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FRESNO CITY COLLEGE MEN'S 
Basketball
California Champions
2004 - 2005
GO RAM'S
Walberg's news from
Coach Vance Walberg's
is ranked No. 1 in the state and undefeated.
seven 3-pointers in the first half but trailed by
15 points against
But
Claim Jumpers would shoot themselves back into the game.
"Let's see if they can keep that up," said LeBeau, knowing full
well that few teams have maintained momentum in the face of
the Rams' relentless pressure defense.
Sure enough,
halftime and the Rams rolled to a 111-81 victory in their
Conference opener.
shooting was succinct: "They hit a wall."
That wall is a familiar, unpleasant sight to
who have managed to beat the Rams just five times in the Walberg
era. In most of those wins, the Rams' press has beaten down the
opposition.
Yet despite sporting an 83-5 record 2 1/2years into his tenure at
Walberg sometimes finds himself having to prove his run-and-press
basketball system to skeptics.
He has heard the labels "junk" and "phony." They come from coaches
and observers who don't understand the discipline it takes to play that
frenetic style of run-shoot-press basketball.
The skepticism began before Walberg's first season in 2002-03, when
some observers wondered if his style of play would translate from high
school to junior college. "People who saw us work out said we'd be a
.500 team," he recalls.
The Rams went 38-2 that year and lost in the state championship
to
Last year, with a team that included his son Jason Walberg and Tyrone
Jackson two current NCAA Division I players who grew up playing in
Walberg's system
underachievers after losing in the second round of the playoffs to
This year, the skeptics said, "Let's see what he does when he doesn't have
Tyrone and Jason."
Hoover High coach Peter Sharkey, a supporter of Walberg's coaching, said,
"I think that question has been answered."
Indeed, after its 129-73 victory over
and ranked No. 1 in the state.
The Rams enter their first home game of the season Wednesday averaging
105.9 points per game more than 16 points better than the second-best
offensive team, Chaffey (89.5). Eight players are averaging eight or more
points per game.
Walberg insists there's no magic to his formula, just hard work and a simple
ethic: attack on offense, attack on defense.
That means a 40-minute full-court press and an offense that runs the floor
for layups or pulls back for 3-pointers faster pace, more possessions,
defense creating offense: Run your opponent into the hardwood.
"Fresno grinds you down,"
well for 30 minutes, then fatigue became a factor."
Walberg started that fast-break, full-press system at
1997-98 season after continuously being blown out by taller, more
athletic teams from
Then, in 1999 and again in 2001, his Clovis West teams defeated
powerhouse Dominguez of Compton, which featured center Tyson
Chandler, now of the Chicago Bulls.
In the 2001 matchup, at a tournament in
Eagles forced 31 turnovers. Walberg's teams have been doing that ever since.
And so have a lot of other teams, hoping to copy Walberg's success.
"Look at the teams that mirror his system,"
Tim Amundsen said. "Clovis, Central, myself,
do it as well but we've had some success."
Amundsen, who played for Walberg at Newark Memorial and
assisted him at Clovis West, said Walberg's system is more
complex than it seems at first glance.
"There's a lot to it," he said. "Some people think it's just the defense,
some think it's the offense. It is a combination of both, and the tempo.
"You play at a pace that takes teams out of what they want do, get them
to play the way they're not used to playing.
"If I'm a player, I love to play his system. When you're open, you shoot
the dang thing. It's funner to play, funner to watch, funner to coach."
Pell-mell offense and intense, pressing defense are not new concepts
for basketball fans who recall Paul Westhead's fast-breaking Loyola
Marymount teams, Nolan Richardson's "40 minutes of hell" at
Alabama-Birmingham has given opponents fits with its frenetic style.
be effective at the four-year college level.
"Vance's system, I think, is successful because of him," the veteran
coach said. "He is a very thorough teacher and an excellent coach. He
believes in [the system] 100% and he gets players to believe 100%.
"People said it wouldn't work at the next level because guys are better
ballhandlers and passers. But the guys he [recruits] are better shooters,
better defenders, bigger, faster, stronger, too."
"Other teams might be more athletic," he said. "But they don't always
pay attention to details."
"Maybe another coach wouldn't make it work," he said. "But Vance
believes in it and teaches it. I think it might work [at a four-year school];
I'd like to see him get a shot somewhere.
"Players like playing that way. How could you not? You shoot the ball
freely and even if you're the 14th guy, you get [playing time] and you're happy."
That's another key to Walberg's system he regularly plays 13players,
sometimes 14, and five to seven guys will score in double figures during a game.
Against
man Alex Hansen created a key turnover in the final minute to help the
Rams secure a 102-100 come-from-behind win.
"How many teams have their 13th player on the floor in the final minute
of a close game?" Walberg asks.
Everyone plays, everyone shoots, everyone presses. That balance
throws off opponents especially this season, when the Rams don't
have Jackson, Walberg and Adam Wall as a reliable top three.
"That's the difference," Jon Black said. "Last year, we had two or three
go-to guys. This year we've got 10-12 guys every night. You don't
know who is going to contribute. You can't plan for us, because it's
a different guy every night.
"I wouldn't know what to do if I was the opposition."
Walberg believes this year's team has more depth than last year's
and even questions whether he relied too much on his son and Jackson last year.
As the Rams rolled to five tournament championships before this
conference season, Walberg was most proud that three different
Rams had earned tournament MVP honors and seven had made
all-tournament teams.
"Our bench scores as much as the starting team," said Jordan
Farley, who came off the bench to earn MVP honors at the Chabot
Tournament.
Running is the key to the Rams' success, and the players work
harder in practice than they ever have. The games, they said,
are the easy part.
"If there is a negative to this system, it's that we ask the guys
to work hard," Walberg said. "But if that is a negative to a kid,
we don't want him."
Reggie Butler, who transferred to Fresno City after playing last
year for Fresno State's Ray Lopes, said Walberg sold him in the first week.
"Coach said, 'We're a running team, if you don't want to run, get
the hell out,'"
at somebody that forward."
Some skeptics cite the difficulty of getting players especially
blue-chip collegians to buy into pressing full time, or that the
Rams give up several easy layups each game when teams beat
the press.
out of 90 state junior colleges.
But the Rams' modus operandi is to convert opponents' turnovers
into points more often than they get burned.
"If we don't score off our defense, we struggle," Walberg said.
"Some people say we don't play defense. But teams hate to play against our press."
The way to beat Fresno City is to have two guards who don't fall
apart under the constant pressure as Sequoias' Ja'Vance
Coleman and Teddy Fletcher showed last year or catch the
Rams on a cold shooting night, as happened against American
River last year and in the 2003 state final against Los Angeles City.
Such events are rarities, thus squelching the skeptics. But Walberg
is less interested in proving people wrong than simply proving his team is right.
"As a coach, you want to prove yourself every year," he said.
"I don't feel like I have to prove [anything] to other people.
"I just hate to lose, to be honest with you."
To reach title tilt,
With 3-pointers limited, they drive and shoot 71%.
against the
team -- and that includes everyone the Rams
have played this season -- frequently use the
same phrase to explain
"Pick your poison."
Saturday's poison? Driving to the basket.
Fresno City drove, drove and drove some more for a 95-82
victory over Saddleback in the semifinals of the California
Community Colleges Basketball Championships at the University
of San Diego's Jenny Craig Pavilion.
That sets up a state championship showdown at
against
Delta 85-84 in overtime in the other semifinal. It's the second
title game for coach Vance Walberg in three seasons at
On Saturday, Saddleback decided to "hug" the Rams on the
perimeter, taking away the 3-point shot. It's the same strategy
that failed for
Both times, Walberg's team responded by attacking the basket.
Bubba Tolliver scored 29 points against Saddleback, mostly by
driving the lane. Anthony Esparza added 28, many coming on
baseline drives. Geoffrey Clayton drove the key for 13 points.
The Gauchos were floored that the Rams shot 70.6% against
their vaunted defense.
"They're an unbelievable team," Saddleback point guard D.J. Smedley
said. "[Shooting 70.6%] has never been done against us. We hold
teams to 60 points." (The Gauchos yielded an average of 64.1 points
a game this season.)
Gauchos coach Bill Brummell admitted his strategy was to take away
the 3-pointer from the Rams' arsenal.
"We thought we'd do a better job individually [against] the drive," he
said. "But we couldn't do it. You take away something and you give
something.
defense well."
That's the simple brilliance of Walberg's system.
"Whatever they give, we'll take," he said. "We've shot 50 3s
a couple times this season."
The Rams did manage to hit 11 of 18 from 3-point range to
complement the damage they did inside.
The attitude was set early, when Rams assistant Loren LeBeau
noticed the Gauchos had 6-foot-8 forward Derek Risper guarding the 6-1 Tolliver.
"Coach told me I should take it personally, that by putting a slower
guy on me they were disrespecting me," Tolliver said. "I took advantage."
Tolliver shot 12 of 15 from the field, including 3 for 6 on 3-pointers.
Esparza was 9 for 11, including 4 of 5 from beyond the arc.
"All year we've used our size to our advantage," Smedley said.
"
Saddleback stayed even in a 45-45 first half behind 18 points
from Mikel Watson, who made 4 of 6 3-pointers. The Rams didn't
guard Watson that closely after watching him shoot 1 of 11 Thursday
against
Fresno City moved ahead after halftime, opening a 12-point lead at
69-57 with 10 minutes remaining. Saddleback never got closer
than six the rest of the way.
Watson finished with 25 points and forward Dominique Ricks
added 22 from inside.
Walberg now is 99-5 in three years at Fresno City, but a state
championship has eluded him. As the Rams have rolled to a 33-0
record this season, their mantra has been anything short of a state
title would be a disappointment.
"It's too deep in the season to take a loss," freshman forward
Jordan Farley said. "At this point, 33-1 would not be acceptable."
For Jon Black, one of two players returning from last season's
team that failed to reach the state tournament, winning the
championship is the logical final step in an undefeated season.
"It's what we came here to do," he said
THE BEST GAME EVER
SAN DIEGO "I don't know how to lose," Fresno City College's
Geoffrey Clayton exulted after the Rams had just polished off
an undefeated season by winning the men's title Sunday at the
California Community Colleges Basketball Championships.
"Coach Walberg taught me how not to lose."
Fresno City and coach Vance Walberg left no doubt it was
California's best team with a convincing 83-68 victory over San
Bernardino Valley at the University of San Diego's Jenny Craig
Pavilion, the culmination of a 34-0 season.
The Rams did it despite 36 points from
Nixon, who hit his first 11 shots after halftime and scored 28
of his team's 41 second-half points.
But even that couldn't derail
Clayton and M'Jumbe Williams and the calmer (by comparison)
Anthony Esparza and Jordan Farley.
Clayton's bravado as well as his funky dance moments after the
game can be explained, given what the Rams accomplished:
The first undefeated men's junior college state champion since
(with Jerry Tarkanian's 1964
Fresno City's third men's state championship, the first since
1963. The other was in 1955, so it's safe to say few of the fans
who accompanied the Rams to
Walberg's first state championship, after losing with the Rams
to Los Angeles City in the 2003 title game and to De La Salle of
Concord in the state high school title game in 2000 while he
was at Clovis West High. "This is weird," Rams guard Alex Hansen
said. "Not to lose a game for a whole year. I'm still in awe."
Fresno City saved its best for last, playing tough defense, shooting
51% and turning
Henderson into a non-factor.
Henderson a point guard who scored 33 points, including the
two winning free throws in overtime, in Saturday's 85-84
semifinal win over
and committed 13 turnovers against
That left Nixon as
scored more than seven points.
The Rams countered with a balanced attack led by Williams' 18 points,
16 each from Esparza and Farley and 13 from Clayton.
run and coasted to the 15-point win.
The finish set off a wild celebration, with a few of the Rams jumping
over the scorer's table to embrace fans. The award ceremony was
a raucous affair, with Clayton video-taping as he, Williams and Bubba
Tolliver made the all-tournament team and Esparza was named MVP.
The
held up the state championship trophy.
"We've worked so hard," said Esparza, who also was named
All-Northern
a state title. Being undefeated and everything else is just the icing."
"They shot the ball extremely well and took us out of our game.
They come at you in waves."
Nixon said he and his teammates were outmanned and outhustled.
San Bernardino, ranked No. 2 in the state behind Fresno City, finished its season 27-5.
"They have more firepower than we do," he said. "Their 12 [players]
wanted it more than our seven did."
desire and confidence.
"This was our goal from the beginning, but at first it was a far-off goal,
" he said. "Then, as the season progressed, we became believers."
Belief and hustle are a potent combination. The Rams players and
coaches agreed that the key to winning 34 straight games was
working and playing harder than anyone else.
So it was fitting that in their last gathering, in the courtyard outside the
arena before heading home, the Rams huddled one final time and paid
tribute with one final chant:
"One, two, three. Hustle!"
FCC's Williams makes his points in title game
SAN DIEGO When the basketball season began, coach Vance
Walberg said his
their point guards would carry them.
In Sunday's state championship game, the performance of both
teams' point guards were the key to the Rams' 83-68 men's victory
over
The
committed 13 turnovers before fouling out.
Fresno City point guard M'Jumbe Williams led the Rams with 18 points,
including four 3-pointers, and generally hustled his way to an all-tournament berth.
He had a great tournament for us," Walberg said. "He carried us at
stretches." Williams, a transfer from Fresno State, said Saturday
he had felt the pressure of the state championship and knowing
there were college scouts in the audience.
"Yesterday I put a lot of pressure on myself and I struggled like
heck," he said of his effort in the Rams' semifinal win over Saddleback,
when he shot 2 of 7 and had seven turnovers.
"I was trying to thread the needle [with passes], trying to overdo it."
On Sunday he turned over the ball once and shot 7 of 13, including 4 of 9 on 3-pointers.
On a roll
Sunday's victory left Walberg at 100-5 in three years as coach of the Rams.
impressed.
"I was 98-8 [at
Walberg still has a ways to go to better Tarkanian's record of four straight
state titles, from 1964-67.
"More and more people are realizing what a really great coach Vance is,"
said Tarkanian, sitting courtside.
2004-05
Game-by-Game Log (32)
Day Date Opponent Location Result
Fri 11/12 ^
Sat 11/13 ^
Sun 11/14 ^
Thur 12/2 #
Fri 12/3 #
Sat 12/4 #
Thu 12/9 + El Camino College
Fri 12/10 + Mt. San Antonio College
Sat 12/11 +
Tue 12/21 & De Anza College
Wed 12/22 &
Thur 12/23 &
Tue 12/28 %
Wed 12/29 %
Thur 12/30 %
Wed 1/5 *
Sat 1/8 *
WED 1/12 * MODESTO JR. COLL. FRESNO W, 111-63 (18-0, 3-0)
SAT 1/15 * REEDLEY COLLEGE
Wed 1/19 *
SAT 1/22 * WEST HILLS COLL.
WED 1/26 * COLL. of the SEQUOIAS
SAT 1/29 *
WED 2/2 *
Sat 2/5 * Modesto Jr. College Modesto W, 101-85 (25-0, 10-0)
Wed 2/9 *
SAT 2/12 *
Wed 2/16 *
Sat 2/19 * Coll. of the Sequoias
SAT 2/26 $ AMERICAN RIVER
SAT 3/5 $ CABRILLO COLL.
Thur 3/10 $$
STATE CHAMPIONSHIP ALL - TOURNAMENT TEAM
2004 / 2005
COA Championships games from San Diego
Men's Pairings
Jenny Craig Pavilion, University of San Diego
Thursday, March 10
#1S San Bernardino 78, #4N Siskiyous 65
#1N Fresno 114, #4S Ventura 103
#2S Saddleback 80, #3N West Valley 76, OT
#2N San Joaquin Delta 74, #3S Desert 62
Saturday, March 12