been a lot for USC, too, he wondered.

Just like that, the game started swinging in LBSU's favor, and regulation ended with USC -- a 13.5-point favorite entering the game -- heading to overtime with the Beach, a stunning reversal.

"Our first thing was just to stay calm," Jones said about his team's comeback.

The Beach understood the crowd would be large and the atmosphere would reflect the moment. At the same time, they weren't really worried about Bronny, who finished the game with 4 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 assists and 1 block in 17 minutes off the bench. The Beach figured it would take time for him to adjust in his first college game. Veteran Boogie Ellis and freshman Isaiah Collier, the projected No. 1 pick in ESPN's latest NBA mock draft, were the bigger threats.

"To be honest, Bronny wasn't our biggest priority in the scout," Jones said. "He's a good young player. But he's still a freshman in his first game."

Ellis and Collier tried to carry their team through overtime, but the game ended with Long Beach State pulling off the upset and winning its first game at USC since 1987.

Monson didn't focus on the result as he went through the handshake line. The game, he said, was a celebration of Bronny's recovery more than anything else.

"I told Bronny after the game, 'Congratulations,'" he said. "What he's been through is way bigger than this game. To see him back out there and his proud dad there and his mom, that's way more important than anything else."

Once they finished celebrating the victory, the Beach showered, got dressed and hopped onto their team bus for the 40-minute ride back to campus, thinking about the way they had played spoiler on Bronny's big night, and how they could use the win to fuel success the rest of the season.

"They got ahead of us quickly," Jones said. "But we were able to calm the storm."

New Year's Day 2010 Quick hits

Kobe Bryant knows how to open a new year in dramatic fashion. A buzzer-beater against the Sacramento Kings lifted the Los Angeles Lakers to a 109-108 win. Heh. Old hat for the Black Mamba come playoff time?

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People on deviantART can't tell me that my gallery is just desktop screenshots now. I took plenty of photos of the Rose Parade for your enjoyment/web design use because those folks special (aside from those ungrateful art-thief-hunting bastards who I choose not to tolerate), nuff said.

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AFC Wimbledon and Melbourne Victory wasted their games to open the new year with defeats, but Long Beach State's men's basketball team took the cake in terms of futility. This team is on a dangerous path, losing in overtime to UC Riverside 68-66.

Dan Monson, how dare you waste the nonconference gauntlet tonight. Epic fail. Again, I say, EPIC FAIL! When you cannot beat the Sisters of Mercy with your team's shooting (and on top of that, not learning your lesson from the LMU disasterfest), the Changi Prison guards need to give your players a caning or two.

One last time: E.P.I.C. F.A.I.L. Make 'em run suicides for the plan backfiring on you.

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Ohio State was going to win the Rose Bowl. Oregon fell victim to the SI jinx, 26-17.

From Andy Katz...

Monday, October 26, 2009
Once-fired Monson: 'I enjoy life again'

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There is a chance, albeit a small one, that Long Beach State could meet Minnesota in next month's 76 Classic in Anaheim, Calif.
If it occurs -- likely in a consolation game, since the schools are on opposite sides of the bracket -- then there should be an acknowledgment of how much Dan Monson helped put Minnesota in the position it is today. Tubby Smith, one of the best hires an athletic director has pulled off in the last decade, has put the Golden Gophers in the mix as a regular NCAA tournament team for years to come. But Monson shouldn't be forgotten.
The Gophers needed cleansing after the Clem Haskins academic scandal vacated the 1997 Final Four. After leading Gonzaga to the 1999 Elite Eight, the fresh-faced Monson was hired to bring some sort of normalcy back to Minneapolis. He did that.
He lasted seven-plus seasons with the Gophers, but only one NCAA tournament appearance ultimately led to his dismissal in November 2006.
Early-season firings aren't and shouldn't be the norm in college basketball, as they are in the NBA. But the four-month break was actually just enough time for Monson to decompress before the Long Beach State job opened.
Initially, his wife, Darci, cried when Long Beach called. A Northwest native, she wasn't enamored with moving to Southern California and the possible headaches of raising four children in the area. But that has quickly subsided. The family couldn't be in a better place or space.

	Dan Monson has quickly turned it around at Long Beach State.

"I enjoy going to work every day; that's the main thing that's different now," Monson said. "I don't care about the money or the league. I enjoy life again."
Two seasons after the firing, Monson is enjoying a renaissance at Long Beach State. He has pulled off a turnaround of this once-proud program, one that can claim success stories on the court under Jerry Tarkanian, Lute Olson and Seth Greenberg.
The 49ers were coming off NCAA probation that vacated the 2005-06 season, and one year later, Larry Reynolds led the program to the NCAA tournament out of the Big West. Monson went 6-25 in the first year with a depleted roster, but then last season went 15-15 and improved the conference record from 3-13 to 10-6, just one game behind first-place Cal State Northridge. LBSU lost a share of the title on a buzzer-beater by UC Santa Barbara in the regular-season finale.
This season, the 49ers should be right in the mix for the Big West title with Northridge, UCSB and UC Riverside. Among the four starters returning is Larry Anderson, who became the first Big West freshman in 35 years to earn first-team all-league honors. From 6-25 to title contention, life is good again for Dan Monson.
"He's happy and content and at peace," said former Monson assistant Mark Few, who is entering his 11th season as head coach at Gonzaga. "He's in a good place. He loves it there."
Monson's life had become so draining at Minnesota. When he first arrived in Minneapolis, Monson would gloat about what the Gophers had in a conference like the Big Ten, according to his friends. The amenities were cool at the time. But the pressure to produce now, rather than later, was not.
"I don't know if I ever felt [at peace] at Minnesota," Monson said. "Those eight years were very difficult, between the probation and all the adjustments. I don't know if I ever got into a comfortable routine."
The environment he is in at Long Beach State has much more of a Gonzaga-like feel. The Zags dominate Spokane, Wash. That's not the case in the Long Beach area near Los Angeles, with so many other interests permeating the sports and social scene. But there is still a community-like feel on campus that he missed.
Recruiting has also been much more of a joy, with the roster dominated by Californians (11). Monson spends more time at home with his wife and four children. Monson said the number of days he's at home isn't even comparable to when he was at Minnesota or Gonzaga, which does have to recruit outside the Northwest quite a bit.
"I left Minnesota feeling like I wish I would have won more, but I did what they wanted me to do, which was clean it up," Monson said. "I helped stabilize the program and run it the right way. We went to the NCAA tournament the first year off probation. We weren't a total disaster on the court. The academics and the recruiting were a solid base, but it needed a bump. Tubby has given that to them.
"I don't have a beef with the University of Minnesota at all. They gave me a lot of money, made me a better person for sure, and a lot better coach, since I had to deal with a lot of different situations there. I wouldn't trade any of what I learned about myself those eight years."
The Big West has searched for an identity since UNLV departed for the WAC (and later the Mountain West). Becoming an all-California league has helped narrow the focus, but it still could use a school like Gonzaga, a program that separates itself by garnering national publicity and becomes a barometer for the rest.
Long Beach State certainly has the history, the facility and the recruiting base to become that school. The rest of the league may challenge that statement, but the 49ers might have the first crack at distancing themselves.
"You've got to have that marquee team," Monson said. "Gonzaga lifted the other schools up to where the others are trying to match it."
Monson referenced Pacific's run from 2003 to 2006, when the Tigers were a regular in the NCAA tournament, even winning first-round NCAA games in 2004 and '05. The 2005 team went 18-0 in the Big West.
"If a league like this gets a couple of teams in the tournament, it can separate itself from the rest of the mid-majors," Monson said.
To do that, the coaching staffs need to stay somewhat intact. Pacific's Bob Thomason arrived in 1988. UC Irvine's Pat Douglass took over in 1997. UC Santa Barbara's Bob Williams got his gig in 1998. Cal State Northridge's Bobby Braswell, who earned the league's automatic berth last season, started with the Matadors in 1996.
"These are good jobs in great locations," Monson said. "I was ready again after 90 straight days going to the bus stop, ready mentally to take a head job again. And doing that for three months made me appreciate this job, made me appreciate what I have here. This is a great set up for me."
• The ACC media projected Duke and North Carolina in a dead heat for first place. That's a fair guess, as neither team is expected to dominate. Both could challenge for the national title, but both are flawed -- Duke in speed and quickness and Carolina in the experience of its guards.
But the rest of the poll is clearly debatable. Clemson was picked third, followed by Georgia Tech, Maryland, Wake Forest, Florida State, Virginia Tech, Boston College, Miami, Virginia and NC State.
A few certainties from my vantage point: Clemson, with its questionable perimeter shooting, won't finish third, and the experience and productivity returning at BC will prevent the Eagles from finishing ninth. Both are NCAA tournament teams in my mind, and so are Maryland, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest and likely Florida State. Yes, that's a possible eight teams in contention for bids out of the ACC, which is unlikely. But the balance in this league could lead to a banner season. I'm not sold yet on whether Virginia Tech or Miami can get there.
• Stats from intrasquad scrimmages don't mean much in the big picture, but they're still worth sharing.
USC desperately needs North Carolina transfer Alex Stepheson to be a major force this season. His numbers were solid in the Trojans' Gold and Cardinal scrimmage Sunday night: 13 points in 20 minutes and five boards. Leonard Washington played even though he's academically ineligible this semester. Clearly, Washington needs work -- he went 1-of-11 from the field.
If Wisconsin is going to keep its NCAA tournament streak going (11 straight appearances), Jon Leuer will need to be effective. He wasn't during Sunday's scrimmage, going 2-of-12. Trevon Hughes could be this team's stud, and he did have three steals. But he also had three turnovers and four assists.
Renardo Sidney hasn't been cleared by the NCAA's eligibility center to compete in games, but he can practice and be involved in scrimmages for Mississippi State. He certainly tantalized the Bulldogs staff with 19 points and seven boards in a 7-of-16 outing (3-of-7 on 3s, too) in 31 minutes during a Saturday afternoon scrimmage. All-America shot-blocker Jarvis Varnado was on the same side as Sidney and scored 22, making seven of 10 shots, nailing all eight free throws and blocking five shots. That was according to the box score. But the press release reported he scored 33 points. That probably tells you all you need to know about scrimmages. Either way, the Bulldogs will take a big night from Varnado. The bigger concern would be Ravern Johnson's going 2-of-13 and missing all eight 3s he attempted.
• Washington is trying to reach out to Gonzaga with a proposal to play a series in Seattle every year at Key Arena, with UW assistant athletic director Richard Kilwien saying the game would bring in $300,000 per school in the 50-50 ticket split. But the Zags' argument is that they already play a game in Seattle every season for their fans in the western part of the state. Gonzaga wants a true home-and-home series to resume with the start of the series back in Spokane -- and the Zags aren't budging. Kilwien and the rest of the Huskies aren't either, saying that they're not interested in a home-and-home series. So the stalemate continues, and the series won't continue. Gonzaga does have a true home-and-home with Washington's Pac-10 rival, Washington State.

Some unfinished business?

Unfinished business indeed.

The biggest victory of the season: Reynolds is out!

This may be the biggest victory of the season. I’ve been waiting for this to happen after we got killed by Tennessee last Friday, and it has come true: Larry Reynolds has been fired as Long Beach State Men’s Basketball coach. Everyone who knew the Beach knew this was inevitable; Dr. Vic Cegles and Dr. F. King Alexander just needed to make it official.

Oddly, I has a bad dream today, in which I was with a mob of students for Spring Break, and I was about to ride a roller coaster sponsored by seniors on my high school’s football team. They wanted me to ride it. But I found out before I could ride, that this was a roller coaster to hell, and I asked all the passengers to leave the park as quickly as possible. In other words, we had to flee. The seniors didn’t want us to leave, but most of us were able t, after I stopped the switch from closing the gates completely. They were able to kill a few of the fleeing students, though, and blood was everywhere: on our faces, our clothes, on the sidewalks. Some were carrying their loves ones, already dead, out of the park. Many were wailing.
The Riot Squad came and killed the culprits with machine guns issued by the LAPD before they could kill anyone else leaving the park, or the Riot Squad themselves.
It was surreal, a bad dream, a nightmare. And seeing this news felt like I woke from one of the biggest nightmares I’ve ever seen in my life.

Twilight Zone time for Tennessee

Tennessee was in ther Twilight Zone, playing perhaps their best basketball even this season. High-flying offense with opportunistic defense resulting in one of those old-school 70's and 80's style overs, a 121-86 win over Long Beach State.

Wonder if this makes the decision for Vic Cegles to be a bit easier, or harder. I don't what's going through his mind. I don't even want to know.

Dirty deeds, done with sheep.

I can't believe that Duke fell in the first round tonight to Virginia Commonwealth. George Mason's mojo didn't really die; it just turned into VCU.

Now we really don't have anything to lose from this tournament.

The truth about Long Beach Guesthouse...

Well, as the men's basketball team play with nothing to lose down in Ohio, and the Dirtbags go on an expedition to shock Wichita State in awe, the men's volleyball team is hosting the Active Ankle Classic. Interestingly, the secondary sponsor is Long Beach Guesthouse. On the site, they look spic and span.

When I looked at the reviews for the hotel, most reviews were very negative, some were even graphic in their presentation. Could have used a better choice of wording, but the surrealism may add to the fact that it probably wasn't the best choice to be secondary sponsor to the Active Ankle.

Might as well just called it the Active Ankle/Hotel California Invitational instead. Colitas over a played Felder and Walsh riff anyone?

Nothing to lose. Definitely.

I like taking a little trip over to Atlanta to see how things done there on business, but it's not a high priority.

Today, I just received an e-mail that I have been selected in the Coca-Cola Human Bracket, and they said if Long Beach State win the South Regional, I'm going on a trip for two to Atlanta.

While that is nice, I'm not going to moan over blowing the opportunity if my team loses in any of the first four rounds. I mean, I will go to Atlanta one day in my life. It may not be the time yet.

Mr. Salazar,

Congratulations! The Coca-Cola Company selected you as Long Beach State’s biggest fan in the Coca-Cola Most Devoted Hoops Fan contest.

Fans whose teams earned a berth in the 2007 NCAA® Men’s Basketball Tournament, as announced by CBS on “Selection Sunday,” March 11, 2007, are featured in the outdoor and online versions of the “Coca-Cola Human Bracket.”

The giant outdoor bracket is hanging from the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, and fan photos will advance with their teams throughout the Tournament. The four fans representing the Final Four teams will win a trip for two to the biggest weekend in college basketball to cheer their favorite school to victory. We will be in touch with those winners on March 26, following the Regional games.

Looks like I won't have to nag Chance Decker, my right-hand assistant from the BPC (Beach Pride Center) about what I have to do. As for me, I gotta brush up on my homework, and get ready for some exams.

Nothing to lose from this one. It's up to the team to see how far we will go.

Dance floor open

When I got on the bus during the Saturday game, my voice was already spent, but I had a focused look. Ironically, our women's team defeated UC Irvine and Cal Poly in succession before bowing out against UC Riverside, the eventual Big West champs. So, the situation looked good.

As I jogged over to my seat, I saw the roar of the crowd, the people chanting "Superfan! Superfan!" over and over. I nodded, took my seat, and watched the drama unfold...while standing up.

Cal Poly proved to be a bit pesky, leading by 5 at the break. I'm chewing bubble gum as I go along with this post. (Inside joke: bubble...bubble bursting.) I then asked the players to realize why they are here, and what they should do.

Eventually, the guys: Aaron Nixon, Kejuan Johnson and the gang, they all would take over in the second half. We would win, 94-83, and the whole student section fell over in a dog pile before celebrating mosh pit style.

I wonder how far we will go. The journey to get here was an accomplishment in itself. Can they go farther? I leave it to the players to decide that.

Big West champs!?

Ah, Long Beach State. We make our glorious return to the dance, defeating Cal Poly.

More details to follow.

No miracle needed on Friday

Well, the guys took care of UC Irvine, without needed last-second heroics.

We would win 77-63, and while out perimeter shooting leave much to be desired, the great thing was we didn't need to havwe the game go to a miracle shot. If there was one closest to it, it would go to soon-to-be-captain Artis Gant, who drained a 3-pointer at the buzzer in the 1st half. Afterwards, the 49ers played their game.

When one of our guys attempted a 3-pointer, I turned to my folks to see their reaction, if they were leaping the the air, eliciting a roar, I nodded my head, then slowly turned to the other sides of the crowd, nodding my head. As the final seconds ticked, I inspected Pete's Posse, congratulated Prospector Pete, who I like to call "Boss" as I am his right-hand man, and thanked the UC Irvine folks for their participation.

And as I got on the the band bus, I changed my expression to a focused look. Our work at the Anaheim Convention Center was not done yet. We would have to beat Cal Poly first.

An ordinary day? More like a day of mourning

It really sets you off your comfort zone when you've got really good things get outweighed by really bad things. That happened today.

While the only good thing that happened was our men's basketball team exacting revenge over UC Irvine 86-80 on Senior Night, at the same time, three crappy things happened.

First, our women's tennis team, who everyone thought would run the tables, saw their season turn into disarray, losing to...wait for it...UC Irvine, 4-3. When I got home, I learned that my older sister forgot to tape the game, AND not tell me beforehand that she couldn't do it, so I could transfer the duties to my mom.

As if things weren't bad enough, danbooru, an image-hosting site that features moe images of every persuasion, was dead. Long like akibakko. Ultimately, the lack of servers, combined with traffic beyond control, was danbooru's undoing. Akibakko.net is now its successor. May she (it means Akiba[hara] girl) reign as the moe image hosting site of the Web from this point forward. Rest in peace, danbooru. You will not have died in vain as we mourn your loss. *plays Taps*

The right choice.

I knew there was something unique about the students here at Cal State Long Beach. One of the great things about Long Beach State is prioritizing health and wellness to complement their education and putting their knowledge to work in the real world. When I heard today that the students voted yes to the referendum on having a new Student Recreation and Wellness Center, I pointed to the heavens, and taped a video thanking them for making the right decision.

This center is going to be packed every day. With Frog’s Club One being inadequate, this will add to more people working out at the university. And with this being a part of tuition, the students here at the Beach will be utilizing it, probably more than the other services here. Not to mention more work opportunities.

With the students making the right choice, Men’s Fitness would be hard pressed to still give us the unenviable epithet of America’s Fattest University. I think they’re going to back off for the long haul.

I’m ready to see the guys off against Irvine till I meet with them on Friday at the ACC. That’s the Anaheim Convention Center, not the big power conference of the same abbreviation.

Long time comin'

The last time we won at Spanos Center was on February 14, 2002. Valentine's Day. I was still in my senior year of high school, still traumatized from being treated like a piece of meat by my Intermediate Algebra teacher. If I could relieve those days again, I would have Lucy the Diclonius' personality. I'm still in a bit of an agitated mood that the Tigers of the University of the Pacific defeated our guys last year in the Big West Championship Game.

See, when I saw Bob Thomason (the Riley Wallace of the Big West) get lifted into the air, I was furious. When the PA announcer said Larry Reynolds's name as part of introducing our team (that was with Jibril Hodges and Shawn Hawkins), I yelled out "Thanks for the memories!" Unfortunately (or rather, fortunately), Vic Cegles came in and let Coach Reynolds finish the last year of his current contract.

It turned out to be a smart move, in spite of a early "here-we-go-again" rusty stumble. We won the Big West regular season title, and blackwashed Pacific, rocking them at the Walter Pyramid, and then defeating the Tigers in Spanos Center for the first time in over five years, 82-76.

I knew that our team was capable of running the tables. This was a great warmup, and the next match would be against the scum that is UC Irvine. I plan to tear my shirt off if we score over 100 in the game. And I will probably stick to my Red Bull or Rockstar next time. No more of that carbonated cough syrup from SoBe. Please.

Homecoming reflection

As Homecoming Day began, I didn’t know what to expect from the Aggies of UC Davis. While most of our local teams fell the night before (save for the Dirtbags, thank god for Danny Espinosa), I was very unsure if our guys learned their lesson from choking in the 2nd half against a mediocre Hawaii side during the ESPN Bracket Buster match from Hell.

As I got on the 91 to Cal State Long Beach, I played the extended version of Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy”, knowing that in any game, weird things can, and will, happen. The game before, UC Irvine easily put the boots to the Aggies. Since UCD was in their last year as a provisional, there were no odds on this game.

I was still reeling from the fact that DJ Quik called for a 70-58 Long Beach State victory two nights before. Essentially, Quik called for a defensive match marred by sloppiness and bad shots all around…with the Beach still getting the victory. As of this writing, UC Davis is near the bottom when in comes to RPI. They are currently 312th. The team at the very bottom is Alabama A&M, based on Ken Pomeroy’s site, at 336th. While UC Davis is not the worse, I would be surprised if the Aggies made a game out of this.

But then again, very few people gave Hawaii a chance, and they ran away with it in the 2nd half. That loss was bad news for Larry Reynolds, who is in a precarious situation in the last year of his contract. Again, as everyone in Long Beach speculated, the only was he could be spared his walking papers if the guys won the conference tournament. Everyone, the fans, students, alums, boosters, news agencies…everyone in the world knew that Larry was under the microscope. With this win, this team would be the winningest in his years as the Long Beach State head coach.

The big question was not how much Aaron Nixon, Kejuan Johnson and company would pile on the Aggies, but whether or not Davis would make a game out this. I don’t remember last year’s homecoming game, but I believe we lost that one. I checked the program, and yes, it was against the hated Gauchos from UCSB. Fortunately, we made them pay dearly for that by piling 101 point in the home contest, before Sterling Byrd sealed the regular season blackwash.

I love Gnarls Barkley, the duo consisting of Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo. St. Elsewhere is one of my favorite albums of all time.

After watching the rugby first side get clobbered again, this time by up-and-comer Claremont, I went over to Wally’s (my name for the Walter Pyramid), and saw DJ Quik’s prediction get bested by a country mile. Great shots, great defense, and sloppy play that had been the epitome of UC Davis’s season saw the Long Beach faithful enjoy a 102-77 victory over the Aggies, who will fall in with the Big West next year.

You had to see it to believe it. I am planning to create a video on this one, and the footage is ready. I just have to convert, and give it the usual trimmings.

SIDE NOTES FROM BoBA:

LMU goes full circle: The LMU men’s basketball team put the ghosts of our heartbreaking victory to rest, defeating Santa Clara on a last-second shot, 67-66. After going though a season forged in hell, they get a brief respite in purgatory.

Posse savvy knows its trade: One of the members of Pete’s Posse said to the Davis players, “You women have a better shot of winning than you.” While I will absolve him of any jinxing on grounds that our women’s team are worse than advertised this year, our women did lose, getting trampled 60-50.

Shirt taken off second time this year at Wally’s: I said to the guys, “Hey, we have plenty of time to score 100 or more. If they do that, I’m ripping my shirt off, and waving it like a scarf. And I did so after Artis Gant made the three-pointer that sent us over the top. Not to be outdone, I did two Angus Young spasms at halftime. I didn’t have that space, though, to do it right. Luckily, I didn’t hurt my shoulder.

Never again: Before I took the buses to get to Wally’s, I drank this drink from SoBe called “Superman Special Brew.” While I was able to down it, it tasted, to put it in polite terms, out-of-the-ordinary. Like carbonated cough syrup. Think Flaming Moe without the flame. Homer Simpsoy’s wrath is now completed.

AMGEN Tour of California on Sunday: Yes, it was one of those wonderful finishes down in Long Beach. Flying colors going up and down Ocean Boulevard on two wheels. Levi Leipheimer finished the tour on top, while Ivan Rodriguez won the stage. I have the footage, and I will post it when the time comes.

More of the same from the exams: Stuck in the middle, but a precarious position. I got 31 out of 50 in the first Stats midterm. (And that's without remembering the equations to heart!) I wasn’t the worst, but there should be room for improvement, and fast.

A Quik Prediction

So I talked with DJ Quik after the Pyramid Pep Rally Remix. He was signing autographs. I said to him “Yo DJ Quik, what will be the score on Saturday?”
He said, :”In basketball? Who are they playing?”
I said, “UC Davis.”
Quik was flabbergasted. “UC Davis!?” After a pause, he said, “I think it will be…70-58.”
“70-58 Long Beach?”
“That’s what I think.”
To make a prediction for a defensive game marked by possible shabby, dubious play reeking with sloppiness, and the Beach performing against the spread for the second straight game takes guts. I will give him that as I walked to the bus stop, Quik still signing autographs.

70-58, Long Beach State. My, my. I really won’t comment on anything else other than, “Whoa.” It's a good thing the bookkeepers are leaving this match alone.

A schizoid weekend it was.

I'm celebrating Melbourne Victory taking the double as I post this. I should be sleeping right now, in a disgusted mood after I saw my men's basketball team collapse against Hawaii, but I'm actually in an elated mood right now.

Who would have thought Archie Thompson would bag five goals in the win, with young up-and-come Kristian Sarkies getting the last one? You wonder if Victoria Premier Steve Bracks had second thoughts about building the white elephant that is Melbourne Rectangular. But I'm not going to jinx the poor guy. I'm in too gleeful of a mood to do so.

It looks like this year, the soccer capital of Australia moves to Melbourne. At this rate, I'm gonna take a power nap. I've got more rugby to watch, in less than 11 hours.

Long Beach State breaks Fullerton’s hearts on Wednesday night

Long Beach State breaks Fullerton’s hearts on Wednesday night

By Jo-Ryan Salazar
Bedlam on Baltic Avenue
February 15, 2007


They say it’s tough to beat a good team twice.

But that’s what Long Beach State did. While I was taping on my cell phone me and Pete’s Posse’s forays into Titan Gymnasium, I knew that while the odds were against the 49ers numbers-wise, it put a lot of pressure of us. If we had dropped this game, of course I would be stoic and disgusted with the result. But if we won the game, it’s because of the pressure of having 15 straight games without a loss at their home floor (including 11 this season) became too much to bear for Bobby Brown, Scott Cutley, and Frank Robinson.

As we got on the coach to the Gym via 22 and 57, Dr. Vic Cegles, LBSU Athletic Director, as well as Bob Keisser of the Long Beach Press Telegram, accompanied us on the trip. It was a mellow ride, delayed by the usual evening gridlock, but as I got off and planted my feet on the ground, I said, “Fullerton, I have returned.”

We had some problems with our seating, but we eventually sat on the balcony. There was a railing, and this allowed us to stand on the seats, and even lean on the railing if we were to protest our decision. This was very advantageous for our group, as it allowed us to jump like the Cameron Crazies (whoever they may be), as well as yell obscenities when the calls by the officials were suspiciously questionable.

I helped lead some chants, as well as others, and I paced around to make sure they were fired up from the opening tip-off to the final buzzer. And they were. A couple of campus event staff tried to limit our antics, but they might as well get out of the way instead to relieve their stress. They couldn’t handle us, and neither did their players.

We won by ten point-again. 94-84. I was very proud of my team’s effort, as well as the Posse’s effort. But I knew at the back of my head that we have a long way to go before we get to where we need to be. On top of that, Homecoming week was on tap after a luau with the Warriors.


While Long Beach City is also taking care of things, sweeping through the South Coast regular season with a 76-73 win over El Camino, I have to feel for another junior college miles away that lost one of its players.

I don’t know Grayson County College that well. Heck, I don’t know how the Texas junior college system works. But whenever something like this happens, it really is depressing. Mike Ndiribe, a 6-8, 210-pound freshman who had big dreams ahead of him, got that-and his life-taken away in the locker room. I looked at the story on ESPNU, and I thought it was Deon Tresvant, but thank goodness it wasn’t that close to home. Again, you never want something like this to happen at any level. Because, when will it be my time? Or when will it be your time? Who will be next?

It’s like the day Hank Gathers collapsed on the floor during a Loyola Marymount game in 1990. But that was because he did not listen to his doctors. I don’t know about this. One thing’s for sure; you will be seeing an ESPN special on this. They are notorious [sic] for capitalizing on demises like this.