The 2011-2012 Yuba College Men’s Basketball season has been, to put it easy, one of the best in history. After a pre-season record of 15-3 and one of the highest Ratings Percentage Index in the state (RPI deciding at-large bids in the State Championship Tournament), the 49ers have been running roughshod over the Bay Valley Conference, and sit undefeated with only three games remaining on the schedule.
A win over Mendocino tonight gives the Niners yet another Bay Valley Conference championship, and another berth into the State Championship Tournament.
All of this pressure must be getting to Coach Doug Cornelius’s players, right?
Wrong.
“We just keep doing what we’re doing, we’ve got our routine,” said Coach Cornelius. “We go hard on Monday, we go light on Tuesday and Thursday and we play hard on Wednesday and Friday.”
This laid-back attitude has led the Niners to their highest state ranking in history (#3 as of this writing) and a 22-3 record.
Can the Niners go the distance and take home a State Championship? All that lies between the last three regular season games, the Bay Valley Conference Tournament, and the State Championship Tournament in March. First, they’ve got to get over Mendocino tonight.
With a wealth of sophomore talent in Anthony Romero, Anto Olah, Spencer Butterfield and Tyler Fry, and a freshman core of Achoki Moikobu, Yev Dyachenko, Cody Kale and Jacob Courage, the 49ers have a balanced team heading into the final stretch of the season.
Chris Carpenter is the Print Editor for The Prospector, and is a full-time student at Yuba College, majoring in Mass Communications. Outside of the newspaper, he is an avid writer, and watches tons of Japanese wrestling (and CHIKARA, the US equivalent of Lucha Libre). He can be followed on Twitter at twitter.com/antonio_DAMAN.
I am dumbfounded that we have this terrific team and the story of an historic season, and this is the first I have heard anything about it. There are no signs letting us know when we can see this team that represents us. this is the first basketball story I’ve ever seen here and I had to find it myself.
I am embarrassed and mad at this school, but more importantly the study body, we owe this team an apology. It is the task of the ASYC, the student groups, and The Prospector to create campus atmoshere, support, and ownership of the campus and create “The College Experience”, collectively you have denied all of us that.
Here is an opportunity to so respect to the team and fulfill resonsibity to your fellow students.
Lead the charge supporting the team in the tournament, one in which they could win US a state title.