Monday, February 26, 2007

Coming this afternoon

In this afternoon's glorious goldtop, check out our bird's eye view of a busy Sunday in UC Davis athletics.

The big news: UCD's wrestling team will send a record six athletes to the Division I nationals. There are also dispatches from Aggie water polo's victory over No. 4 Hawaii and a lacrosse thriller.

Sunday, February 25, 2007

Doskow does Davis

Johnny Doskow, voice of the Sacramento River Cats, works year round out of his radio booth in the Raley Field Press Box. I mentioned to him today that it's almost like he's sitting there waiting for the season start when the previous one ends.

"Sometimes I see one out there," Doskow joked. "I always say I've got the best view in Sacramento."

Doskow will be in Davis on Monday, speaking to the Rotary Club about the team, it's schedule and its works in the community. The Rotary Club meets at noon at Davis Community Church on D Street. Johnny's one of my favorite people in the regional media community, so if you're a Rotarian or can figure out how to get there, I highly recommend this.

Friday, February 23, 2007

Earned or unearned?

Earned runs are a funny statistic. A pitcher who makes an error and then allows that run to score is not charged with an earned run. It’s as if that pitcher essentially represents two players — one who throws the ball to home plate and one who fields his position.

It’s also a rule that one can never assume a double play when determining unearned runs, even if that potential double play is simple.

That was the case Friday afternoon for UC Davis in the second inning against defending national champion Oregon State. The Aggies should have been out of the second inning unscathed when pitcher Trevor Fox struck out Lenin Lechelt for the second out, and catcher Jabob Jeffries threw a bullet to third base to try and nail Mitch Canham. UCD third baseman Daniel Descalso (normally a sure-handed fielder) dropped the ball, allowing the inning to continue. The Beavers would score go on to score five times in the inning.

Fox went on to allow six runs (three earned) in 4 2/3 innings, but he easily could have been in a 0-0 game. The No. 15-ranked Beavers went onto win 11-2.

Other random notes: UCD left 13 runners stranded, including runners in scoring position in the first seven innings. ... Bryan Evans, normally the Friday starter, looked effective as a reliever, working 3 1/3 innings and allowing one run ... Michael Jacobellis, Sunday’s star against Santa Clara, reached base three times as the leadoff hitter and has an on-base percentage of .500. ... Today’s starter against San Francisco will be Brad McAtee (15 strikeouts in 13 innings) while usual Sunday starter Jeff Reekers will work in relief, coach Rex Peters said.

--Matt O'Donnell

Some symmetry on Milestone Night

IRVINE -- There was some symmetry last night with Thomas Juillerat hitting 1,000 career points on the same day that Dominic Calegari recorded a career high in points. They have grown close this year, with the senior Juillerat taking freshman Calegari under his wing.

After the game, UCD coach Gary Stewart said he thought that Juillerat's achievement was all the more impressive because he has been asked to play in the post at 6-foot-5. At the Division I level, that's difficult to do. It's going to be difficult for the Aggies to replace the attitude he brings as much as anything. Juillerat is the 13th Aggie player to reach four figures in career points.

Calegari's not especially fiery on the court, but there is an element of fearlessness that has grown more apparent in the previous weeks. That's Juillerat's trademark. And just like Juillerat, it's not difficult to see Calegari developing into a really important player for UC Davis down the road.

As for Thursday's game, UCD wasted the first half with turnovers and couldn't get back into it. Irvine shot well from 3-point range. With a large junior class, the Anteaters figure to be one of the favorites in the Big West next year. Juillerat really paved the way back into it, driving against Anteater center Mark Kelley and hanging fouls on him. That cleared out the middle to some extent (although Darren Fells is a load inside).

Saturday's trip to Long Beach will be a struggle. The 49ers are fast, athletic and always a threat to hang triple digits on a team that is not ready to compete.

Coming this afternoon

Here's what's coming today when The Enterprise's brilliant B section hits the streets around 1 p.m. today

Blue Devils wear Cinderella slipper well
For the second straight year, the Davis High School girls basketball team pulled off a road upset in Round One.

Devils light up Grizzlies
The Davis High School girls soccer team may not have lights yet, but the Blue Devils were lights out in the season opener against Granite Bay in the season opener.

Defense locks down UC Irvine
Anna Harp's career-high helps Aggie women outrun a 35 percent shooting night from from the field.

UCD men sing same tune at Irvine
Thomas Juillerat surpasses 1,000 points, but a lousy first half digs the Aggies too deep a hole.

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Coming this afternoon

Here's what you'll find when the Enterprise Sports section hits the streets around 1 p.m. today:

Aggies bring out the brooms
UCD softball sweeps San Jose State, bringing its record to 5-2

Devils hit road for D-I playoffs
Section semifinalists a year ago, DHS is looking for another postseason run

Davis High soccer has high expectations

Which is sort news, as the perennial title contenders kick off the season

UC Davis men on final road trip
Say this for the Aggies, even at 4-20 they haven't given up on the year

Women making good impression in Big West
A pair of 6-21 teams visit The Pavilion this weekend to take on the surging Aggies

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

The Amgen Tour breezes through town

Since I haven’t quite saved up enough money to go over to Europe and attend the Tour de France, Tuesday’s Amgen Tour of California was my first chance to cover a top-caliber cycling race. I tried to learn whatever I could as I made my way around. There were two interesting aspects of cycling that I saw and heard.

The first one applies specifically to what I saw in Davis as the riders sped through town. From my vantage point on the corner of Second and B streets, I first saw three riders ahead of the field about three or four minutes ahead of the other 130 or so which were in a pack behind them. Talking to one of the Amgen representatives, I learned that those three guys (Christophe Laurent, David McCann and Omer Kem) were participating in a “race within the race.”

The sprint down Second Street, which lasted about two blocks between B and D, gave the winner points and cash bonuses. There are usually a couple of sprint areas each day and then the finish line so at the end of the stages and at the end of the race there are multiple winners. Tuesday, there were winner jerseys for the overall leader, the stage winner as well as the top sprint ride. All the jersey winners got to shake hands on a stage near the steps of the capitol with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The interesting part of the sprint in Davis was that those three riders and participated were allowed to dash out ahead by the other riders because they are not favorites to win the race. The other riders knew that they would tire after a time and would fall back to the pack eventually. It was worth it for Laurent, however, as he won the sprint and received the money and the points. According to the play-by-play on the Amgen Web site, Laurent and McCann, who battled for another sprint title earlier in the day, did not seem happy with each other and were having words on the course.

The second thing I learned — this time during the press conference with Juan José Haedoat — was how much cycling actually is a team sport. Haedoat, in his first year as a member of the elite CSC team from Europe, was able to win the stage by having teammate Stuart O’Grady go out ahead of the pack with about 350 meters to go. That gave way for Haedoat to cross the finish line using the path that O’Grady had created.

For the full story, see Wednesday's Enterprise.

--Chris Saur (with photo by Greg Rihl)

Sunday, February 18, 2007

The Bracket Buster: inside and out

There's no paper on Monday as The Enterprise celebrates President's Day. The Aggies play at Pacific on Monday night, looking to snap a seven-game losing streak and end a a streak of futility against the Tigers dating back to the 1940s. The Tigers will be on the back end of an extremely tough travel weekend. They played at Montana on Saturday as part of ESPN's Bracket Buster and have to turn around 48 hours later to take on the Aggies. Pacific will get no sympathy from anyone involved at UCD.

As part of the Big West's agreement with ESPN, UCD will participate in the Bracket Buster next year. Aggie coach Gary Stewart said he didn't yet know whether the Aggies would be a home team or a road team, which is a challenge in budgeting for the coming season. Getting 20 or so plane tickets on relatively short notice, is not as easy as it sounds.

If you're curious, here's the process for picking who plays whom. The first consideration is RPI, which is used to create the most attractive possible match-ups for television (See No. 16 Southern Illinois vs. No. 13 Butler).

After that, the next consideration is ease of travel. This would, at first glance, seem to dictate regional match-ups. But actually, "ease of travel" is an extremely relative term. Since it's "easy" from Los Angeles to just about everywhere, you'll see teams from the Southern half of the Big West paired with any old team. Cal State Northridge hosted Cleveland State on Saturday and Cal State Fullerton ended up traveling to Dayton, Ohio for a game with Wright State. A year ago, Long Beach State drew Manhattan College (which is actually in the Bronx). UC Irvine was matched with Drake University in nearby Des Moines, Iowa.

For what it's worth, the Big West went 3-5 on Saturday. There were three games against Big Sky teams, Two against teams from WAC, two against teams from the Horizon League and one from the West Coast Conference.

Saturday, February 17, 2007

Some early baseball notes

Some early observations on UC Davis’ college baseball season: It’s probably foolish to read too much into the 1-5 record. Two of the losses came by one-run and Friday’s 11-3 defeat to Santa Clara was close as well until things got out of hand in the seventh and ninth innings. Friday’s game did remind me a bit of last season in this regard: 10 Aggie hits, nine of those singles. Meanwhile, the Broncos picked up a three-run triple by Ryan Conan in the third and a three more on a blast by Gabe Alcantar in the seventh.

On a positive note, catcher Jacob Jeffries looks like a find: The left-handed hitting catcher got the start against Santa Clara southpaw Matthew Wickswat and singled in his first two at-bats. The Broncos actually went to righty reliever Steve Kalush to pitch to him with a runner on second in the fifth. Jeffries slashed an opposite-field screamer to the left side, but it was snagged by the third baseman. That would have tied the game.

--Matt O'Donnell

Friday, February 16, 2007

Ticking clocks, both on the field and in the meeting rooms

There's going to be a healthy dose of football stuff coming in the next couple of days. The Gateway Football Conference is meeting Monday, and one of the main discussion topics will be whether to poach North Dakota State and South Dakota State. As far as we can tell, the league office is in favor of it and the league's coaches/athletic directors are mixed. The university presidents are the ones that decide. We don't have a prediction on how this one will turn out.

Meanwhile, the NCAA football rules committee voted on Wednesday to abandon the clock rules it instituted last year. The rules, which included starting the clock when the ball was placed after a change of possession, were designed to shorten games and they worked too well for some people's liking. In all 14 minutes were saved at the cost of 13 plays and five points per game. The NCAA still wants shorter games, so the tinkering will continue.

Here are the big changes:
-- Kickoffs will be from the 30 rather than the 35 in hopes of reducing touchbacks. Also, the play clock will start when the kicker is handed the ball rather that when it is placed on the tee. The game clock, however, won't begin ticking until the ball has been received.
--Following media timeouts, the play clock will be 15 seconds than the regular 25.
--Team timeouts will be shorted by 30 seconds.
--Replay reviews will be capped at two minutes, although this will mean very little at UC Davis.

In a shocking turn of events, all rules regarding the number and length of television timeouts will remain untouched.

Also, in 2008, the NCAA may adopt the NFL's play clock rules. Instead of starting the 25-second clock when the ball is officially spotted, a 40-second clock will be used from the end of the previous play. If that happens, it will be interesting to see how this works in conjunction with the clock stoppages while the chains are reset after every first down.

Thursday, February 15, 2007

It's a Wrap from the Valley

WOODLAND HILLS -- You can't really extrapolate and say, if the Aggies just do X (like hit the layups they flubbed) then Y happens (like the Aggies are in the game at the end). I don't really think basketball works like that. But you have to ask yourself, if UCD was actually making its layups early, would it have demonstrated more of an inclination late in the first half to actually attack the rim? Northridge committed its seventh team foul with 13:41 to go in the first half. The Aggies shot 14 free throws from that point forward. That's a lot of free throws. But it's also only seven trips to the line. The Matadors' pace should have created more possessions, more chances to attack the lane. And with the refs clearly committed to using their whistles, UCD appeared to lose some of its nerve.

--The Aggies shot 50 percent (8-for-16) from 3-point range, their best showing from there in a while. It wasn't enough to pull Northridge out of its zone, but it was an encouraging sign.

--I don't think I've seen that many blown finishes around the basket at this level in a long time. We've chronicled what happened to UCD. But the best one actually happened to Northridge's Jonathan Heard. After an offensive rebound, Heard opted for the monster jam as his putback. When he did it, however, he pulled the rim down so far that it ejected the ball before it had passed through the net. No basket. There were about two seconds there where no one quite knew what to do. It was quite a funny moment. To Heard's credit, about three minutes later he had another breakaway opportunity and dunked without hesitiation.

--The men are off for the weekend, as the full members of the Big West play their Bracket Buster games. But if you're looking for hoops action, the women have an interesting slate of games this weekend. Tonight the Aggies play Pacific, which is now led by Lynne Roberts. Roberts built Chico State into a Division II power and I know the Aggie coaching staff expects her to succeed quickly with the Tigers. Expect a lot of 3-pointers. On Saturday, UCD hosts Northridge and Ofa Tulikhihifo (yes I copied and pasted that in). Everyone who has seen Tulikhihifo play says she's a joy to watch. Also, I'm sort of interested to hear how PA guy extraordinaire Bob Kerr copes with her name.

EDIT: (4:30 p.m.) My copy and pasting skills apparently are not so reliable. Ofa's name should be spelled Tulikihihifo. Also, she's a question mark for Saturday's game. According to Northridge's official athletics site, she's missed two straight games with an ankle injury.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

The Audio Thing

WOODLAND HILLS -- I'm not in the mood to rehash tonight's 91-74 loss to Northridge, so we'll talk about peripheral issues instead.

If you have an Internet connection, you've probably heard what former UC Davis player and assistant coach Dan Hawkins had to say about the anonymous Colorado player's parents who are not particularly excited about the start date for offseason conditioning. I've heard this audio four different times on the radio while driving around Southern California today. Also, while having dinner after the game, I twice saw a still of Hawkins come up on the television. I can only assume ESPN and Fox were discussing (and playing) his outburst.

UCD had its own audio issues earlier in the year relating to basketball Gary Stewart's use of a chair and trash can as projectile. A lot people at UCD were unhappy about the California Aggie posting the audio of the chair/trash can incident. Two weeks later, after the loss to Pacific, Stewart asked all the reporters present to turn off their recorders during the postgame press conference. That only happened once, thankfully. I bring this up only to note how intense things could have been around the Stewart incident (if Davis was better known, or if there had been video). In the 21st century, little blips of audio can suddenly take on lives of their own. For better or for worse, this is the world we live in now.

Friday, February 9, 2007

Localizing the big story

If you haven't already seen these pieces from Andy Katz and Pat Forde on ESPN.com, they're worth your time. The NCAA asked some veteran college basketball writers to come to Indianapolis and create a hypothetical field of 65 for the tournament. I always thought the NCAA would do well have a journalist in the meeting room every year, just to deal with the sheer volume of misinformation peddeled by the blowhards on sports radio. For what it's worth, Katz and Forde insist that reputation has very little to do with who comes out of the selection room, but I don't know of any coach who actually believes that. Maybe the sheer volume of basketball coverage alleviates some of the importance of tradition. But in baseball just about everyone believes you need to back-to-back solid seasons if you're a nobody trying to break into the field. And three years ago, a deserving Cal Poly team was left out of the I-AA playoffs in favor of Lehigh (who, the year before, had been the consensus 17th team out of 16).

UC Davis coach Gary Stewart is on the West Regional Advisory Committee for the NCAA tournament. His job is to rank the teams in the region at the beginning of January, the beginning of February and just before the start of the conference tournaments. That's one of the bits of data that the committee has in the room when it sits down to pick the field. Stewart says doing his rankings are an arduous task, one that seems to take much longer than he expects every time he sits down to do it. It doesn't help, Stewart said jokingly, that assistant coach John Lamanna is always hanging around trying to make a case for his Washington State Cougars.

Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Signing day: Instant analysis

Now that the recruiting season is mostly done, UC Davis' coaches are free to plan their spring trips. The defensive coaches are going check out Cal and Boise State for linebacker techniques and hit TCU to for some intensive defensive line discussions. Head coach Bob Biggs, well, he's got a cabinet full of New Orleans Saints film to break down.

A few months ago, we pondered the immediate future of UCD's running game, and came down pretty negatively on the whole thing. But now, maybe, there a more optimistic spin on this. The Aggies loaded up on running backs two years ago, and, potentially added three more today. The Saints did more out of the backfield than almost anyone in the NFL, including putting two tailbacks out there together (Reggie Bush and Deuce McAllister). Maybe this is a sign of just how highly the Aggie coaches think of their young backs. They're looking for ways to get more of them on the field at once. Everyone on the roster can catch passes and run between the tackles. They have a couple of guys with honest-to-goodness blazing speed.

“You can get the match-ups you want by motioning out of the backfield,” Biggs said. “We’re a lot like New Orleans. We like to use play-action to go deep. We’ve got a lot of the ball control. We’re similar. We’ve got the multiple groups and multiple formations.”

Now all they need to do figure out is who is going to trigger the offense.

Here are a couple of notes on today's signing class that didn't make the story you'll find in Thursday's gold-top:

--Two players, QB Sean Maraz and K Sean Kelley, were sort of accidental signings. Biggs said neither position really was a need, but recommendations from people he trusts sort of put them on those two trails. Biggs said he really enjoyed what he saw of Maraz on film, and made a partial scholarship offer. Kelley, meanwhile, has an extremely lively leg. He already has two 50-yarders to his credit as a high schooler. He'll compete with Emmanuel Benjamin for the kicking job. If he doesn't get it, he'll redshirt.

--UCD will sign a transfer offensive lineman and punter this summer, although I don't currently have names.

--Winters High's Nick Hedrick did not sign with the team, as previously reported.

--I've never heard Biggs gush about a player the way he did about fullback Ishman Anderson. Biggs said he could tell that Anderson was a special player because every time Anderson scored a touchdown, the entire team ran down the field to congratulate him. Apparently, it doesn't usually work like that.

Tuesday, February 6, 2007

An outside chance

We didn't make the trip to Utah, preferring to turn our lasers on tomorrow's football signing day instead. But here's something to ponder as you listen to the game tonight. Of all the things that could have gone wrong this year for UC Davis, would anyone have expected the total wipeout from 3-point range we've seen this year?

Heading into tonight's game, UCD's 3-point shooting percentage sits at 29.5 percent. The Division I average (on Jan. 15, when the NCAA published the mid-season trend date) was a wisp more than 35 percent.

This wouldn't be such a big deal were the Aggies not so reliant on their outside shooting. They have already taken 474 attempts from beyond the arc in 21 games. Last year, with many of the same players, they hoisted 486 outside shots in 28 games (with a 35.4 percent success rate). UCD has taken 40.4 of its shots from 3-point range. The average D-I team and average Big West team both attempt 34.2 percent of their shots from downtown.

The problem with poor outside shooting is that once you start down that path, opponents don't let you come back. If you're peeling paint off the rims from outside, teams just pack in their defenses and let you keep doing it. I am so sick of watching the 2-3 zone that more than once I've considering doing an Oedipus (which seems like a bit of overreaction, now that I write it). But maybe there's a glimmer of hope. For 30 minutes against Cal Poly, UCD actually did a good a job of working the ball into the middle of defense and getting decent looks. It's starting front line went 20-for-27 for a combined 43 points. Maybe, just maybe, things are changing.

Monday, February 5, 2007

Our new home

Welcome to the new and improved Davis Enterprise sports blog. Basically it's the same as the old blog except we think it actually looks more like a blog.

All of the old posts have been imported over to this site, and everything is labeled so you can find the most recent posts about specific topics. We'll be adding Google line ads in the coming weeks, which you should click if you wish to support Enterprise sports coverage.

Anyway, please leave any comments about the look of this blog or to suggest any new features you would like to see.

Thursday, February 1, 2007

Coming Soon

The Davis Enterprise sports department will be moving its blogging operations to this site in the coming days. Stay tuned.