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The college basketball game is about to kick off, and the local coaches are irritated because their team will be able to play in front of the fans this season.

The UCSB men's and women's teams will play their home games in the refurbished Thunderdome this week. The Gaucho women's team played against Loyola Marymount on Tuesday night, while the defending Big Western champion men's team will face San Francisco State University on Wednesday.

Westmont's men's and women's teams will also return home this week. The women’s team will face the Claremont Mudd-Scripps team on Tuesday, while the men’s team will face La Sierra on Wednesday.

Westmont men’s coach Landon Boucher had to deal with a crazy COVID-19 season in his first year, and then started his second season with his return to the first team. The player was told that he could not play basketball again due to a heart problem to pass COVID-19.

"We have had a very interesting autumn, and many of you can say lows and bumps," Boucher said at the Santa Barbara Sports Roundtable Press Luncheon held at the Harley Square Café on Monday.

Boucher explained that the outstanding player Cade Roth was infected with the new crown virus and had to undergo a heart examination because doctors believed that the infection would cause his heart to expand.

"They said you can never play again. So, as you can imagine, it was a huge blow to him as a player and as a person," Boucher said.

Rose was sent to a well-known cardiologist in Los Angeles and was told that his problem was misdiagnosed and obtained permission to compete.​​

"He has been absent for almost a month, and now he is back to play with us. He did a good job," Boucher said. "We have encountered a lot of these things, and our players have just passed the difficult time." 

The Warriors had eight new players and started 3-0.

"I worked hard for our players to come together and understand each other as players, but also as people, and I am very proud of them," Boucher said.

"We just continue to get better every day and try to achieve some success on the court."

UCSB Men's Basketball

Gaucho assistant coach John Riley, who was the assistant coach of the Australian men’s national team who won the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics, said it would be exciting for fans to stand in the stands of the Thunder Stadium again.

The team returned several key players from a team that won the Big Western Championship with 22 wins and 5 losses and participated in the NCAA tournament.

"We should have a good and interesting team to watch," he said. "Wednesday night, we will play against San Francisco State University when we head to Washington State next Monday to adjust our condition and achieve a good away win at the beginning of the season."

Amadou Sow, Miles Norris and Ajare Sanni were selected as the best Western team in the preseason.

The other player that Riley noticed was a freshman point guard from Belgium, Ajay Mitchell.

"I think we should be fun," he said. "As we prepare for the season, I will not promise any wins or losses. But any one of you who wants to come and see us, Wednesday night will be our first blow."

Westmont Women's

The last time Kirsten Moore was in Harry's Ranchero Room, her team ranked first in the country and participated in the NAIA National Championship in 2019. Due to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic across the country, the tournament was cancelled. 

The game returns in 2020, and the Warriors won the national championship. However, due to the pandemic and state and county health restrictions, the round table lunch was not held at Harry's house.

"We didn't have any celebrations (at the roundtable), so I'm very happy that your volleyball team can celebrate at his venue," said excited Moore, congratulating the Bishop Diego and the Santa Barbara High School Women's Volleyball Team for winning the CIF championship.

She yelled to Annie Knecht, the best athlete of the week and the Santa Barbara CIF champion women's volleyball team. Moore said that Knecht was "like the big sister of my daughter (Alexis)."

Now that the college basketball season has arrived, Moore is excited about her team's potential in the new season.

"Since last year, we have sent back four of the five starters from the national championship team," she pointed out. The situation this season is also very bright. "

Moore tested her team very early. She played the NAIA ranked team Cal from Oregon and the University of Oregon. 

"I'm never afraid to challenge my team as soon as possible," she said.

The Warriors will have their home opener at 5:30 on Tuesday afternoon. Their opponent is Claremont Mudd Scripps.

"This is your first time here in a long time," Moore said.

She pointed out that fans will be impressed by her energetic guard combination Stephanie Berberabe and Iri Jarrett. They were the NAIA All-American first team last season, and Berberabe was named NAIA of the year. The best player.

"You want to watch these two games. They are incredible," Moore said.

She said that a game on the calendar is the opener of next Saturday's Golden State Athletic Conference against the opponent's Masters. The latter has a 6-foot-6-inch inside player who is a member of the Brazilian national team.

UCSB Women's Basketball

Coach Bonnie Hendrickson took a break from training, attended Monday’s luncheon and talked about her team’s season opener against Loyola Marymount at Thunderdome on Tuesday .

"We are very excited about this," Hendrickson said. “Cassandra Gordon from Santa Barbara High School plays for LMU. She played very well in the preseason game against Biola. I saw her dad a few weekends ago and he laughed at me at the Page Center. So. We are ready."

Hendrickson has a complete list of 15 players, 6 feet 4 inches tall Ila Lane (Ila Lane) returned, opted out of the game last season due to the pandemic, in the 2019-20 season, as a freshman Leading the country in rebounding.

"When you lose the country's leading rebounder, you get a lot of rebounds," Hendrickson said. "So when she made a decision, we quickly became smaller.

"She is back, she is on the Lisa Leslie preseason watch list, which makes her one of the top 20 inside players in the United States.

"I don't look tall anymore on our show. We are 6-4, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2. I look like a point guard."

Another key returnee is point guard Dana Miller, who has returned to her fifth year.

"She is now a Covid senior-we have all these words that we have never used before: fluid and Covid seniors."

Santa Barbara Women's Volleyball

Dons won the CIF Division 7 championship by sweeping El Rancho at JR Richards Gym.

The team will be recognized at the lunch meeting next week.

Coach Kristin Hempy brought the best athlete of the week, setter Annie Knecht.

"She played a great game on Saturday," Hampi said. "She really became the target of El Rancho. They hit her hard, so she had to stand up and dig more than in previous games. She was adjusting and actually doing the work for us and in our front row She did a great job mixing her set.

"She is really a strong athlete with strong character and leadership. As a junior, she is one of our captains, so I am proud to coach her this season and look forward to her future in volleyball. All the amazing achievements in the field. Moreover, she is also the best on the track."

Hempy was the same at San Marcos High School.

Coach JT Stone acknowledged the performance of veteran Nathan Barrios in the 36-20 CIF playoff victory over Campbell Hall last Friday. Barrios was named the best athlete of the week.

"He just played a football game," Stone said.

Stone said the coach brought back defenseman Danny Panosian, who is "the coolest senior on campus." "He was a kid who came to me and asked to play football. He said he could play, and then he came out to exercise."

Stone admitted that Panosian encountered some challenges in the game, but he has been working hard to make himself better.

Stone said: “It’s a blessing for a kid who doesn’t really play football to come to us and try to start the past two years and work hard like him.”

"What I like about Danny is that he likes competition and he is passionate about his work. You can see the passion in his eyes. He wants to be better."

On Friday, the Towns team will play the 4-7 Port of Newport team in the quarter-finals at home. The Port of Newport defeated Sunny Hills in the first round.

Stone questioned how a team with a regular season record of 3-7 can make the playoffs, but he knew that Port Newport would be a good team.

He pointed out that this will be the first playoff game at the new Peabody Stadium.

"This is very important for our project, to be able to play the playoffs at home," he said. "Our children are very excited, the community is very excited, and our school is also very excited.

"I tell these people to cherish this moment. They won't have such a moment.

"We hope to clean up the house on Friday. This will be a very exciting game."

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Vaqueros ended a two-game losing streak with a score of 27-24 at Moorpark last Saturday night.

Coach Craig Moropoulos said offensive winger Donovan Davis played a key role in Varcross's rush for more than 200 yards. Davis is a freshman guard in Houston.

SBCC won the game in the final seconds with a shot from Jorge Figueroa.

Moropoulos gave Figueroa the nickname "Clutch".

"We decided to call him the'clutch' because he won two games for us as a kicker. In the past we lost the divisional championship game because of the wrong ball, so I know how difficult it is," Moropoulos Say. "But I have confidence in this person."

Vaqueros (5-3) vs. Santa Monica at 1 p.m. Saturday 

UCSB Women's Swimming

Jaclyn Rosen made his debut at the luncheon as UCSB's new swimming coach.

"We have high expectations for winning the MPSF championship this year and getting some people into the NCAA," she said.

She pointed out that Kian Brouwer is a Gaucho with NCAA ambitions. His best projects are 200 freestyle and 100 butterfly.

"We had a very good year. We swim faster than when we won the championship two years ago, which is really great," Rosen said.

The Gao Qiao people have met five times. Their next game will be held at Dixie State University on the eve of Thanksgiving. The first family gathering was on January 8.

Coach Tiffany Simms didn't have much say after attending the Fall Championship in Burbank last weekend. One of the games was against the perennial power Sierra Canyon.

She said that her 5-foot-10 forward, Riley Welch, is fighting 6-4 and 6-5 players.

"The girls are playing very well. If they can play against a top-ranked team like Sierra Canyon, when we play in the league, things will be much easier," Sims said.

She introduced the returnees Natasha Staff, Piper Nelson and Welch. 

Assistant coach Noe Gomez said that after being uncertain about trail running, Marvin Lujano joined the team and was the fastest freshman in the Santa Barbara County Championship.

"We are very happy that this freshman can become a member of the team. I look forward to seeing him develop with us in the next few years," Gomez said.

Belen Herrera is eligible to participate in CIF Prelims at Mt. San Antonio College.

"I'm really happy that Belem insists on off-roading, and I hope to continue to see her in a few months," Gomez said.

Senior Kate Cooney will also go to CIF Prelims.

"She is one of our captains. I am really happy to see that she not only has completed the cross country with us now, but also hopes that she can continue to go further. She has a football game, and then a track and field game in the spring."

The top-seeded Warriors will participate in the 5th Division Semifinals and will play against Downey at the Santa Barbara High School swimming pool at 3:30 pm on Wednesday.

Assistant coach Stephen King introduced second-year student Asher Smith and senior Rain Clayton, these two players are the key to Carpinteria's success.

He said Smith is the "offensive core" of the Warriors. He scored 15 goals in two playoff games.

"He is just a destruction machine," Jin said.

King pointed out that Clayton reached its peak at the right time. "He actually developed quick shots or singles, and he scored very well."

He added that Clayton's defense is also very good.

Coach Shayla Houlihan brought five members of the Big West champion UCSB men's cross-country team: Brandon Cobian, TJ Bryson, Ryan Koepnick, Zach Parker and Zane Golpaviani.

Parker was named the Great Western Freshman of the Year.

"I am very grateful to these people for supporting me and following my crazy game plan early in the season, which really achieved results in the Big Western Championship," Hollyhan said. "You know, any time you have to fight Caltech will be very difficult. And these people are more powerful. So, it's cool."

The Gauchos will head to the NCAA West in Sacramento this weekend.

Assistant coach John Slavin brought in senior outstanding players Kyle Riley and Joaquin Reik, both of whom were players on the three-year college team.

About Lake: "He is very calm on the court, he uses what he does in practice in the game. He is a very tough defender. He has a high basketball IQ, and he has become a very Skilled scorer.

"He has a 4.0 GPA and is part of our leadership team," Slavin said.

About Rillie: "He is a leader and he wants to involve everyone around him. In training and games, he has a natural ability to observe, he can make huge passes for the easy basket. In Hugh During the season, he really improved and became a better rebounder and scorer. His GPA was 3.9."

Slaven said that after only playing 12 games last season, the Chargers will play 27 games this season. The schedule includes games with powerful programs such as Mater Dei, Santa Margarita and St. John Bosco.

The team will also participate in the San Jose Strong Tournament and the Santa Barbara Holiday Classic in Santa Maria.

Assistant coach Moki Nacario brought in Madeleine Van Bebber and Arielle Feinberg from the women's team, and Nico Tassos and Jack Garza from the men's team.

The boys will participate in the CIF preliminaries to be held at Mt. SAC this weekend.

The women's and men's teams will go to Mt. SAC to participate in the CIF preliminaries.

Coach Jen Brown said that in last week's DP course league finals, 29 of the 65 children had the best individual results.

"This is a good way for us to end the league at home," she said.

As for CIF, the girls entered the preliminaries and ranked fifth in the 3rd division. The top five of the three warm-up matches advanced to the final.

Brown said that DP ranks second in their popularity.

The boys will have five top-ranked teams.

"But the boys' performance was the best of their entire season. They really seem to come together," she said.

Brown brought in senior captain London Wahlberg from the women's team, who won a 19:50 PR in the league final.

"She is definitely the core and soul of our team," Brown said. "And she is not only the best singer in the van, but now I know why-she is still taking vocal lessons at the Western Conservatory of Music. So, we will keep going and let her continue to be a DJ for us while we travel."

Wahlberg is a member of the DP School of Engineering, and her GPA is 4.29.

Junior Orlando Ye's PR score in the league final was 16:34. 

"He is an absolutely born athlete," Brown said. "I can talk to you about all his skateboarding skills today, but he has a week off before the playoffs. I told him not to skate again this week.

"In fact, he has been running with a sprained ankle all season, but he still runs very fast."

The Warriors entered the NAIA top 10 for the first time and remained undefeated in the NAIA game," said Ron Smith, Westmont Sports Information Director.

Olivia Garrison ranked first in the 1650 freestyle, and Ella Chaisson ranked second in the 200 IM and 400 IM.

The Warriors will host the GSAC Championship on Thursday and Saturday. Westmont faces the Masters in a semi-final at 1:30 on Thursday. The final is at 1 p.m. Saturday

Westmont will also be the venue for the first round of NAIA tournaments to be held from November 18th to 20th.

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