OLIVER KIMOKEO | sports editor
The GSAC fi nally has a basketball championship earned by a conference member. Vanguard defeated Trevecca Nazarene (Tenn.), 72-59, in the women’s championship game Tuesday. Prior to the Lions’ fi rst appearance in the title game, only three other GSAC schools (all on the men’s side) have made it to the tournament fi nal and all three lost.
The Cougars made the fi nal in 2005. The struggle for GSAC teams lies in conference structure. All 11 GSAC schools play basketball. Every school plays 20 conference games as they play every team twice home-and-away.
Since the GSAC teams are odd in number, there is always one school who must take a “bye” as the other 10 teams play on that evening. Another effect to accommodate to all the “byes” is starting conference games earlier in the season. The fi rst conference game is usually the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. No team is playing their best in November and a team may be drastically different by March.
I have a better solution. It will only work with a 12th team in the conference. Cal State San Marcos could be that extra team. The San Marcos university is a NAIA independent and currently does not have a basketball team. If there is a basketball program emerging there, the school could affi liate itself with GSAC for basketball only.
After the GSAC acquires its 12th basketball team, the conference should be split into two divisions. The following teams should be placed in the North division: APU, Biola, California Baptist, Fresno Pacifi c, The Master’s and Westmont. And the following teams should be placed in the South division: Cal State San Marcos, Concordia, Hope International, Point Loma Nazarene, San Diego Christian and Vanguard.
In this new conference structure, all the teams will only play 16 games and all GSAC games would be played in January and February. For example, the Cougars will play a home-and-home series with the North teams and only play the South teams once a year.
There are many benefi ts to adapting this system. First, teams of extreme distance (Fresno Pacifi c and Point Loma Nazarene) would not have to travel to a school far away every year since North and South schools will play at the other school every other year. Second, teams will not have to play a conference until January which will make sure quality basketball is played for every conference game.
Third, diminishing conference games from 20 to 16 would help open space on the schedule to get more exposure to non-conference schools. Fourth, the GSAC schools are beating up on each other. The schedule currently is more of a gauntlet and a survival procedure than a true test of which school is the best team. In men’s basketball, the Cougars, as the GSAC’s No. 2 team, went two rounds farther than No. 1 Concordia in the tourney.
It is important for the GSAC to reconsider its scheduling formulas in order to create a schedule beneficial for all conference members and to help GSAC schools reach and win more championships.
