Freshman Devin Hudson plays big in weekend win over UC Santa Barbara.  Photo credit Steven Georges

10:00am | Athletics is a lot about names and numbers, but sometimes objects in your rear view mirror are closer than you think.

At 6-3 and some change, freshman ladies basketball player Devin Hudson towered over the assembled media Saturday afternoon after her season and her team had been kicked to the curb of the Big West Conference. A long and slow rehab was finally over; she scored 11 points, blocked two shots, intimidated anyone coin into her paint, picked up a team-high seven rebounds and led her team to a closer than it looked 74-67 win over pre-season favorite Cal Poly.

Hudson statistically is not the equal of Poly’s Kristina Santiago, a player of the year repeater who has the numbers to back it up, (third in the nation in scoring at 24 ppg) but she was the difference. “Basically Devin is just a sponge at practice” her lanky coach Jody Wynn would say, and big people know about other big people, In fact Wynn has made such an impression on Hudson that the young star apologized to her coach after the game for not getting a couple of rebounds “that I should have.” Not all the 49ers are back and healthy, 6-3 Ella Clark is done for the year, with one active big in there the Beach has a fighting chance. Remember her name, Devin Hudson because the numbers will come.

Edis Dervisevic is the name from the men’s side. Oh yes you know him from his feisty attitude (and missed him when he tripped over his book list earlier this month) but in the formula that Dan Monson has for winning games Edis is a big man with a big name. One expert on Niner hoops said that his passing (good defense and two assists in 13 minutes) and presence in the paint let the better known names like Anderson, Robinson, and Ware run all over the tortilla tossing UCSB Gauchos. The final was 71-48 and chased their record 6,000 crowd back to Isla Vista before the bars shut down.

The bonus, Monson is now a favorite to keep that 100 per cent grad rate in tact and win with conference regular season with honor. Despite what Jalen Rose, the controversial ESPN pronouncer said, the clever and quicker kids from the LBC won that game (including a correct call on that publicized charge call) and set the stage for you know what you know when.

MIXED UP DUST—The LBSU ladies (9-11, 4-3 Big West) continued to defend its own court as it improved to 8-2 when playing at home. Another new name also emerged, when oft-injured junior Jhakia McDonald sparked a late spurt, making 4-of-6 free throws down the stretch and taking a key charge with 10 seconds left.

Seems that the Long Beach State coaches have patented the take a charge bit, they get more than Nordstrom’s on a sale weekend. McDonald finished with a season-high 14 points and the grizzled veteran Senior Tipesa Moorer was 6-of-11 from the field and a team-best 16 points as part of a season-high 51.0 percent from the field (and 45 percent of its 3-point attempts).

Speaking of charges, okay just money; the athletic fund raisers have been busy. The top two LB guys made a trip to Colorado for a house call on one Troy Tulowitzki who got a 2011 Salary of $5,500,000 with various benefits. They hope that he will at least nibble on underwriting some of the Blair Field fixes. Tulo is a favorite of those fantasy baseball folks and in the rankings for 2012, both he and fellow Dirtbag alum Evan Longoria are prized picks.

No word yet on whether the LBSU brass slipped across the locker room to see Jason Giambi who along with the Rockies exercised their mutual option on his $1 million contract for 2012. The 40-year-old slugger hit .260 with 13 homers and 32 RBIs in 131 at-bats as a Todd Helton backup last season.

One more baseball note, there are reports the Blair Field scoreboard has been on the DL some this winter. For a four year old device it may be aging faster than expected. The 2012 Welcome Back festivities are featured this week with the Leadoff Dinner Thursday night, the golf tourney on Friday and actual baseball games all day on Saturday. Details and signups are at 562-985-4662.

Back inside, the locker room projects at the Pyramid, with principal funding from the Bickerstaff family, are still looking for more moola. The four sports that are housed there have a funding captain looking for about $30,000 each. The captains are former LB administrator Dede Rossi (WVB), Grant Stone (MBB), Margaret Mohr (WBB) and Chris Seiffert (MVB). Acronyms included at the same cost.

Can’t leave the money trail just yet, another Dirtbag has just done another new deal, Jason Vargas – who just signed a one-year deal with Seattle for $4.5 million.

And you might want to keep an eye on Joe Terdoslavich who is climbing the ladder in the Atlanta Braves organization. Terdoslavich and Sean Gilmartin are among the non-roster players who have been invited to participate in Atlanta’s Major League camp when Spring Training begins next month.

My final weekend stop was at the Rhodes Tennis Center where the brand new edition of the 2012 tennis team, including testing-out-a- knee-brace (Klaudia Malenovska) and knocking the rust off (just-back-from-Europe Anais Dallara), were part of a 3-0 weekend at the Beach Tennis Winter Invitational. Long Beach State went 12-0 and finished the tournament with a 32-1 record in matches played. Dual match play for No. 38 Niners begins Saturday when the Beach ladies tangle with Loyola Marymount at 11 a.m. Free admission and sunshine guaranteed. And between matches you can check out the very eager softball kids of Kim Sowder, see the fancy new lights on the soccer pitch and still get back to the Mid for night time hoops with Fullerton. —DR. DAN