Scheduling these guys wasn’t Occidental

Steve Guiremand

Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2004 | 9:45 a.m.

When UNLV released its 2003-04 basketball schedule last fall, many Rebels fans were left scratching their heads.

There on the schedule for Jan. 7, just five days before a crucial Mountain West Conference home opener against Utah, was a game against Occidental College.

For many, the reaction was, "Oxy-Who?" And what the heck was a Division III team from the Los Angeles suburb of Eagle Rock doing on UNLV's schedule?

"We play the game for two reasons," UNLV coach Charlie Spoonhour said. "One, we found that if you play people that are rated 150 or down (in RPI rankings) it really killed you and your RPI and your power ratings. The other thing is that it is just so difficult to find anyone whose schedule fits ours right now. We tried for an extended period of time to find somebody to play but we just couldn't do it."

The Rebels aren't alone. Utah will also be playing a Division III team -- Whitworth College of Spokane, Wash. -- on Wednesday night. And New Mexico will be play hosting to Patriot League power Colgate this week.

With the Pac-10 and most of the top Division I-A Conferences already in the middle of league play, trying to dig up a non-conference home opponent in early January is no easy task for many MWC teams.

So Spoonhour enlisted assistant David Rice, a southern California native very familiar with the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) from his old Claremont days, to inquire about Occidental.

The Tigers (6-2), who are ranked No. 25 in NCAA Division III ratings, went 25-3 a year ago and upset Cal State Fullerton, 82-74, in what was called an exhibition contest after the Titans learned some other games already scheduled to be played in Hawaii failed to meet NCAA exemption status. The Tigers went all the way to the Elite Eight of Division III before losing to Gustavus Adolphus of Minnesota.

Here's the big plus for UNLV and other MWC squads: since RPI and the Sagarin rankings count only Division I-A games, the contest won't be used against them in strength or schedule or RPI. But the schools can use a win (or loss) in their final won-lost records, although the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee won't count it.

"I think it is beneficial for everyone," Spoonhour said. "Occidental is a good team with a capital 'T.' They know what they're doing. They won't be a walkover. This will be a team that comes in and plays with a great deal of pride. And their players are good players, also."

And, better yet, the Tigers will run some of the same offensive sets that Utah uses.

So just what is Occidental's claim to fame, anyway?

Well, the Tigers used to field some pretty fair football teams back in the '50s, '60s, '70s and early '80s. Among their noted alumni are Jack Kemp and Jim Mora, both Class of '57, and running back Vance Mueller, a fourth-round pick of the Los Angeles Raiders in 1986 who played in the NFL for six years.

The school also was well known in track and field circles for a number of years and produced a number of Olympians.

Nowadays, the school's claim to fame is actor Ben Affleck attended school there in 1995 as did producer/director Terry Gilliam of Monty Python fame (Class of '62).

"I've seen (Affleck) at a couple of football games here but he's never come to a basketball game," longtime Tigers head coach Brian Newhall said. "I think he went to school here for a year or so but we still claim him."

The school's campus also served as California University for the TV show "Beverly Hills 90210" and was also used to film movies like "Clueless" with Alicia Silverstone, "Midnight Madness" with Michael J. Fox and Peewee Herman, and the 2002 release "Orange County." And the school's Lucille Y. Gilman Memorial Fountain at the main campus entrance is also known as the Star Trek Fountain thanks to its role in Star Trek IV.

Mostly, though, the small liberal arts college of 1,800 students is known for its top-notch academics. Occidental has produced 10 Rhodes scholars in its 117 years. It is in the same conference as Caltech and Whittier College, alma mater of former President Richard Nixon.

"We produce more lawyers, doctors and MBAs than NBA players," Newhall said. "We have Harvard-like entrance requirements here."

And no athletic scholarships. That makes recruiting a very difficult chore for Newhall considering one years cost of tuition, room and board is in the $38,000 range. The average incoming student usually carries a grade point average of 3.5 and an SAT score of 1,300 or better.

"It can be a hard sell," Newhall admitted. "You have to apply for admission by Jan. 15 and we'll probably have about 5,000 applicants. Out of that only about 400 will be accepted. And basketball is not given any special priority. But the good thing is you end up with 12 guys who really want to be here and graduate."

Newhall's task is to identify low Division I caliber talent and then convincing them that they'd be better off getting a first rate education at a Division III school.

"You try and convince them that it's more fun to come here and play a lot for four years than to go to a Division I school and maybe be the 10th or 11th man who doesn't play at all," Newhall said. "You get maybe a guy who like me was may be a step too slow to play Division I-A or is getting recruited by those schools but doesn't get a scholarship offer and is later asked to walk on."

One of the Tigers top players, 6-foot-7 junior forward Dallin Wilson, originally started his career as a walk-on at Gonzaga. BYU also was among the schools who wanted him to try out.

Newhall is trying to schedule games against two to three Division I teams a year to make it even more attractive for a player to attend Occidental. Besides Cal State Fullerton, the Tigers have played such schools as Loyola Marymount, UC San Diego, Northern Arizona and Portland in the past.

But Newhall said Wednesday night's game against UNLV is the biggest so far for his team, which drove out to Las Vegas this morning in three vans.

"We've never played in a arena with 20,000 seats before," Newhall said. "A big crowd for us is 1,000. We've played some competitive teams before but never one that had an RPI as high as UNLV's (No. 44) with a coaching legend like Charlie Spoonhour. Our players are very excited about getting this opportunity to play there. For those guys who think they're Division I players, this is their chance to prove it."

Who knows? Maybe Ben and J-Lo will even decide to drop by to cheer on the Tigers.