That was quick /// Crisshawn Clark re-upping with Pitt

Kevin Stallings: "First big win of the year...@JayKit_ @CoreyDoeee and @Ohio_Shawn3 all have decided to remain members of @HailToPittHoops!!!"

If I was 40 years younger and single, I'd want Coach Stallings to be repping me on Facebook, Twitter, you name it, with the ladies. The guy is smooth. Didn't lose a single Jamie Dixon recruit.

A March 18 Dan Kingerski interview with Clark.

Columbia re-stocking

Columbia College Men's Basketball:

"Jumpers land a 6'6" wing for the 2016-17 Season."

and

"Jumpers land two 6'9" centers for the 2016-17 season!!"

Coach Bob Walsh's latest

Link  "Gary Parrish has a really interesting take on college coaching and never staying too long in the same place.

Because, basically, here’s how college coaching works: when you’re hired you are asked to be better than the guy before you if the guy before you was fired, and at least as good as the guy before you if the guy before you left on his own terms and for a better opportunity. That’s Step 1. If you don’t meet that criteria, you’re fired in three or four or five years. But if you do meet that criteria, then you start to coach against your own record, and if your second five years aren’t better than your first five years, for the most part, fans start to think you’re taking them nowhere, and they begin to envision and want something new..."

When fans want more than is possible

"Checking the Resume: Some fans don’t deserve Tad Boyle" -- William Whelan

One more honor for Duncan

"Division II Bulletin delivers All-America honor for Duncan!"

"It takes a discerning eye to wade through the 300 or so NCAA Division II college basketball teams and select the best 20. Fortunately for Chico State junior guard Robert Duncan, the folks at Division II Bulletin have been honing their craft for 25 years and recognized his spectacular season with a Fourth-Team All-America nod this week.

Of the 20 players named All-America, Duncan is one of only six underclassmen.

Duncan did not rank among the nation's best in any one statistical category. But he earned California Collegiate Athletic Association Player of the Year honors after helping to guide Chico State to its second straight CCAA Championship. The Granite Bay product led the team and ranked among the CCAA's top nine in scoring (15.2 ppg.), rebounding (6.6), assists (4.1) and steals (1.7).

And he did it in easily the top defensive conference in the nation. The CCAA was home to four of the top nine defenses in the nation in terms of points allowed per game. The Wildcats ranked fifth, with Duncan often checking the opposing team's top player.

Duncan is the third All-American in the program's 101-season history. Jay Flores was a Division II Bulletin Third-Team All-America selection in 2012, and Jordan Semple was an honorable mention selection in 2015.

The prestigious award is the latest for Duncan. He's the fifth conference MVP in the program's history, the second to earn consecutive First Team All-CCAA honors, and the first to be named All-West Region in consecutive seasons.

The Wildcats went 22-7 this season, earning their fifth consecutive NCAA Championship Tournament berth.

Duncan hopes to help make it six next season. He's one of three starters and 10 letterwinners set to return for Head Coach Greg Clink's squad."

Quite the philosophical yet in-the-moment read

"Once The Dust Settles: Amateur Players And Life After Basketball -- Virginia’s gut-wrenching loss to Syracuse in the 2016 NCAA Tournament reveals greater truths about student-athletics"

Killingsworth with another honor /// All Mercury News selections

"Serra's Jake Killingsworth is Mercury News player of year"  -- Glenn Reeves/BANG

"All Mercury News Boys Basketball Team"  

Montana now has a schollie open

A guard has left the Montana program thus freeing up a scholarship and here's a possible filler of that spot: "Bradshaw's transfer opens up a scholarship Montana could use in the spring signing period which begins April 13. The Griz have been linked to junior college forward Marquis Godfrey, a 6-foot-9 sophomore from the College of Southern Idaho, and are in the market for other big men to bolster a front line that was thinned by the graduation of two-time first-team All-Big Sky forward Martin Breunig..."

Out of James Logan High, the 6-foot-9, 205 Godfrey played at New Mexico Military Institute as a freshman and then at College of Southern Idaho this season. He averaged 6.1 points plus 5.9 rebounds alongside a team best 31 rejections and shot 50% and 53% respectively.

Interesting take

"What Happened When Venture Capitalists Took Over the Golden State Warriors -- After racking up a historic N.B.A. season, the team’s owners — most of them from Silicon Valley — think their management style deserves some of the credit. Are they right?" -- Bruce Schoenfeld/New York Times Magazine

The taint from earlier North Carolina & Syracuse teams

"In an Unfortunate Final Four Matchup, No Lessons Learned" -- Juliet Macur/New York Times

Possible changes coming up

"Tennis: CIF ponders more changes" -- Mark Tennis

The Whitney boys basketball season

"Whitney making history without the hardware" -- Jim Linsdau/Placer Herald

Kraig Clifton fundraiser

"Final Four fundraiser Saturday for cancer-stricken coach" -- James Burns/Modesto Bee

Nathan Link honored as well as the All-Northern Section Boys Basketball Team

"Gridley High boys basketball coach Link wins Northern Section coach of the year" --  Sharon Martin/Chico Enterprise-Record

Taking a look at Kameron Johnson

Sometimes an element of trust is required when faced with a challenging decision. Former Granada High guard Kameron Johnson jumped into college basketball faith first and that conviction has been rewarded.

Despite a new coach as well as vastly different offensive and defensive systems than he learned in high school, the 6-foot-2 Johnson performed well at Las Positas College (LPC) for Coach James Giacomazzi in the 2015-16 season. Try a very solid 12.4 points, 4.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game plus 33 steals. He was part of a team that finished 19-10 overall, 8-4 in the Coast Conference North.

Johnson said the transition required big picture thinking alongside incorporating new action and reactions. "It was about working towards a larger future, more than just the now, besides learning things like spacing, coming off screens and moving without the ball."

Here's Giacomazzi on Johnson: "Kameron is a terrific young man and basketball player. He comes from a super supportive family and that's why I think he is so grounded. Kameron is a Livermore guy who helped take his community's college to new heights. But the even more exciting thing is that this is just the beginning and the best is yet to come."

The convenience of Las Positas College aided his choice--"I live right around the corner"--but opportunity combined with a sense of being wanted as well as joining forces with a coach sporting a proven track record (Giacomazzi came to LPC from Cosumnes River College) were important to Johnson.

But all was not champagne and roses from the get-go--the learning curve was steep.

"We played in some showcases before the season and I think we went 1-6 and started off the regular season 2-5," Johnson recalled. "We were stagnant at first in a new system and hadn't really got a chance to play with each other due to injuries."

Nine games into the season, the individual and collective development began paying dividends, producing 10 consecutive victories for the Hawks from December 3 to January 13 which included three straight successes on the road at the Diablo Valley College tournament followed by three more at Skyline College.

Further evidence of individual and team growth came in February when LPC narrowly lost 74-73 to eventual state champion City College of San Francisco.

At season's end, the Hawks qualified for the state tournament and immediately took out West Hills Coalinga 66-57 before falling to College of the Sequoias 87-81. 

Johnson nominated his best moments as "winning the DVC and Skyline tournaments back-to-back." Those came at a sensitive time in which the Hawks could have easily tumbled into a downward spiral but instead the wins generated confidence.

Calling himself a demonstrative leader, he wants to expand that element by being more vocal on the court. Johnson also is working on improving his outside shooting and putting on weight.