49ers Make It to NCAA Tournament

After making their first National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament in 12 years, the Long Beach State University men’s basketball team was knocked out in the first round by University of Arizona, losing 65-85 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah on March 21.

The No. 15 seed Beach were snuffed by the No. 2 seeded Wildcats on the first day of March Madness. Arizona’s Kylan Boswell led with 20 points, beating out Amari Stroud and Aboubacar Traore of LBSU, who both led the team with 14 points each. Arizona, now ranked ninth in the nation by the Associated Press, advanced to the second round to beat the University of Dayton.

The end of LBSU’s tournament run also marks the last game of head coach Dan Monson, who was released by the university on March 11. It was announced on the team’s Instagram page and website that Monson and the university had come to a “mutual” agreement for him to leave his position at the university after 17 seasons, though he would be allowed to coach the rest of the season.

Monson wrote, “I am proud of what we have accomplished on and off the court, but it is time for a new voice for the program.”

Before their game against Arizona, LBSU Athletic Director Bobby Smitheran said that he had intentionally timed Monson’s release so as to inspire the team to play better in an interview with the AP.

Smitheran said, “My belief and hope is that by doing what I did and the timing of it, they would play inspired, and that’s what they did.”

Monson’s release came at a time when the team had lost their last five games of their regular season. However, following the announcement, they went on to win the Big West Conference tournament, beating the University of California Riverside, Irvine and Davis, punching their first ticket to March Madness since 2012, when they lost in the first round to the University of New Mexico. Monson coached the Beach with a record of 275 wins and 273 losses.

“God has blessed me with a great career and these kids have been awesome to coach,” Monson said in a postgame interview with ESPN.

On April 2, the LBSU athletic department announced that former San Diego State University assistant coach Chris Acker would be taking over as head coach on their website. Acker spent the last five seasons with the Aztecs, punching their ticket to March Madness four times, including helping the team on their historic run to the 2023 tournament championship, where they lost a hard-fought game to the University of Connecticut.

“[Acker’s] brand of leadership is exactly what is needed for the next era of Beach Basketball,” Smitheran wrote, “we look forward to seeing what he can build in the next chapter of this storied program.”