News Bits
6-foot-3 Aidan (Campolindo High/St. Mary's) Mahaney is enduring a very tough season. Known as a points producer, he hasn't scored in four of the last five games for UConn. Now playing an average of 12.5 minutes a contest (much higher earlier in the season), Mahaney is scoring 4.4 points an outing but to his credit, he has 36 assists versus 17 turnovers. His shooting accuracies are 36%, 32% and 76% respectively. Is the junior facing this difficult decision: does he remain back east or return west, even possibly to St. Mary's, which could absolutely use him next season? We'll likely know soon.
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MJ Clegg: "Extremely blessed to receive an offer to NCAA DII Cal State East Bay! Big thanks to my teammates and coaches at Camp Cochise for making this possible!"
Clegg is a 6-foot-6, 205 extremely athletic sophomore attending Cochise College in Arizona. He received an offer from Art U back in mid-January.
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Saint Mary's Hoops: "No surprises here! Mikey Lewis has been named WCC Sports Freshman of the Week! Lewis had an incredible performance against Gonzaga once again, this time as leading scorer with 18 PTS at the Kennel. This is now the 4th time Lewis has been named Freshman of the Week."
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UC Merced Bobcats: "Aidan Sevilla has been named the California Pacific Conference Defensive Player of the Week!"
Sevilla is out of Dougherty Valley High.
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Ersin Demir goes long in an NBA Draft profile of Joshua Jefferson, the former St. Mary's frontcourter.
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Via the very trustworthy Dinos Trigonis:
"2. Kendyl Sanders 6’7” CF IMG (Bradenton FL)/Los Angeles CA
Very versatile and athletic forward is a product of St. Bernard (Playa del Rey CA) where he played for Tony Bland (now an assistant at Washington/Big 10) and had a impressive academic profile (3.8 GPA). Sanders played well for Belmont Shore last grassroots season at the Pangos Terrific 24 (@ Indy), Pangos All-American Camp (Top 60 Game pick), Pangos Premier 80 and Pangos Sweet 16 (led squad to championship) but turned down late summer D-I overtures from the likes of UC-Irvine to spend a year under the tutelage of former long-time college coach Jimmy Carr to get stronger and better at IMG’s post-grad program. Kendyl can finish with either hand on his sweeping drives to the cup and has a very improved perimeter shot. Averaging 14.2 points (63% FG) and 8.1 boards per game for a balanced 18-4 IMG post-grad squad that is averaging 93 points per game this season. Father Yamen Sanders played at USC during the George Raveling years and his younger brother Kyle Sanders is a promising 6-10 freshman at Bishop Montgomery (Torrance CA) that is oozing with long-term potential. Penn, Harvard, San Jose State, Northern Illinois, Missouri State, George Mason and others showing interests for this nationally underrated player who plays winning basketball.
3. Kenyon DeMunyck 6’9” PF Link Prep (Branson MO) (related to Jourdan DeMunyck)
San Leandro CA (Bay Area) native with 7’3″ wingspan is a very long and athletic shot-blocker with a very underrated face-up ability. Kenyon is a terror running the lanes in transition and his length, bounce and huge upside make him an attractive long-term prospect. DeMuynck played with SoCal-based Belmont Shore last Spring and Summer and was an invitee to last June’s 2024 Pangos All-American Camp where his impressive play earned his a selection to the camp’s Top 60 Game and strong reviews from scouts there including NBADraft.net which remarked: “On offense he showed potential as a shooter, finished plays off with dunks and even had a few assists for good measure. He needs some work with his handles and there are question of consistency but he did create some follow up intrigue from two NBA scouts I was sitting near.” Among his signature games this season with Link Prep was 27 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 6 blocks vs. The New School (Branson MO). Colleges showing interest include San Francisco, San Jose State, Montana (will visit), TCU, Missouri, Pepperdine, UC-Irvine & Florida A&M.
5. Isaiah Carroll 6’7” WF Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood CA)
Sleek and athletic forward has impressive shooting touch (38% 3FG) and the ability to get to and finish above the rim on his drives to the cup. Isaiah is a core factor on the Fab 50’s #2 team in nation and his recent play includes efforts like his 22 points (5 threes) in H-W’s Trinity League win over St. Francis/La Canada CA at the Intuit Dome. Solid student (3.0 GPA) at arguably California’s top academic high school is getting recruiting attention from the likes of Cal Baptist, San Francisco, Grand Canyon, Seattle and Pepperdine. Love his long-term potential."
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Jon Rothstein: "Saint Mary's sweeps Gonzaga to clinch the WCC regular season title. Gaels are now 25-4 after losing both Joshua Jefferson (Iowa State) and Aidan Mahaney (UConn). How is Randy Bennett not being mentioned as a National Coach of the Year candidate? He's on the list."
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"Carr scores 21 in the fourth, lifts Redwood into semifinals"
21 points in the most critical quarter? 41 overall? Wow!
Frank Knight: "#1 Moreau Catholic defeats #8 Urban 62-35 in Round 2 of the NCS D2 Playoffs. Kellen Hampton with 26 points to lead all scorers."
Hampton is headed to Pacific.
and
Tamer Muhawieh offers a new prep basketball and baseball blog.
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"Fresno State holds out players; sources confirm betting inquiry"
Will Head Coach Vance Walberg stay or go? He's about to finish his first season.
This article indicates Walberg is staying.
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"Sources: Bernard Muir expected to resign as Stanford AD"
Interesting move. Much more here.
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Noah Thomas is in his junior year at Arkansas Monticello. This season the 6-foot-3 backcourter out of Pleasant Valley High and Chabot College has played in 20 games with 17 starts and at 28.1 minutes per outing while averaging 7.1 points alongside 2.8 rebounds. He is shooting 38%, 33% and 50% respectively and his 26 steals ranks third on his team.
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6-foot-1 Jalen Patterson is a senior ballin' at Bemidji State this season. He's a graduate of Liberty Ranch High and Las Positas College and attended Chadron State last season. Patterson has played in 28 games with 11 starts and appeared on the court for 20.2 minutes a contest while averaging 6.1 points and 1.6 rebounds with a 54/44 assist-to-turnover ratio. He is shooting 40%, 32% and 62% respectively.
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4PT: "Are College Coaches Prioritizing Experience? Pitino Says St. John’s Isn’t Recruiting High School Players Amid Transfer Portal and JUCO Boom.
Rick Pitino on Recruiting: “We’re Not Even Looking at High School Players.”
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Mon, Feb 24, NCAA D1 scores
no reportable games
Tue, Feb 25, NCAA D1 scores
Oklahoma State 74, Iowa State 68 box. For ISU, Joshua (St. Mary's) Jefferson scored 17 points, grabbed eight boards, dished out five assists and nabbed three steals.
UNLV 77, San Jose State University 71 box. The Spartans, missing their starting center and point, shot 41% and gave up 51% to the visitors plus were out-rebounded by seven.
San Diego State 73, New Mexico 65 box. For the victors, Miles (Lincoln High) Byrd didn't shoot all that well but enjoyed an all-around game of 13 points plus nine boards, three assists and three steals.
Gonzaga 95, Santa Clara 76 box. The host Broncos kept it close for a half (44-42) but were out-shot overall on the game 58% to 40%. What's interesting is SC shot a solid 11-25 on trey attempts but just 11-30 on closer in shots.
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These CCCMBCA regional playoff round one games take place Wednesday:
Butte College versus Fresno City College
College of the Redwoods versus College of Alameda
Ohlone College versus Contra Costa College
College of the Siskiyous versus Columbia College
Cabrillo College versus Feather River College
Yuba College versus Lassen College
Sierra College versus Shasta College
Cosumnes River College versus Mendocino College
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