Multnomah U. Basketball 2022-23 Season Preview

 By Harry Cummins

     Seeking to bring order out of the chaotic forces that concern every basketball coach, seasoned mentor Curt Bickley at Multnomah University has experienced a recent metamorphosis in his methodology.

     Bickley arrived at unheralded Multnomah Bible College in 2003, on the wings of a decorated 10-year high school coaching career that netted him nearly 200 wins, 2 Iowa state championships and 4 Coach of the Year honors. 

     At Multnomah, Bickley found himself saddled with limited financial resources, few scholarships, and only the promise of playing time at a no-name school in which to attract future players.  As a result, Bickley soon adapted an offensive scheme dominated by the 3 point shot and a school identity was soon formed on the feats of undersized practitioners of basketball's most celebrated shot.

     The landscape was altered in 2015 when a renamed Multnomah University joined the NAIA as a member of the Cascade Collegiate Conference. In 2018, a 5'9" shooting guard, Justin Martin, catapulted Multnomah into the national spotlight with his whirlwind heroics and back-to-back national scoring crowns. His 70 plus point games became the stuff of legends. Still, the team continued to lack any roster depth to support a starting five.

   One by one, the Lions began enticing taller and more skilled players to their Portland, Oregon campus, culminating in their current 2022-23 roster that now features no less than 8 players ranging from 6'6" to 7 feet.  Bickley no longer will live and die with the 3 point shot and can now deploy a deep bench that can be maneuvered in shifts much like an ice hockey coach does with changing lines. The coach also has the 'upward mobility' backing of  new university President Eric Anthony Joseph, himself a former triple- jump champion, along with Michael Anderson, a personable VP of Athletics, who comes with impressive power lifting credentials of his own.

    Propelling the Lions into the new season will be returning cornerstone players Zach Richardson and Tyrese Taylor.  Richardson is a 5th year graduate senior whose 27.6 ppg scoring average was runner-up in 2020-21 to NAIA National  Player of the Year Kyle Mangas.  Richardson has registered 50 and 49 pt single-game scoring outbursts in past seasons. Taylor is an all-conference center nightly posting double-double performances.

     Charles Jones, an NAIA pre-season All-American and a former Juco Player of the Year transfers to Multnomah this season from cross-town NCAA D1 Portland State. Quentin Jones is an athletic 6'9" transfer from North Carolina A&T and LSU Shreveport.  Containing the Jones boys will be an essential task for Multnomah opponents this year.

     Returning for his senior season, Taylor Peppinger is back as the leading returning 3 point shot maker in the Cascade Collegiate Conference.  6'9" forward Dante Sofia from Liverpool, England looks to collect a cluster of rebounds for the Lions in their journey down the yellow brick road that hopefully will lead to the 2023 NAIA National Basketball Championships in Kansas City come next March. 

     Filling up the stat sheet every game along the way will be Jr. guard Neyland Block, whose all-around game resulted in 10 pts, 6 reb's and 5 assists per game last season in a limited capacity. His emergence in pre-season workouts stamp him as a serious breakout candidate

     Key contributions are also expected this season from steadying veteran guard Wallace Ungwiluk discovered in an Alaskan outpost on the edge of the Bering Sea, and from explosive Texan Amande Uchime, while other NCAA transfers 'Squeaky Wilkins and Zen Goodridge bring much more than their colorful names to the party. Mix in Nigerian Michael Okoye and talented Pacific Northwest natives Will Casebolt, Leonel Gallegos, Alex Newkirk and Brady Grier and this team is loaded.  

     So much so that rapidly developing 7 foot post Will Kietzmann and heralded San Diego prep star Derrien Carter-Hollinger may be forced to take a red-shirt season when they could well start for most teams.

     Coach Bickley will celebrate 20 years as the Lions head coach this year, poised on the threshold of the journey that is the 2022-23 season.  A new basketball theology, so to speak, has evolved at the small college with spiritual beginnings.  A new reading of traditional text is emerging and Bickley and assistant coaches Tayo Gem and Quinn Curry will be deeply challenged to unify this treasure- trove of scattered talent.

     Interdependence cannot be an elective study . Sacrificial integration must be quickly cultivated and forged thru the crucible of one game at a time.  

     Game 1: October 29   Multnomah University vs  Pacific Union College (Calif.)

     P.S.   Fallback plan still remains... 22ft, 1 3\4 inches away

hcummins@aol.com

Nomah Nation

     

     

     

     

Hoops 2022-23

 

    Please support your local high school and college basketball teams this 2022-23 season.

Astonished Onlookers Report Local Phenomenon

 

 

     Reports keep filtering in from what shall remain, for now, an unidentified Portland, Oregon track. Sources close to the scene have reported seeing a man closely resembling Craw's Corner founder Greg Crawford circling the cinders at speeds that are simultaneously turning heads and stopping timing devices.  

     At present, accounts of this phenomenon are not completely verified.  However, late this afternoon I received a phone call from both the National Masters News and the USA Senior Track and Field Federation, both asking for confirmation of the recently reported mile time for Mr.Crawford.  They also requested media credentials along with copies of the upcoming workout schedules of Mr. Crawford.

     They also asked for his birth certificate.  

hcummins

 

Oregon High School Varsity Girls and Boys Basketball Soon Will Have a Shot Clock

Oregon high school boys and girls varsity basketball in all classifications will implement a 35-second shot clock starting with the 2023-2024 season.

The vote was unanimous when the Executive Board of the Oregon School Activities Association took action on it during its meeting this morning.

In an Oregon Basketball Coaches Association survey, 220 were in favor of the shot clock, while 48 were against it and 28 expressed no preference.

Momentum for the shot clock has been building since last year after a rule change by the National Federation of High School Associations (NFHS).

The state of Oregon isn't along in implementing the shot clock. California and Washington already use it for its high school games.

In the next two years, Idaho, Montana and Utah will join Oregon in shot clock usage.

OSAA Executive Director Peter Weber stated that cost will be a hurdle for some schools. He noted that athletic directors will find a way to make it happen so that the necessary equipment can be purchased and that people would be recruited to run the new shot clocks.

Thoughts?

Non-Podium Performance Deemed 'Best Moment' at World Championships

Lost in the headlines surrounding one of the greatest 1500

meters ever run, was a 4th place finish by a college runner

from Ole Miss, Mario Garcia Romo

By Harry Cummins 

     After spending 10 days lodged in Eugene, Oregon at the recent World Athletics Track and Field Championships, I am now in possession of a dazzling disarray of milliseconds and memories from one of the greatest athletic competitions in history.  It was the kind of far-reaching event that both demands yet defies one's summation.

     To attempt to name a best performance of the meet is a fool's errand, of course. Record breaking performances by Noah Lyles, Sydney McLaughlin and Tobi Amusan top most such lists.  Instead, I choose here to highlight what persists thru the filter of my own definition of 'awe-inspiring'. 

     On Day 5 of these Championships, set in the evening gloam, the world was treated to a scintillating stretch duel in the men's 1500m final. Great Britain's Jake Wightman shocked Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen to grab the gold in a spectacular time of 3:29.23, the fastest time ever run on U.S. soil.

     Closing fast in 4th place, but narrowly missing the podium, was Mario Garcia Romo, a 23 year-old college runner from the University of Mississippi and representing Spain. With 200 meters to go, Romo ran 27.9 for the last 200m and 13.70 seconds for the last 100m to move from 7th place to 4th, just missing the podium by three hundredths of a second to countryman Mohamed Katir.  Garcia Romo's final 200m split was identical to that clocked by the hard charging winner, Wightman.

     Converting to a spectacular 3:46.8 mile, Garcia Romo's final clocking of 3:30.20 was the fastest 1500 meters ever run by a collegiate runner and would have won every Olympic Games since the modern Games began, except for the 2021 Games in Tokyo.

    Thru the eyes of this old miler.... I saw nothing quite like it all week. 

hcummins@aol.com

     

     

High-A Northwest League Update 5/1/22

Sunday Northwest League Scores:

Eugene 3, Tri-City 0 (Game 1)

Tri-City 3, Eugene 2 (Game 2)

Spokane 9, Everett 1

Vancouver 7, Hillsboro 0

Monday Northwest League Schedule:

No games scheduled.

Northwest League Standings

W L Pct. GB

Tri-City 11 9 .550 --

Eugene 10 9 .526 .5

Vancouver 10 9 .526 .5

Hillsboro 11 10 .524 .5

Spokane 11 10 .524 .5

Everett 7 13 .350 4 

High-A Northwest League Update 4/21/22

Thursday Northwest League Scores:

Eugene at Vancouver, ppd. rain

Tri-City 6, Everett 3 (10 innings)

Hillsboro 6, Spokane 5

Wednesday Northwest League Scores:

Eugene at Vancouver, ppd. rain

Tri-City 5, Everett 3

Spokane 2, Hillsboro 0

Friday Northwest League Schedule:

Eugene at Vancouver (2) 1:05pm

Tri-City at Everett 1:05pm

Hillsboro at Spokane 6:35pm

Northwest League Standings

W L Pct. GB

Vancouver 6 3 .667 --

Tri-City 7 4 .636 --

Eugene 5 4 .556 1

Hillsboro 6 6 .500 1.5

Spokane 5 7 .417 2.5

Everett 3 8 .272 4

High-A Northwest League Update 4/18/22

Sunday High-A Northwest League Scores:

Spokane 8, Eugene 1

Hillsboro 13, Everett 1

Vancouver 8, Tri-City 3

Monday High-A Northwest League Schedule:

No games scheduled.

Tuesday High-A Northwest League Schedule:

Eugene at Vancouver

Hillsboro at Spokane

Tri-City at Everett

High-A Northwest League Update 4/16/22

Saturday High-A Northwest League Scores:

Eugene 3, Spokane 1 (Game 1)

Eugene 4, Spokane 2 (Game 2)

Hillsboro 3, Everett 2

Vancouver at Tri-City, ppd., wet grounds

Sunday High-A Northwest League Schedule:

Everett at Spokane 1:05pm

Vancouver at Tri-City 1:35pm

Spokane at Eugene 6:05pm

High-A Northwest League Standings

W L Pct. GB

Vancouver 5 2 .714 --

Tri-City 4 3 .571 1

Eugene 4 3 .571 1

Hillsboro 4 4 .500 1.5

Everett 3 4 .429 2

Spokane 2 6 .250 3.5

High-A Northwest League Baseball Update 4/15/22

Thursday High-A Northwest League Baseball Scores:

Eugene 7, Spokane 3

Everett 5, Hillsboro 0

Vancouver at Tri-City, ppd.

Friday High-A Northwest League Baseball Schedule:

Spokane at Eugene, 7:35pm

Everett at Hillsboro, 6:35pm

Vancouver at Tri-City (2), 4:00pm

The Burgeoning Legend Of Steven Kwan

 

Ex Oregon State Beaver Making History

     The last time I saw Steven Kwan play baseball was in 2018, during his Junior and final season at Oregon State. My baseball buddy Dan and I had traveled to Corvallis to witness a late season Pac-12 national showdown between the 2nd ranked Stanford Cardinal and the 3rd ranked Beavers.

     Steven Kwan went 2 for 4 that night in a game that featured 14 strikeouts from controversial OSU hurler Luke Heimlich.  Kwan would conclude that national championship season with a .355 batting average and a 5th round selection that summer in the MLB draft by the Cleveland Indians. 

     Flash forward to the current major league baseball season, where Steven Kwan has rocked the baseball world with his stunning debut with the Cleveland Guardians, formerly known as the Indians. In his first 5 games in the major leagues, Kwan has done something no other player has accomplished in the modern era of baseball. He has reached base safely in 18 of his first 24 plate appearances.

     Kwan currently leads the American League in batting average with a robust .667, is second in MLB in runs scored, and leads the AL in both walks and on-base percentage. His 10 base hits is second only in all of baseball to Wander Franco's 11 for the Tampa Bay Rays.

     Just six days into the 2022 season, all eyes are focused on the 5'9" mighty mite. Yours should be, as well.

     

High-A Minor League Baseball Update

Tuesday High-A Northwest League Baseball Scores:

Spokane at Eugene, ppd., rain

Tri-City 7, Vancouver 5

Hillsboro 4, Everett 3

Wednesday High-A Northwest League Baseball Schedule:

Spokane at Eugene

Vancouver at Tri-City

Everett at Hillsboro

High-A Northwest League Baseball Standings:

W L Pct. GB

Tri-City 4 0 1.000 --

Everett 2 1 .667 1.5

Vancouver 2 2 .500 2

Spokane 1 2 .333 2.5

Hillsboro 1 3 .250 3

Eugene 0 2 .000 3 

High-A Minor League Update

Saturday High-A Northwest League Baseball Scores:

Everett 10, Eugene 7

Tri-City 6, Hillsboro 2

Spokane 10, Vancouver 2

Sunday High-A Northwest League Baseball Scores:

Eugene 1, Everett 1 (4 innings, suspended)

Tri-City 3, Hillsboro 0

Vancouver 8, Spokane 7

Monday High-A Northwest League Baseball Scores:

No games scheduled.

Tuesday High-A Northwest League Baseball Schedule:

Spokane at Eugene

Vancouver at Tri-City

Everett at Hillsboro

High-A Minor League Baseball for 4/8/22

Friday High-A Northwest League Baseball Scores:

Everett 4, Eugene 2

Tri-City 5, Hillsboro 4

Vancouver 8, Spokane 6

Who Needs Baseball?

The Mets will likely send Jacob deGrom to the hill on Opening Day

                                          
 

By Harry Cummins

     The Major League Baseball season is at our doorstep.  For those of you who possess an innate understanding that hitting is all about timing... and pitching is about upsetting timing, and that home is where one must always start from, then there awaits a lifetime burning in each calculated pitch and each unpredictable swing of this most anticipated of baseball journeys.

     'Blue Moon' and 'Oil Can' have long since departed the sport but a new cast of characters has captured our imagination..  What will be the nicknames we lovingly attach to the likes of Wander Franco and Bobby Witt, Jr?  

     It should be noted straight-away that baseball is not an obvious game.  The poet Walt Whitman uncovered profound things in the game while Thomas Boswell claimed, more than any other American sport, baseball creates the illusion that it can almost be understood.  Leo 'The Lip' Durocher simply said baseball is a lot like church.  Many attend, few understand.

     Your opportunity for enlightenment, and maybe even a swing at salvation, begins on April 7.  May you celebrate your team in victory, and stay faithful in defeat  It may be just what our contentious culture needs right now. 

      As James Earl Jones once opined, "baseball reminds us all of what was once good.. and that could be again."    

     It's Opening Day. Time your season swing for the fastball but you better be ready for the bender. Faith and doubt, blessings and curses, all in the daily striving to find home. 

     I need baseball!          

    

     

     

Here We Go...Again!

Hello from Eugene. I'm back and, not trying to brag, better than ever!!! (One can only hope.)

For those here for the first time, please allow me to introduce myself. I'm Bill Crawford. I'm 65 years of age and live and work in Eugene. I'm a native Oregonian, born in Medford on November 8, 1956. I'm a 1974 graduate of Winston Churchill High School in Eugene (Go Lancers!) and a 1978 graduate of what was then Southern Oregon State College, now Southern Oregon University (Go Raiders!), where I earned my Bachelor of Science degree in Speech Communications. 

I'm married with two daughters and two very handsome (if I do say so myself) grandsons. 

I'm a long-time member of the broadcast media, 45-plus years in radio. I also have experience as a voiceover artist. I currently work as a radio personality, account executive and sportscaster at a small, locally-owned combo in Eugene, KKNX (FM 105.1, AM 840, radio84.com) and KEED (FM 104.3, AM 1450 and keed1450.com). KKNX is a full-service classic hits radio station with live and local Oregon Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame personalities in morning and afternoon drive and the only Eugene radio stations with a local staff meteorologist, plus local and national news, up-to-the-second traffic updates during drive times and Oregon State Beavers football, men's basketball and baseball games. KEED is a classic country station with live personalities 24/7. I also am an account executive for locally-owned KORE Fox Sports Eugene (FM 95.7, AM 1050 and foxsportseugene.com. It's a Fox Sports Radio affiliate featuring Dan Patrick, Colin Cowherd, Doug Gottlieb and from Portland's 750 The Game, the Rose City's own John Canzano. KORE is also the Eugene affiliate of the Portland Trail Blazers and Los Angeles Chargers. Why the Chargers? Simple. QB Justin Herbert is a Eugene native, a graduate of Sheldon High School and a former Oregon Ducks quarterback. (See, I told you it was simple.)

During the summer I'm the radio play-by-play and stadium voice of the Emerald Overhead Door Challengers American Legion baseball team. Games are on KKNX as we usually carry 25 regular-season games plus all post-season games. The Emerald Overhead Door Challengers are the defending state champions based in Eugene and was one day away from playing for the championship of the NW Regionals and possibly going to the American Legion World Series. 

It's actually fun and rewarding to be able to be a positive experience in people's lives. With this Craw's Corner blog (named for Greg Crawford, no relation except he's a great person, cares about people and puts on some outstanding sports luncheons every so often featuring the cream of the Northwest crop), my goal is to be a positive influence on a reader's life. Hopefully yours.

For now, thanks for reading my first blog in several months. There'll be more to come. I promise.

1962 World Series MVP Ralph Terry Dies

 

By Harry Cummins

     The chance to skip a week's worth of college classes in 1962 in order to attend the World Series was an easy decision for me at the age of 19.

     Sadly, I learned this week that the MVP of that terrific World Series, Ralph Terry, passed away in his hometown of Larnard, Kansas at the age of 86.

     I was lucky to witness Terry win 2 of the last 3 games of that Series for the Yankees, including his famous 1-0 shutout that ended the decisive Game 7 on a Willie McCovey line drive into the glove of second baseman Bobby Richardson.

     Ralph Terry was named to the All-Star Game in 1962 and led the American League that same season with 23 victories. He was a member of the Yankees pitching rotation on five consecutive league champions from 1960 to 1964.

     After baseball, Terry became a professional golfer, playing in both PGA and Senior PGA tour events.

     I will never forget Ralph Terry and those two wonderful World Series wins he authored. I have no memory of the college classes I skipped that week but still treasure the recollection of Terry on the mound and the sight of Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays patrolling centerfield for their respective teams in that classic 1962 World Series.

     Rest in Peace Ralph Terry

Dispensing Hope Amid Catastrophe

 

By Harry Cummins

     I cannot begin to understand the deadly wickedness unfolding right now in Ukraine. I think many of us are sent scurrying as we try to solidify those things that have sustained our past existence. This is the kind of catastrophic world event that can easily disarm and propel us toward apocalyptic projections.  The whole of Europe, it seems, is facing a potential reshuffling of allegiance and authority, while the United States lingers in the long, benevolent shadow of it's past roles.

     I certainly can't suggest what is the "right" military strategy in order to end this conflict. I am haunted hourly by the images from this war-torn land streaming from our television screens. Why are millions forced to flee their homes in terror while my thermostat remains at at comfortable 68 degrees?

     I do believe there are new beginnings hidden in all this destruction. I do believe they can be found thru the discovery of  lasting hope in each human heart.  Right now, that is very difficult..for so very many. I wish it were as easy as handing out blankets at the border.

     The globe huddles in fear of expanding violence, but thank God for those very individuals among us who await with arms full of blankets and clothes.  Articles of kindness, wrapped in hope for all who make their way in a shattered world being made new.

hcummins@aol.com

The 'Games' of The Natural World

 

By Harry Cummins

     While the eyes of the world currently center on the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, photographer Dan Johnson took time out this week to give us a private glimpse from the natural world to rival that of any aerials or axils streaming from the slopes and ice surfaces of Beijing.  

     Several years ago, an article in National Geographic described how seagulls have developed a cruel hunting strategy never seen before in the animal world - eating the eyeballs of  live seal pups.

     Yesterday, while on a stroll along the waterfront in Portland, Oregon, Johnson captured the rare revenge of a parental seal. This remarkable photograph begs the question: Is cruelty strictly a human construct that does not extend to the natural world?

     These aquatic exercises by gulls and seals certainly cause one to give pause.

hcummins@aol.com

    

Like Tifffany's On Ice

by Harry Cummins

     Upon watching Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron of France whirl their way to ice dancing Olympic Gold the other night, it was left to NBC commentator and two-time Olympian himself, Johnny Weir, to drop-spin the best quote of the Beijing Games to date:

      "Watching these two skate makes me feel like I just walked into a luxury store I couldn't afford"

Gabriela Bhaskar photo

Craw’s Corner, 2/14/22

 By Gregory Crawford @wchoops

It is time to take a hard look at the economy in the United States. Yes, I am not Dr. Doom and never have been, but I am always a realist and have been my entire life. I do not see a rosy future in the next 18 months. To keep it simple, inflation, interest rates and gas prices are poised to wreak havoc. They are the 3 keys to watch for the average consumer. 

And yes I didn’t even mention record rise in housing prices and crime in many areas. My word to the wise, don’t get over confident and pay attention to your wallet, before it gets empty.

——————————————-

Are you like me? Totally annoyed by the lack of drivers using their turn signals. Yes you are laughing right now cause faced this awful phenomenon already today. How tough is it too signal. If you are a violator of this act, please change your ways.

———————————

Happy Valentines Day. 

When Drug Testing Becomes the Obstacle

 

By Harry Cummins

     If tainting baseball's treasured names with our annual Hall-of-Fame balloting isn't enough, we've now managed to sully the slippery surfaces of the Beijing Winter Olympics with our as yet inability to understand and manage the complex issue of controlled substances in sport.

     The latest target of our well-intended ineptitude is the banned drug trimetazidine. We now have not only petite figure skaters, but bobsledders and curling sweepers under suspicion.  While we're at it, somebody should get a sample from that kid down the street who just shoveled his elderly neighbor's driveway in world-record time this week!

    What somebody should really put under the microscope is the sudden swell of sub-4 minute miles being clocked on the current indoor track and field circuit.  Seventy-nine NCAA men have now run a sub-4 mile THIS SEASON! Makes me want to lace on a pair of those super-spikes and give it a go myself.

    OK, in the face of all this, and a culture that finds difficulty imagining purity in human endeavor, we should at the very least summon Dr Fauci to appear before still another governing body to fully disclose what's really in those booster shots.

     One only hopes today's Super Bowl LVI is not decided on the strength of an 75-yard field goal. Let's see an NFL placekicker try to hurdle his way out of that post game press conference!  Of course, that's after he is first tested for drugs.

hcummins@aol.com

Craw’s Corner Is Back

 By Gregory Crawford @wchoops

It is with great pleasure that we bring back Craw’s Corner. One thing that is lacking overall is that many people are not good listeners . Well we listened and I asked many people what they would like to see in Craw’s Corner.

After listening here is how we will go forward. You will see content here every day except Friday. The stories will be short and the topics will consist of news, sports, business, politics and our world famous power rankings. 

Enjoy and comments always welcome or email at gregorycrawfordspeaks@gmail.com