Youth hoops group names award after ‘JB’ White
Santa Fe-based High Altitude Sports LLC, which organizes several youth basketball tournaments each year, has renamed its annual most valuable player award for its annual Shootout after the late Fedonta “JB” White, the Santa Fe High basketball star who was shot to death in August.
The High Altitude Shootout has grown from 20 teams to over 100 in its nine years. Its MVP will now get the JB White Memorial Most Valuable Player Award. The organization is also beginning work on an annual scholarship in White’s name.
White became a national recruit during his time at Santa Fe High. He eventually signed with UNM, making him a rare top-100 prep recruit for the state’s flagship program. He was just days away from moving to Albuquerque and joining the Lobos at the time of his death.
“The city of Santa Fe, and the state of New Mexico, has lost an amazing young man who was so much more than his high profile on the basketball court,” said High Altitude President JoeRay Anaya in a release. “JB was primed to be a future leader in our community with a global platform.”
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Be prepared to come inside. Santa Fe County’s status as a green zone in the fight against COVID-19 means high schools can welcome spectators to indoor events. Gyms are allowed to hold up to 25 percent of capacity, meaning places like Toby Roybal Memorial Gym at Santa Fe High can create space for a few hundred fans.
Same, too, for Capital and St. Michael’s, albeit on a smaller scale.
The first to test the waters will be Santa Fe High. The volleyball team will host Capital on Tuesday night. Tickets must be purchased in advance from each school’s ticket offices, as there are no game-day sales.
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Add Robertson and West Las Vegas to the list of schools coming back to sports next week. The crosstown rivals announced last week they will both compete in the traditional winter sports calendar, which starts with the first day of preseason basketball on March 22.
Just think of how much the prep sports world has changed in the last five weeks. Through the end of January there was no end in sight for New Mexico’s high school sports in what remained of the 2020-21 school year. In what feels like no time at all, schools began transitioning to hybrid learning on Feb. 22, teams began competing the first week of March and now we’re just days away from the start of an abbreviated and condensed (12 games) basketball season whose state tournament will be in May.
And, yes, having the Las Vegas schools back in the fold makes life a lot more interesting for district rival St. Michael’s.
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Today’s the day.
The University of New Mexico women’s basketball team has been waiting for five days to see if its NCAA Tournament bubble is sturdy enough to withstand the glare of the selection committee.
The women’s field of 64 will be determined at 5 p.m Monday. The Lobos (15-4) fell short of securing their automatic bid by losing in the Mountain West semifinals last week. The barometer for where a team stands in the selection committee’s eyes is the NET Rankings, the new and improved version of the old ratings percentage index. Before their loss to Fresno State the Lobos were No. 49. They have since dropped to 55.
Considering the number of teams below them that have already qualified by winning their respective conference tournaments (Wyoming, No. 100), the chances of UNM landing an at-large bid seem to be dimming.
At the very least, the Lobos should be back in the Women’s NIT by virtue of their regular season MWC championship. But, as anyone can tell you, the NCAA is the prom to the WNIT’s group text chat.
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UNM football coach Danny Gonzales is back up to full strength on his coaching staff after adding Drew Mehringer as the passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach. He replaces Jordan Salkin, who recently left the Lobos to join the Miami Dolphins’ staff as an offensive assistant.
Mehringer, 33, comes to UNM after serving as co-offensive coordinator and receivers coach at Florida Atlantic.
It wrapped up a busy week for the
Lobos. The team continued its spring practice session with three more workouts behind closed doors, then held a pro day for seniors Teton Saltes (offensive lineman) and Tyson Dyer (punter). The pair worked out for about two hours Thursday, starting in the weight room and then agility and skills drills in the indoor facility and the stadium.
Saltes emerged as a legitimate pro prospect last season, helping the Lobos end the nation’s longest active losing streak behind a revolving door of quarterbacks. Dyer’s rugby style approach was well-suited for pinning opponents inside the red zone, which he did 15 times in seven games.
The Lobos will hold two spring practices that are open to the public before closing things down in preparation for the 2021 season opener in August. The first will be March 27, the other April 3. Both are inside University Stadium.