I don’t require many things in this world, but the ability to watch live basketball is one of them. And I don’t mean live on television – I mean in-person. The rattle of the buzzer, the screech of sneakers on a gym floor, the ability to focus my attention away from the ball, the seamlessness of a two hour event with no commercial breaks – these are the things I need. Don’t get me wrong, televised hoops is great – of the major sports it has the largest object ball and the smallest playing surface which makes it appear as if it were a sport designed for watching from home (or bars). But give me a gym. Life outside of gyms is too often populated by duty, worries, bad news, and stress. Life in the gym is simple. One team has the ball while the other team tries to stop them. It’s all right there.
I attended Florida State University and got to watch all the ACC teams parade through. From there I went to Boston for graduate school, a city with a never ending supply of mid-major games to choose from. It was Portland, Oregon after that – where to my surprise I found a vibrant high school hoops scene. I lived five blocks from national power Jefferson High; there was the Fred Meyer Challenge which brought in top schools from around the country; the University of Portland hosted an all-star game which featured the best players from Oregon vs the best players from Washington; and back then the State Tournament was still in Portland, and good games would draw better and rowdier crowds than the Trail Blazers.
But a few years ago I found myself living in northern California. And by northern I don’t mean San Francisco or Sacramento. Those of us in the north consider those urban areas to be part of central California. In the north there are no Division I teams. In the north there’s nearly a complete absence of basketball. What I have are the Chico State Wildcats – which are not only a Division II team, but in most years a bad Division II team. So come every November I find myself pining for the places I used to live. But it’s not the cities I long for. It’s the gyms.
But having that would require moving back to crowds. And that’s not going to happen. I like living at the interface of rice country and the Sierra Nevada. I like being able to walk to work. Around town I see people I know. We’ve had mountain lions take deer less than a mile from my house. At night, sitting at a bonfire behind my home, we listen as skeins of white-fronted geese make their way overhead. I can get away from people here. I can be alone. I can walk in the woods. I like these things.
What I can’t do is watch elite basketball. What I do instead is follow Chico State.
For the past 60 years they’ve begun their season with the Mac Martin Classic. The four-team Tournament isn’t a bracket style matchup, rather Chico State and one other decent team typically play two weak teams. Chico State gets weak team #1 on Saturday, and weak team #2 on Sunday, while the other decent team (San Francisco State this year) plays them in the opposite order. The Wildcats kicked off their season against Alaska Fairbanks. Early in the 2nd half it appeared that Chico State’s season was going to get off to an unceremonious beginning as they trailed 47-42. But a 20-0 run restored order and they rolled to an 84-73 win in a 77 possession game.
One of the great things about Division II is that you never know what you’re going to get. There aren’t unlimited website and television broadcasts to tell you which teams are good, which players are better than others and why. All you get is what you see in gyms. Here, basketball knowledge is meaningful because there’s no one to tell you what to think.
The next day they played the Academy of Art and crushed them 83-36. This was a slower game (67 possessions), and it was sloppy. The previous night the Wildcats turned it over 20 times, and against the Academy of Art it was 16. That’s 36 turnovers in 143 possessions (25.2%). Something to monitor. 6’5 sophomore Amir Carraway was the Tournament MVP. He hadn’t played much as a freshman, but has the athleticism of a high major player. In fact, the team has several freshmen who appear to be poised to take this team places, several freshmen who can really play. Or maybe that’s the eternal optimist in me. Regardless, they’ve got a 7 footer who can move (Jason Conrad), a senior point guard (Jay Flores), a slasher who’s nearly impossible to keep out of the lane (Demario Sims), and a host of young talent led by Carraway. Coming off back to back winning seasons, maybe something special will happen this year.
Following the Mac Martin Classic – while the students were away on Thanksgiving – the Wildcats faced Pacific Union and Menlo College. Maybe 150 fans were on the student side, and 250 on the community side. Both sides are bleachers that roll out of the wall, only the community side has seat backs on about half the seats. Which is how they sell the tickets: seat back, $9, student section $7. Chico State dominated both games, winning 76-39 and 73-49. Against Pacific Union all 15 roster players played at least ten minutes. Against Menlo no one played more than 20 minutes. On the season the defense has been impressive. With more size and better athletes Chico State is only giving up 0.71 points per possession, which – in Division I – would rank them among the top-5 defenses in the nation. Of course the competition is about to step up several levels.
Now, seeing that this is Division II, the team goes on a six-week road trip. There won’t be a chance to sit in the gym again until the 2nd of January. A road-trip might be in order.
