Potpourri, Jul 7

News Bits

PD Web: "2026 Elias Obenyah (6’5 G) of Salesian Prep (CA & Team Lillard has earned an offer from UC Davis."

Could see him at GuardU and such a move would keep him in Nor Cal.

AND

PD Web: "2026 Elias Obenyah (6’5 G) of Salesian Prep (CA) & Team Lillard has earned an offer from Stanford."

My money is on the Cardinal IF NIL money is comparable to any other offer.

AND

PD Web: "2026 Elias Obenyah (6’5 G) of Salesian Prep (CA) & Team Lillard has earned an offer from UC Santa Barbara.

AND

PD Web: "2026 Elias Obenyah (6’5 G) of Salesian Prep (CA) & Team Lillard has earned an offer from Nevada."

Obenyah is in need of a spreadsheet to keep track of all his offers and their pluses and minuses.

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Devaughn Dorrough: "Extremely blessed to have received an offer from UNLV!"

Not going to happen because Dorrough will be going to one of the top 10 hoops schools in the country. Stanford, Washington, San Diego State, USF, USC, California, San Jose State University, McNeese State (????), Weber State, UC Riverside and Sacramento State have each offered. His new school is Coronado High in Las Vegas so it's likely I won't be posting much about him anymore.

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Former Sacramento State assistant Brady Bergeson is the new head coach at Cal State San Marcos. 

Really, the sole reason for this item is to list the names of he and his wife's three children: Dash, Pilot and Clutch. I don't think he runs a sedate offense.

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Gladiator Basketball: "Gladiator 6’3 Soph PG 2 X 1st team Coast North Conference selection Marcellus Edwards has committed to a full scholarship to Concordia University."

A Speights Academy grad, he could help the majority of the Nor Cal D1 programs.

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Gladiator Basketball: "Gladiator 6’5 Soph PG F Jeylen Slayton has committed to a scholarship to Wilberforce University in Wilberforce, Ohio."

A 6-foot-4 guard, he prepped at Newark Memorial High and transferred in to Chabot College from Cuesta College

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Modesto Junior College Coach Brice Fantazia is at work to produce a replica record, or better, in the 2025-26 season.

MJC Men's Basketball: "Excited to welcome 6’6 Wing Max (Oak Ridge High) Manfredi to the Pirate Family. Max is a transfer from American River College where he was named First Team Big 8 while averaging 17.8 PPG and 7.1 REB."

AND

MJC Men's Basketball: "Excited to welcome 6’8 Forward Mohamed Sene from Mbour, Sénégal and Stade Toulousain Basketball of France to the Pirate Family."

AND

MJC Men's Basketball: "Excited to welcome 6’6 Guard Kwamé Kimoto from La Roche sur Yon, France to the Pirate Family."

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"A basketball murder, surprise parole, and a whistleblower's life upended"

Dan Wetzel goes masterfully long and deep about the ramifications surrounding Patrick Dennehy's murder. Dennehy attended Wilcox High and graduated from St. Francis High. Coach Dave Bliss emerges as a contemptible human being here.

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Sada Nganga: "BIG THANKS to http://bluegoldnil.com Proud to be a Spartan! @BlueGoldNIL @SanJoseStateMBB"

The 6-foot-10, 220 pound forward is apparently returning after hitting the transfer portal.

AND

Verbal Commits: "2026 Marist (IL) F Stephen Brown has received an offer from San José State."

Brown is 6-foot-7 and uber athletic. His shooting range and scoring ability are developing.

AND

Verbal Commits: "2026 Francis Parker (CA) G Ezekiel Walker has received an offer from San José State."

He's a 6-foot-2 sharpshooting guard out of the San Diego area who missed last summer's AAU action due to injury.

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Chapman Basketball: "It’s officially official — Dylan Mansour is a Panther! Hailing from Lafayette, California, Dylan is a product of Campolindo High School, where he was a league champion in 2021, 2022, and 2023, compiling an impressive 51-10 record over his final two seasons."

Mansour stands 6-foot-3 and is headed to the OC. He spent this past season at Washington, seeing action in five games.

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"CHUCK TERRELL NAMED EXEC. DIRECTOR OF BASKETBALL OPS & PLAYER MANAGEMENT"

Out of Oakland, Terrell played first at San Jose State University, then Pacific and is now back in the college ranks at Georgia Tech.

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Verbal Commits: "2026 Basha (AZ) G Mason Magee has received an offer from UC Davis."

USF offered the 6-foot-1 point last week.

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Nathalio Gray Jr. (NJ): "After a great talk with Coach Muench. I’m blessed to receive a Division 1 offer from LMU. Thank you to the coaching staff for believing in me."

He's a 6-foot-1 2027 point attending The Branson School who will be going much higher. LMU is one of those schools trying to get on/stay on the right side of .500, then to 20 wins and hopefully springboard from there but a struggle it has been.

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Siincere Hudson: "After a great phone call with LMU Coach Johnson, I'm blessed to have received an offered from LMU basketball."

Ditto: He's a 6-foot-1 2027 point now attending Modesto Christian High who will be going much higher. LMU is one of those schools trying to get on/stay on the right side of .500, then to 20 wins and hopefully springboard from there but a struggle it has been.

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Devin Aye: "Congrats to Jags sophomore, Chinedu Nwankwo on his full scholarship commitment to NCAA II powerhouse, Kentucky Wesleyan! Chin was First Team Defense, and All Conference Honorable Mention. He carries a 3.5 GPA. Chin is the 6th Jag to sign a scholarship to University in ‘25!"

Out of Kimball High in Tracy, Nwankio stands 6-foot-6 and weighs 205. He averaged 9.6 points and 6.6 rebounds per game this past season.

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Welchy Report: "Part 2 Top Performers from this weekends ACCC Juco Jam Live Period in Hanceville Alabama:

Trey Knight - Wallace State..."

Knight is out of Moreau Catholic High and Tacoma CC.

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Goodarzi Prepares For New Role

With almost all of the San Jose State University basketball team currently participating in four days a week workouts for eight straight weeks this summer, there are multiple elements taking place for the assembled group:

• a getting-to-know-each-other aspect 
• an absorption of knowledge through a gaining of familiarity with the offensive and defensive systems
• The players also have the chance to separate themselves from one another in the battle both for starting positions and in earning playing time in the rotation coming off the bench.

Pasha Goodarzi, a 6-foot-3, 200-pound Valley Christian High grad, decided to stay home and sign with Coach Tim Miles and Spartan men's basketball two years ago. He redshirted his initial year and finally got on the court this past season.

For the record, at this point Goodarzi and sophomore-to-be guard Jermaine Washington are the sole returnees from the entire 2024-25 roster.

Goodarzi is in the midst of these team efforts plus individual workouts, having learned what he needs to do to access greater playing time (after averaging 9.2 minutes per game in 18 contests). It's a three-pronged approach: becoming more physical, improving his shooting, and developing into being more of a playmaker.

"I've gotten physically stronger (a necessity for anyone making the jump from the prep to the collegiate ranks)," he offered. "Being a guard, you're on an island defensively and it's critical to keep your opponent in front of you. So I've worked on playing a lot of one-on-one. (With defending), a lot of it is experience. It's been a big jump for me."

Click to watch

"I'm always working on my shooting (coming into the program known as a long distance marksman (an SJSU need), 47 of Goodarzi's 49 shooting attempts this past season were from three-point range."

Greater accuracy from long distance creates better opportunities inside for the Spartan bigs as well as opportunities for SJSU's guards and wings when the defense is spread out. All in all, besides the one point advantage on each made shot, long distance accuracy simply creates a harder-to-defend offense. If Goodarzi can earn greater court time, the opportunity to develop a greater sense of overall rhythm is also available and that aids the probability of an increased shooting percentage. It's all intertwined.

Playmaking is another aspect Goodarzi is working to better. Called upon to be a major supplier of provide points as a high schooler, he has initially served at SJSU in a role of being a long distance threat. But that is now evolving into putting the ball on the floor and heading to the basket for a shot or drawing defenders to him and passing off to a teammate for a good look. "This summer, I've been playing in a lot of pickup games. It requires you to make reads and quick decisions which is the only way in my opinion to improve playmaking. I’ve been going to LA to play at LMU (Loyola Marymount University) against high level college players and pros."

But there is also another important facet to improvement. "I’ve always been highly skilled.  Something I’ve been working on is the mental part of the game -- becoming mentally strong so my play can match the skills I have."

On the academic side, Goodarzi is majoring in Business Entrepreneurship offering "it's hard to balance all the academic work with basketball but I do it." In his employment favor is that he's certainly located in the most promising geographic area for applying what will be the academic title on his degree.

The Big Four in San Jose State's backcourt of last season—Donovan Yap, Will McClendon, Josh Uduje and Latrell Davis—have either transferred or completed their eligibility so playing time is definitely available to be earned. Granted incoming guard transfers JaVaughn Hannah and Colby Garland will provide stiff competition and one more backcourter will likely be signed.

As a poster at one of the SJSU men's baskeball message boards recently wrote, his expectation is that Goodarzi will average 9.0 points per game in the upcoming season. Goodarzi is preparing the best he knows how, up for the challenge.

Coach Brandon Bracy's Team Rampage 17u

Team Rampage Coach Brandon Bracy has a 10-man squad this summer, heavily laden with local and regional talents and one currently possessing a 10-2 record. It's a team that pulls for one another, displaying no jealousy or envy. Here are Bracy's mini-descriptions of each talent:

Meet Team Rampage

• Jordan Magana 5’9’ - Central Catholic HS (2026): "Full of grit, tough but with more finesse than brother Dayton Magana (attending Linfield College in Oregon after graduating from San Joaquin Delta College), a leader on the court, a lefty who has been shooting the ball really, really well lately, he has hit significant shots for us, a point guard and a shooter."

• Tyler Bailey 6’4’ - Junipero Serra HS (2026): "He played 17u for us last year as a sophomore, a two-way player, he can defend the 1-3 positions, a good outside shooter, he was a role player last year, he's providing more leadership in a quiet way, has greater confidence, possesses a long wingspan."

• Jayson Powers 6’7’ - Gregori HS (2026): "An incoming senior who turns 17 in the Fall, he's grown a lot, attacks the basket well and has a great mid-range game. He rebounds well and enjoyed a few breakout performances over the summer."

• Alexander Hamblet 6’8’ - Phillips Exeter Academy (2027): "Out of Archie Williams High in Marin County, his father attend PEA, he's only a sophomore and has a 4.0+ grade point average, he shoots the three well, displays good instincts and is good defensively, he'll likely be a D1 high academic target."

• London Haskell 6’8’ - Skyline Prep AZ (2026): "Has a great mid-range game, he's a powerful jumper who runs the floor well, he had a game-winning dunk in overtime for us in April."

• Christian Taylor 6’6’- Skyline Prep AZ (2026): "A new player for us from Los Angeles, he played for the Jalen Green Elite last Spring, he's a strong guard who can handle the rock, this summer is his time to prove he can handle the point."

• Gavin Christian 6’5’ - South HS (2026): "He's like a glue guy who plays hard, possesses perimeter/wing skills, he can also play the four and the five spots, jumps off of two feet, the MVP of his (Bakersfield) league, he's more athletic than what he looks."

• Cliff Willis 6’1’ - South HS (2026): "Another Bakersfield area talent, he's a coach on the floor, he even gives me suggestions on what to run on the floor, he plays off two feet, he shoots well in the mid-range."

• Anthony Monts 6’3’ - Jesse Bethel HS (2026): "A freak athlete at 6-foot-1, a lefty who is built like a tight end with broad shoulders, another glue guy, he has improved his handle this Spring, has played with us since the 9th grade."

• Brayden Bruce 6’4’ - Vacaville HS (2026): "Another guy who has played with us since the ninth grade, he has enjoyed a pretty productive Spring doing well with his opportunities, best asset is energy, he makes winning plays, can shoot the three and attacks closeouts."

According to Bracy, "All the players have been fantastic, playing with no egos. This is my most engaged group."

Potpourri, Jun 30

News Bits

"Augustas (St. Mary's) Marčiulionis will agree to Exhibit 10 contract with Lakers"

AND

"TY (UC Davis) Johnson inks summer contract with Lakers"

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Jonathan Givony: "NEWS: Texas Tech's Chance (Bethel High/Golden State Prep) McMillian has agreed to a deal with the Golden State Warriors, a source told ESPN."

The 6-foot-1 backcourter has a chance (no pun intended) but the Warriors did draft a guard in the first round.

AND

6-foot-10 Coleman (Antelope High/Pacific Prep) Hawkins did not get drafted.

"Coleman Hawkins agrees to play NBA Summer League for Golden State Warriors after going undrafted"

Others:

Former CCSF power forward Miles Norris will be playing for the Boston Celtic summer league team.

Cedric Coward and former College Park High guard Zyon Pullin are both on the summer league team for the Memphis Grizzlies.

Former USF backcourter Marcus Williams will be playing for the Miami Heat's summer league squad.

Jamaree Bouyea, formerly of USF and Palma High, will be manning the point for the Milwaukee Bucks summer league team.

The Oklahoma City Thunder summer league team roster includes former California power forward Maddy Sissoko.

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The Sacramento Kings drafted Stanford's 7-foot-1 Maxime Raynaud in round two of the NBA draft.

"Stanford head coach Kyle Smith on what draft pick Maxime Raynaud brings to the Sacramento Kings"

AND

"Sacramento Was Preferred Destination for Kings' Rookie"

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"Bay Area college won't bring sports back despite $45M cash infusion"

Sonoma State will remain sports-less.

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Casey Cappo: "Extremely humbled and grateful to have accepted the position of Head Coach for the Regional Team at aiaprepmb! So thankful for my time playing at BiolaMBB and cannot wait to begin my coaching career at the prep level in Xenia, Ohio! Psalm 145:3!"

The 6-foot-6 Cappo has a year of eligibility remaining (he averaged 15.9 points plus 6.9 rebounds this past season) but chose to enter the coaching ranks leading an Athletes In Action team in Ohio. He's out of Las Lomas High and also spent one season at Diablo Valley College. Cappo was a First Team All-PacWest selection.

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"Monterey’s Perry Huang to coach Lakers Summer League team"

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6-foot-6 Malcolm Malm out of Acalanes High will play next for Athletes In Action Prep in a post grad season.

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Simply Basketball: "Jaylen Smith (2027) has received an offer from Montana."

Smith is a 6-foot-1 point attending Amador Valley High. Can certainly see this pairing occur. Weber State has also offered.

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Nathalio Gray Jr. (NJ): "After a great talk with Coach Leap I’m blessed to receive a Division 1 offer from Seattle University. Thank you to the coaching staff for believing in me."

Gray is a 6-foot-1 2027 guard attending The Branson School. Seattle is entering the West Coast Conference in the 2025-26 season.

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Skyline Basketball: "Congrats to Aaron Friedkin who will be continuing his athletic & academic career at Fisher College in Boston! Aaron has worked long & hard to earn this opportunity. He has developed in every way at Skyline & was a big part of all our success the past two seasons."

Friedkin is a 5-foot-11 point who graduated from Albany High.

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"Offer to Mason Magee"

Magee is a 6-foot-1 point with plus athleticism and offers from Northern Arizona, Iowa, Arizona State, Seton Hall, Mississippi State, Washington State, UNLV, West Virginia, and now San Francisco.

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Nick Hilton: "Beyond blessed to announce that I have accepted the position of Head Men’s Basketball Coach at Barstow Community College. Grateful for everyone in my circle who helped to get me here. Time to work…"

Hilton is moving over from an assistant position at D1 Houston Christian, having also spent two years at College of San Mateo assisting Coach Mike Marcial. He began his basketball journey by playing at Fresno City College and Bellevue University where he captained his squads. He graduated from Jesuit High in Sacramento.

Barstow is a tough gig but hopefully Hilton will have adequate resources available in order to compete.

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PD Web: "2026 Elias Obenyah (6’5 G) of Salesian Prep (CA) & Team Lillard AAU has earned an offer from San Diego State."

This one will be very tough to not say yes.

AND

PD Web: "2026 Elias Obenyah (6’4 G) of Salesian Prep (CA) & Team Lillard AAU has earned an offer from Southern Utah."

It's great to have as many options as possible but this one isn't going to happen.

Obenyah has other offers from Colorado State, California, New Mexico, Montana, San Jose State University, UC San Diego and more.

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Jovan Joe: "God is good! Congratulations to Tony Mariano moving on the Simpson University! This young man put the work in and trusted the process!"

He's moving on to Rocklin to play for Coach David Cone.

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Joe Moussa: "2026 6’6 SG Eli Jolin commits to Santa Clara. Another commitment from FortErieMBB for next year, Jolin’s shooting ability & offensive talent will translate perfectly in the WCC. Best days are ahead."

The Broncos have two players with Canadian addresses on their 2025-26 roster, one from Montreal and the other from Toronto.

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"From Hawaii to the National Stage: The Rise of Jason “JJ” Mandaquit Jr"

He's a 2025 Stanford recruit.

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Cedric Coward went from not even being a nobody in the Fresno High School hoops ranks to D3 Willamette to Eastern Washington to Washington State and then Duke before deciding to forego Cameron Indoor Stadium and try out for the NBA. He was chosen 11th in the first round.

A wonderful read.

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It's a New World of Hoops at Cal Poly

Cal Poly finished 16-19, 8-12 in the 2024-25 season. Yeah, ho-hum. So what? Well, it was a 12-win improvement (from 4-28 overall, 0-20 in the Big West Conference) after bottoming out the year before.

Here's the worthy backstory: known as a program builder at each of his five previous head coaching spots, Mike DeGeorge officially came over to San Luis Obispo from his successful tenure at D2 Colorado Mesa on March 26, 2024, assembled his staff and went to work.

Some may call the Mustang improvement magical but that term indicates the mystical or the supernatural at work. While nobody on the new Cal Poly coaching staff practices prestidigitation, Cal Poly finished a remarkable #3 among 355 NCAA Division I programs with 11.5 made three-pointers per game and 19th in scoring at 82.1 points per game. In this past season, the Mustangs set new program single season records for total points, three-pointers and field goals while averaging 18.4 more points per game than the previous one.

The label "The DeGeorge Era" is already being bandied about as an SLO term of success and abundance. DeGeorge also rebuilt programs at Rhodes College, Cornell College and Eureka College, the latter beginning in 2000.

THE NEW STAFF

DeGeorge hired:

• Veteran mentor/now assistant coach Ron DuBois enjoys NBA, WNBA, college and overseas/international head coaching and assisting experiences on his hoops résumé. A native of Lodi, DuBois directed a successful nine-year stint at UC Santa Cruz, going 88-112 at a D3 school that offers no free rides and enjoyed a zero hoops reputation prior to his arrival. He departed as the program’s all-time victories leader alongside a 100% student-athlete graduate rate. All this after earning a scholarship to Arizona State University as a point guard, being named a team captain in his senior season and earning all-academic Pacific-10 Conference honors in 1999. DuBois previously worked with DeGeorge.
• Jesse Pruitt as an assistant coach, a basketball veteran with eight years of experience assisting at Stanford as well as another eight seasons at Santa Clara.
• Kyle Bossier who assisted DeGeorge both at Colorado Mesa and Rhodes also assisted DuBois from 2012-16 at UC Santa Cruz, is now back with McGeorge as an assistant and was also a member of the St. Mary's coaching staff in 2016-17. Bossier is a native of Santa Rosa. 
• Sam Walters, who played for DeGeorge in a 2018-19 graduate season, later assisted DuBois from 2019-2022 at UC Santa Cruz. Walters then assisted at West Valley College in Saratoga, CA for two very successful seasons. Again in an assistant role, he is a Soquel, CA native (Santa Cruz County).
• BJ Andrews also assisted DeGeorge at Colorado Mesa and is doing the same at Cal Poly. He is the sole coaching staff member minus any northern California basketball coaching connections.

DuBois recently talked with NorCal Basketball about his newest employment.

"We didn't know what to expect but once we beat Stanford (97-90 a road game on November 30), we knew we could make some noise. There were some rough patches (a three-game losing streak in early-to-mid December and then later a seven-game losing streak from mid-December to mid-January)." But the Mustangs closed out strong with a road win over Long Beach State, followed by victories over UC Davis and then UC Riverside in the conference tournament before falling to UC Irvine.

"Coach DeGeorge brought four of his players along from Colorado Mesa (including Ethan Menzies out of Half Moon Bay High) plus a couple of international prospects," DuBois noted. "Cayden (St. Mary's High-Stockton) Ward too. No one recruited him. We gave him a scholarship after just a couple of months" and the 6-foot-5 Ward concluded his freshman season averaging 7.4 points per game plus 3.4 rebounds in just 16.4 minutes a contest.

WHY COME TO CAL POLY?

Lacking much of a hoops reputation, what is the pitch to prospects? DuBois responded, "Playing style and opportunity. We play at a fast pace (tops in the country) and that attracts a lot of players. But freedom is earned and we spend a lot of time on decision making."

He continued, "the players we want have size and versatility, can play without positions and shoot 3s." Cal Poly put up 1,114 treys in 2024-25 to just 895 for opponents, finishing with a 36% shooting accuracy while defending at a 34% rate.

Seeing a major uptick in international players entering the college ranks DuBois said, "those with maturity and the ability to process team basketball seem to fit in quickly on the court at the college level. Academics are also generally at a high level because a lot of schools overseas are good. But the key is English proficiency and being able to adapt culturally once here."

GROWING TALENT

According to DuBois, "Basketball is a game of making quick but good decisions (on both the offensive and defensive ends). When you get the ball, it's either shoot, pass or dribble and making a good choice takes a while to develop. All the drills we do are geared towards that. By playing and making decisions live against speed, our players get more reps because we don't stop. We all have a growth mindset."

Plus, "Mike DeGeorge is good at sharpening strengths and developing weaknesses. We call ourselves Development U as at Cal Poly the school motto is learn by doing. What we do is develop our guys off of video and reps, not by stopping practice and talking. We accept we aren't going to get guys who walk in the door and can do it all, but we can develop who we get."

Let's see what season two brings down San Luis Obispo way.