Cascade Collegiate Conference Is Big Time Basketball

By Greg Crawford, basketball insider @wchoops @crawssportsbiz

When you take the leagues and the teams I have seen this year on the men's side in college basketball on all levels, it adds up to 24 leagues. These levels include, D-1, D-2, D-3, NAIA, community and junior colleges and NCCAA (National Collegiate Christian Athletic Association).

And to be candid, there is no better competitive league than the Cascade Collegiate Conference, which has teams in Washington, Oregon and Idaho. It has wonderful coaches and really competitive student/athletes. The league also has a great leader in Robert Cashell.

As for the basketball, the leader as of today on the men's side is College of Idaho. They are coached by Scott Garson in his first year and Garson has a terrific team, really athletic and so much fun to watch. But every team in the CCC is fun to watch and I have seen them all.

Halfway through the season, it is going to be an unreal race for the league title and playoff seeding, something that has not been seen in the CCC for many years. At 7-2, C of Idaho not only is leading the league, but has the talent to win the league. But they are being chased really hard by three 6-3 teams, Concordia, Warner Pacific and Southern Oregon. Warner Pacific travels to Concordia on Saturday night, an inner city battle and the Knights will face a Cavalier team that has won seven in a row and more than likely that will be eight in a row, as they play Portland Bible on Tuesday night in a non-league game, in which they will be heavy favorites.

Of course this great race comes on the heels of Oregon Tech's iconic coach Danny Miles sitting on 998 victories in his quest to reach 1,000. The Owls play at home this week against College of Idaho and Eastern Oregon, the Klamath Falls faithful deserve to see Danny get his 1,000th at home, he just might , even though every CCC game is a test for both teams each night.

And if you doubt anything I say above, I challenge you to attend a CCC game soon. as most teams play every Friday and Saturday night. Here are the teams that make up the CCC----Corban, Northwest, Northwest Christian, College of Idaho, Eastern Oregon, Warner Pacific, Southern Oregon, Evergreen State and Oregon Tech. They all have nice websites, with their schedules as does the league website at www.cascadeconference.org

Greg Crawford is the college basketball insider for CSNNW.com where he covers D-1 college basketball and can be read at www.csnnw.com/blog/crawfords-court.