Tag: San Jose State

San Jose State to host New Mexico in TV game on Tuesday

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Photo credit: sjsuspartans.com

By: Ana Kieu

SAN JOSE, Calif. — San Jose State men’s basketball will host the New Mexico Lobos inside the Event Center on Tuesday for a 7:00 p.m. Mountain West clash that will be televised on AT&T SportsNet. Drew Goodman (play-by-play) and Dave Bollwinkel (analyst) will have the call. Spartan fans can still hear Justin Allegri’s call on the TuneIn app.

Game No. 27
New Mexico (11-15, 5-9) San Jose State (3-23, 0-14)
Tuesday, Feb. 26, 7:00 pm PT
Event Center (5,000)
San Jose, Calif.

Live Stats
Fans can view live stats of all SJSU men’s basketball games, home and away, by accessing the “Live Stats” feature at www.sjsuspartans.com. Click on the link on the men’s basketball schedule page to follow the action.

TuneIn
Check out the video below for a quick tutorial on how to access the Spartans’ radio call on the TuneIn app.

What Would a Win Mean?
Breaking a 17-game losing skid for the Spartans’ first conference win of 2019. It would also be SJSU’s second-ever against the Lobos.

Recap of Game One vs. New Mexico
SJSU started well against the Lobos in Albuquerque, taking a 30-27 lead with five minutes to play in the first half, however, they went cold and allowed a 35-6 run that bridged the half. New Mexico went on to win 92-60.

Noah Baumann had a team-high 10 points. Ashtin Chastain pulled down 11 rebounds and had seven points. Seneca Knight finished with nine points.

Newcomers on the Rise
The Spartans have played nine first-year players this season, including regular starters Michael Steadman, Zach Chappell, Craig LeCesne and Brae Ivey. The newcomers are accounting for 70.3% of the Spartans’ offense (1,188-1,689).

Steadman alone is accounting for 20% of the Spartan offense with 341 points (20.1%).

The Zach Chappell Show
Freshman Zach Chappell has come on strong as of late, starting the last three games and averaging 7.4 points in the last five games. Against UNLV, he finished with 11 points, a career-high six rebounds and nine assists — tied for the most by a Spartan this season. He had 10 points vs. Colorado State.

Baumann the Boss
Sophomore Noah Baumann is shooting lights out from beyond the arc this season, so good in fact that he ranks second in the MW in 3-point percentage at 44.7%. He also ranks in the top-10 in the MW in 3-pointers per game (2.3).

Baumann set a new school record of 22 consecutive games with a 3-point bucket made against UNLV on February 16, breaking a tie with Robert Owens, who closed out the 2009-10 season on a 21-game streak, for the new record. His streak is currently at 24.

In the loss to Utah State, Baumann had one of the most impressive performances of his career as he scored a career-high 29 points and tied the school record with seven 3-pointers (7-of-10). He also set career highs in 3-point attempts and field goal attempts.

Baumann holds the first and third highest-scoring performances by a Spartan this season with 29 vs. USU and 23 vs. Northern Arizona. He’s averaging 9.6 points in conference play, second-most on the team (Steadman).

Last season as a freshman, Baumann finished the year 40-for-87 (.460) from the 3-point range. He has already eclipsed those numbers with five regular season games to go (59-132, .447).

Chastain in Charge
Junior Ashtin Chastain has been tasked to fill in the gap in the starting lineup as senior Oumar Barry has been sidelined with an injury. Chastain has started the last nine games in his stead.

Ch-Ch-Changes
Spartans head coach Jean Prioleau made some changes to his staff in the offseason as he brought in former NC State All-American Julius Hodge as an assistant coach and promoted director of operations Ryan Cooper to assistant coach.

Hidden Gem
Despite losing 90-71 to Colorado State, SJSU might’ve found a hidden gem in the form of junior walk on Brian Rodriguez-Flores, who played 17 minutes and scored a season-high 13 points. He followed that with a season-best 33 minutes at Air Force where he was the first player off the bench and finished with 12 points.

Starry Knight
Freshman guard Seneca Knight has upped his game recently as well. In the last five games, he’s averaging 9.2 points. In his last outing against Colorado State, he led the team with a 14 point performance. He followed with 12 points at Air Force.

Steady Steadman
JUCO transfer Michael Steadman has made a big impact this season as a leader on and off the court. The 6’10” forward is averaging a team-high 13.1 points per game and ranks sixth in the MW with 8.3 rebounds per game. He has eight double-doubles on the season, ranking fifth in the conference and has scored in double figures in 19-of-26 games. He also has 11 games with double-digit rebounds.

Steadman leads the team with four games with at least 20 points, including back-to-back efforts vs. Air Force and USU. He put up a career-high 24 points and pulled down 12 rebounds in the loss to Air Force. He then followed up with 20 points at USU and had 16 in his last game out at Boise State.

In his last outing at Air Force, Steadman pulled down a career-best 17 points to go with 21 points.

Change It Up
Prioleau has used 10 different lineups throughout the season with no one player starting each time out. Barry had started the first 17 games before an injury kept him out of the lineup the last four games. Seven newcomers have made starts, including Knight, Chappell, Trey Smith and Christian Anigwe.

On the Board(s)
SJSU ranks second in the MW in offensive boards with 11.1 per game. They rank sixth in defensive boards with 26.0.

Series History vs. New Mexico
New Mexico holds a 14-1 record in the all-time series and has won the last three since SJSU took down the Lobos 78-68 inside the Pit on February 4, 2017.

The Lobos check in to Tuesday’s game 11-15 and will look to break a two-game losing skid. UNM, led by second-year head coach Paul Weir, are exceptional at taking the ball away. They lead the MW with 6.9 steals per game.

The late Rick Rasnick had a genuine love for college football

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Photo credit: bchd.org

By: Ana Kieu

It’s obvious that not all of you are going to recall the late Rick Rasnick (1959-2019), but he was more than just a former San Jose State Spartan football starter, team captain and assistant coach. Unlike most other newcomers, Rasnick spent two years at El Camino College as the team’s Most Valuable Offensive Lineman and then weighed offers from San Jose State and Fresno State to continue his college football career. He chose SJSU because he wanted to be on the biggest possible college football stage.

Rasnick placed his stamps of focus, determination, skill, athleticism and knowledge of the game on a stage that resulted in 12 football seasons, most of which were successful, at SJSU, followed by four seasons at the University of Utah (1991-94) and five seasons as the Eastern Michigan University football head coach (1995-99).

Rasnick used all of those traits along with a trove of sports-related experiences in a five-plus year battle against Alzheimer’s disease. The tough battle ended on February 13, 2019 when Rasnick succumbed peacefully at age 59 surrounded by loved ones. It happened a little over a week ago, but it’s still hard to believe that he’s already gone.

Rasnick was born in Las Vegas and raised in Southern California. Rasnick ran the 40-yard dash in 4.7 seconds, which was a very fast time for an offensive lineman in his era. There was some question about his size, especially his listed playing weight, and whether he could deal with the constant contact of defensive players 20-50 pounds heavier than him, but that eventually subsided.

“‘Ras’ was one-of-a-kind, 215-pounds soaking wet,” recalled offensive tackle Max Hooper, Mr. Rasnick’s Spartan teammate in 1979 and 1980 and a team captain in 1981.

Rasnick was listed at 225 pounds on the Spartans roster for his two seasons. Hooper also recounted one story involving weigh-ins when he tried to help Rasnick weigh more than he actually did. The scheme didn’t quite work, but a lot of things did as a starting center in the offensive line, team captain in 1980, undergraduate assistant, graduate assistant, offensive line coach, offensive coordinator and interim head coach during the 1990 spring prior to the appointment of Terry Shea as a head coach.

Rasnick played for San Jose State Sports Hall of Fame coach Jack Elway and coached with SJSU Sports Hall of Famer Claude Gilbert and Shea. His first game as a SJSU player was a 48-48 tie with Utah State in Spartan Stadium, then the highest scoring tie in NCAA Division I-A history. The Spartans had winning seasons in 1979 and 1980 and knocked off No. 10 Baylor, 30-22, in Waco, Texas on November 1, 1980, after trailing 15-0 in the second quarter.

“He told me Mike Singletary (Baylor’s middle linebacker and Pro Football Hall of Fame member) was the best player he’s ever seen on a football field and about the joy they going to Baylor (as a 28-point underdog) and beating them… I think he was joking around, ‘He was so good, I never really touched him during the game because he was so fast and so good.’ He would look up and see Mike Singletary six feet in front of him — the best player he’s ever faced and trying to chase him down the whole game was kind of comical. That was one of his biggest thrills — beating Baylor,” said younger brother Ryan Rasnick, a starting free safety for the Spartans from 1986-89.

Rasnick defeated both Cal and Stanford in the same season twice in 1981 and 1987. The “mythical Bay Area championship” eluded the Spartans until then.

During his SJSU days, Rasnick experienced beating Stanford 6-of-12 times; Cal on four occasions; going 2-2 with Oregon and 2-0 at Washington State. The Spartans lost a pair of seven-point games at Arizona State and lost two nail-biters at Washington by three (20-17 in 1990) and four (35-31) in 1988.

Rasnick won four conference championships and playing in four bowl games between 1981 and 1990.

Rasnick got promoted to the offensive coordinator position in 1987. At age 27, he was the youngest offensive coordinator in NCAA Division I-A football. In four seasons, the Spartans averaged 31 points a game, were never shutout, led the nation in passing offense in 1987, was in the top-15 in passing offense each year and averaged at least 400 yards of total offense a game each season.

“Coach Rasnick always made sure that we were 100% prepared to be successful. He made sure we knew what was likely coming at us, and what to do about it.  As a player, that builds great confidence and that’s the only thing you can ask from your coach, really,” said 1987 First-Team All-Conference offensive guard Jim Carter, who originally came to the SJSU football program as a tight end prospect.

“Putting your players in the best position to be successful, and then let them play. That’s what he did.  He was the best tactical coach I ever had.”

“He enjoyed the game, enjoyed watching game film, enjoyed being prepared and preparing his players. …Our guards were 235 (pounds). You play Stanford. Those guys were 275, 280, 290 years ago. Back in the day, he would take middle linebackers and if you weren’t starting, ‘You want to come over and play guard for me.’  We had pulling guards at 235 pounds that could run. That was an advantage we did have,” said the younger Rasnick about his older brother’s approach to coaching.

Rasnick was appointed SJSU’s interim head football coach in the spring of 1990 during a time of considerable consternation surrounding the program. His steadying hand was instrumental in laying the groundwork for a 9-2-1 record, conference championship, California Raisin Bowl victory and a final national ranking of 20th in the United Press International coaches poll. The Sporting News, the nationally-known weekly publication based out of St. Louis, named him the Big West Conference’s top offensive assistant coach for the 1990 season.

Rasnick shifted his priorities to the University of Utah in 1991 as the Utes assistant head coach for offense, working alongside Spartan alum Ron McBride.

“Rick’s talent as a coach extends far beyond his years. I’ve watched him coach and recruit. He is an excellent teacher of the game of football. He understands our offense, inside and out,” said McBride at the time he hired Mr. Rasnick.

The Utes would go on to play in three bowl games in his four seasons and be voted eighth in the final 1994 USA Today/CNN coaches poll and 10th the final Associated Press writers poll.

Rasnick’s coaching success led to his appointment as the head coach at Eastern Michigan University in 1995, just months before his 35th birthday. In his first season, EMU posted a 6-5 win-loss record, the school’s only winning season between 1989 and 2016. Though his head coaching record at the Mid-American Conference school was 20-34 over five seasons, he remained as EMU’s sixth winningest head football coach among the 41 to serve the school in that position.

Rasnick’s final years were spent often at the Beach Cities Health District Center for Health & Fitness in Redondo Beach, Calif., following the unfortunate diagnosis. In 2018, Rasnick was honored with the organization’s “Spirit of Wellness” Award” for the year.

Mr. Rasnick is survived by his parents, Jim and Donna Rasnick; brother, Ryan Rasnick; sister, Kendahl Rasnick; sons, Blair and Pierce Rasnick; and companion, Annette Adams.

A celebration of life has been set for Saturday, March 16, 2019 from 2-5 p.m., at the Rice Mortuary, 5310 Torrance Blvd., Torrance, Calif., 90503.

San Jose State hopes for first conference win of the season at Air Force Saturday

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Photo credit: sjsuspartans.com

By: Ana Kieu

San Jose State men’s basketball has nothing to play for except for pride, but it’d be great if they picked up their first conference win of the season against the Air Force Falcons Saturday afternoon at the Clune Arena in Colorado Springs, Colo. Tipoff has been scheduled for 1:00 pm PT and Justin Allegri has the Spartans play-by-play call on the TuneIn app.

Like SJSU (3-22, 0-13 MW), AF (11-15, 6-8 MW) plays in the same conference so this likely will be a tough test for both teams. SJSU lost 16 in a row with its last loss occurring at home versus the Colorado State Rams on February 20th. AF, on the other hand, edged the Fresno State Bulldogs 64-61 on the road on February 20th. So there you have it folks, these two teams will likely battle it out on the hardwood.

In case you missed the SJSU vs. CSU matchup, I just have to emphasize that the Spartans fell to the hot-shooting Rams, who shot the ball with authority as six players finished in double figure scoring led by Kris Martin’s 19 points. The Rams shot 59.3% for the game and were 48.5% from the 3-point range. Moreover, the Rams’ 16 made 3s were the most the Spartans have surrendered this season.

The Spartans struggled from the floor, shooting 42% for the game and finished 5-of-21 from the 3-point range. SJSU was limited to just 39.3% in the first half. That was an embarrassment to put it lightly.

Still, the Spartans were delighted by a silver lining, despite what appeared to be a lot of negatives. SJSU committed just three second-half turnovers and wrapped up the game with only 11 total turnovers.

I’d also like to add that the Spartans out-performed the Rams in both points off turnovers (20-6) and points in the paint (42-34). SJSU improved from its 8-21 performance from the free throw line against UNLV (9-14). CSU struggled, finishing just 5-of-11.

San Jose State hits rock bottom with 16th straight loss; Baumann extends school record to 23 consecutive games

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Photo credit: @SJSUMBB

By: Ana Kieu

SAN JOSE, Calif. — A hapless San Jose State men’s basketball team searched for something, anything in Wednesday night’s matchup versus the Colorado State Rams, who were nearly as bad. SJSU lost 15 in a row, while CSU dropped three consecutive games.

Prior to the tipoff, Spartans head coach Jean Prioleau announced a starting lineup that featured Noah Baumann, Seneca Knight, Ashtin Chastain, Michael Steadman and Zach Chappell.

This time around, SJSU jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, thanks to Steadman’s jumper in the paint just 58 seconds into the first half. CSU quickly responded with Adam Thistlewood’s 3-pointer, but the Spartans bounced back on Baumann’s 3 just 21 seconds later. With the 3, Baumann continued to make history as he extended his school record to 23 consecutive games.

However, it was all Rams for five minutes as they went on a 9-0 run that was eradicated by Baumann’s fastbreak layup at the 14:34 mark. Chastain followed up with a jumper in the paint to cut the deficit 12-9.

The game turned out to be a back and forth affair between the two teams. CSU got ahead when Nico Carvacho made a layup at the 13:18 mark. Christian Anigwe responded with a jumper in the paint about a minute later. Then, Anthony Mashinton-Bonner hit a 3 to extend the Rams’ lead 17-11 at the 12:05 mark.

Fast forward to the final 10 minutes of the first. Nico Carvacho threw down a dunk and made a layup to extend the Rams’ lead 23-15 with 8:05 left. The Spartans were sort of sluggish as the only Spartan who scored in that span was Ivey, who made a layup. But that all changed at the six-minute mark as Ivey hit a 3 and Chappell made a few layups, including a fastbreak layup, in a 1:21 run.

Just seconds before the two-minute mark, Chastain made a pair of free throws look easy. Anigwe made a free throw. Then, Ivey made a pair of free throws to help the Spartans’ cause. Still, SJSU was unable to secure a lead to bring into the locker room at halftime. SJSU trailed 42-29 at halftime.

The Spartans showed glimpses of notable plays such as Knight’s jumper and Steadman’s dunk in the second half. But they were overpowered by the Rams, who went on a 8-0 run on back-to-back 3s by Kris Martin and Thistlewood to open the second. Throw Carvacho into the Rams’ mix and that only added to the Spartans’ woes, which were mostly defensive.

The home crowd erupted as soon as Brian Rodriguez-Flores made a layup at the 14:24 mark. Knight added a fastbreak layup just 29 seconds later.

Baumann hit a 3 at the 13-minute mark, but it was Rodriguez-Flores who stole the show with a fastbreak layup at the 10:56 mark. As a result, SJSU trailed 69-47 at the time.

Rodriguez-Flores continued to work wonders on the hardwood with back to back layups–the first layup in the paint and the latter being a regular. But the Rams also worked wonders that squashed the Spartans’ hopes of a comeback. Sure, SJSU pulled within 20, but 2:42 wasn’t enough time to tie the game to force overtime. SJSU lost 91-70.

SJSU dropped to 3-22, 0-13 MW. CSU, on the other hand, improved to 10-16, 4-8 MW.

SJSU heads to the Clune Arena in Colorado Springs, Colo. to face the Air Force Falcons Saturday at 1:00 pm PT.

San Jose State podcast with Ana Kieu: Men’s basketball just playing for pride; Spring football coming up; plus more

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Photo credit: @SJSUMBB and @SJSUSpartanFB

On the San Jose State podcast with Ana Kieu:

1. San Jose State men’s basketball lost to the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels 71-64 last Saturday.

2. San Jose State will host the Colorado State Rams tonight at 7:00 pm PT.

3. San Jose State football set its Spring Ball Practice Calendar for the general public.

Ana Kieu does the San Jose State podcasts each week for SportsRadioService.com

San Jose State continues homestand with conference matchup vs. Colorado State Wednesday night

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Photo credit: @SJSUMBB

By: Ana Kieu

Once again, San Jose State men’s basketball has nothing to play for but pride, but I still have to provide some of the best Spartan coverage out there, so there you go. The Spartans wrap up their two-game homestand with a conference matchup versus the Colorado State Rams inside the Event Center Wednesday night. The tipoff has been set for 7:00 pm PT.

SJSU (3-21, 0-12) most recently hosted UNLV (14-11, 8-5 MW) and dropped a 71-64 decision following a promising first half with the Spartans holding onto a mere three-point advantage, 31-28, to the locker room on Saturday, February 16th. Meanwhile, CSU (9-16, 4-8 MW) lost to the San Diego State Aztecs 71-60 at the Moby Arena on Tuesday, February 12th. As you can see, home court advantage failed to help out the Rams, but then again, they faced a challenging SDSU team who currently holds a 16-9, 8-4 MW record.

The Spartans are bottom-feeders as they’ve lost 15 games in a row, while the Rams have dropped three consecutive games. That’s a tough pill for the Spartans to swallow, but hey, it’s NCAA basketball and anything could happen so don’t rule anything out Spartan Nation!

After all, SJSU did play a pretty darn good game versus UNLV last Saturday. Michael Steadman, as you should already know, was being “Steady Steadman” as one of the three Spartans in double-figure scoring with a team-high 16 points and seven rebounds. Moreover, Zach Chappell had his most complete game of the 2018-19 Spartans season with 11 points and season-highs of nine assists AND six rebounds in 29 minutes of play.

The Spartans failed to secure the upset over the Rebels, but there were quite a few silver linings like the two players I just mentioned as well as the reduced turnovers and increased rebounding. Since the Rams are third to last in the conference, I believe that the Spartans can beat them by 10 points or fewer. That being said, my prediction will be a Spartans 70-65 win.

Baumann becomes record-setter, but San Jose State falls to UNLV 71-64 for 15th loss in a row

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Photo credit: @SJSUMBB

By: Ana Kieu

SAN JOSE, Calif. — San Jose State men’s basketball has nothing left to play for except for pride and Saturday’s matinee versus the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels was a rather competitive Mountain West matchup inside the Event Center. SJSU had lost 14 in a row, while UNLV searched for its second straight win on the road.

The Spartans’ starting five consisted of the favorable likes of Noah Baumann, Seneca Knight, Ashtin Chastain, Michael Steadman and Zach Chappell. SJSU hosted Fight for Literary day, which encouraged fans to pledge and possibly donate for the literary of local schoolchildren in the South Bay.

The Rebels jumped out to a fast start as Cheikh Mbacke Diong made a layup and Joel Ntambwe hit a 3-pointer to make it a 5-0 game, but the Spartans got on the board, thanks to Baumann’s layup in the paint and jumper to make it a 1-point game. Knight’s layup gave the Spartans a 1-point lead 6-5 at the 16:54 mark of the first half.

The game turned into a back-and-forth affair between these two teams. UNLV entered the driver’s seat, but SJSU gave the road team a hard time on Walt McPherson court. Steadman made two jumpers–one regular and the other in the paint–and Chappell knocked down a jumper to put the Spartans ahead 22-18 with 7:38 left in the first.

The Spartans continued to pour in the points. Steadman added a jumper in the paint, while Knight came alive with a layup, jumper and lone free throw. Also, Christian Anigwe threw down a dunk with 10 seconds left on the clock to help the Spartans to a 31-28 lead to close out the first.

Baumann opened up the second half in one of the most exciting ways possible. Baumann hit a 3 to not only extend the Spartans’ lead to 34-28, but also to set a new school record with a 3 in 22 consecutive games. The Spartans followed up with Knight’s 3, Steadman’s jumper in the paint and Chappell’s layup. The latter allowed the Spartans to regain the lead 41-39 at the 16-minute mark of the half.

The Rebels regained the lead 46-41 at the 12:07 mark of the half. Mbacke Diong made a pair of layups along with a lone free throw plus a jumper. However, Steadman ended the Rebels’ 7-0 run with a jumper at the 11:27 mark of the half. Steadman then made a layup on the fastbreak to make it a 1-point game.

The Spartans attracted attention to themselves as Ivey hit a 3 on the fastbreak and then drew a questionable penalty for fouling, which was arguably uncalled for by the officials. Still, SJSU regained the lead 48-46, so there wasn’t much to complain about. Well, at least until the Rebels tied the game 46-46 on a pair of free throws by Noah Robotham and snatched a 1-point lead 49-48 on Kris Clyburn’s lone free throw on the fastbreak.

Fast forward to the final minutes (and seconds) of the game where the Spartans pulled within five, thanks to Anigwe’s pair of free throws with 53 seconds left on the clock. Ivey made a pair of free throws in response to Amauri Hardy’s pair of free throws, but Robothom heated things up by making three straight free throws on the fastbreak in a 12-second span. Sure, Anigwe made a free throw on the fastbreak, but that wasn’t enough as San Jose State dropped its 15th in a row by a final score of 71-64.

SJSU hosts the Colorado State Rams on Wednesday, February 20th at 7:00 pm PT.

San Jose State returns home to host UNLV in Saturday matinee

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Photo credit: @SJSUMBB

By: Ana Kieu

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The 2018-19 San Jose State men’s basketball season has been a lost cause for quite a while now, so the team has been playing for pride because they have nothing to play for until the end of the season against the rival Fresno State Bulldogs at the Save Mart Center in Fresno, Calif. on March 9th. But, until then, San Jose State has to endure seven more games and possibly seven straight losses as much as I don’t want to say the latter.

SJSU last played against the New Mexico Lobos at the Pit in Albuquerque, N.M. Wednesday and got ran over by a final score of 92-60. SJSU (3-20, 0-11 MW) lost its 14th consecutive game, while UNM (11-13, 5-7 MW) rebounded following a 91-62 blowout by the hands of the No. 7 Nevada Wolf Pack on February 9th. Moreover, UNM took out their anger on SJSU and that was an understatement as they pretty much had the conference game from start to finish. SJSU, however, put on a strong offensive show to open the first half, so let’s give them credit where it’s due, okay?

Anyways, I’m not ruling out the fact that SJSU can somehow pull off an upset over UNLV, but there’s a sad reality that all of us must realize and that’s how the Spartans struggle to close out the games as they tend to suffer second half scoring woes for some reason or more than a few reasons if you’re a glass half empty type of person…or a full blown troll who has too much time on his or her hands.

But I can confirm that Noah Baumann is like a boss as his most recent performance allowed him to lead the Spartans with 10 points. Not only that, Baumann hit two 3-pointers and extended his consecutive games with a 3-pointer streak to 21 games to tie SJSU’s record set in the 2009-10 season by Robert Owens. I’d also like to add that Ashtin Chastain has been having himself a game after what seemed like a long scoring drought that partially occurred due to injuries in the past year or so. Chastain recorded a team-high 11 rebounds along with seven points in the Spartans’ loss to the Lobos in Albuquerque. It was just that Lobos won the rebound battle 44-39 as the Spartans actually finished with just 11 turnovers. The Lobos were simply the better team as a whole and they weren’t anywhere near the likes of Nevada, Utah State, Fresno State, San Diego and UNLV.

SJSU will likely get blown out by UNLV. My prediction stands at 95-55, but hey, anything can happen, so let’s see if the basketball Gods will work wonders or not.

In case you missed it, SJSU had a productive Friday morning. The Spartans read out loud to the elementary school students at Horace Mann Elementary in San Jose. Moreover, Caleb Simmons, a 6-foot-6, 195 pounds guard from Desert Vista High in Phoenix, Ariz., talked to the students about positivity, perseverance, and prosperity. It’s good that Simmons did that and I hope those young kids learned a thing or two because today’s kids are supposed to be the future in the advancement of this country.

If you want to pledge to support Fight for Literacy before tomorrow night’s game, click on the “Pledge Here” link to the embedded tweet below. It’s a notable cause that will do good for the local students in the South Bay.

San Jose State podcast with Ana Kieu: Men’s basketball on the decline, but good news pours in for former football players

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Photo credit: @SJSUMBB and 247sports.com

On the San Jose State podcast with Ana:

1. San Jose State men’s basketball got blown out by Boise State 105-57 last Saturday.

2. San Jose State men’s basketball concludes two-game road trip at New Mexico Wednesday night and returns home to host UNLV Saturday afternoon.

3. San Jose State signed Texas-based running back Darrin Smith in the National Letter of Intent signing period.

4. San Jose State tight end Josh Oliver on the pursuit of a NFL career.

Ana does the San Jose State podcasts each week for SportsRadioService.com

San Jose State football signs highly-touted Texas running back

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Photo credit: sjsuspartans.com

By: Ana Kieu

Running back Darrin Smith, who’s rated one of the top-100 high school football players for the 2018 season in the Dallas metroplex area by the Dallas Morning News, signed a National Letter-of-Intent to enroll at San Jose State University for the upcoming fall semester.

The 5-foot-10, 196-lb running back from Lone Star High in Frisco, Texas, was rated No. 38 overall and No. 2 among running backs in the Morning News’ February 6, 2019 rankings of the Top-100 area high school players. Smith also was listed by the Waco Tribune Herald’s Top-100 high school players for 2018.

Smith played four seasons of varsity football for Lone Star High. The Rangers posted a 46-9 win-loss record, a 27-2 mark in league action, and played for the 2015 5A-D2 state championship. He rushed for 2,520 yards on 437 carries and scored 34 touchdowns. He also caught 51 passes for 604 yards and returned 13 kickoffs for 273 yards and a touchdown during his high school career.

Smith was the 2017 District 13-5A Special Teams Most Valuable Player and the district’s 2016 Co-Offensive Newcomer of the Year. He concluded his high school football career playing for USA Football’s Under-19 national team in the 2019 International Bowl.