Scores
Fri, Mar 21
NCAA D1 National Tournament First Round East Regional: Vanderbilt vs St. Mary's 12:15 p.m. Pacific TruTV
Tue, Mar 18 NCAA D1 scores
Big Dance
North Carolina 95, San Diego State 68 box. a 47-23 first half eliminated the Aztecs. It was not a nigher for Nor Cal talents as Miles (Lincoln High-Stockton) Byrd finished with four points in 24 minutes and BJ (Modesto Christian High) Davis was modestly better at nine points in 26 minutes.
NIT
Stanford 87, Cal State Northridge 70 box. A 17 point halftime lead (46-29) proved insurmountable as the second 20 minutes scoring proved to be almost even. It was a one-two punch of Maxime Raynaud's 22 points, 10 boards and five blocked shots and guard teammate Oziyah (Modesto Christian High) Sellers with 20 points making the biggest difference. The home team, the one with the better talent, won.
Santa Clara 101, UC Riverside 62 box. The Broncos enjoyed being on their homecourt but the matchup indicated the talent difference between the Big West Conference and the West Coast Conference. A 57-29 second 20 minutes padded the 11-point SC halftime lead. One reserve and four starters scored in double figures for Santa Clara and the other starter tallied nine points. Barrington Hargress, Riverside's leading scorer, concluded with just seven points on nine shot attempts.
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News Bits
Verbal Commits: "Chico State G Jojo Murphy has entered the transfer portal."
The CCAA Player of The Year, he's 6-foot-3, out of Piedmont High-Oakland and is a 'build around' type of talent. Murphy played as a true freshman for the Wildcats (which is rare) and has enjoyed three exceptional years. This may be a 'feeler' type of transfer but Murphy will garner very solid NIL offers. St. Mary's would be a great pairing for both entities.
Also, Chico State has removed the interim tag from Head Coach Cevin Meador.
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JUCO Recruiting: "6’3 Frank Phillips guard Alem Fejzic has requested his release from Pacific and reopened his recruitment.
- Top 10 in threes made this season
- 40% from three"
Fejzic certainly would have helped the Tigers. Apparently he was still pursued despite having signed back in November. Is it because a higher NIL offer will be forthcoming?
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Travis Branham: "Matthew Able, the No. 30 overall recruit in the 2025 class and former Miami signee, will take an official visit to Stanford this weekend, a source tells 247Sports.Has taken visits to Alabama, Tennessee and Baylor since being released."
What's the weather supposed to be like this weekend? Stanford played tonight in the NIT (and won) so will likely get another home game next and that could be a recruiting benefit.
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Modesto Christian Basketball: "Congratulations to Gavin Sykes for being named 2025 T-CAL Player of the Year."
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Verbal Commits D2: "Chaminade G Jamir (Berkeley High/CCSF) Thomas has entered the transfer portal."
The 5-foot-10 Thomas averaged 13.0 points this season, shooting a very solid 42%, 39% and 75% alongside 29 steals but also posted a 20/37 assist to turnover ratio.
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Modesto Junior College Men's Basketball: "Excited to welcome 6’5 Guard Isaiah “Zeke” Davis of the Division 1 NorCal Champions Lincoln High School to the Pirate family."
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Sean Paul: "Here’s where UC San Diego’s starters came from -
- Aniwaniwa Tait-Jones - Hawaii Hilo (D-2)
- Hayden Gray - Azusa Pacific (D-2)
- Ty McGhie - Southern Nazarene (D-2)
- Nordin Kapic - Lynn (D-2)
- Chris Howell - St. Mary’s (averaged 1.5 ppg last year)
Eric Olen and staff found guys who fit into their system and it led to this moment."
San Diego won the Big West Conference and is in the Big Dance. That is amazing talent scouting and coaching.
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Elijah Sykes: "100% Committed!"
With the Rose City Ballers and attending Sheldon High, the 5-foot-10 Sykes is heading to the state of Michigan to play college ball.
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Sean Paul: "I actually do wonder if hiring JUCO coaches is a path mid-majors schools in smaller leagues start to pursue. I think it works with their familiarity with flipping roster quickly. Jeremy Shulman is doing a great job at UT-Martin and Hank Plona was one year removed from JUCO before getting the WKU gig."
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Swarthmore Athletics: "Another accolade for the rookie 👏 Congrats to Zander (Salesian Prep) Jimenez on being chosen D3Hoops Region V Rookie of the Year!"
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