Occidental JV Men's Basketball Program

Our developmental team is one of the few remaining of its kind in the SCIAC and at NCAA DIII schools in Southern California. Whereas some small colleges and universities have eliminated their developmental programs for a variety of reasons, we remain committed to fielding a developmental team. So every year, our basketball players who do not see prominent action at the Varsity level gain valuable playing experience by competing for our developmental team.

The developmental team offers new players an opportunity to ease into the academic and athletic demands at Occidental. By providing younger players, who might be ninth, tenth, or eleventh men on the varsity, with significant game experience, it benefits both the individual players and the program as a whole. Many players who spend one or two seasons playing on the developmental team become significant contributors to the varsity team by their junior or senior seasons. Most recently Gavin Keohane '03 and Jamal Thornes '05 both spent two years on the Junior-Varsity and were All-SCIAC players their senior years.

The developmental team schedule consists of between fourteen and eighteen games against community colleges, AAU Teams, Alumni teams and other developmental teams in Southern California. This year the team will be competing in 3 Junior College Tournaments. Because many of the players on the developmental team are freshman unaccustomed to the rigors of college life, the time demands placed on developmental team players are less than those placed on varsity players: road games are limited to those colleges within a short distance of the school to eliminate excess travel time, and the developmental team team generally practices only five days a week. Nonetheless, we expect all players in the program, both on the varsity team and developmental team, to be committed to the program and to its success.

Meet the 2008-09 JV Team.

The 2007-08 JV Team.