Meet Will Crain

There are thousands of senior high school basketball players every year who are not wooed by the likes of John Calipari or Bill Self or Roy Williams. In fact, D1 coaching staffs won't be taking a look at them and the likelihood is neither will their program head counterparts at the DII level. However, there is a third basketball playing collegiate option, DIII, and that often offers academics superior to their brethren in the higher hoops echelons.

Will Crain resides in the latter category. Out of Casa Grande High in Petaluma, the 6-foot-6 freshman chose to attend UC Santa Cruz due to the classroom and basketball attractions.

So how did he do on the court? Let's roll the credits: In 25 games, 22 starts and 24+ plus minutes a contest, Crain averaged 13.8 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1.1 assists and sent 42 shot attempts from opponents heading in a reverse direction. His offensive accuracy: 56% overall, 33% from long distance and 63% at the foul line, with 64 of his 156 boards being of the offensive variety.

The Slugs finished this season at 10-15, with the most returning promise of any Slug team ever.

Here's UC Santa Cruz Coach Ron DuBois: "Will is a really special person and we couldn't be more excited for him to be a student-athlete here at UCSC. He has continued to get better and better as player and we know that he has a very bright future ahead of him here. Will plays the game with such joy and energy, he just has a natural feel for the game. He's made an immediate impact on our program, having one of the best seasons a freshman has ever had at UCSC and his character and dedication will serve him and our team well going forward the rest of his career."

How did this all begin?

"My junior year in high school, the [UCSC] coaches first contacted me," Crain offered in recalling his path to the City on the Hill. "I started looking into colleges and made two visits [to Slugville] my his senior year. I had no other offers to play basketball."

For someone not yet done with roundball, the choice of school and sport wasn't a difficult one. "I played soccer in high school but quit in my sophomore year. I also played golf but I thought basketball was the better route to take."

Integral to that decision was his high school coach, James Forni, who died from melanoma in late June of last year. "He had a big impact on me and my basketball career." Forni was 35 when he passed, beloved in the Petaluma community for his interest in aiding young people just starting out in life.

Crain has a variety of academic interests--mathematics, physics, engineering and the sciences--and has found the offerings at UCSC intriguing thus far.

With Slug basketball came a period of adjustment, albeit apparently brief. "It was an entirely new offense and I was trying to find a place and carry my weight. Three games into the season, I became a starter."

He sees the college game as one with players "being bigger, stronger and faster and unlike high school where there's usually one or two players [opponents] you don't have to worry about." He also noted the shortened time between games.

Asked what he sees as his best skills, Crain modestly answered, "I'm an inside player, a post player. I kind of hustle up and down the court and try to beat my opponent with quickness."

Just like at the other levels, he has plans to work on his game this summer. "I want to work on my outside shooting and my perimeter defense because sometimes I have to switch out on a guard."

Asked to describe his best college basketball moment to date, Crain said, "it was when we traveled up to Oregon to play Linfield College (the second game in as many nights). We had lost four or five straight but we executed a play to win on a shot with .6 seconds left." The Slugs nabbed a 66-65 victory on that last second layup.

Crain was recently named the Association of Division III Independents (AD3I) basketball Player of the Week after posting a line of 28 points, 11 rebounds, six blocks and five steals. He also concluded this season as the first freshman to lead UC Santa Cruz in scoring in eight years.

Count both Coach DuBois and Crain as thankful that the latter wanted to continue bouncing the basketball.