Hoops coach fundraising to get teams to tourneys

• Myron Medcalf, ESPN Staff WriterFeb 24, 2024, 12:04 PM ET

  Close

  • Covers college basketball
  • Joined ESPN.com in 2011
  • Graduate of Minnesota State University, Mankato

The coach of a personal California school that just recently revealed the closure of its school and canceled all sports is raising money to send out the guys’s and women’s basketball teams to their postseason tournaments.Jordan Mast, coach of

the men’s basketball team at the University of Antelope Valley, told ESPN on Saturday that the school’s men’s and women’s basketball groups have qualified to play in their conference tournaments however have been informed by school officials that their seasons will be canceled without outdoors help.They have till Sunday to leave their dormitories, the team centers and the campus. The school has actually not offered alternate real estate for the affected athletes.Mast said he understood the NAIA school’s monetary problems, however school authorities alerted him only last week about the alarming circumstances. He stated he asked the leaders of the personal, for-profit organization for the opportunity to begin a GoFundMe to offer his groups a chance to play in the postseason and they agreed.”All we know is we’re supposed to be out by Sunday,” Mast informed ESPN.”On a call, they stated,’ We also do not have funds to continue your season.’At that point, I simply stated,’ This isn’t right. Can I fundraise? Can I do something?’And they stated,’ Hey, if you wish to try, proceed. ‘”Mast stated he has actually invested the week attempting to call people who can help him raise$40,000, which he stated

will suffice for both teams to travel throughout the postseason.With an 84-75 win over La Sierra University on Tuesday, the UAV men’s basketball team sealed the Cal Pac Conference championship and automated bid to the NAIA nationwide tournament however will still participate in its conference competition. Saturday’s home game against Embry-Riddle(Arizona )is the team’s senior night, Mast stated, and possibly the last game they will play.The UAV females’s basketball team will likewise clinch the conference championship and trip to the NAIA nationwide tournament with a victory over Embry-Riddle on Saturday.

With a loss, the ladies’s group would still have the chance to win its conference tournament and protect a berth.The school told Mast he has to raise sufficient money for both programs to travel or it will eliminate them both from the postseason tournaments in the middle of the monetary chaos. The Valley Press paper reported that lease payments by the Genius Group, which runs the school based in Lancaster, California, were missed out on which caused the present scenario. Mast said last week he received just 25%of his regular paycheck as an outcome of the school’s troubles.Mast said he has fielded several calls from worried moms and dads and other concerned celebrations around athletes who might have their lives completely interrupted in the next 24 hr. He said it’s not fair that the professional athletes, who have actually paid tuition and accommodations costs, will be displaced.Mast said he has actually stayed calm amidst the chaos with the help of other coaches. On a current coaches call, Michigan assistant Saddi Washington said it is essential to focus on today and not the future, a message Mast stated he required to hear to stay”positive “with his group.”Through all of this going on, the people that are truly important are our players and our boys,”Mast stated.”We’ve informed them everything we can, and I simply said, ‘Hey, look guys, I can’t assure anything, but this is type of a microcosm of life.

‘I assured them that I’m going to give them everything I’ve got to make this happen. “Mast said he’s unsure what will happen Sunday when his players, who survive on school, are required to leave their dorms and the team’s centers. However he is focused on raising money to extend their seasons and assisting the guys’s and females’s teams get the chance to chase their dreams.”

They got loans. They paid money,”Mast stated.” You understand, these players have spent for their housing. This isn’t a Department I school. Most of them are paying a substantial amount of cash. Therefore, to not have their real estate or to be told to move without a plan has just been regrettable

.”