A seventh grader from St. Rafael’s School was the most sought-after person at Monday’s Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table press luncheon. Michael Cota’s excellence at the free-throw line drew the attention of high school and college basketball coaches in attendance in the Ranchero Room at Harry’s Plaza Cafe. Why all the fuss? Cota won district and Southern California titles in the annual Elks Hoop Shoot free-throw contest. He made 25 of 25 in the district competition and … [Read more...]

Talking about the exciting basketball being playing at Westmont College this season, Warriors men’s coach John Moore harkened back to the days when movie theaters showed double features for the price of one. “We used to have doubleheaders at movie theaters, where you get to see a twin bill,” Moore recalled at Monday’s Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table press luncheon at Harry’s Plaza Cafe. “Well, it’s great to come to Westmont these days because you can see a great twin bill. … [Read more...]

Monday's Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table press luncheon was the first of 2012, and a host of coaches, athletes, and community members dropped by Harry's Plaza Cafe to share how they're doing in the new year. Twenty teams were represented in total, with each giving a report on their team's seasons. San Marcos High School was recognized with several awards before the coaches' reports, as Jordan Lund, Tony Becerra, and Sam Strong received special awards. Dos Pueblos' Jessica Escalante was … [Read more...]

Cheers to Channel League basketball. With Monday's Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table Press Luncheon being the last of 2011, most of the league's teams were feeling cheery heading into the holidays. And with good reason. San Marcos' boys team is coming off their third straight championship at the Coast Union Tournament and Santa Barbara's girls remain undefeated after seven games. Dos Pueblos' girls team has a tournament title under its belt already this season and the Santa Barbara … [Read more...]

Andrew Butcher is fired up about this basketball season, and the Santa Barbara High girls coach shared his excitement at Monday’s Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table press luncheon at Harry’s Plaza Cafe. “There’s a lot of great basketball being played in the area this year,” he said. “It’s a great year for basketball in this town. Everybody enjoy that because once in a while we’ll have a year where nobody can make a basket. And, this is not one of those years. Let’s enjoy … [Read more...]

As he was watching the USC-UCLA football on TV last Saturday night, Bishop Diego football coach Tom Crawford couldn’t help but notice the young, undersized linebackers of USC and how hard they played. To him, it was like watching his linebacking crew of Christian Pearson, Adrian Solis and Thomas Lash. They’re all sophomores and weigh under 200 pounds, and they are a big reason why the Cardinals have advanced to the semifinals of the CIF East Valley Division playoffs. Bishop will play … [Read more...]

It was the best of both worlds at Monday's Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table press luncheon, as many of the teams represented were either in postseason mode or experiencing the excitement of a new season. Despite hosting an NCAA Selection Show viewing party at Harder Stadium barely an hour later, UCSB head soccer coach Tim Vom Steeg paid a visit and spoke about a special milestone. "Because of the body of work this year, we will be in our 10th consecutive NCAA Tournament, which is most … [Read more...]

Tim Vom Steeg wasn’t wearing a Halloween disguise when he arrived at Monday’s Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table press luncheon at Harry’s Plaza Cafe. The UCSB men’s soccer coach said after losing four starters to injuries and dropping four Big West Conference games, it was time to change things up. “With that, I turned to one of my assistants and said, ‘You know, we need to look different,’ ” he said. “We just don’t have enough players to look different, so I decided … [Read more...]