Rohndell Goodwin

#21 in the middle Rohndell Goodwin

It's past time that the headliner of the Horatio Alger theme be retired and replaced with a more contemporary name and updated storyline. A suggestion: the Rohndell Goodwin saga.

The reason: he came from barely playing high school basketball and then fought through two major injuries only to emerge in 2015 as the Most Valuable Player in the northern California community college basketball ranks.

At Cañada College playing for Coach Mike Reynoso, the 6-foot-5 Goodwin averaged 17.0 points, 5.2 rebounds, 2.3 assists alongside 52%, 37% and 80% shooting. He achieved this remarkable output after barely participating in high school basketball at West High in Tracy and playing just a couple of springs and summer early on with the Oakland Rebels.

Plus, his enduring the rehabilitation required to recover from two ACL tears only to bounce back stronger. Twice he faced the ultimate existential questions of "is this really what I want to do? Do I still want to play basketball?"

His responses: "I said yes, both times."

Goodwin believes his best basketball skills are "creating a shot and being versatile." With Cañada this season, that latter was certainly on display as he was positioned anywhere from the 1-5 spots throughout the season.

But there was also this hurdle of skill level.

To many, Goodwin was at best an NAIA-level talent as a college freshman. He was told that but, as stinging as that assessment was, it produced the mind set to work in order to raise his stock rather than becoming petulant and offering an "I'm-going-to-take-my-basketball-playing-elsewhere" declaration.

"I knew I could play basketball and I wanted to play D1. It was in my head as I began putting in the work. I did lots of ballhandling, dribbling into a shot going left to right and right to left, and footwork," working with Coach Reynoso.

Enough so that he earned the honor of the best player in the upper half of the Golden State. About this season in which Canada went from 5-22 to 24-7 and went to the Final Four, Goodwin offered, "it felt wonderful. We had four or five players who could score 20 a night so opponents couldn't focus on just one guy."

"I play with friends at D1 [schools} and I can stay with them or do even better so I knew I could play with the best. I want to make a living playing basketball."

Sharing credit for his ascent, one person Goodwin cites as influential in his growth is his brother. "He played himself and he knew what I was capable of. He has been my biggest influence."

 As for the next level, Goodwin is expecting to major in communications studies and also display his versatility. The feedback he has received: "I'll play at the two and three and some at the point to relieve stress there." There are a handful of schools he is still considering inside and outside of California.