Big Sky honors PSU's Dominguez

HELENA, Mont. (AP) -- Portland State's Jeremiah Dominguez has been named Big Sky Conference men's basketball player of the week after leading the Vikings to a non-conference road victory over Rice.

The 5-foot-6, 150-pound senior guard poured in 24 points with four assists and four rebounds in the defending Big Sky champion Vikings' 78-74 victory over the Rice Owls on Nov. 15. Dominguez drilled a 3-pointer with one minute to play to give the Vikings a five-point edge.

The reigning Big Sky Conference player of the year played 38 minutes, hitting 7-of-12 field goals and 6-of-9 free throws. Dominguez was 4-of-6 from 3-point range, and did not commit a turnover.

This is the third Player of the Week honor for Dominguez in his career.

Succinct and snug news from the Vanguard sports section

Inked to play at Portland State next year are four heralded basketball recruits. Men's coach Ken Bone and women's coach Sherri Murrell each signed two players that will suit up for the Vikings next season.

The men's roster will be bolstered by Lake Oswego senior Max Jacobsen, a 6-foot-7 wing player, and 6-foot-4 guard Chris Harriel from Riverside, Calif.

Murrell continued her recruiting domination over the state of Washington by signing two highly regarded Seattle-area prepsters in guards Nichole Jackson and Karley Lampman.

ESPN.com ranks Jackson, who will play her senior season at Auburn Riverside High School, as the 31st best point guard in the nation.

The roller coaster of life

PORTLAND — A Mexican jail will force you to grow up pretty quickly.

And when you get out, well, chances are you'll view life — and its penchant to veer off track if you're not careful — in a much different light. Jeremiah Dominguez now has that perspective.

Portland State University's senior point guard, who led his team to its first NCAA tournament berth, first Big Sky championship, along the way to collecting conference player of the year honors, has been on a path of maturation since his days starting at South Salem High School.

If the incident in Cabo San Lucas during spring break was a setback, if only for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, the time since then has taught Dominguez valuable life lessons. FULL STORY

The 3-point line is moving back this year in men's hoops. How much of a difference will it make, if any?

Twelve inches. One foot. The length of a size-11 shoe. The width of an album cover. The height of an average wine bottle, plus the cork.

That distance is going to affect men's college basketball this season and in the years ahead. Moving back the 3-point line one foot — from 19 feet, 9 inches to 20-9 — figures to alter shooting percentages.

It will change the game in subtle ways, as well, from discriminating who shoots 3-pointers to potentially cutting down on the rugby scrums that often occurred around the basket.

"I don't think the great shooters will be affected that much," said William and Mary coach Tony Shaver, whose team last season attempted and made more 3-pointers than any in Colonial Athletic Association history. FULL STORY

NCAA talking about rules to protect 7th-graders in basketball recruiting

It has come to this in college basketball: The NCAA is weighing whether to officially designate seventh- and eighth-graders as "prospective student-athletes."

The move, backed by the new Championships/Sports Management Cabinet, is intended to help insulate youngsters from recruiters by limiting the contacts by coaches at some camps and clinics. It's also intended to limit contact by e-mail, letters and phone calls, according to Joan Cronan, women's athletic director at Tennessee and a member of the management cabinet.

"The whole idea was to eliminate unappropriate recruiting," said Cronan, also president of the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics. "Some of the real early commitments made people stop and think how early should we be recruiting. … It's more to protect (young athletes)." FULL STORY