Dunlap Hoping Sweet Dreams Don’t Sour Cal Lutheran Season

THOUSAND OAKS — Mike Dunlap, the men’s basketball coach at Cal Lutheran for the past four years, would love to see the Kingsmen make a return trip to the sweet 16 round of the NCAA Division III tournament this season.

However, he refuses to use his impending departure to coach in the National Basketball League in Australia in April as a motivational ploy.

Dunlap, who has compiled a 55-52 record at Cal Lutheran, recently accepted an offer to coach the Adelaide 36ers in the NBL next year.

“I don’t want the guys feeling like they have to win because this is my last season,” Dunlap said. “I don’t want them to feel pressure because of that. I want to enjoy ourselves this year and the time we’re going to spend together because it’s going to end when the season does.”

Cal Lutheran (20-7) won a share of its second consecutive Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title last season before losing to SCIAC co-champion La Verne in the second round of the Division III playoffs.

The Kingsmen were eliminated in the third round of the Division III tournament in 1992.

Cal Lutheran appears capable of contending for a third consecutive SCIAC title with five of its top six scorers returning and the addition of some talented newcomers.

Guards Damon Ridley (15.7 points a game), Paul Tapp (11.4) and Dave Ulloa (8.6) will start alongside forwards Rupert Sapwell (11.7 points, 7.2 rebounds) and Derrick Clark (10.2, 7.5) in what Dunlap calls a small, but quick lineup.

Junior Sapwell and sophomore Ulloa are the non-seniors among the starters.

Although the 6-foot-6 Sapwell and the 6-4 Clark are the only two starters taller than 6-2, Dunlap can bring 6-6 Paul LaMott and 6-5 Jason Smith off the bench.

LaMott is a junior transfer from Irvine Valley. Smith is a freshman swingman from Melbourne, Australia.

Sophomore guards Mark Heerema and Rob Beckerley are expected to give the Kingsmen additional scoring punch. They averaged 17 and 15 points a game, respectively, last season for the junior varsity.

Jared Byrne, a 6-7 center who averaged 6.5 points and 4.8 rebounds as a sophomore, is redshirting this season to concentrate on studies.

“We’re still going to be a defensive-minded team,” Dunlap said. “But I think we’re going to be much quicker. . . . (Rupert and Derrick) are going to have to raise their game to another level when it comes to rebounding, and (Ridley) may also have to step it up a notch.”

The Kingsmen will open the season against UC Santa Cruz in a first-round game of the Menlo tournament tonight.