Game 3: Long Beach State - The More You Know

Well that certainly was an interesting game against Rider.  An ugly win is still a win though.  Not sure how it'll look in the RPI later considering that Rider lost by 26 to Robert Morris and 18 to Drexel at 6am yesterday morning.  On a positive note though, the dynamic duo simply known as Ash-Tray (Gibbs and Woodall) have scored a combined 87 points through two games.  That is 0.5 points below half of Pitt's total offense (89 + 86 / 2=87.5...and yes, I know I need one more set of parenthesis in that equation, but I didn't feel like putting it in).

Hopefully they can keep it up in Game 3...let's roll.

Let's take a closer look at our friends from SoCal, shall we?

University Website: http://www.csulb.edu
Athletics Website: http://www.longbeachstate.com/ 
Behind Enemy Blogs: Your 49ers

Just as other universities we have encountered so far have many names, this one is no different.  The university's official name is California State University, Long Beach. However that is kind of wordy, so they also go by Cal State Long Beach, Long Beach State, CSULB, LBSU, or simply The Beach.  As like many of the universities we have encountered, Long Beach State didn't always have such a simple name.  When founded, the university was known as Los Angeles-Orange County State College.  It would later become Long Beach State College and California State College at Long Beach before taking on its current name(s) in 1972.  Despite having a short history of only 62 years old, it is the third largest in the state of California with over 33,000 students enrolled this fall.

The Long Beach State 49ers (named after the year they were founded and also for the California gold rush) have 18 athletic teams competing in NCAA Division I.  They used to have a football team, but in 1991 the team was cut due to budgetary reasons.  Following the loss of the football team, then red shirt sophomore Terrell Davis transferred to the University of Georgia.

The men's basketball team has quite a history as well.  They have eight NCAA Tournament appearances, with the most recent being 2007.  In those eight trips to the big dance, Long Beach State has gone 7-9 and made the Elite Eight twice (1971, 1972).  There was a problem though. The NCAA's worst nightmare Jerry Tarkanian had committed several recruiting violations during his time as head coach at Long Beach State and UNLV, thus vacating all tournament wins in 1971, 1972 and 1973.  This was not their only trouble with the NCAA.  Again in 2006, head coach Larry Reynolds had also committed recruiting violations and their 18 regular season wins were vacated.  So many vacated wins for such a short history.  John Calipari would be proud.

When it comes to notable alumni, Long Beach State has a ridiculous number of people that most of us have heard of.  You know, like Steve Martin, Steven Spielberg, Bradley Knowell (lead singer of Sublime), the bassist for The Offspring, and 1/2 of The Righteous Brothers. Long Beach has also had many notable athletes including golfer Mark O'Meara, baseball players like Jason Giambi, Evan Longoria, and Harold reynolds, former Denver Bronco Terrell Davis, former NFL coach Jim Fassel, and nine Olympic medalists in volleyball...including Misty May-Treanor.  Geez, listing all of these athletes reminds me of this Super Sports Tour.

Pitt links:
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Fearless Long Beach State, Monson take on elite teams
Pittsburgh Tribune Review: Pitt foe Long Beach State led by quick guard

Long Beach Links:
Press-Telegram: Monson expects tough test
Daily 49er: [no articles]

Hail to Pitt!