SoCalHoops Recruiting News

Big Sky Signings: The State Of
The Conference--(May 12, 2000)

With the end of the late spring signing period approaching this Monday, May 15, it's time to try to sort out what's happened with each of the conferences that have teams competing in SoCal. Thus, we'll begin to do a series of articles gauging how each team did in it's recruiting for the year, who will be leaving and who will be coming in to replace those guys leaving.  There are  four conferences that we'll be dealing with because they primarily involve teams and players from SoCal:  The Pac-10 (SoCal teams UCLA and USC), the Big West Conference (Cal Poly SLO, Fullerton, Santa Barbara, UCI, and Long Beach from SoCal), the WAC (Western Athletic Conference, featuring Fresno State and San Diego State in SoCal), the WCC (the West Coast Conference, with Pepperdine, LMU and the University of San Diego), and the Big Sky Conference wihich has the lone SoCal team, Cal State Northridge,  and a bunch of other teams that most of us rarely get the chance to see from up in the Northwest.

This will be the first in the series, and since there are some teams that most of you in SoCal never really get to see, it's probably as good a place to start as any.  We really can't "rank" the recruiting classes, and what sense does that really make when it's not necessarily the best guage of how well each of these teams will do next year anyway.  A lot of the signees are high school players who, no matter how good they were in high school, won't be able to replace graduating senior players (even if the high school guys think they're good, we've rarely seen many who are good enough to replace someone like an all-conference, Wooden award nominee such as Weber State's Harold Arceneaux, just to use him as an example).   Likewise, there are a lot of JUCO signees in this conference this year, perhaps more than the high school players (we haven't actually counted them), but the fact is, this is going to be an interesting year for the Big Sky with a lot of pretty good teams.   Here's what we know about the signings and who is returning:

Cal State Northridge:

Total Signings: (1)

Fall Signings: (1)

Spring Signings: (0)

Signed only one player in the fall, Joey Busch F-C 6-8 235 Upland, California, who played at Chaffey JC, and who will have two more years of eligibility.  The Matadors carried 17 players on their roster last season, and thus even though they have four seniors graduating, they will still have more than enough players to fill out their scholarship spots and with a number of the players returning who will be seniors, Bobby Braswell will also have plenty of roster room opening up for this year's very talented class of juniors (who will be rising seniors, and thus recruitable, this summer).  Northridge loses Andre Larry,  Hewitt Rolle and Jeff Parris; John Burrell redshirted last season and so will be eligible again this year.  Five of the current juniors will be seniors next season, so look for Northridge to try to sign five or maybe six players from the current junior class. Northridge finished with a 10-6 record in conference, tied for third, and they should have some added stability with the guys returning next season.  Here's who will be returning (class designations shown are this year's current class level):

Cal State Sacramento:

Total Signings: (4)

Fall Signings: (2)

Spring Signings: (2)

Sac State couldn't get any worse than they were last season. . . which was tied with Idaho State for the worst record in the conference (3-13), and it's no secret that the Hornets' program is still in a huge transition. They are signing some quality players, but they've been in turmoil for the past four years and the Tom Abatemarco regime didn't really help, with one of the most consistently bad records in all of college basketball. The team was only marginally more successful this past season than in prior years (yes it's hard to imagine being worse than 3-13, but this is Sac State we're talking about)  and the result was players who were consistently unhappy and a coach wound up getting fired.  Abatemarco was a good enough recruiter, and he'll probably do fine now that he's back as an assistant, but as a head coach he never could get it done, at least not at Sac-State.    While former assistant Jermoe Jenkins steps into the head coaching job, his title is still "interim" head coach, so there's even less security and stability than there might be if he had the job outright.  But he'll have to do a lot better than Abatemarco to get the job on a permanent basis, and frankly we think it would be difficult to do worse (well, unless you're Fred Trenkle. . . ).  Several players are rumored to be leaving from last year, but we've only been able to confirm with any degree of certainty that Bo Segeberg probably won't be back. Others are just rumors for now.  The team will lose two senior starters, Thomas Wieck (6'-7" Sr. F) from Vacaville, CA and Anthony Flood (6'-6" Sr. F) from Roseville, CA.

Here's the list of potential returnees.  Assuming that Segeberg was going to return (doubtful) this would give the Hornets 16 roster players, meaning that three would have to be walk-ons or someone isn't going to get their schollie renewed:

Eastern Washington:

Signings Total: (3)

Fall Signees: (3)

Spring Signings: (0)

Eastern Washington is going to need a lot next season if they expect to be as competitive as they were this year. Like maybe a new coach for starters. . .   The Eagles finished 15-12 overall and 12-4 in Conference play which was good enough for a tie for second in the Big Sky with Montana.  In addition to losing some excellent players they also lost their coach, Steve Aggers, who is now at Loyola Marymount.  EWU also loses some seniors to graduation:  Will Levy the 6th leading scorer on the team (7.1 ppg), Deon Williams (a SoCal guy from Verbum Dei), who was the 2nd leading scorer at 10.9 ppg, Ryan Hansen, the teams leading scorer at 12.4 ppg, and Dennis Fitzgerald who averaged 5.9 ppg, but who at 6'-8" provided the Eagles with some great height and good rebounding as a credible backup for Chris White and Chris Johnson.  Maybe McCulloch will be good enough to really help in the post, but we've never seen him and he might wind up redshirting.  Eddie Lincoln and Alvin Snow are solid recruits and great gets, but EWU needs more than just them if they hope to do half as well next season, and there are some big holes to fill in the lineup.  The Eagles only return 8 players from this season, thus still leaving them with two more full ride scholarships including the guys who signed in the fall.

Here is the list of returning players (showing this year's class designations, not next year):

Idaho State:

Fall Signings: (3)

Spring Signings: (2)

This team will either dramatically improve or be one of the tallest underachieving teams on the West Coast next year.  Idaho State University head men’s basketball coach Doug Oliver has his work cut out for him this year and has brought in a pretty good class but whether they'll be good enough to replace the three leading senior scorers that the Bengals will lose to graduation (Stephen Brown, Kevin Sweetwyne and Ammer Johnson) in addition to Cedric Robinson and Chadd Sukut, is anyone's guess.  As it was, even with those seniors who will be leaving, Idaho State finished dead last in the conference, winning only 3 games last year, and no one is expecting a miracle.  Just "better" would be a good start.  Oliver has brought in some excellent guards and wings, and with Rafiq and Suggs in the backcourt, along with Lewis, this should be a much improved team from last season.  It'd better be, or else. . .

With 8 players returning and 5 just signed this fall and spring, the roster is filled.  Here are the returning players:

Montana:

Total Signees: (4)

Fall Signings (2):

Spring Signings (2)

Montana got an excellent coach when Blaine Taylor decided to take the job as one of Mike Montgomery's assistants at Stanford, and Don Holst has made the best of some difficult situations.  He got the job in 1998, and considering the team only went 13 -14 in his first year as the head coach, playing their home games in a high school gym because the home court was under renovations, finishing 12-4 in conference and 16-10 overall was a heck of a job this past season.  Holst has done an excellent job at filling the holes in his roster created by graduation. Montana loses 4 and picks up four, so they should remain solid and have a good shot again at the conference title. They lose Mike Warhank (6'-3" Sr. G) Kyle Keyes (6'-1" Sr. G) who was injured the entire season anyway, Matt Williams (6'-7" Sr. F) from Santa Barbara, and Dominique Davis (6'-9" Sr. F) from San Jose, CA, but they pick up three quality forwards and one solid point, as well as bring up a couple of guys who redshirted this year.   Among the signees this spring are Jeremy Day, a standout junior college player from Tyler Junior College (Texas), and Matt Ludtke (Luhd-kee), one of the top prep players in the state of Montana, signed with UM early in the late spring signing period.   Spencer Allred a 6-5, 225-pound power forward from Salt lake Community College and Dan Trammell a 6-7, 225-pound forward from Diablo Valley College (Pleasant Hill, Calif.) signed in the fall, and they should be just what Montana will need to maintain its conference title .  Day, a 6-10, 235-pound center/power forward, averaged 10.1 points and 7.2 rebounds a game for Tyler JC, which went 21-11 last season. He attended Liberty University as a freshman where he averaged 8.3 points and 6.1 rebounds a game, but suffered an injury late in the season, and then redshirted the following year before going the JUCO route.  He was coached by his father, Alan Day, at Olathe Christian High School, where he averaged 22.9 points and 12.5 rebounds as a senior, when he was named all-tournament on the national team.  Luedtke, averaged 26.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 3.5 steals a game at Ronan H.S. as a senior. Last season the Chiefs were 19-3 and conference champions. He averaged 17.0 points a game as a junior. He was Montana’s "Gatorade Player of the Year" as both a junior and a senior.

The number of returning players is 13, and with four signees, several will be walkons:

Montana State:

Total Signees (6)

Fall Signings: (2)

Spring Signings: (4)

How many point guards does one team need?  If you ask MSU coach Mick Durham, you can never have enough.  He's picked up a pretty good recruiting class, but with two point guards already on the roster and the signing of three more, the backcourt will get pretty crowded. Dunham has some excellent JC transfers and two one high school point guards in Australian Jonathan Lee and Jason Erickson, Alaska’s Gatorade Circle of Champions Player of the Year who led Chugiak High to the state tournament as a senior. He averaged 15.0 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists a game last year, earning first team all-state honors and the High School Heisman award. He was the first player other than Duke stars Trajan Langdon and Carlos Boozer to win Gatorade honors in Alaska in six years. Up front, Joe Veal, a team captain at Northland Pioneer this past season, averaged close to 14 points and eight rebounds a game and he'll provide a good work ethic and another solid center who can develop.  James Clark is also described as a "true point guard" by MSU's official press releases (so are Lee and Erickson) and Clark led Olympic College in Washington to the state tournament semifinals, earning second team all-conference honors. He averaged 13 points, eight assists and two steals as a sophomore last year. Fall signee Jonathan Lee, played for the Rockhampton Rockets of Australia’s ABA last season, and was named the league’s Youth Player of the Year. Lee played as an amateur, and will enter Montana State as a freshman next fall. He is currently playing for Rockhampton this spring and will continue this summer before enrolling at MSU. He's an experienced point guard, but we'd expect him to be a backup for Jason Erickson.  The Bobcats only graduate two players, Jeff Riggs (5'-10" Sr. G), and Rufus Nicholson (6'-8" Sr. F) and they had three guys redshirting last season, so with the returning players totalling 11, and having signed 6 guys, we'd expect a few more guys to either (a) not have their scholarships renewed or for Jason Erickson to redshirt, which is about as likely as hell freezing over. . .
Fields and Plummer should be very productive on the wings and the block respectively and this is a team which should be vastly improved from their dismal 4-12 finish (next to last in the conference) from last season.  If not, look for some heads to roll. . .

Here's who returns (again the class designations are from this year, so everyone moves up a class):

Portland State

Total Signings: (6)

Fall Signings: (1)

Spring Signings: (5)

Portland State has picked up one of the better recruiting classes on the West Coast this year, and we've already reported on most of their signees, courtesy of Mike Lund, PSU's media relations guru who continueally e-mailed us the press releases.  Felix Lang (6'-3" So. SG) from LA Valley College was the most recent, and he played high school basketball at LA Fremont and LA Hamilton and is joined by other recent SoCal signees Charles Madison (6'-1" So. SG) from College of the Canyons in Valencia, and Lang's Valley College teammate Jerrohn Jordan (6'-8" So. F). Madison played for two seasons at Canyons but sat out last year. As a sophomore in 1998-99, Madison averaged 15.1 points, 4.0 assists. He was named first team All-Western State Conference and his team's Most Valuable Player. Originally from Fairfax High School in Los Angeles, Madison was a teammate of former Viking Ivan Garner.PSU has also signed Seamus Boxley (6'-7" Sr. SG/SF) from Mountlake Terrace HS in Washington, Jamaal Thomas (6-8 So. F) from Lamar Community College in Colorado, and Pump N Run's Heath Bailey (6'-10" Sr. C) from Beaverton HS in Beaverton, Oregon. 

Portland State finished last season with a record of 7-9 in conference, 15-3 overall, which was good enough for 5th place, and they are gaining more this next year with the incoming recruits than they are losing, even thoug Derek Nesland, who graduates was one of the leading scorers in the conference. In addition to Nesland, the Vikings will lose Ime Udoka, and Fairfax grad Ivan Garner, who was 9th overall in the conference in assists at 3.5 per game.

Here's a look at the returning players. With these guys PSU will have 17 roster players, 4 over the 13 scholarship limit, so it's possible that someone isn't going to come back or that the walkons will stay walkons next season. This will be a pretty mature team next season, with 5 seniors and 5 solid juniors (including the JUCO guys), so look for Portland State to challenge the rest of the conference hard.

Weber State

Signings: (1)

Fall Signings: (1)

Spring Signings: (0)

Weber State finished 10-6 in conference, 18-9 overall, good enough for third in the Big Sky, but they are losing three excellent players to graduation. And while the Cats only signed one player in the fall, they aren't going to have a totally bare cupboard: Weber State will replace departing seniors with some earlier signees, including Jake Shoff (6'-8" Fr. F) and Nic Sparrow (6'-4" Fr. SG/SF) who were both on their Mormon missions, as well as highly touted freshmen Patrick Danley, a 6'-8" power forward, and Hamilton.  Leaving are Eddie Gill 6'-0" Sr. PG, Shawn Moore 6"-4" Sr. G/F, and Wooden award nominee, Harold Arceneaux 6'-6" Sr. F, one of the leading scorers in the conference and the Big Sky player of the year, who will be very hard to replace. But Joe Cravens should be safe with the guys returning. But the big news at least this season (in addition to Arceneaux) was the signing of John Hamilton, considered by some to be one of the top shootings in Indiana. Hamilton was recruited by Purdue, Illinois State, Miami (Ohio), and had interest from Louisville, Ohio State, Temple and Notre Dame but chose Weber State instead.  As we said, Weber State should be ok. Here's who's returning:

Northern Arizona

Signings: (3)

Fall Signings: (3)

Justin Garcia 7'-0" Sr. C    Jurupa Valley
Stephen Garnett, Jr.     Winslow, Arizona
Scott Land     6'-3" Sr. SG/PG     Chico, California

Spring Signings (0)

Northern Arizona finished second in the conference (behind Montana and Eastern Washington) but the Jacks got the NCAA bid by winning the conference tournament, beating out Cal State Northridge. In the NCAA tournament, NAU entered as a No. 15 seed and they almost beat No. 2 seed St. John's. The first time NAU made the NCAA tournament in 1998, they were beaten by Cincinnati 65-62 in Boise, Idaho.  NAU will certainly miss graduating senior center Dan McClintock, who controlled the inside against the smaller Red Storm team and earned the Chevrolet Player of the Game award by CBS; he scored 18 points on 9-of-17 shooting, pulled down 8 rebounds and dished out 4 assists without a turnover. Senior Billy Hix will also be tough to replace, and he was an effective force on the boards. Sophomore, Adam Lopez held Eric Barkley to just 2-of-12 from the floor and 8 points.  Of the 10 Lumberjacks who saw action in the game, only six are expected to return in 2000-01. The four graduating seniors (Hix, Land, McClintock and Andrew Wolthers) combined for 43 points and 24 rebounds in that final game agaisnt St. John's, making 19 of 35 shots, and these will be guys who are not easily replaced.   While signee Justin Garcia clearly has the height, he's at best about two years away from truly being an impact player.  We don't really know much about Stephen Garnett from Arizona or Scott Land, who was an excellent player but not truly a superstar in high school this past season, so it's really hard to say what they will be able to contribute.  They'll be expected to do a lot, but NAU will clearly have trouble replacing the scoring of the seniors. Again, the Seniors graduating are Billy Hix (6'-7" Sr.F) from Loveland, Colo. (Thompson Valley HS), Ross Land (6'-5" Sr.G/F) from Chico, Calif. (Chico HS), Dan McClintock (7'-0" Sr.F/C) from Visalia, Calif. (Golden West HS), and Andrew Wolthers (6'-8" Sr.F/C) from Silver City, N.M. (Silver HS).   This will be a tough act to follow.

Here's the rest of the official roster from this past season (whether all of them will be back is unknown):

 
©Copyright 1997-2000 All rights reserved
Questions? Comments? Need Information?
E-mail: jegesq@socalhoops.com