Goin' back to Cali

The Titans will face Occidental on Saturday, 12/29 at 9:00pm CST (7:00pm L.A. time). On New Year's Eve, they will play at Claremont-Mudd-Scripps at 5:00pm CST (3:00pm local).

Note, there is no school called "Claremont-Mudd-Scripps." CMS is a combination, for athletic purposes only, of three schools - Claremont McKenna College, Harvey Mudd College, and Scripps College...all in Claremont, California. These three schools, Occidental, and Illinois Wesleyan all appear in the 2008 U.S. News & World Report ranking of Top Liberal Arts Colleges in the country.

Here are the results to date of the two California opponents:

Occidental (5-1):

11/16 - @ West Coast Baptist, W, 71-63
11/17 - @ Azusa Pacific, L, 57-79
11/20 - vs La Sierra, W, 89-63
12/1 - @ La Sierra, W, 77-66
12/18 - vs Pacific Union, W, 77-40 (neutral court)
12/19 - vs Plattsburgh State, W, 69-64 (neutral court) - current D3 #14

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (5-3):

11/16 - @ Hope International, W, 61-58
11/17 - vs Menlo, L, 52-65
11/23 - vs Macalester, W, 64-59 (neutral court)
11/24 - vs St. Olaf, W, 52-48
11/30 - vs Babson, L, 47-60 (neutral court)
12/1 - vs Earlham, W, 60-47 (neutral court)
12/8 - @ Chapman, L, 62-84
12/15 - vs UC-Santa Cruz, W, 82-49

Here is how the teams match-up.

If I had to guess, here is how I would stack these teams up vs IWU's other non-conference opponents...

1. Wash U
2. Olivet Nazarene
3. Albion
4. Occidental
5. Chicago
6. Hanover
7. Tri-State
8. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps
9. Dominican
10. Webster
11. Illinois College

I'd say the Titans will be an underdog on the road at Occidental, but a favorite at CMS. If the Titans play well, they can win both...if they don't, they could easily drop both.

These are very important games -- the final two tune-ups before CCIW play begins on January 9. It'd be nice to see the Titans play their two most complete games of the season and really build some nice momentum heading into league play.

Merry Christmas, Titan fans! Be safe.