Former Trinity player seeks 2nd national championship
Imagine being a college basketball player and not losing a game during your first season.
And the second season.
And winning two national championships.
That sounds like something that only happened to players from the UCLA dynasty under legendary coach John Wooden.
It also could happen to a former Trinity High School standout.
Eden Williamson is a sophomore on the New York University women’s team that will play Saturday afternoon in the NCAA Division III championship game against Smith College. The game will be played in Salem, Va.
NYU is 30-0 and the defending national champion. The Violets won the championship last year with a 31-0 record.
Williamson has played in every game this year and averages 2.6 points and 2.7 rebounds per contest.
In two years, Williamson has played in 61 games. That’s 61 victories and zero losses.
That’s a record that can be equaled in college basketball history by only a few players, most notably Bill Walton.
( One of the best coaching jobs in NCAA Division II men’s basketball this season was done by Danny Sancomb at PennWest California. And unless you were paying close attention to the Vulcans, you probably missed the masterful job Sancomb performed under unthinkable circumstances.
Sancomb began the season with a veteran team that bolted out of the gate with six consecutive wins, including one over a top-10 ranked opponent.
That’s also the point when Cal lost three starters – Keith Palek, Bryson Lucas and Antoine Arnett – to season-ending injuries. Another starter, point guard Donald Whitehead, also was injured and missed four games.
With a patchwork lineup of former role players and freshmen who were thrust into starting positions, Cal lost seven consecutive games. But the Vulcans, with Sancomb’s guidance, refused to punt on the season. The Vulcans regrouped and gained experience. Cal finished with an 18-12 record and lost in the semifinals of the PSAC tournament. The Vulcans were on the cusp of making the NCAA tournament.
Each of the players who suffered season-ending injuries have qualified for medical redshirts. And with all of the young players who gained valuable experience this year returning, you would think the Vulcans should be a solid favorite to win the PSAC next year and even make a run at the national championship.
Nothing, however, is more in flux than Division II men’s basketball.
Palek, Lucas and Whitehead have entered a very crowded transfer portal. According to the website 4PlayingTime.com, there are 915 men’s basketball players from Division II schools currently in the transfer portal.
That’s the equivalent of about 65 entire teams worth of players in the transfer portal.
It makes Division II basketball seem like junior college ball, where rosters change not only from year to year but semester to semester.
* I wonder how much the success of the Drake men’s basketball team has to do with the Division II transfer portal issue. Drake, which will play Texas Tech in the NCAA tournament this weekend, has a roster that includes four Division II transfers.
N One of the growing trends in high school sports is schools having their own internet/radio network. You can add Canon-McMillan to the list.
The Canon-McMillan Sports Network will debut for the 2025-26 school year. It will provide live broadcasts of all Big Macs home football games and some away contests.
N There are several attractive boys basketball head coaching jobs open in the area, including at Trinity, Washington, Canon-McMillan and West Greene.
* If you followed the sports pages in the O-R this month, then you’re familiar with the story of Canon-McMillan wrestler Marlee Solomon, who won a PIAA wrestling championship, following in the footsteps of her mother, Daneen, who won a state title in the sport in California.
Two state champions, in two states, in one family.
But how about two state champions in two states and in two different sports?
Kelsey Humbert won the Class 5A 1,600-meter run at the Virginia Indoor Track & Field Championships earlier this month in Virginia Beach. The 15-year-old Humbert is the son of Nick Humbert, who was on Washington High School’s 1998 WPIAL and PIAA championship baseball team.
She is the granddaughter of Joseph and the late Patricia Humbert of Washington.
* The Washington Wild Things have called a news conference for Tuesday to make a “major announcement.” It could be about a new naming rights sponsor for the Wild Things Park.
Sports editor Chris Dugan can be reached at dugan@observer-reporter.com