Dec. 28, 2003
Here's a look at both the history of the 37-year-old Cable Car Classic and this year's field in a little different way... by the numbers. This year's event is scheduled for Dec. 29-30 at the Leavey Center on the Santa Clara University campus.
0 - Number of times 2003 tournament participants Idaho State and Wisconsin-Milwaukee have appeared in the Cable Car Classic prior to this year.
1 - Number of players who have won multiple Cable Car Classic Tournament MVP honors. Santa Clara's Nick Vanos earned the award in 1983 and 1984 after leading the Broncos to championship wins in both seasons.
1.1 - Number of seconds left on the clock when Kyle Bailey banked home the winning shot in a 59-58 first round victory over UMBC in the 2001 event. The next night Bailey led the Broncos to a 61-59 win over UC-Santa Barbara and was named Tournament MVP.
2 - Number of players named Michael Jordan who have played in the Cable Car Classic. One was the well-known All-American from the University of North Carolina. The other was a guard from the University of Pennsylvania. Interestingly, the Michael Jordan from Penn earned all-tournament honors. The one from Carolina didn't
2 - Number of the most tournament championships won by a non-Bay Area team, shared by the University of Alabama and Brigham Young University.
2 - Number of Tournament MVP honors won by current members of the Santa Clara squad. Kyle Bailey won the award in 2001 and Ethan Rohde earned the honor in 2002.
3 - Longest win streak of championships by any single team when Santa Clara won the 1982, 1983 and 1984 Cable Car Classic titles. Former Bronco Harold Keeling was named all-tournament in all three events and won the 1982 MVP honors.
3 - Number of Cable Car Classic titles won by Dick Davey as a head coach. He has led the Broncos to eight championship game appearances in his 11 appearances in the tournament heading into the 2003 event.
4 - Number of the most frequent appearances by teams from outside the Bay Area, shared by Alabama, Brigham Young (ties the mark in 2003) and St. Joseph's.
7 - Number of host sites for the Cable Car Classic, including the Civic Auditorium, the Cow Palace, War Memorial Gymnasium, Oakland Coliseum Arena, Toso Pavilion, the San Jose Arena and the Leavey Center.
7 - Number of Cable Car Classic championships won by former Santa Clara head coach Carroll Williams, the most by any single head coach.
9 - Number of Santa Clara players who earned Cable Car Classic Tournament MVP honors. The list includes Bud Ogden (1968), Dennis Awtrey (1969), Londale Theus (1977), Harold Keeling (1982), Nick Vanos (1983, 1984), Jens Gordon (1988), Rhea Taylor (1990), Pete Eisenrich (1993), Nathan Fast (1999), Kyle Bailey (2001) and Ethan Rohde (2002).
9 - Number of teams from the state of California that have participated in the Cable Car Classic. The list includes: California, Long Beach State, Pacific, San Francisco, San Jose State, Santa Clara, Stanford, UC-Irvine and UC-Santa Barbara.
9 - Number of steals by current Bronco assistant coach Lloyd Pierce in eight Cable Car Classic games during his career. He played in the 1994-97 tournaments and is tied for 10th on the SCU list for steals with 104.
10 - Number of times (as of Tuesday) the Cable Car Classic will have awarded the Kevin O'Connor Award to the tournament's most inspirational player. The award was named after the late Dick O'Connor's son Kevin, who died in 1982 from complications of juvenile diabetes.
12 - Number of blocked shots swatted by Virginia's Ralph Sampson against Mike Krzyzewski's Army squad in a consolation game in 1979. Interestingly, Sampson did not block a shot in 22 minutes of action in a first round loss to San Jose State. Much to the chagrin of Santa Clara fans, the loss prevented a Sampson vs. Kurt Rambis showdown in the championship game.
24 - Number of rebounds by Dennis Awtrey in a 58-52 championship game victory over California in the 1969 Cable Car Classic. The total remains the tournament record.
25 - Number of teams with multiple Cable Car Classic appearances. 42 teams have made single appearances in the tournament.
26 - Number of times Santa Clara head coach Dick Davey has served as either an assistant or head coach in the Cable Car Classic. California played in three Cable Car Classic events from 1969-71 but did not appear in the tournament during Davey's tenure (1972-77) in Berkeley.
29 - Number of states and the District of Columbia that have been represented by teams participating in the Cable Car Classic. Texas is the second most-represented state (behind California) in the tournament, sending five different teams to the event, while four different teams from Pennsylvania have made a total of 10 appearances, the second-most appearances in the tourney. Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina join Pennsylvania in having four of its teams appear in the Cable Car Classic.
37 - Number of Cable Car Classic events played as of Monday.
41 - Number of rebounds gathered by Weber State's Willie Sojourner in two games of the 1970 Cable Car Classic. Weber State defeated USF 79-65 in the first round by lost to cal 75-65 in the title game.
42 - Number of wins by Santa Clara in its previous 36 appearances in the Cable Car Classic. The Broncos host a 42-30 overall record in the tournament heading into 2003's first round game.
48 - Record-setting mumber of points scored by Nick Galis of Seton Hall in a 79-68 first round win over Santa Clara in 1978. He scored 26 the next night in a loss to Tennessee in the title game and his 74 total points is also a tournament record.
58 - Number of points scored by Santa Clara in one half in the 102-85 win over San Jose State in the 1978 consolation game. The 187 total points scored by the two teams remains the tournament record.
67 - Number of teams (including Idaho State and Wis.-Milwaukee) that have participated in the 37 years of the Cable Car Classic.
92 - Number of field goal attempts by Western Kentucky against San Francisco in the first round of the inaugural 1967 event. The Hilltoppers won that game 90-70 but lost the championship 75-68 to Santa Clara.
106 - Number of points scored by St. Joseph's against Alaska-Anchorage in the 1983 consolation game (106-54).
115 - Number of rebounds in the two games of the 1967 Cable Car Classic by Western Kentucky, a tournament record that remains. WKU holds the single game record with 70 against USF that season.