Tightwad Hill

PREVIEW - CHICAGO STATE v CALIFORNIA

Chicago State sounds made-up, frankly, like one of the schools that Nick Nolte's team played in Blue Chips. But it's a real university, located in (duh) Chicago that credentials lots of teachers for that city's failing school system. It is also, most importantly, the birthplace of Styx (above) and thus a key location on the Big Map of Craptastic 70's Prog-Rock. No Chicago State, no this:



Their basketball team has a masochistic streak, having played Texas, Wichita State, Indiana and DePaul in their first nine games. All of those were sizable losses, and the Cougars come into Berkeley 3-6 on the season. They beat UTEP in El Paso, which isn't saying all that much anymore.

They're small, with both backcourt starters standing under 5'9". They press - their three returning guards - Royce Parran, David Holston and Kevin Ross and had 57, 49 and 41 steals respectively in '05-'06. Their main inside presence is Cam-Ron Clay, a 6'8"PF who I believe is the only player in CBB history named Cam-Ron.

Cal should beat them like a rented mule, unless our guards forget what they're doing (which is a distinct possibility).

posted by Tightwad @ 7:22 AM