With a roster resembling an intramural squad more than an NCAA program, the California Institute of Technology has been the punch line to countless jokes about college hoops futility.

Caltech had lost 59 straight games. Each of its first ten games this season were lost by an average margin of 36 points. But on Jan. 6, the unthinkable happened: The Beavers won, 81-52, over Bard College (N.Y.), not only snapping their overall streak, but also breaking a 207-game losing streak against NCAA opponents dating back to the 1995-96 season.

‘It was a combination of joy and relief,’ head coach Roy Dow said. ‘Success helps the players feel validated and accomplished in what they are trying to achieve and accomplish.’

Sophomore Travis Haussler, the team’s tallest player at 6-foot-7, led the way with 27 points. Fellow sophomore Matt Dellatore was right behind him with 24. The Beavers broke the game open with a 21-6 run extending from the end of the first half into the second half.

Besides school president Jean-Lou Chameau and his wife Carol Carmichael, the women’s basketball team and a few dedicated students and faculty members, not many made it to Braun Athletic Center to see the fateful win. After the game, however, news of the victory over the 3-13 Raptors swept the campus and community.

‘There has been such a big buzz about all of this,’ junior Bryan Hires said. ‘A lot of the faculty members especially were aware of it and would come up and compliment us on the win. I didn’t know who they were, but it was probably a Nobel Prize winning professor.’

That would not be too much of a stretch. Albert Einstein lectured at Caltech and 31 Nobel Prize winners have either studied or taught at this small Pasadena, Calif., institution. With so much emphasis on academics, athletic recruiting is far from a top priority.

Only six players played on their high-school varsity teams, and even fewer were recruited to play for the Beavers. Players can even apply for physical education credit just by being on the roster.

Dow, in his fifth year coaching the Beavers, is left with one of the most difficult and unique jobs in college basketball. Not many NCAA prospects meet Caltech’s arduous academic standards. The ones who do may not have the brawn of a Division I prospect, but they do have more than enough brains.

‘Everyone on the team has a very high basketball IQ,’ Dow said. ‘The things that involve subtlety or have elements of sophistication our kids adapt to very well. They don’t want me to ‘dumb-down’ the coaching and want to be held to a high standard of playing and learning basketball.’

Despite Dow’s best intentions, some of the team’s ineptitude is out of his control. Caltech has little practice time, and players are often exhausted from studying late the night before. Besides organized practices, players have no other workout sessions.

‘It’s hard to run an effective practice when a couple guys are missing and half the people who are there are dead tired,’ senior Chris Yu said. ‘That coupled with our collective inexperience in basketball has made it hard for us to compete.’

Instead of measuring success in wins and losses, Caltech is more concerned with improving from game to game, year to year.

Although it has just one recent win to show for it, Caltech has improved each of the last several seasons. Last season, the team was competitive virtually every night, even taking a game to overtime – a far cry from the program three years ago that lost every game by an average margin of 60 points.

‘In my almost four seasons here, I have seen distinct improvements almost every day,’ Yu said. ‘Wanting to get that much better each game, even by a small amount, made it possible to keep coming back every day.’

Since defeating Bard, Caltech has lost its last four games by an average margin of more than 48 points, all of which were to conference opponents. Caltech has not beaten a Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opponent in 21 years – or 249 games.

Dow called this streak ‘silly,’ and considers it to be more important than the now-broken overall losing streak, which he said is more a product of scheduling than anything else. Because of its conference affiliation, Caltech is committed to playing a full NCAA schedule out-of-conference to keep pace with its rivals.

Through all the stress, jokes and blowouts, Dow still believes in the benefit of a basketball program at Caltech, and preaches the importance of sports beyond final scores. His players have bought into his message.

‘Playing basketball has been one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had here,’ Yu said. ‘I learned about being committed to something even though you don’t get instant results, and that’s one of the most satisfying things.’

No. 19 Clemson at No. 10 Duke

Thursday, Jan. 25, 7 p.m., ESPN

After losing its first two ACC games, Duke has won three straight and is looking to establish itself once again as the top of the conference. The Blue Devils have not beaten a strong team and can earn a lot of respect by beating the upstart Tigers.

Duke 68, Clemson 61

No. 4 North Carolina at No. 17 Arizona

Saturday, Jan. 27, 1 p.m., CBS

Some believe North Carolina is the best team in the country, and its 22-point win over Clemson reinforced that notion. Arizona is reeling, having lost three straight Pac-10 games for the first time in 22 years.

North Carolina 86, Arizona 74

No. 7 Oregon at No. 20 Washington State

Saturday, Jan. 27, 10 p.m., FSN

Oregon is flying up the rankings. After winning their first 13 games, the Ducks have since started a new five-game streak. Senior Aaron Brooks, averaging more than 18 points per game, is becoming a legitimate player of the year candidate, and should lead his team to another win on Saturday.

Oregon 72, Washington State 69

No. 24 Virginia Tech at Georgia Tech

Sunday, January 28, 3:30 p.m.

Virginia Tech has played up to its competition lately, beating Duke, North Carolina and Maryland this month. While Georgia Tech also beat Duke, it has defeated only one other ranked team.

Virginia Tech 76, Georgia Tech 74

Syracuse at Louisville

Saturday, January 27, 7 p.m., ESPN

The Orange is coming off a disappointing loss to St. John’s and will be looking to bounce back. Eric Devendorf has been the big scorer of late for SU, and will need another big game on the road. Louisville has not beaten a strong team yet this season, but Syracuse does not always play like a strong team.

Syracuse 73, Louisville 68

Published on January 22, 2007 at 12:00 pm