Pacific Tigers basketball

University of the Pacific head men's basketball coach Damon Stoudamire is reportedly leaving the program to become an assistant under new Boston Celtics head coach Ime Udoka.

Stadium's Jeff Goodman reported the news Wednesday. 

Stoudamire, 47, and Udoka, 43, were both born and raised in Portland, Oregon. They were briefly NBA teammates as members of the San Antonio Spurs during the 2007-08 season.

After standout high school and collegiate careers, Stoudamire was selected by the Toronto Raptors with the seventh overall pick in the 1995 draft. He won NBA Rookie of the Year honors to jump-start a 13-year playing career that also included stops with his hometown Trail Blazers and Memphis Grizzlies.

The University of Arizona product received his first coaching opportunity as an assistant with the Grizzlies in 2009. He also spent two stints at the University of Memphis and one at his alma mater as an assistant before being hired by Pacific as a head coach for the first time in 2016.

Stoudamire guided the Tigers, a member of the West Coast Conference, to a 71-77 record in five seasons at the helm. They posted a 32-19 mark over the past two years.

The 2020 WCC Coach of the Year told John Gonzalez of The Ringer in 2018 that the experience coaching at the collegiate level provided him with a lot of important lessons:

"I knew it was going to be a lot of work — how much work I didn't know until I actually got here. College is different. It's a lot different than the pros. There's a lot of administrative work. It's a lot of getting out in the community and helping raise money. In college, I'm the owner, I'm the CEO, I'm all of that. I've got to do things as I see fit. Everything comes through me. It's made me be more accountable in a lot of areas that maybe I wasn't accustomed to."

Now he'll return to the NBA to work alongside Udoka, who's in the process of overhauling the coaching staff with former head coach Brad Stevens moving into an executive role with the C's.

Jay Larranaga, Jamie Young and Jerome Allen have left the Boston staff, while former San Antonio Spurs assistant Will Hardy has joined Udoka's group, per Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe.

Udoka, a former NBA forward, is a first-time head coach after nine years as an assistant with the Spurs, Philadelphia 76ers and Brooklyn Nets.

The University of the Pacific hired its new head men's basketball coach Wednesday in former University of Memphis assistant and NBA star Damon Stoudamire.

ESPN.com's Jeff Goodman was the first to report the news, and Evan Daniels of Scout.com later confirmed the hiring of the 42-year-old University of Arizona alum.

Stoudamire also announced the decision in a letter to his 12-year-old self for the Players' Tribune. In the letter, Stoudamire mentioned his grandmother and how his accomplishment would make her feel:

Tell her that today, when you're writing this letter, you're going to get your first NCAA head coaching job. You're going to get the opportunity to lead kids, and show them what (former Arizona head coach) Lute (Olson) showed you. You'll get to look them in the eye and tell them the truth.

[...]

You're the head coach of University of the Pacific.

That's some news that will really make her proud.

After a fantastic collegiate career at the University of Arizona, Stoudamire was the No. 7 overall pick in the 1995 NBA draft by the Toronto Raptors.

He was named the 1996 NBA Rookie of the Year and went on to spend 13 seasons in the league with the Raptors, Portland Trail Blazers, Memphis Grizzlies and San Antonio Spurs.

Stoudamire served as a Grizzlies assistant from 2009-2011 before an assistant stint with the University of Memphis from 2011-2013, a run as an assistant at the University of Arizona from 2013-15 and eventually a return to the Memphis Tigers this season.

Per Gary Parrish of CBS Sports, Stoudamire is the latest in a long line of Memphis head coach Josh Pastner to land head coaching jobs of their own:

Stoudamire is the 5th Josh Pastner assistant to become a head coach. Willis Wilson/Jack Murphy/Jason Gardner/Luke Walton/Damon Stoudamire

— Gary Parrish (@GaryParrishCBS) March 16, 2016

Pacific last qualified for the NCAA tournament in 2013, and the Tigers are coming off a 8-20 season amid controversy that saw head coach Ron Verlin get suspended due to allegations of academic misconduct.

While Stoudamire has no head coaching experience, he has an impressive pedigree as a player and has been part of some high-profile coaching staffs at the college level.

The University of Pacific certainly needed a spark in order to put the nightmarish 2015-16 season behind it, and the arrival of Stoudamire may be precisely that.

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Many times, mid-major small schools get overlooked and counted out before the NCAA Women’s National Invitational Tournament brackets are even posted on national websites.

The Pacific Tigers Women’s basketball team, a.k.a. the “Cardiac Kids” from Stockton, Calif. are changing that mindset, as they’ve reached the Sweet Sixteen for the first time in school’s history after defeating the University of Washington 85-78 in the second round of the WNIT.

The highlight of the story is that 32 Division I NCAA women’s basketball teams are still playing basketball, and the Tigers are one of them.

The Tigers will face the Utah Utes Thursday night at the Alex G. Spanos Center in the third round of the WNIT, and will be looking to improve on their 14-2 home record in front of the spirited Tigers' fan base.

“Cardiac Kids” is the best way to describe the Tigers, because they never quit and always push Tigers head coach Lynne Roberts to the edge every time they take the floor.

When asked if it was her toughest year coaching, Roberts responded, “Yes, it is, because I have to deal with so much emotion, and it’s not bad emotion that’s conduct detrimental to the team, it’s good emotion because it carries a desire to win.”

The biggest emotional player for Roberts has been her junior point guard Gena Johnson, who was converted from the wing position to the point guard spot in her sophomore season. “She plays great,
and I feel she finally gets it,” Roberts said. “Then she’ll play the next game and she’ll let her emotions get the best of her.”

Johnson is the catalyst of the “Cardiac Kids” Tigers’ machine, and she’s a scouting nightmare for opponents’ coaches' preparation to defend.

Johnson is difficult to press because of her ball-handling skills, and her dribble penetration into the paint draws defenders off the ball and puts the Tigers’ excellent three-point shooters, seniors Kendall Rodriguez and Erica McKenzie, in wide-open positions to knock down shots.

McKenzie has no limits on her shooting range because on one possession, she might shoot from 22 feet, and the next she’ll let it fly from 36 feet and nail the shot.

Rodriguez is an enforcer who plays hard and physical on the defensive end and gracefully on the offensive end as she out-thinks her opponents.

The emergence of 6' 4" sophomore Kendall Kenyon has been a big surprise for the Tigers, as she has had multiple games of 20-plus rebounds and is shooting an outstanding 55 percent from the field
this season.

The athletic playing ability of senior Ashley Wakefield has been a nightmare for defenders this season, and her offensive rebounding has been a big factor in the postseason.

The entire starting five were All-Big West Conference selections, led by Rodriguez and Erica McKenzie, who were first-team selections. Johnson and sophomore Kenyon earned second-team nominations, Wakefield was an honorable mention and Roberts was the Big West Conference Coach of the Year.

The biggest surprise for the Tigers has been the bench play of the reserves: Kristina Johnson, Ashley Smith, Sam Pettinger, Briana Johnson, Claire Conricode, Hailie Eackles and Shanice Butler. Roberts has been allowed to play a 12-woman rotation and even have five reserves on the floor at once in critical moments with the games on the line.

Roberts is no stranger to postseason tournament success, as she led the Chico State women’s basketball team to the Division-II Final Four in 2006 while posting a 28-4 record.

She had a plan to reach this level of success, and it started with scheduling tougher preseason opponents over the past two seasons to get the Tigers mentally tough and battle tested against top competition.

The Tigers have faced the University of Connecticut and Stanford women’s basketball teams on the road in front of hostile crowds, and both opposing teams were ranked No. 1 in the NCAA women's
basketball polls at the time they took the floor.

The Tigers lost both contests, but the team had moments when they out-played the top ranked opponents and gained the confidence necessary to play against anyone in the country

Roberts had an interesting postgame response last year when asked why she scheduled tough Division I competition in the preseason; “I don’t really understand your question,” Roberts said. “We’re all Division I teams.”

She clearly understood that to be the best, you have to play the best in the nation to gain an edge in the postseason tournaments.

The Tigers are having a record-breaking year for the Pacific women’s basketball program, and the “Cardiac Kids”amazing run continues as they make their quest to become 2013 Women’s National
Invitational champions when they face Utah at 6 p.m. Thursday March 28 6 p.m. at the Alex
G. Spanos Center in Stockton.

"Michael Walker is an Contributor for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained first hand" to the very end of the article.

Bob Thomason has reached the point in his career as the men's basketball coach at the University of the Pacific where his next loss may be his last. Fans of the Pacific Tigers hope his team makes it to the NCAA tournament before that defeat occurs.

Entering his last appearance in the Big West tournament, Thomason has already amassed the most wins in Pacific and Big West Conference history with 433. He has won the Big West Coach of the Year award five times and has taken the Tigers to the NCAA tournament on four different occasions.

Before Thomason was hired to the be the head coach of Pacific in March of 1988, the Tigers were just 5-24 the previous season, having only one winning season in the previous five. In his 25 years at the school, Thomason has guided the Tigers to 14 winning seasons and to the semifinals or beyond in the Big West tournament nine times.

Thomason is one of a select few coaches who played at the same school he currently resides. It is an even rarer occurrence that the experience ends in a positive manner.

As a shooting guard, Thomason averaged 17.2 point per game as a senior, earning all-conference honors. He ranks 11th on the career scoring average list at Pacific with 15.3 point per game. Along with lettering in basketball three years, Thomason also played on the men's golf team for three seasons.

Back on March 12, Thomason was selected as one of 20 finalists for the Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award. The honor, established in 2008, goes to a head coach who has achieved success on the court while displaying moral integrity off of it.

This year's winner will be announced at the CollegeInsider.com awards banquet held in Atlanta—this season's home site of the Final Four.

The Tigers entered the conference tournament as the No. 2 seed with a 13-5 Big West record and 19-12 overall. Thomason has again showed his superior coaching ability by succeeding at a high level this year, despite low expectations—Pacific finished with a losing conference record just a season ago.

Pacific appears to have an excellent chance of sending Thomason to the NCAA tournament one final time. The Tigers have won five games in a row and recently defeated Long Beach State, the best team in the Big West, 71-51.

Unlike other Pacific teams that were led by superior players like Michael Olowokandi and Christian Maraker, this version of the Tigers features teamwork, balance and depth. Pacific currently ranks 33rd in Division I in assists per game at 15.1.

Starting point guard senior Lorenzo McCloud is the only player to average double digits in scoring, maintaining an average of  11.4 points per game. However, on the positive side, 11 Tigers play at least eight minutes a contest.

This season has not only taken on special meaning because this is Thomason's last with the school, but because Pacific is moving to the West Coast Conference beginning with the 2013-14 academic year. The apparent upgrade in competition could mean that the Tigers may not be in legitimate contention again for an NCAA birth for quite a while. 

Pacific is off to a strong start in the Best West tournament in Anaheim after defeating the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos 71-68 in the opening round yesterday. Friday night, the Tigers take on the Cal Poly Mustangs, the No. 3 seed. The teams have split their previous two meetings with the home team winning each time.

Often times in sports, a heart-warming human interest story never has the fairytale-type ending that fans hope for or envision. Here's wishing that Thomason, Pacific's miracle worker for a quarter of a century, has one more amazing feat left in him, and that he will cut down the nets in Anaheim on Saturday and dance one final time.

The Pacific Tigers women’s basketball team is determined to play the best women's basketball in the country, and they just beat Nevada Wolf Pack 75-70 in the first of a six-game stretch against solid division one women’s basketball teams.

The Tigers pulled off an upset after being down by 10 points with 2:12 seconds to play. They also had an opportunity to win it in regulation but Kendall Rodriguez couldn’t convert a layup with five seconds left on the clock.

Gena Johnson played with relentless fire throughout the game, as she converted a jumper in the paint to tie the game at 62-62. She continued to find her favorite target sharp shooter Erica McKenzie, who put a dagger in the Wolf Pack hopes with two big three-point shots in the final minute to send the game into overtime. 

Ashley Wakefield hit a jumper in overtime to give the Tigers the lead, and they closed out the show by converting seven of eight free throws to seal the 75-70 victory.

Pacific head coach Lynne Roberts wasn’t shy about playing the best in the country, which was evident when she added the national power UConn Huskies women’s team for a game last season. It was the first women’s basketball sellout crowd at Alex G. Spanos Center in Stockton, and they visited the Huskies on the home floor this season.

The rule of thumb is that most head coaches like to schedule easy games in their preseason with the hopes of getting a bid into the NCAA tournament, but Roberts has a different strategy in mind. She’s scheduled Nevada, Florida, San Diego, Fresno State, Eastern Washington and Air Force in a brutal six-game stretch.

The Tigers have played well this season and their 3-3 record poorly reflects how good they really are as a team, because two of the losses to St. Mary’s 68-67 and Fairfield 56-47 were by a total of 10 points. Those are games they could have easily won with better possession basketball, and have been sitting at 5-1 record for the season.

The team has responded with two wins over Cal State Bakersfield 96-73 and Southern Illinois Edwardsville 78-68, and won their third straight on the road against a determined Nevada team. 

The Tigers were led by junior McKenzie 19 points, Wakefield 17 points and Johnson 15 points and four assists.

This team is really playing well, and it wouldn’t be a big surprise if they land a bid in the NCAA or NIT tournament this year.

Roberts has no fear. She’s looking forward to hosting the SEC Conference Florida Gators on Friday December 9, at the Alex G. Spanos Center.

Fullerton, Calif.: Pacific Women’s Tigers came back from being 12 points down in the second half, but their rally fell short as they lost to Cal State Fullerton 72-67.

The Tigers were in a Big West dogfight at Cal State Fullerton, and freshman guard Gena Johnson (Elk Grove, Calif.) scored a career-high 28 points including 11 for 11 from the free throw line in 27 minutes for Pacific.

But it wasn't enough as the Titans held on for a victory. Kendall Rodriguez contributed 12 points and 5 rebounds for the Tigers.

Johnson committed her second foul seven minutes into the game and was forced to sit out the remaining 13 minutes of the half.

“I think we did well defensively,” Johnson said. “We just made a few mistakes down the stretch and needed a few to calls to go our way.”

The contest was very physical from the start leading the officials to whistle 44 fouls, including an intentional and a technical foul that caused the Tigers to lose their leading scorer.

Danielle Peacon, who was ejected at the 12:52 mark in the second half with the Tigers trailing 54-42, and Pacific’s head coach Lynne Roberts went to her bench and found a spark in junior Christina Thompson.

Thompson came in and filled the void scoring 8 points in a 12-minutes span. Thompson finished with 10 points and grabbed 8 rebounds.

The Tigers went on a 19-6 run led by Johnson, who scored 11 points and put the Tigers back into the lead 61-60 with 4:36 left to play.

The Titans responded with a 12-6 run, and they were led by junior guard Megan Richardson, who scored a game-high 29 points, including eight points during the 12-6 run, which was the key to the victory.

Richardson carried the Titans, scoring six straight points and converted two critical free throws with 24 seconds to play.

Fullerton led by as many as 12, but Thompson and Johnson refused to surrender to the Titans.  Thompson was able to score a pair of buckets with strong inside moves against defenders.

Johnson nailed a three-pointer and Pacific cut the Titans lead to five points, 56-51 with 7 minutes remaining in the game.

The Tigers were unable to contain Richardson, who took over for Fullerton down the stretch to give the Titans the lead for good. Junior Lauren Chow converted a crucial one-and-one with 39 seconds to play giving the Titans a 70-65 advantage.

Johnson was fouled by the Titans' Alicia Crisp driving to the basket, and she converted both free throws closing the gap to 70-67, but the Tigers allowed six seconds to expire off the clock and Johnson was forced to foul Richardson, who converted both free throws for a final score of 72-67.

Pacific never was able to knock down shots consistently, shooting just 25 percent in the second half, but still managed to battle back from being 12 points down and finished shooting 33 percent from the field.

Pacific falls to 7-19 overall and 4-9 in the Big West, while Cal State Fullerton improves to 9-18, 5-9 in the Big West.

The Tigers return home to host UC-Irvine at the Alex G. Spanos Center in a must-win game on Thursday at 7 p.m.

Senior Day activities will lead off the Tigers match-up with UC-Riverside on Saturday prior to the 4 p.m. game.

Pacific Tigers vs. UC Davis Aggies

Free Pick: UC Davis +8.5 (-110)—Wed. Feb. 25 '09 10:00p

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This rather big spread between the Pacific Tigers and the UC Davis Aggies seems based more on reputation than reality, as these teams are not really separated by all that much statistically to warrant this line.

Sure, the Aggies are the new kids on the block in just their second season in Division I, while the Tiger are perennial kingpins in the Big West. However, Pacific is having a down year at just 13-11 straight up overall (10-11-1 against the spread), and while UC Davis is just 12-15 SU, they have a superior ATS record (14-9, 60.9 percent). These teams are also tied in the Big West standings at 7-6.

The Aggies have already proven that they can score on anyone, and they have been especially on target the last four games, averaging 81.3 points per game during this stretch. This team ranks No. 23 in the country in effective field goal percentage at 53.8 percent, as UC Davis is hitting on 52.5 percent of their two-point attempts and 37.3 percent of their threes.

Furthermore, the Aggies rank second in free throw percentage at 79.5 percent, which would certainly help in a close game.

Pacific has lost two straight games straight up and three straight games ATS, and they have been only decent at home this season, going 7-4 SU with an average winning margin of +4.8 points—not nearly good enough to cover this number. Also, unlike UC Davis, the Tigers struggle at the free throw line at just 66.8 percent, which should make it difficult for them to pull away late.

Finally, there is a little matter of revenge for the Aggies after Pacific went into Davis and thumped them 80-65 last month. Look for an inspired effort by UC Davis here with an outright upset not out of the question.

NCAA Basketball Free Pick: UC Davis +8.5 (-110)—Courtesy of LT Profits

This will be a long season for Tiger fans. No matter how optimistic some fans are, it will be a painfully long season. The only way this season can bring joy to its beloved fans will be if Pacific can do the unthinkable.

Imagine what went through John Lennon’s mind when he wrote his famous song, and now imagine what went through coach Bob Thomason’s mind when he heard the news.

Steffan Johnson would have been a preseason All-Conference player, picked by the coaches, joining power forward Anthony Brown. Brown and Johnson were All-Big West Freshman Team performers ready to follow in the steps and success of recent Big West Player of the years Christian Maraker, David Doubly, and Miah Davis. Pacific again would dominate like it did in 2003 through 2006, the Maraker years.

Imagine the idea of even being able to compare the 2008 Tigers to the Maraker years. Imagine arguing that Johnson was more valuable to his 2008 team than Doubly or Davis or Johnny Gray of those great Pacific teams. Imagine arguing that Mike Nunnley has as much athleticism as the colossal French center Guillaume Yango.

Imagine putting Michael Kirby in the same sentence as Mike Webb, Tyler Newton, Matt Kemper, and Myree Bowden, as great role players who gave the second unit much punch of the bench. Imagine the blasphemy of arguing Brown finally is as good as Maraker.

The Pacific Tigers will be without Johnson, Nunnley, and Kirby. There are many stories and reasons to what really happened that fateful night. In the end, none of the players will be in uniform for the Tigers in 2008.

These three players took away a real chance to relive the Maraker years. Imagine would could have been? Imagine if alcohol was not present that night and everyone went home in time to catch the 10 o’clock news.

No matter how the Tigers do in 2008, the back of the mind will always wonder what could have been with Johnson, Nunnley, and Kirby.

The 2008 Tigers' starting lineup would have been Nunnley, Brown, Joe “Lazarus” Ford, Chad Troyer, and Johnson. The bench would be quite deep, led by Kirby and Brian LeDuc. Junior transfer Lavar Neufville would have a year to learn the system and replace Johnson’s role in 2009.

Add two promising sophomores to the mix, and the bench would have plenty of time to mature with Kirby and LeDuc taking much pressure off the youngsters.

Instead, sophomores Sam Willard and Terrell Smith are thrown in the starting lineup, and Neufville is asked to bring much firepower off the bench. It takes a full year for shooters to adjust and build the proper confidence from junior college to Division I, as was the case for both Gray and Webb.

No doubt as upperclassmen Smith and Willard are going to put up great numbers, but they are not going to dominate anyone outside of Riverside in 2008. It will be a learning year for these two super sophomores, but now thanks to Johnson, Nunnley, and Kirby, it will be hands on.

Adding insult to injury quite literally, the Tigers have already been bit early in the season. Senior sharpshooter and captain Chad Troyer has had shoulder problems and missed the game against Bakersfield. Junior college transfer Royal Edwards is also hurt and might miss the year.

Without a healthy Troyer, the 2008 season will be devastating. When the streaky Troyer gets hot, the 2008 Tigers can hang with many teams in the nation. With Johnson, Nunnley, and Kirby, when Troyer gets hot, Pacific would beat most teams in the country.

You can make the argument this will be a rebuilding year for the Tigers, but that would be slapping Brown in the face. Brown has paid his dues and understands the golden years. In fact, Brown participated and saw Maraker’s greatness firsthand.

Besides, Joe Ford has made a miraculous comeback when the Tigers need him most. The inspiration of Ford's story and play could be enough to get the Tigers into the big dance. The importance of Ford showed in the Bakersfield game in which the poor shooting Tigers team barely squeaked out a win in overtime.

The Big West is weak, and Pacific is picked to finish third in both the media and coaches' preseason polls. Brown’s team will not be as good as any of Maraker's teams. Brown does not have the supporting cast Maraker had in the golden years.

But Brown might be able to sidestep Maraker’s shadow for 15 seconds and take his less talented team into March Madness, maybe even getting to the second round.  In college basketball crazier things happen, like maybe one day reliving the Maraker years

I guess it's better than last year...so far! 

I still have three of my four Final Four picks moving on to the second round, while this time last year I was cursing the basketball gods after losing my champion and another final qualifier on the first day. 

At least this year, I wasn't naive enough to pick Washington State to win it again, right?

Every year millions of us trek to websites and newspapers, get stuffed full of college basketball analysis, and fill out our brackets only to be disappointed with our picks within the first two days of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. For the few who are able to withstand the first two rounds without losing one of their Final Four picks, I salute you.

This year, I decided to take a different approach than past years. I decided to fill out my brackets dumb. 

No that's not a typo, I really did that this year. 

The last two years, I watched more college basketball than I wanted to and paid attention to more analysis than I would have likeed; only to have progressively worse brackets each year. 

This year, I paid little to no attention to the conference races, the polls, and the conference tourney's, except of course tracking my beloved Pacific Tigers. After the season, (knowing the Tigers were not going dancing) I selected my brackets paying attention only to record, conference, past knowledge of the team, coaching, and history of the program. 

Like I said, I filled out my bracket dumb.

After day one, I really thought I was on to something. Out of the sixteen games, I picked all but one and really, did anyone outside of Kansas think USC was going to lose to K-State? 

O.K., maybe someone did. 

Maybe, someone that knew less than me actually picked them to win. So, as I sat atop my pool this morning, I couldn't help but boast when seeing a fellow competitor. 

I was feeling real good!

Although, I'm normally watching the game on my PC while working, I wasn't able to during the first wave of games Friday morning. What?!?! I didn't say that I couldn't work and watch PC-TV at the same time! Anyway, doesn't everyone? 

When I finally tune back into the tourney, I come to find that I've lost one of my Sweet 16 teams, St. Mary's, and Gonzaga is about to do their usual nosedive against a lesser opponent. Instead of asking myself, "Why didn't you see that coming?" I went along with my day and paid it no attention. 

I guess I should probably tell you that my Final Four teams this year are Georgetown, North Carolina, Stanford, and...well hold on. So I tune back in a couple of hours later only to find out that UCONN has finally tied San Diego and the game is going into overtime.

UCONN has it in the bag right? 

Err, well it turns out, they didn't and yes they were my last Final Four team.

At the time of this writing, I'm eight out of fifteen so far with Villanova and Clemson tied and 1:37 left on the clock. I picked Clemson to make it to the Sweet 16, sorry Tiger fans. I guess I can take solace in the fact that even though my new method didn't pay off, at least I didn't put a ton of effort into it.

Maybe next year, I'll consult a psychic while filling in my brackets. Does anyone know if Cleo is still around?