There’s may be a renewed interest in everyone’s favorite numeral in the ‘Myd this year.  Last week Mike Vantrimpont, a 7-foot tall center, signed a scholarship with CSULB’s Men’s Basketball team, after spending two years playing on a junior team in France.  His team, Elan Bearnais Pau-Orthez (try spelling that five times fast), won France’s Trophy of the Future last season, awarded to the top junior team in the nation.  Vantrimpont was used mainly as a reserve, averaging six points, four rebounds, and five blocked shots per game last season.  With his height, and that five blocked shots a game average (as a reserve!), 49er fans should have a defensive paint presence to get pumped for this season.  In a wide-open Big West Conference, a center like Vantrimpont could be a great leg up on the competition.

49ers Head Coach Dan Monson said in a press release that he was excited to add a big man to the 2008 recruiting class.  “If he continues to improve at the rate he has in the last couple of years, he will have a chance to solidify our frontcourt for years to come,” said Monson.  “He’s a legit seven-foot, and with his extreme length and height, he has a chance to make an impact in our program immediately.”  Before going to France to play with Elan Bearnais Pau-Orthez, Vantrimpont played for So-Cal schools Mira Costa, and Westchester, where he helped the Comets capture a CIF title in his senior year.  

His signing represents the kind of intelligent recruiting philosophy Cal State’s basketball staff has employed to get around the NCAA sanctions imposed on the team earlier this year (for the recruiting violations of the previous coaching staff).  The hardest hitting of those sanctions was a provision forbidding CSULB from recruiting JC students, a major talent pool for mid-majors like the Beach.  With fewer scholarships, a lower profile, and less money to spend on recruiting than a larger school (like, say, USC or UCLA), CSULB has to make its recruits count, which is why JC players are so valuable: they’re more developed than high school students, and they have some college experience, which means it’s more likely they’ll be ready to play shortly after their arrival.  Signing Vantrimpont means they get a player with two years of post-high school experience, who still has four years of eligibility, without violating NCAA restrictions on the school.  If Vantrimpont can play with the kind of shrewd intelligence that brought him to the school, coupled with his physical gifts, it should be a great four years for basketball at the Beach.