Fascinating tweet

From Ballers Bridge about 6-foot-6 junior Darrin Person out of the Fresno area: "@userdpj32 is hearing from Fresno State, Nevada, UCSB, Portland, San Jose State & St. Mary's. 2017 F is one to watch."

SJSU and Fresno have offered. So has Cal State Bakersfield but Person becoming a Roadrunner would be the recruiting shock of the century.

Person is likely to commit around this time next season. Now he's not in the program-changer category but rather a solid cog for a winning team. So how can the Spartans finish on top in this chase?

Fresno has a solid group of talents and should be MWC competitive in 2015-16, plus, never count Rodney Terry out in any recruiting challenge, especially with a hometowner. The Bulldogs have a 6-foot-7 freshman who should own the small forward spot for some years and that will make the San Joaquin a tough sell.

Nevada is on a recruiting roll so Coach Musselman may not have Person at the top of his wish list or may go/be going in a different direction considering who he has proven access to.

UC Santa Barbara will have playing time available to be earned but let's see how the Gauchos do post-Alan Williams who carried the team the past couple of seasons. The beach next to campus is always an element Santa Barbara coaches keep in their respective back pockets.

Portland has playing in the West Coast Conference as a lure but opposing coaches will continue to hammer on the Pilots inability to ever finish in front of Gonzaga, BYU and even St. Mary's.

It's hard to go after St. Mary's in almost any area but the Gaels do already have a pair of young small forwards and that may be a turnoff.

Proactively for the Spartans, finishing ahead of Fresno State overall and taking both matchups this season would help. But that will certainly be a challenge. Ending with a winning record, especially so in conference, would majestically aid the matter. Probably most important of all, getting Person to strongly connect with Coach Wojcik is the biggest aspect of all. Such often eliminates most other roadblocks. The new fiscally-induced emphasis on landing prospects from in-state makes the landing of this kid even more important.