Chabot Men's Basketball: Strength In Numbers

Not only is the Chabot College men’s basketball team turning heads across the state with its fine play, but head coach Keenan McMiller’s deep team has the locals excited too.

“Support continues to grow and people in the area are happy to see the program is healthy,” McMiller said on Tuesday.

Healthy indeed.

Chabot (9-2) entered the week riding a six-game winning streak playing a demanding schedule packed with SoCal powers. The Glads, who moved up nine spots to No. 15 in the Dec. 4 CCCMBCA Top 30 poll, have a monster home game on Friday against unbeaten State No. 1 West Valley (8-0). Tipoff is 6:30 p.m.

Talk about a gauntlet of a schedule. The Glads’ only losses were against reigning state champion Fullerton (75-69) — in a game the Glads led by 11 at halftime — and San Diego City (89-74). Those teams are currently ranked third and fourth in the state.

McMiller designed the schedule to be tough, to prepare the team for a tough conference and regional playoffs to follow. West Valley had better come prepared.

“We’ve played 1. We’ve played 4. We’ve played 11. We’ve played 16, in the state, not Northern California, in the state,” McMiller declared. “Not many Northern California teams have played that, and there’s a few Southern California teams that have a little bit tougher schedule than (Chabot’s), but, yeah, we’re poised and ready to play, with a good week of practice, against West Valley on Friday. I’m hoping the gym is gonna be ruckus in there; they get the Chabot treatment when they come.”

Last week, Chabot swept three straight opponents en route to the championship of the Monterey Bay Classic, beating ranked Monterey Peninsula 88-67 on Dec. 2 in the final. They opened the Classic by upending ranked Irvine Valley 77-67.

Zach Broadous was MVP of the tournament, and Noah Thomas and Makaio Mims were all-tournament picks. Broadous is averaging 17.9 points and 5.7 rebounds a game this season. Thomas, who led Pleasant Valley High-Chico to a Division III State championship in 2022, is at 20.5 ppg (14th in the state), shooting 51 percent from the field, 36.5 percent from 3-point range, and 81 percent on free throws. Mims is at 13.4 ppg and 43 percent on threes, and also averaging 6.5 rebounds.

McMiller mentions his key players. “Obviously it starts off with Zach Broadous, and it goes down the line with Noah Thomas, sophomore Makaio Mims, freshman Marcellus Edwards (11.5 ppg; 85 percent free throws), those four are constantly consistent, excellent chemistry.

"What I’m really grateful for and humbled by is you bring in two brand new guys (Noah and Marcellus) that had never played with two other guys (Broadous and Mims), and they just mesh," the coach said.

Helping the bonding process is Broadous and Thomas are roommates.

“I did that purposely,” McMiller said. “I told their parents, ‘Hey, you guys need to meet each other.’ They went ahead and did what they had to do, and you would think these two are brothers. You would literally think they grew up together their whole lives.”

Depth is a big key for the Gladiators.

“I always talk about strength in numbers, and our depth is our wealth, but we do have guys that are playing their roles the way we discussed and communicated to them prior to the season,” McMiller says. “… Not only do I give individual players roles, but we speak of those roles in front of the entire team. Then everybody knows what the expectations are.”

McMiller feels blessed to be able to “put good people together" and wants his players to have a positive experience in the program and going through Chabot.

“It’s not just about winning, it’s the winning mentality in life and the appreciation of being with one another,” he says.