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Rice Basketball: 2021 Guard Jaden Geron commits to Owls

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The 2021 Rice Basketball recruiting class has doubled in size. Guard Jarden Geron became the second player to commit to the Owls in this cycle.

Rice basketball has its second commitment of the 2021 class. 6-foot-7 shooting guard Jaden Geron from San Joaquin Memorial High School in Fresno, California has committed to Rice. He led San Joaquin to a 24-7 regular season record this past season.

Geron is the second commitment in the 2021 Rice Basketball Recruiting class. His addition comes roughly a month after fellow Californian forward Damion McDowell became the first commitment of the class.

The Owls were the first to get in on Geron, offering him in mid-April amid the now-normal virtual recruiting environment. UC San Diego followed a month later, but Rice had already made enough headway at that point to put themselves out in front.

After bringing in such a large 2020 class amidst the transfer churn, it’s likely the Owls have a smaller group for 2021. McDowell and Hargon will be the cornerstones of this group which probably has space left for just one more addition.

On the court, Geron is a finisher with an adept shooting stroke who can score from all three levels. His ability to push the pace and make plays at the rim should give Rice a versatile offensive threat with the ball in his hands.

As good as he is in close, he also has the range to pull up and knock down a three. At 175-pounds, he tends toward the lankier side, but should have a decent floor as a shooter as he develops at the next level.

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The Roost Podcast | Ep. 40 – Louisiana Tech Football Preview with Ben Carlisle

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The Roost Podcast welcomes Ben Carlisle, who covers Louisiana Tech football for Bleed Tech Blue to breakdown expectations for the Bulldogs this fall.

Rice Football opponent previews continue this week with our fourth Conference USA guest. To this point, we’ve had discussions with folks that cover UAB, UTEP and Southern Miss. This week we welcomed our friend Ben Carlisle who runs Bleed Tech Blue to give us the inside scoop on Louisiana Tech football.

You can always find previous episodes on the podcast page. All of the Conference USA team shows are there as well as the beginning of our Extended Offseason Series. That features popular Rice alums like Anthony Rendon, Christian Covington and James Casey, among others. For now, give a listen to our chat with Ben on Episode 40.

Episode 40 Notes

  • Housekeeping — This week only: Leave us a five-star review and include what you like about the show and you’ll be entered to win a copy of either the Rice or Conference USA Season Preview. Also, make sure you follow Ben Carlisle and Bleed Tech Blue and let them know you enjoyed having him on the pod.
  • Subscribe on Patreon — If you enjoy the site and want to be a part of what we’re building at The Roost, please consider supporting us on Patreon. ]
  • COVID-19 updates — The Ivy League is reportedly considering delaying their football season to the spring. How might that impact football in the South this fall?
  • Ben Carlisle joins the show — Ben shares his insight on Louisiana Tech football under Skip Holtz and what to expect from the Bulldogs in 2020, including:
    • Debating “What could have been” had J’Mar Smith and others not been suspended last season
    • The uncertain quarterback situation without spring football
    • How Louisiana Tech hopes to integrate a new defensive coordinator
    • What returning faces could see bigger roles next season
    • The Lightning Round

Where can you find us?

Download and subscribe to The Roost Podcast on any of your favorite podcast providers. The show is available on iTunes, GooglePlay, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn and PodBean. Please consider leaving a review wherever you listen.

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Rice Women’s Basketball: Owls’ stocked with young talent

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Rice women’s basketball has a core of young players ready to make another run at a Conference USA title. The Owls’ five freshmen are the foundation for the Owls’ future.

It’s going to be surreal watching Rice Women’s Basketball take the court in the fall without Erica Ogwumike. The Owls’ leader on and off the court saw her college career come to a premature end before becoming a WNBA draft selection this spring. Rice will be tasked with fielding a starting five without her in the lineup.

As impossible as Ogwumike will be to replace, it won’t be an unprecedented task. She missed two conference games this past spring with injuries. Rice won both games, defeating Louisiana Tech and Southern Miss at home, each by double digits. Haylee Swayze got the start in the first game in place of Ogwumike. Destiny Jackson started the second.

If the average fan lost track of who was subbing in and out from the bench in the middle of conference play, head coach Tina Langley was well aware.

Jackson was one of five freshmen on the Rice roster. She and Lauren Schwartz were the only two to start at least one game. Schwartz was one of three players to start every game, averaging 9.6 points per game, third best on the team. All five — including India Bellamy, Ashlee Austin and Katelyn Crosthwait — played in more than half of the Owls’ games. Simply put, the Rice freshman made their mark.

The Roost Podcast: Listen now to our Extended Offseason Interview Series

Bellamy led the team with a 45.5 percent success rate from three (5 of 11) and made all five of her free throws she attempted. Austin averaged one rebound every 4.5 minutes on the court, second only to Ogwumike. Crosthwait came up huge with a career-best 11 points in the regular-season finale, helping Rice clinch the conference title with a win over Old Dominion.

“I think where I’m proud of them is that all five of them contributed significantly,” Langley said, “It’s amazing to have such incredible young people coming into our program.”

Building that depth and giving them experience en route to back-to-back conference championships was, in many ways, the perfect scenario. Langley can trust each of them to step into bigger roles next season without missing a beat. And that’s what makes the outlook of this team so bright despite the loss of Ogwumike. Rice women’s basketball has so many players ready and able to contribute now.

“If you looked at our starting lineup from last season, we looked a little strange positionally at times,” Langley admitted,
“But we put a great group out there that could do a lot of different things well.” That’s the recipe for another run at a conference title in the fall. And as young as the Owls’ are, they might not be slowing down any time soon.

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The Roost is on Patreon: Subscribe Now!

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We’re thrilled to announce the launch of our Patreon page, allowing our readers and members of the Rice community to support The Roost.

Subscribers will get exclusive access to practice reports, recruiting updates, special analysis and more. If you’ve enjoyed following us over the past few years or you’ve come across us recently, please consider supporting us as we bring you the best news and analysis of Rice sports on the internet.

Become a Patron!

Have questions, check out our FAQ. Here’s a little bit of what to expect below.

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Rice Athletics: Owls have no plans to cut sports

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Athletic departments across the country are trimming back. Rice Athletics has no plans to cut sports and will keep its 14 teams intact.

Rice Athletics does not intend to cut any of its sponsored athletic teams. In fact, dropping a sport was never on the table at Rice. “It’s just not been part of our calculus at all,” Athletic Director Joe Karlgaard said.

The rationale for the ease of that decision hinges on how college athletics are currently structured. Rice fields 14 varsity sports, the minimum required by the NCAA to retain D1 status.

Dropping a sport to save money in the current environment would require Rice to get a waiver, which likely would be temporary. The ramifications of that decision are currently on display at Central Michigan.

CMU went below the required six men’s sports when it opted to drop the it’s men’s track and field this spring. To prevent the loss of their D1 status, they applied for a waiver which was granted in early June. Athletic Director Michael Alford noted that the waiver applied to the 2020-21 and 2021-22 academic years. If Central Michigan intends to maintain it’s D1 status beyond that, they’ll have to add another men’s sport or get another waiver.

Rice wasn’t interested in playing that game. Given the infrastructure and athletes already in place on campus, cutting back on a program for such a brief period of time might create more problems than it solves. Central Michigan may very well decide to reinstate its men’s track program in two years.

That said, the cancelation of the NCAA Tournament put universities across the nation in a tough spot. Many depend on revenue distributions from that marquee spring event. Losing that check put budgets everywhere under the microscope.

The Roost Podcast: Listen now to our Extended Offseason Interview Series

That might have been enough to spur change on its own, but the dark cloud of the COVID-19 pandemic continued to loom over the upcoming academic calendar. It quickly became clear that more changes were on the way.

Here’s a brief list of D1 programs that have been eliminated during the past four months:

  • Old Dominion: Wrestling
  • Central Michigan: Men’s track and field
  • Cincinnati: Men’s soccer
  • FIU: Men’s track and field (reported, not announced yet by school)
  • Akron: Men’s cross country, men’s golf and women’s tennis
  • Furman: Baseball and men’s lacrosse
  • Wisconsin Green-Bay: Men’s and women’s tennis
  • East Carolina: Men’s and women’s tennis, men’s and women’s swimming and diving
  • App State: Men’s soccer, men’s tennis and men’s track and field
  • Wright State: Softball, men’s and women’s tennis
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