Ladies and Gentlemen: Karen Bardsley

The Fullerton alumnus just completed another clean sheet as Great Britain shocked Brazil with a 1-0 upset victory to win Group E.  Bardsley was unstoppable as Brazil tried to pile on the pressure (21 total shots, 8 on goal).  The American-born English player looked confident and focused the whole game as she posted her third straight shutout in Olympic competition.  Next up? Bardsley and company will be playing Canada in the knockout round with a potential to face a dominant American team in the semifinals.

Big West Confidential Player Profile
Name: Karen Bardsley
College: Cal State Fullerton (2002-2006)
Pro Club: Linköpings F.C. (Sweden)
Statistics: Squeaky clean, enjoys zeros
Next Match: Women's Soccer Quarterfinals: GBR vs CAN, August 3 7:30 PM (London Time)

Olympics Schedule 7/31/12

Welcome to the last day of July and Day 4 of the Olympics!

Here are today's events that will feature a Big West athlete/coach:

Men's Indoor Volleyball: David Lee, Paul Lotman, David McKienzie, David Smith, Brian Thornton, Alan Knipe, Ron Larsen - 8:45 AM vs Germany (10:45 AM on Delay on NBC)

Men's Swimming: Scott Weltz - 200 m Breaststroke, 2:47 AM qualifying (9 AM Telemundo Delay, 9:30 AM NBC Delay); 12:17 PM Semifinals

Men's Water Polo: Ryan Bailey, Tim Hutten, Jeff Powers - 11:40 AM vs Romania (1:40 PM NBC Delay)

Women's Soccer: Karen Bardsley (GBR) - 11:45 vs Brazil on MSNBC (LIVE!)

Men's Beach Volleyball: Todd Rodgers/Phil Dalhausser - 1 PM vs Herrera/Gavira (ESP) (NBC Delay 3 PM)

Men's Basketball: Tony Ronzone (coach) - 2:15 PM vs Tunisia (NBCSN)

Check back here for the latest updates on the Big West athletes.

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Amber Neben places in top 40, misses out on medal hunt

The UCI graduate finished in 36th behind Kristin Armstrong.  Starting in 14th postition, Neben made her way up to 11th position.  She kept up that pace until the second half of the race, where she fell behind and finished 51 seconds behind the leader to finish the competition with an overall time of 3:36:20.

Something tells me her job's not done here...

Took my bike 4 a walk 2day...huge recovery focus aftr yesterday's RR. Yep, there's a Big TT race wed! #London2012 My passion bucket is full!
— Amber Neben (@amberneben) July 30, 2012

/grabs popcorn
//sits in chair
///waits till Wednesday

Olympics Schedule 7/30/12

Here is the schedule of today's games.  If you are live-streaming everything, the first one should be starting here in a few minutes:

Women's Indoor Volleyball: Danielle Scott-Arruda, Jamie Morrison, Tayyiba Haneef-Park, Paula Weishoff, 8:45 AM (PST) vs Brazil (delay on NBC at 10:30 AM)

Women's Water Polo: Dan Klatt (coach), 11:40 AM vs Hungary (delay on NBC at 1:30 PM)

Women's Beach Volleyball: Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh-Jennings, 3 PM vs Sluková/Kolocová (CZE) (delay on NBC 8 PM)

Happy Watchings! Also, feel free to discuss as this will serve as an Open Thread today.

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Jason Lezak and company finish second in qualifiers, team USA wins silver in the 4x100m Freestyle

The UCSB alumnus, who was the hero of the Beijing Olympics in that famous 4 x 100m, worked his magic once more in the pool.  The 36 year old, along with the team of James Feigen, Matt Grevers and Ricky Berens finished second in their heat and also overall with a time of 3:12:59.

In the finals, France pulled out the win though with as Yannick Agnel beat out Ryan Lochte to win the Gold.

The final 4 x 100m standings are as follows:

1	06	France	3:09.93	-
2	05	United States	3:10.38	+0.45
3	03	Russia	3:11.41	+1.48
4	04	Australia	3:11.63	+1.70
5	01	South Africa	3:13.45	+3.52
6	02	Germany	3:13.52	+3.59
7	08	Italy	3:14.13	+4.20
8	07	Belgium	3:14.40	+4.47

All statistics provided by NBC Olympics

Keep reading the Confidential as updates of Big West athletes will be provided as they come.

 

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Weekend Schedule for the Olympics: July 28-29

Here's your list of Olympians competing or coaching this weekend who are tied to the Big West:

Women's Soccer: Karen Bardsley (GB) - July 28 vs Cameroon, 9:15 AM (All times PST)

Women's Indoor Volleyball: Danielle Scott-Arruda, Jamie Morrison, Tayyiba Haneef-Park, Paula Weishoff (USA) - July 28 vs Korea, Noon

Women's Beach Volleyball: Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh (USA) - July 28 vs Cook/Hinchley (AUS), 3 PM

Women's Road Cycling: Amber Neben (USA) - July 29, 4 AM

Men's Swimming: Jason Lezak (USA) - July 29, 4:05 AM

Men's Basketball: Tony Ronzone (USA) - July 29 vs France, 6:30 AM

Men's Indoor Volleyball: David Lee, Paul Lotman, David McKienzie, David Smith, Brian Thornton, Alan Knipe, Ron Larsen (USA) - July 29 vs Serbia, 8:45 AM

Men's Water Polo: Ryan Bailey, Tim Hutten, Jeff Powers (USA) - July 29 vs Montenegro, 11:40 AM

Men's Swimming: Jason Lezak (USA) - July 29, 12:54 PM (This is the final round, so TBD)


Men's Beach Volleyball: Todd Rogers/Phil Dalhausser (USA) - July 29, vs Asahi/Shiratori (JPN), 2 PM

Good luck to the athletes this weekend!

MLS All-Stars 3, Chelsea 2: Chris Pontius shows why he's a badass

A substitution in the 45th minute gave the MLS All-Stars youngest player a shot.  He didn't disappoint.  The UCSB alumnus, the first round pick in the 2009 MLS SuperDraft, Chris Pontius used his 45 minutes very wisely.  Coming on for Landon Donovan to start the second half, the DC United forward and former Gaucho made his presence known immediately.  After fellow Gaucho, GK Dan Kennedy, gave up a difficult goal after making a great save, the All-Stars stepped it up.  In the 71st minute, David Beckham sent a long cross down to Dwayne DeRosario.  DeRosario held and waited on the edge of the box, then fed it back to Chris Pontius who put the ball on the line for the goal.  He wasn't finished however: in the 91st minute, just into stoppage time, Pontius battled out for a ball that he flicked back to Kyle Beckerman.  Beckerman flinged it forward to Eddie Johnson who finished with a shot that bounced in.  For his efforts (1 G, 3 S, 1 SOG, 1 A) he was named the Volkswagon MVP of the game.


A final note about this game: yes, it is international friendly; yes, the game doesn't mean a thing; realize however, that even though we are still a long way off from the rest of the world in soccer, last night's game showed that we are making efforts to close the gap.

Olympics 2012: Get ready to see your Big West staff/players/alumni in action

Olympics start Friday (unless you count the games played today), are you ready?  Here's the list of Big West players/coaches and alumni competing along with the days:

BIG WEST SPORTS
Student-Athletes
Name	School	Sport	Country
Sharon Day	Cal Poly	Women’s Track and Field	USA
Stephanie Brown Trafton	Cal Poly	Women’s Track and Field	USA
Karen Bardsley	Cal State Fullerton	Women’s Soccer	Great Britian
Katie Holloway	Cal State Northridge	Sitting Volleyball	USA
Tayyiba Haneef-Park	Long Beach State	Women’s Indoor Volleyball	USA
Kenneth Medwood	Long Beach State	Men's Track and Field	Belize
Danielle Scott-Arruda	Long Beach State	Women’s Indoor Volleyball	USA
Kim Conley	UC Davis	Women’s Track and Field	USA
Coaches
Name	School	Sport	Country
Jack Hoyt	Cal Poly	Women’s Track and Field	USA Assistant Coach
Danny Williams	Cal Poly	Women’s Track and Field	USA Assistant Coach
Keshia Baker	Cal State Northridge	Women’s Track and Field	USA 4x400 Relay
Tony Ronzone	Long Beach State	Men's Basketball	USA Operations
Dan Klatt	UC Irvine	Women’s Water Polo	USA Assistant Coach
Jamie Morrison	UC Irvine	Women’s Volleyball	USA Assistant Coach
Paula Weishoff	UC Irvine	Women’s Volleyball	USA Assistant Coach
Alternates
Name	School	Sport	Country
Heather Bown	UC Santa Barbara	Women’s Indoor Volleyball	USA
Jennifer Joines-Tamas	Pacific	Women’s Indoor Volleyball	USA
Ryan Martin	UC Santa Barbara	Men’s Track and Field	USA
NON-BIG WEST SPORTS
Student-Athletes
Name	School	Sport	Country
David Lee	Long Beach State	Men’s Volleyball	USA
Paul Lotman	Long Beach State	Men’s Volleyball	USA
David McKienzie	Long Beach State	Men’s Volleyball	USA
Misty May-Treanor	Long Beach State	Women’s Beach Volleyball	USA
Scott Weltz	UC Davis	Men’s Swimming	USA
Ryan Bailey	UC Irvine	Men’s Water Polo	USA
Tim Hutten	UC Irvine	Men’s Water Polo	USA
Amber Neben	UC Irvine	Women's Road Cycling	USA
Jeff Powers	UC Irvine	Men’s Water Polo	USA
David Smith	UC Irvine	Men’s Volleyball	USA
Brian Thornton	UC Irvine	Men’s Volleyball	USA
Jason Lezak	UC Santa Barbara	Men’s Swimming	USA
Todd Rogers	UC Santa Barbara	Men’s Beach Volleyball	USA
Coaches
Name	School	Sport	Country
Alan Knipe	Long Beach State	Men’s Volleyball	Head Coach
Ron Larsen	UC Riverside	Men’s Volleyball	Assistant Coach
Wolf Wigo	UC Santa Barbara	Men’s Water Polo	NBC Color Analyst
Alternates
Name	School	Sport	Country
Jayson Jablonsky	UC Irvine	Men’s Volleyball	USA
Brian Alexander	UC Santa Barbara	Men’s Water Polo	USA
Evan Patak	UC Santa Barbara	Men’s Volleyball	USA

  SCHEDULE OF EVENTS – LONDON OLYMPICS

BIG WEST ATHLETES & COACHES
All Times Pacific • Add 8 Hours For London Time
Sport	Participant(s)	Date	Time	Event
Men's Basketball	Tony Ronzone	July 29	6:30 am	Group A - USA vs. France
		July 31	2:15 pm	Group A - USA vs. Tunisia
		August 2	2:15 pm	Group A - USA vs. Nigeria
		August 4	6:30 am	Group A - USA vs. Lithuania
		August 6	2:15 pm	Group A - USA vs. Argentina
Men’s Beach Volleyball	^Todd Rogers	July 29	2 pm	Pool B – Asahi/Shiratori (JPN)
		July 31	1 pm	Pool B – Herrera/Gavira (ESP)
		August 2	1 pm	Pool B – Benes/Kubala (CZE)
Men’s Indoor Volleyball	David Lee	July 29	8:45 am	Group B - USA vs. Serbia
	Paul Lotman	July 31	8:45 am	Group B - USA vs. Germany
	David McKienzie	August 2	12 pm	Group B – USA vs. Brazil
	David Smith	August 4	8:45 am	Group B – USA vs. Russia
	Brian Thornton	August 6	12 pm	Group B – USA vs. Tunisia
	Alan Knipe
	Ron Larsen
Men’s Swimming	Jason Lezak	July 29	4:05 am	4x100 Relay – Qualifying
		July 29	12:54 pm	4x100 Relay – Finals
	Scott Weltz	July 31	2:47 am	200 Breaststroke – Heats
		July 31	12:17 pm	200 Breaststroke – Semifinals
		August 1	11:30 am	200 Breaststroke – Finals
Men’s Track and Field	Kenneth Medwood	August 3	3:15 am	400 Meter Hurdles – Round 1
		August 4	11 am	400 Meter Hurdles – Semifinals
		August 6	12:45 pm	400 Meter Hurdles – Finals
Men’s Water Polo	Ryan Bailey	July 29	11:40 am	Group B – USA vs. Montenegro
	Tim Hutten	July 31	11:40 am	Group B – USA vs. Romania
	Jeff Powers	August 2	10:20 am	Group B – USA vs. Great Britain
		August 4	11:40 am	Group B – USA vs. Serbia
		August 6	7:30 am	Group B – USA vs. Hungary
Women’s Beach Volleyball	*Misty May-Treanor	July 28	3 pm	Pool C – vs. Cook-Hinchley (AUS)
		July 30	3 pm	Pool C – vs. Sluková/Kolocová (CZE)
		August 1	3 pm	Pool C – vs. Schwaiger/Schwaiger (AUT)
Women’s Indoor Volleyball	Danielle Scott-Arruda	July 28	12 pm	Group B – USA vs. Korea
	Jamie Morrison	July 30	8:45 am	Group B – USA vs. Brazil
	Tayyiba Haneef-Park	August 1	12 pm	Group B – USA vs. China
	Paula Weishoff	August 3	12 pm	Group B – USA vs. Serbia
		August 5	12 pm	Group B – USA vs. Turkey
Women's Road Cycling	Amber Neben	July 29	4 am	Road Race - Finals
Women’s Soccer	Karen Bardsley	July 25	8 am	Great Britain vs. New Zealand
		July 28	9:15 am	Great Britain vs. Cameroon
		July 31	11:45 am	Great Britain vs. Brazil
Women’s Sitting Volleyball	Katie Holloway	August 31	8 am	Pool B – USA vs. China
		September 1	11 am	Pool B – USA vs. Slovenia
		September 3	11 am	Pool B – USA vs. Brazil
Women’s Track & Field	Sharon Day	August 3	2:05 am	WHEP – 100 Hurdles
		August 3	3:15 am	WHEP – High Jump
		August 3	11:00 am	WHEP – Shot Put
		August 3	12:45 pm	WHEP – 200 Meters
		August 4	2:05 am	WHEP – Long Jump
		August 4	3:40 am	WHEP – Javelin
		August 4	12:35 pm	WHEP – 800 Meters
	Stephanie Brown Trafton	August 3	11:10 am	DISCUS – Qualifying
		August 4	11:30 am	DISCUS – Finals
	Kim Conley	August 7	2:55 am	5,000 METERS – Qualifying
		August 10	12:05 pm	5,000 METERS – Finals
Women’s Water Polo	Dan Klatt	July 30	11:40 am	Group A – USA vs. Hungary
		August 1	10:20 am	Group A – USA vs. Spain
		August 3	11:40 am	Group A – USA vs. China

All the games will be broadcast on the NBC family of networks and also, for the first time ever, all the events will be broadcast online.  There is no excuse for not watching.  So get out there, support your conference (or more importantly, we're your country!) and watch the Olympics.

Morning Links 7/18/12

Being gone for a week plus makes updating news difficult.  So what has been cooking over the last week?  Let's find out.


From 7/5, UC Davis hires Terrance J. Tumey as new Athletic Director
This is a football move, make no doubt about it.  Tumey was a coach for UCLA and the Denver Broncos before working in the 49er front office.  How does this change UCD's potential vote for BSU in September?  My guess is that Tumey might want to throw a couple of Div-IAA games for the new members as part of the deal (which might not be so bad considering Coach Chris Petersen of BSU played QB at UCD and was a coach there as well).


Hawaii to play in the College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon
WWL chose a nice 4 am EST slot for the Warriors to play basketball (which is 10 pm Hawaii Time) against Houston Baptist.  So if you're a fanatic, watch live! Otherwise, TiVo it and save it to the morning.


Fox Soccer Channel loves the Big West, ergo it will show three games this season
LBSU women will travel to the ESSEEESEE to face Texas A&M at College Station on September 7th, 5 pm PST, while the UCSB men's team will get two of their games shown both at home: against UCLA on September 21st, 7 pm PST and against Cal Poly on October 19, 8 pm PST.  For those of us who obsessively watch college football and are worried about missing WACtion or MACtion on those Friday nights (so probably only me)...RECORD NON-CONFERENCE GAMES FOR THE SAKE OF YOUR PRIDE, PEOPLE!


Rainbow Warriors and Rainbow Wahine release their 12-13 schedule
All the basketball!  Looks like it's an 18-game conference schedule for those of you actually keeping track.


See anything I missed or something you find interesting? Let me know!

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Introducing the Big West Teams: Long Beach State University 49ers

It’s the offseason, and what better to do with the offseason than to continue delayed projects. The “Introduction” series focuses on individual schools of the Big West.  This introduction will focus on the school, the fans, the athletics and other random trivial facts.  Hopefully, this will be an educational and fun introduction.  Of course, if you the alumni/fan of that team would like to correct me, feel free to do so in the comment section below or shoot me an email.

For previous introductions, click below:

Cal Poly

Cal State Fullerton

Cal State Northridge

With that, allow me to introduce (in alphabetical order) the next member of the current Big West Conference: the Long Beach State 49ers.

California State University, Long Beach
Location: Long Beach, California
Established: 1949
Students: 34,870 (as of Fall 2011)

Colors: Gold and Black
Mascot: Prospector Pete
Famous Alumni (my choice): Steven Spielberg

LBSU was established in 1948 under the name Los Angeles-Orange County State College (opened in 1949). After one year under that name and teaching in apartment complexes, the citizens of Long Beach voted to buy 322 acres with tax dollars for a permanent campus. The very next year the LAOCSC was renamed Long Beach State College where it would keep the name until 1964 where the new name change California State College, Long Beach where it reflected being a part of the Cal State system. In 1972, the school reached university status, and, like 12 other CSC schools, became Cal State University, Long Beach. The simplicity of the campus buildings, keeps the campus design focus on the greenery, and they have been awarded numerous times for it. As far as I am aware of, LBSU is the only university to have the name “Beach” in the name, so with this in mind, LBSU affectionately carries “The Beach” as a nickname.

Click to embiggen

LBSU (B) is settled nicely close to the beach, so you can hit Disneyland (C ) and Huntingdon Beach in the same day.

Academically, LBSU is extremely versatile for both the Humanities and Sciences. For the highest level being a Master's degree, LBSU is a Top 50 undergraduate program in the nation. It also graduates the highest number of Masters of Nursing degrees in California as well as having the most art and design majors in the country. Recently, the music department received an endowment gift of 16.4 million dollars from the Bob Cole estate, and as a result, renamed the department after him.

Is there any question as to what LBSU's most famous landmark is?

Oh look! We made it to the Luxor...wait, that's not right...

Yes, ladies and gentlemen the Walter Pyramid, LBSU's indoor sporting complex is the most noticable thing on campus. Built in 1994, the Walter Pyramid is only one of 3 true mathematical pyramids in the nation, the other two being the Luxor Las Vegas and Pyramid Arena in Memphis. This 22 million dollar project has a distinct dark-blue sheen that comes from the aluminum blend.

The 49ers have had a long tradition of dominance in a variety of sports. The baseball team has been known since the late 80's as the Dirtbags because of their scrappy play and their refusal to go down without a fight. This has led to many NCAA tourney appearances as well as 4 CWS appearances. The men's basketball team has had recent success making appearances in the NCAA tourney, while the women's team showed conference dominance in the 1980's. The volleyball teams (both men and women's ) have showed national dominance winning national championships in 1991 for the men and 1989, 1993 and 1998 for the women.

Here are some more fun facts about LBSU:

• Part of the LBSU campus lies on Puvunga, an ancient Tongva village and burial site.
• LBSU's colors were brown and gold before 2000, when under a student vote prompted an official color change to black and gold.
• Since the establishment of the university, there has been at least one Olympian from the school in every Olympics since then.
• LBSU has also created an excellent coaching tree with famous great names like Jerry Tarkanian, Lute Olsen and George Allen.

And now you know a little about the 49ers!

Next up: UC Davis

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Morning Links 7/3/12

Well, we had a busy weekend, and for the offseason, it's always nice to have news on hand to give.  That being said, lets get some links going:


ESPN analyzes the impact of conference moves on college basketball
Is this a backhanded compliment by Coach Gib Arnold? "The RPI of the Big West is a step down from the WAC, however the prestige of the league will improve greatly with the entry of San Diego State."  That's funny, I didn't think of the RPI as that much of a step down from the WAC...

Big West wants to vote on Boise State by September
On last night's podcast, Jeremy and I debated about this article.  He thought this was a rushed move, whereas I suggested that the Big West knows exactly where it stands and what Boise State needs to do to get in or stay out.  Everyone's mind is made up, to a point.

If you missed it, here's the recording of last night's podcast on Mountain West Connection
Poor CSU-Bakersfield...

Don't worry Hornets, we didn't forget about you...
If you see a Sac State alumni/student, make sure you also welcome them to the Big West.  They became an associate member for men's soccer on July 1st as well.

Big West sends a few to London
SLO alum Sharon Day, punched her ticket to London by finishing 2nd in the Heptathlon.  Others who are going are: UCD assistant coach, Kim Conley (5000-metre) and Stephanie Brown Trafton (Women's discus).  If you know of any other Big West alumni who made the Olympics, please comment.

NBA Draft: UCSB's Orlando Johnson drafted by Kings
...but traded to the Pacers.  He was selected number 6 in the 2nd round, 36th overall.

Casper Ware not selected in NBA Draft, joins Pistons for Summer League and a chance to tryout for spot
All the best to the 2-time Big West Player of the Year, as he will try to defy the odds and make the team.

See anything I missed? Comment below!

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ALOHA, Bitches...Hawaii says hello officially.

12 AM, JULY 1, 2012: We here at the Big West Confidential want to officially give a warm, heartfelt welcome to the University of Hawaii Rainbow Warriors.  We sincerely hope that there will be more epic 70's style logos and wordmark in the Big West and the Warriors, though with that Under Armour contract, probably not.

April Fool joke that happened a few months ago from the Big West...or was it?

Oh well, wishful thinking. And therefore, to celebrate this auspicious moment in Big West history, we're temporarily changing our logo also to resemble the epicness of former and current Hawaii logos.

So say Aloha to the newest official member of the Big West, The University of Hawaii.  Put on those hula skirts and crank that Pepper CD (or IZ, or other famous Hawaiian musicians), we're swimming with the humuhumunukunukuapua'a!  Give a hibiscus to your special Wahine or Kane for this great day.   

The University of Hawaii is back!