Portal transfers continue
As of Memorial Day weekend, 1,768 players — which equates to the average enrollment of a Class 5A high school in New Mexico — had entered the men’s basketball NCAA Division I transfer portal.
The flurry, which started with the portal’s March 11 opening, built to a fevered pitch as the 2022-23 season ended with San Diego State’s loss to UConn in the championship game in Houston.
The feeding frenzy has died down considerably since the portal closed earlier this month, but the signings keep filtering in as vacancies on team rosters fill up.
Of those on the move, 56 players from Mountain West Conference schools pulled the ejection handle. A total of 29 players from other schools have since filled those vacancies.
If you’re keeping tabs, the University of New Mexico lost seven players from last season’s team to — if we’re being truthful in how we describe it — the free agency market. One of those was an early season exit and another was a former walk-on, leaving the team with five regulars off the active roster to head out the door.
The Lobos have since filled four of those spots and have one scholarship remaining. It should be filled any time now.
No one, however, has been more active in the portal than New Mexico State. The Aggies are essentially an expansion team, having had every player on the 2022-23 roster pack their bags. Sixteen players entered the portal, a figure that didn’t include those who had extinguished their college eligibility.
NMSU has signed eight players and will continue to be as active as any team in the country as the 2023-24 season approaches.
The most active team in the MWC? Utah State and Wyoming both lost nine players; Utah State signed seven in return. The Lobos and Fresno State were next with seven and six exits, respectively.
The least? San Jose State didn’t have a single player enter the portal or sign
with the team since it opened, one of only two MWC clubs (Air Force) that hasn’t signed anyone.
The website 247Sports.com ranked the top recruiting classes in the portal and UNLV is the only MWC team in its top 25. The Lobos were next at No. 61.
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Española Public Schools held a field dedication ceremony Wednesday at Española Valley High School for longtime Española educator and former softball coach Richard “R.A.” Martinez.
The event included Martinez, along with several current and former district administrators, board members, students and players. Albuquerque Volcano Vista head girls basketball coach Lisa Villareal and current Lady Sundevils head coach Robby Garcia also attended.
Martinez was a longtime fixture at the high school and coached the softball and baseball teams from the 1970s through the 1990s before his retirement.
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Capital’s tennis program will begin its weekly individual camps June 5 at its tennis complex.
The camps run from 8 to 9:30 a.m. Monday-Friday, with a two-week break to end June and begin July, and are open to ages 5-17. The cost is $20 per session but is free to incoming and current Capital students.
For more information, call head coach Patrick Tolen at 505-469-1219 or assistant coach Bruce Cottrell at 505-670-3379. Tolen can also be reached at pbtolen@gmail.com
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The accolades continue for 2018 Las Vegas Robertson graduate Brandelyn Fulgenzi, who just completed her collegiate career at the University of Incarnate Word in Austin, Texas.
A few weeks after earning the Southland Conference’s women’s tennis player of the year, Fulgenzi on Thursday earned the conference’s student-athlete of the year award.
She earned the honor on the strength of her 3.57 grade-point average as a graduate student in sports management and her player of the year performance this year for the Cardinals.
She was also named to the first team of Southland’s All-Academic squad.
According to the conference’s bylaws, student-athletes must possess a 3.0 cumulative GPA and completed one full academic year at the nominating institution to qualify for All-Academic selection. Student-athlete of the year nominees must have earned at least a 3.2 GPA and demonstrated athletics achievement for at least two years at the nominating institution.
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The Pecos League opener for the Santa Fe Fuego is Wednesday at Trinidad.
Fuego fans already know that. What they probably don’t is the league, which is essentially two separate leagues tied together (the Pacific and Mountain divisions), operates its halves almost exclusively from one another.
While three games dot the Mountain schedule Wednesday — Fuego at Trinidad, Tucson at Austin and Alpine at Roswell — the Pacific opened its season Thursday.
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Speaking of the Fuego, they still need the public’s help.
General manager Yvonne Encinias is fighting the annual battle of finding host families to take in the players and coaches during the two-month regular season.
Anyone interested in hosting a player (or three) should contact the team through its website, santafefuego.com.
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The Santa Fe Adult Flag Football League is seeking officials for the upcoming season, according to its Facebook page. Officials will be paid while also receiving training and guidance regarding the rules.
For more information, call or text Anthony “Bones” Segura at 505-382-6447.