News Bits
Cal State East Bay Pioneers: "🏆: IT’S OFFICIAL - Head Coach Bryan Rooney has been named the NABC Division II National Coach of the Year. At 33-0, Rooney has lead the Pioneers to the most historic year in program history. Congratulations, Coach."
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Cal State East Bay Pioneers: "🏆: IT’S OFFICIAL - Senior guard Tyree Campbell has been named the NABC Division II National Player of the Year. Tyree, a true Pioneer, received the news from Coach Rooney and his teammates while in Pittsburgh. Congratulations, TYREE!"
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Back in Pittsburgh for the opening night of the Elite 8, Cal State East Bay fell 78-55 to Oklahoma Baptist to finish 33-1 on the season. Only Jaayden Bush finished in double figures scoring with 17 points and teammate Josh Ijeh contributed eight points, 12 boards plus a pair of blocked shots. The Pioneers were out-shot, making just 26% of their attempts but also holding OB to 40.6%. game report
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Verbal Commits: "San Diego State G Miles Byrd is entering the transfer portal."
Out of Lincoln High in Stockton, the 6-foot-6 Byrd is a defensive wiz and earned Mountain West Conference Defensive Player of the Year this past season due to 41 blocked shots, many altered shot attempts plus 63 steals. He'll eventually play pro somewhere but likely never be much of a scorer unless he fixes his shooting form. Don't know why he is departing but might Randy Bennett take a long look considering his desire for veterans with experience? Let's see what NIL money a portaling plus defender can pull in?
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CCCMBCA: "West Valley coach Danny Yoshikawa announced he is stepping down after accepting the role of associate head coach at Oregon State. Yoshikawa, a former ast. at St. Mary’s, was in his 2nd stint at WVC. In his latest stint - 6 years - he took the Vikings to 5 consecutive Final Eights."
Both Justin Joyner, the new OSU head coach, and Yoshikawa assisted at St.Mary's but I'm unclear if the time frames of their tenures crossed paths.
Big shoes to fill at West Valley College. Should be some topnotch applicants.
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Verbal Commits: "2026 McCook CC (NE) F Alier Alier has committed to Sacramento State."
The 6-foot-8 wing from Souith Sudan had offers last summer from UC Santa Barbara and Cal State Northridge. Noted for his athleticism and motor, he averaged 9.5 points and 6.1 boards while shooting 54%, 32% and 75%.
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"4.5 GPA Bay Area high school basketball star is ranked among top in California and Stanford-bound"
What an excellent-written, loaded with information, well-deserved Elias Obenyah article written by Sharon Song.
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Tobias Bass: "NEWS: Zion Sensley (UC Santa Barbara) plans to enter the transfer portal, his agent @demetriusport55 tells TheAthleticCBB. He averaged 10.9 points and 7.6 rebounds per game while shooting 36% from 3."
Hard to see this happening if Justin Joyner doesn't take over the program at Oregon State. Joyner was his recruitment coach when Sensley initially committed to St. Mary's. He's out of Archbishop Riordan.
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"Can Mickey McConnell achieve ‘continuity’ at St. Mary’s, taking over for Randy Bennett?"
"Four-star 2026 CG JRob Croy flips from Saint Mary's to Arizona State"
Croy's father assisted Randy Bennett at St. Mary's.
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Verbal Commits: "Saint Mary's F Paulius Murauskas is entering the transfer portal."
Without naming names, Coach Bennett unusually laid into him (as well as others) in the post-game press conference for immature leadership after the Gael loss to Texas A&M in the Big Dance. In just 23 minutes (due to illness), PM scored four points and grabbed three rebounds. Let's see if their is mutual interest in him moving to Tempe.
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Verbal Commits: "Saint Mary's G Mikey Lewis is entering the transfer portal."
The sense here is Bennett wanted greater maturity too from Lewis as well as consistency. Don't see him moving on to the Big 12 competition. I guess maybe elsewhere.
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WCC Supremacy: "Major news!!!!: (6-3 junior-to-be Joshua) Dent is returning and Jordan Ross has reached out to Mickey about a return!!!!" (Ross transferred to Georgia for the 2025-26 season)
WCC Supremacy: "Hearing that (7-foot-3 redshirt junior to be Andrew) McKeever is probably in the portal but it’s not decided yet."
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Jonathan Givony: "NEWS: Joshua Dent is staying at Saint Mary's, he told DraftExpress. The First-Team All-WCC point guard will return for his junior season, a major win for first-year head coach Mickey McConnell. "Playing under Mickey was an opportunity I couldn't pass up," Dent said."
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Joe Tipton: "Santa Clara guard Christian Hammond plans to enter the transfer portal, he told On3. The 6-4 sophomore was the Broncos leading scorer, averaging 15.6 points per game, while shooting over 39% from three. All-WCC First Team."
This is a surprise considering how successful Santa Clara was this season and how favored they would be to win the conference this coming season. Maybe it is an NIL 'feel out' move or simply that Santa Clara doesn't have the funding that could match what Hammond will likely receive in offers from other teams.
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Verbal Commits: "2027 Harvard-Westlake (CA) G Pierce Thompson has received an offer from California."
Thompson is a 6-foot-4 point. Weber State, Vanguard and Albany have also extended offers.
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Verbal Commits: "San Diego State G B.J. Davis is entering the transfer portal."
This is a bit of a surprise but consider the 6-foot-1 junior out of Modesto Christian High started just seven of 33 games and finished fourth on the Aztecs in assists. He averaged a second-on-the-team 10.8 points per game, is considered more of a points producer than assister and SJSU redshirt backcourt transfer Latrell Davis will be the starter at either the one or the two spots next season.
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"College sports departments to high school recruits: Stop trying to trick us by using AI"
Really? So when you go on a recruiting visit, are asked to work out and you hesitate then decline, what then?
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Verbal Coimmits D2: "Cal State Dominguez Hills G Jalen Brown is entering the transfer portal."
The 6-foot-2 junior is out of Modesto Christian High.
Jeff Goodman: "...The 6-2 junior averaged 15.6 points and shot 41 percent from 3 this past season. Already drawing high-major interest."
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Verbal Commits: "2026 Santa Margarita Catholic (CA) F Drew Anderson has committed to Stanford"
The 6-foot-10 Anderson had committed to Oregon State before the recent coaching change there. He's a smooth, excellent three-point shooter, a solid rebounder and will only be more effective with added bulk. A four-star recruit.
A signing feature from Eric Bossi.
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Verbal Commits: "San José State G Ben Roseborough is entering the transfer portal."
A redshirt sophomore, Roseborough got back on to the court this season after a bedeviling. lomg-lasting foot injury, enjoyed some positive moments but unfortunately became injured again, first an issue with a hand and then with a knee. In 11 games (nine starts) and 28 minutes a contest this season, he averaged a third-on-the-Spartans 12.0 points per game, shooting 40%, 41% (tops on the team for threes) and 82%. He partially displayed his true potential in 2025-26 but must show he can remain healthy for a full season. Definitely and easily worthy of a chance to actually carry a team but his health is a gamble. I'm a little surprised he is departing considering San Jose needs scoring ability (which he demontrated when the also transferring and leading scorer Colby Garland was injured) but Coach Tim Miles likely is feeling he needs to bring in some talents who have a history of remaining healthy. This move could hurt SJSU.
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Travis Branham: "Hawaii sophomore Aaron Hunkin-Claytor intends to enter the transfer portal, his agent Drake U’u of usmgmt tells 247Sports. Averaged 6.0 PPG, 2.8 RPG and 3.9 APG this season."
Left unnoted is that AH-C (out of Salesian Prep) is departing a winning squad (24-9, 14-6) which went to the Big Dance (versus Arkansas this season), he started 17 of 17 games as a sophomore point (a 67/32 assist-to-turnover ratio) before being injured for the rest of the season and the leading assist man for UH this season is a soon-t--be-gone graduate student. Also, the family has Hawai'i connection and AH-c played two years of prep basketball in Honolulu.
So maybe St. Mary's? Possibly USF?
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Verbal Commits: "Evansville G Kaia Berridge is entering the transfer portal."
The former Archbishop Riordan backcourter is a New Zealander. He played 12.0 miutes per game as a sophomore this season but didn't shoot well and has yet to have much of a positive effect for his team.
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The Field of 68: "Charlotte’s Anton Bonke will be entering the transfer portal as a graduate student, he told TheFieldOf68. The 7-2 big man averaged 10.6 ppg, 8.3 rpg and 1.5 blks for the 49ers. Played his frosh season at Eastern Arizona College and was at Providence in 24-25 before Charlotte."
SJSU offered him before he decided on Providence. Worth a mention but have no idea if there is still interest but the Spartans do lack a proven center on the roster for next season.
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HoopDirt: "New Oregon State head coach Justin Joyner is starting to assemble his staff. One name that keeps coming up in San Francisco assistant Michael Plank. Plank has been at USF since 2021 and Oregon ties. He attended Willamette U (OR), served as an assistant at Portland State, and worked with the Portland Basketball Club 17U (EYBL). I have also heard JUCO head coach from California is in the mix here."
It has been confirmed that Plank is heading north joining Yoshikawa as you have read.
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"The ballad of Colby Garland & fragile mid-major hopes"
So well written, Vic Aquino superbly captures the plight of likely 60-70% of D1 programs today. And yes, Garland has entered the transfer portal but who can blame him as the expecations are he will earn half a million dollars plus at his next stop.
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"Fueled by family: John Camden’s path to basketball"
The California forward comes froma sports family.
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"MARCH MADNESS: THE D2 AND D3 GUYS"
Cal Poly Head Coach Mike DeGeorge lauds the lower level college coaches and players who worked their way up into this season's Big Dance as D1 head coaches.
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Connor Hale: "Largest estimated NIL / roster-spend gaps in the Round of 64:
- #7 Kentucky — $20M
- #10 Santa Clara — $2.8M
- Gap: $17.2M..."
The Broncos should have been blown out based on funding.
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"Loyalty, patience (and cash): David Riley and WSU basketball deserve better"
Riley is a graduate of Gunn High.
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Nick Graves: "COACHES!!! 6’3 PG looking to use a 5th year somewhere. 1000 point college scorer.
Complete college stats:
- 14.5 PPG
- 4.7 RPG
- 2.2 APG
- 41% FG
- 35% 3P
- 86% FT
MAKING FILM WILL BE POSTED SOON"
Graves is out of Oak Ridge High and American River College.
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Ivan Soto: "Junior at Cal Poly Maritime (NAIA), Looking for a new home with athletic department shutting down next year, Junior with 1 year of eligibility left possibly 2.
- GP- 23
- 164 Total Points
- 7.1 PPG
- 44.2% FG (57-129)
- 32.8% 3PT (22-67)
- 84.8% FT (28-33)
- 1.6 RPG
- 1.4 APG"
Soto is out of El Camino High and American River College.
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"SJSU ASSISTANT COACH JACK TOWNSEND NAMED SILVER WAVES MEDIA RISING STAR"
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Pacific Men's Basketball: "Congratulations to assistant coach Garrett Bridges who has been selected by Silver Waves Media as a Rising Star. He has been invited to a Power Lunch at the Final Four in Indianapolis. Bridges is among a group of mid-major coaches that have been distinguished in men’s basketball."
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Jaden Tengan: "Blessed to receive a D1 offer from Rider University!"
Tengan is a 6-foot-1 junior scoring guard out of Kennedy High in Sacramento. Rider U is a D1 university located in New Jersey. I hear it has quite the equestrian team.
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Caleb Asante: "Blessed to receive an offer from Adams State. Thanks to Coach Tripp and the rest of the coaching staff for believing in me."
Asante is a 6-foot-5 sophomore wing out of West Valley College and Leigh High. Adams State is located in Colorado.
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Broome has assisted at played at Humboldt, assisted at Cal State Monterey Bay, Sonoma State nad Montana, headed the College of the Redwoods women's program and worked as an Associate Head Coach at Academy of Art University. Success follos him wherever he goes and it isn't a coincidence.
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The Portal Report: "Cal State Monterey (D2) F Michael Mora updates his recruitment for TPR:
VISITS:
- Wyoming
- UC Riverside
- Montana
OFFERS:
- Idaho
- Wyoming
- UC Riverside..."
He's a 6-foot-6 wing out of Palo Alto High.
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Verbal Commits: "2026 Sierra College (CA) G Garret Dutro has received an offer from Montana."
The 6-foot-5 Dutro, also out of Placer High, is a sharpshooter with solid three-point range and two years of eligibility. Montana is his fifth offer, alongside Pacific, Dominican, Idaho and Arkansas Pine Bluff.
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Verbal Commits D2: "Stanislaus State G Donjae’ Lindsey has entered the transfer portal."
The 6-foot-1 shooting guard possesses one more year iof eligibility and in 23.4 minutes a game, he averaged 12.0 points with 22 steals and a 45/61 assist-to-turnover ratio. The 13-15, 9-13 Stanisalus record may be the reason for his seeking a greener pasture.
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