Tripping this weekend

Cameron Schott offers the weekend destinations of a trio of the Nor Cal contingent:

Weekend visits: Mitty PG Matt McAndrews (Alaska-Anchorage) Riordan PG Jiday Ugbaja (Sacramento State) Monte Vista SG Trevor John (Air Force)

UCSC basketball offering a free basketball camp

Slug Hoops will be hosting a free basketball camp Sunday, October 6, 2013 from 3:00 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the UC Santa Cruz West Field House.

The two-hour camp is open to boys and girls ages 8-18. Skills developed will be age appropriate, divided into categories and we will teach the functional movements of basketball and the games most critical fundamentals.

The camp will be conducted by Kyle Bossier, Assistant Men's Basketball Coach at UC Santa Cruz, noted for his skill-training experience with players from the NBA down to youth AAU.

Slug Hoops will also offer a weekly Skill Training basketball class this fall, which will teach a deeper understanding of the principles covered in the free basketball camp. Cost is $125 for six weeks of classes.

To register for the Slug Hoops free basketball camp or enroll in Slug Hoops fall skill training class, visit slugbasketballcamps  or contact Kyle Bossier at ucscbossier@gmail.com

Two new ways to follow Yuba College basketball

Yuba College basketball has a new Facebook page -- to get a sense of the information being posted, here's one item posted September 17:

"In the last week Yuba College Men's Basketball has enjoyed hosting Division 1 programs such as Grand Canyon, St Mary's, University of Nevada Reno, Utah State and today a visit from the "Runnin Rebels" of UNLV! Rumors of UC Davis head coach Jim Les in later this week. Glad to see the new group working hard and getting exposure to some of the best programs in the country!!!"

There is also a Yuba College basketball Twitter account.

So fans now have two new ways to stay on top of 49er hoops.

A Malik Pope update

The latest from Malik Pope: "Surgery number 2 finished. Thanks for the prayers Twitter. It means everything"

Roberson getting looks

A Lester Diaz tweet: "2015 6'5 guard Jordan Roberson @ Cordova HS. U.Portland, Sacramento State and Utah State were recently in gym."

The after high school hole

Unlike apprenticeships and such in various trades which can result in a very solid living for an individual, there really isn't anything dimilar for those who desire to continue playing after high school basketball and have the required degree of promise but don't meet four-year college academic requirements or aren't interested in furthering academic participation.

The push for some time now is for all seniors to go on to higher education (how about those costs lately?) because it's been quantified that college graduates as a whole earn more money over a lifetime and generally qualify for a higher percentage of jobs.

There's nothing wrong with that direction.

But why no basketball apprenticeships, if you will?

Sure, there is the option to go overseas and attempt to ply the trade plus various below-the-NBA level leagues here at home with rosters to fill but very, very few 17 or 18-year-olds are physically and mentally mature enough, let alone appropriately skilled, to succeed on that that path.

What's missing is a non-collegiate opportunity.

Now to answer the question posed, this is because there's no money to be made, no benefit to anyone setting up such.

The NBA certainly has no interest as it would be a hefty expenditure minus any guaranteed end of the rainbow pot of gold.

The AAU deals with talents prior to and through the summer after high school graduation but no further.

So a void remains.

Now abroad there appears to be various organizations in different countries dedicated to sports player development during high school and beyond, minus any academic requirements. Why is it happening there and not here?

Then there is also the stigmatization in this country directed to those young basketball talents who are not academically inclined, as if they are somehow inferior beings. Epithets along the lines of 'not being smart enough' or 'too lazy to work hard' are bantered about when there objectively is nothing wrong with a desire to focus on the pursuit of professional basketball employment. Plenty of high school baseball talents do just that, with a very high percentage falling short.

Granted, the odds are long for most and some realistically have zero chance of ever achieving the dream but it is also because the necessary infrastructure is absent in basketball. 

We don't look askance at those who slog or dog it through history and English literature because they see themselves as plumbers, electricians and the like. So why hoopsters?

Louis Barbash offers a very informative take, with a solid collection of background and history too.

October 6 Sonoma State Coaches Clinic

From Sonoma State Associate Head Coach Rich Shayewitz: "Sonoma State Coaches Clinic - October 6, 2013: Speakers: Randy Bennett, Rex Walters, Greg Kamansky, John Peterson"

The schedule of events

8:00 AM:   Registration begins/Coffee & Donuts

9:00 AM:   John Peterson (Head Coach, Ohlone College) - Fast Break Offense

10:00 AM: Greg Kamansky (Head Coach, Cal Poly Pomona) - Match Up Zone Defense

11:00 AM: Rex Walters (Head Coach, Univ. of San Francisco) - TBA

12:00 PM: Lunch Provided

12:30 PM: Randy Bennett (Head Coach, Saint Mary's) - Using the Ball Screen & Practice Shooting Drills

1:30 PM:  Coaches Forum - All Presenters

Think you might learn some basketball wisdom by attending?

Go here to sign up.

Hubbard narrows his suitors

Via Mountain West Hoops: "Pacific is expected to do an in home visit with Matt Hubbard tonight. He's narrowed his list down to two"

Hubbard, a 6-foot-9 frontcourter out of Washington, is tripping to Santa Clara the weekend of the 28th.

Mark your calendars for the Nor Cal Tip Off Classic

7th Annual Nor Cal Tip Off Classic Schedule

Saturday November 30, 2013
Newark Memorial High School

* Game 1: 11:00 AM Fairfield vs. Castro Valley

* Game 2: 12:30 PM College Park (Pleasant Hill) vs. St. Mary's (Stockton)

* Game 3: 2:15 PM Heritage (Brentwood) vs. Oakland

* Game 4: 3:45 PM Freedom (Oakley) vs. Granite Bay

* Game 5: 5:30 PM Moreau (Hayward) vs. Monte Vista (Danville)

* Game 6: 7:00 PM Newark Memorial (Newark) vs.  Modesto Christian

* Game 7: 8:30 PM Bishop O'Dowd (Oakland) vs. Bullard (Fresno)

Nor Cal mentions in this Big Sky preview

Will Maupin previews the Big Sky Conference, with these northern California player tidbits:

* Weber State: "...Seniors Jordan Richardson and Davion Berry will anchor the back court..."

*  Northern Colorado: "...Domonique Lee is the other juco transfer. The 6'5" wing spent one season at Utah before moving to Casper College."

* Sacramento State: "...Sacramento State fans should be pleased with the junior guard duo of Mikh McKinney, the team's leading returning scorer, and Dylan Garrity, one of the conference's most efficient returning players..."

It's a little surprising that Mario Dunn isn't mentioned in the Montana writeup but there isn't much emphasis on freshman in the piece.

Another accolade for Davis

More from Frank Burlison's Big West Conference preview: he is listing Will Davis II as the Best NBA Prospect (although he places him as a Second Team 2013-14 selection).

Pacific arranging another visit

nojnotslar at the Pacific message board, has the latest in Tiger recruiting: "A tweet by Spencer Pulliam says that D'Marques Tyson will be making an upcoming official visit. No word on the specific date yet."

Tyson is a 6-foot-5 wing.

Williams notches third offer

Gary Williams, a 6-foot-5 sophomore at Midland College and formerly of Castlemont High, just racked up another offer -- this one from North Texas. The Mean Green coaching staff caught Williams at the Jerry Mullens Camp for community college talent back in July, prompting a recent visit to Midland.

Williams also holds offers from Arizona State and Hawaii.

Turning a Big Dance run into longterm success

Rob Dauster takes a look the runs Virginia Commonwealth, Butler and George Mason each made in the Big Dance to see if any uptick in recruiting success resulted. Who struck while the iron was proverbially hot?

He references this Jeff Borzello article.

Looking at Coach Ron Verlin's 2013-14 roster

Pacific is really harvesting local and regional talent as over half of the Tiger roster is Northern California-connected:

* Gabriel Aguirre F Jr. 6-9 240 Sau Paulo, Brazil/City College of San
 Francisco

* Ray Bowles G Fr. 6-5 190 Modesto, CA/Modesto Christian HS

* Tony Gill F Sr. 6-8 220 Roseville, CA/Cosumnes River College

* Aaron Hendricks G Fr. 6-0 185 Loomis, CA/New Hampton School

* Thomas Peters F Fr. 6-6 200 Campbell, CA/Archbishop Mitty HS

* Sama Taku G Sr. 6-1 185 Tucson, AZ/Santa Rosa JC

* Tim Thomas C Sr. 6-10 255 Sheridan, WY/Las Positas JC

* T.J. Wallace G Fr. 6-2 205 Stockton, CA/Modesto Christian HS