Former Irvine Valley College men's basketball players are suiting up all over the country for four-year colleges and universities.
In all, more than 110 players have moved on to four-year schools with scholarships in Coach Jerry Hernandez’s 23 years of guiding the program.
This 2014-15 season's team featured five players moving on to four-year schools, including sophomore center Andrew Bastien to Division 1 Utah Valley.
For the 2015-16 season, post player Patrick Sniff (Western State) and Isaiah Milan (San Diego Christian) have moved on to play at four-year schools.
Two seasons ago, there were four players on the active roster than moved on, including two to Division 1 schools. All-conference player Zack Mills was at Sacramento State and all-conference player Michael Bolden played at Cal Poly. Also moving on were point guard James Bailey to Hope International and guard Steele Sylte to Cal State San Marcos.
"It was a great group of players moving on," Hernandez said. "They did so much for us. I am very proud of them. They all deserve it."
And three years ago, seven players received four-year scholarships. They were guard Kalob Hatcher (Montana State Billings), Ramon Mejia (Arkansas - Monticello), Chris Taylor (Chadron State), Jose Vasquez (Glenville State), Austin Loeb (Masters College), Christian Scott (California Maritime Academy) and Kirill Sergeyev (William Jessup).
And after the 2010-11 campaign, six players received scholarships, including three to Division I schools. They were Travis Fulton (Pacific), forward Joe Eberhard (Sacramento State) and Ephraim Ekanem (Northern Arizona).
Fulton, who was IVC’s MVP and an all-state player in 2010-11, and Ekanem saw time as starters at their respective schools and Eberhard was one of the best players at Sacramento State. Fulton even helped his team win the Big West Conference title last year and make the NCAA Tournament.
In just the last five years alone, 29 players from IVC teams have moved on, including 11 to Division I schools.
"Other coaches want our guys in their programs," Hernandez said. "It says a lot about the players and people we have here.
"When a four-year college coach has seen one of our teams he has a full roster of transferable student athletes to take a look at. That is not the case with very many other schools."
And several other players have recently finished stellar careers at four-year schools.
Among them were first team all-conference guard Jeff Ledbetter, who was a standout at Division I Idaho and point guard La’Shard Anderson, who was an all-conference player at Boise State.
Several former IVC stars even moved on to careers playing overseas. The highlight from that group was Enver Soobzokov, who played at Irvine Valley during the 1997-98 and 1999-2000 seasons before transferring to Cal State San Bernardino.
He retired from playing in last year Jordan. Soobzokov was a star for the top team, Fastlink. He helped the squad win the Asia Club Championships. It was the first time a Jordan basketball team ever won the gold medal in Asia.
Soobzokov was also part of the Select Jordanian National Team. He competed with Jordan in the Asian Championships in 2009.
Soobzokov is now working as a scout in the NBA.
Other IVC players have participated in leagues in Brazil, Sweden, Mexico, Switzerland, Poland and Finland.
"We take a lot of pride in the fact that our program at Irvine Valley has helped so many student athletes continue their basketball careers, and continue them at such a high level," Hernandez said.
| Players Name | Years at IVC | Went on to compete for |
|---|---|---|
| Geoff Salas | 2016-19 | Southwestern College (Kansas) |
| Parker Sims | 2015-18 | Holy Cross College |
| Zane Paddon | 2016-18 | San Francisco State |
| Daniel Hernandez | 2015-18 | Cal State San Marcos |
| Zuri Williams | 2015-17 | Academy of Art |
| Anthony Hernandez | 2014-17 | Dominican |
| Jack Taylor | 2014-17 | University of Providence |
| Isaiah Milan | 2015-16 | San Diego Christian |
| Patrick Sniff | 2014-16 | Western State/Cal State San Marcos |
| Jimmy Golden | 2013-15 | Sonoma State |
| Ronnie Harris | 2013-15 | Sonoma State |
| Chris Salas | 2012-15 | Academy of Art |
| Andrew Bastien | 2012-15 | Utah Valley |
| Chris Porter | 2012-15 | Cal State Monterey Bay |
| Declan Daly | 2013-14 | Cal State San Marcos |
| Yanick Kulich | 2010-14 | Academy of Art/Western Oregon |
| Austin Priest | 2012-14 | Chapman |
| Dathon Spencer | 2011-14 | University of Lethbridge (Canada) |
| Shaquille Hunter | 2012-14 | Cal State Dominguez Hills |
| Wolfie Wood | 2012-13 | La Sierra |
| Michael Bolden | 2011-13 | Cal Poly |
| Zach Mills | 2011-13 | Sacramento State |
| Steele Sylte | 2011-13 | Cal State San Marcos |
| James Bailey | 2012-13 | Hope International |
| Wolfie Wood | 2012-13 | La Sierra |
| Ramon Mejia | 2010-12 | Arkansas - Monticello |
| Kalob Hatcher | 2010-12 | Montanta State - Billings |
| Joey Vasquez | 2010-12 | Glenville State |
| Chris Taylor | 2010-12 | Chadron State |
| Austin Loeb | 2011-12 | The Masters College |
| Christian Scott | 2011-12 | Cal Maritime Academy |
| Kiril Sergeyev | 2011-12 | William Jessup |
| Julian Nichols | 2011-12 | Western Oregon |
| Jordan Hamamoto | 2011-12 | Northwestern College |
| Marcus Walters | 2009-11 | Cal State Stanislaus |
| Jordan Johnson | 2009-11 | San Francisco State |
| Christian Mack | 2009-11 | Northeastern State |
| Ephraim Ekanem | 2009-11 | Northern Arizona |
| Travis Fulton | 2009-11 | Pacific |
| Joe Eberhard | 2009-11 | Sacramento State |
| Durrell Norman | 2009-10 | Northern Arizona |
| Max Carrier | 2009-10 | Eastern New Mexico |
| Traivis Ballard | 2008-10 | Jackson State |
| Matt Ballard | 2008-10 | San Jose State |
| Jason Frost | 2008-09 | Trinity International |
| Blake Touchard | 2008-09 | Embry-Riddle |
| Brandon Hucks | 2007-09 | Concordia |
| Jeff Ledbetter | 2007-09 | Idaho |
| Bryce Webster | 2007-08 | Cal State Fullerton |
| Kashif Watson | 2007-08 | Idaho |
| Blake Wallace | 2007-08 | San Francisco |
| La'Shard Anderson | 2007-08 | Boise State |
| Jason Toney | 2006-08 | Claremont McKenna |
| Jerone Devine | 2006-08 | Cal State Monterey Bay |
| AJ Kapanoske | 2006-08 | Sacramento State |
| Ceylon Elgin-Taylor | 2005-07 | Montana |
| Marcus Blackshire | 2006-07 | Montana State |
| David Ekott | 2005-07 | Chapman |
| Josh Cheek | 2005-07 | Cal State East Bay |
| Todd Follmer | 2005-06 | Hawaii |
| Kyle Hogan | 2005-06 | Pepperdine (walk on) |
| Tyler Gottstein | 2004-06 | Concordia |
| Joe Martinez | 2004-06 | Northeastern State |
| Dustin Price | 2004-05 | UC Irvine |
| Imani Mackie | 2004-05 | Cal State Los Angeles |
| Manny Maciera | 2004-05 | Claremont McKenna |
| Donald Williams | 2004-05 | Dakota State |
| Mike Peterson | 2003-04 | North Park |
| Brandon Rogers | 2003-04 | Menlo |
| Ian Wright | 2002-04 | Dominican |
| Danny Lambert | 2002-03 | Cal State Fullerton |
| Adam Parmer | 2002-03 | Whittier |
| Joakim Kjellbom | 2002-03 | Northern Arizona |
| Micah Lombard | 2002-03 | Northeastern State |
| Josh Burgess | 2002-03 | BYU (walk on) |
| Matt Kemper | 2001-02 | Pacific |
| Derrick Mansell | 2001-02 | Montana |
| James Hartman | 2001-02 | Vanguard |
| Jean-Rene Stephens | 2001-02 | UC Irvine (walk on) |
| Keith Sconiers | 2001-02 | Portland State |
| Lloyd Walls | 2000-02 | Wright State / Cal State Fullerton |
| Steve Henderson | 2000-02 | Colorado Christian |
| Imran Sufi | 1999-02 | Jamestown |
| Danny Dinh | 2000-01 | Cal State Hayward |
| Ali Goodman | 1998-01 | Hope International |
| Erik McGhee | 1998-01 | Jamestown |
| Chris Ferguson | 2000-01 | Northern Arizona |
| Mike Ahmad | 1999-01 | Utah State |
| Peter Bozek | 1999-00 | LSU (walk on) |
| Ryan Ellis | 1998-00 | Lindsey Wilson |
| Craig Rice | 1998-00 | UC San Diego |
| Earl Sanchez | 1998-00 | Northeastern State |
| Enver Soobzokov | 1998-00 | Cal State Stanislaus |
| Jon Goebel | 1998-00 | UC Santa Cruz |
| Josh Garrett | 1998-00 | Bemidji State |
| Kevin Bradley | 1997-99 | Pepperdine / Utah |
| Ben Esplin | 1997-99 | Colorado School of Mines |
| Commander King | 1997-99 | Northern Arizona |
| Robert Griffin | 1996-98 | Missouri Western |
| Donald Williams | 1996-98 | Fairleigh Dickinson |
| Matt Houser | 1996-98 | Chico State |
| Make Scaglione | 1996-98 | UC Riverside |
| Damian Raibon | 1996-98 | Azusa Pacific |
| Allen Fletcher | 1995-97 | UC Riverside |
| Brandon Hearvey | 1995-97 | Idaho State |
| J.C. Timmons | 1995-97 | UC Davis |
| Tamala Griffin | 1995-97 | Gannon |
| Daryl Todd | 1995-97 | Fairleigh Dickinson |
| Matt Moore | 1995-96 | Point Loma Nazarene |
| Demetrius Zeigler | 1995-96 | Cornell |
| Josh Whelihan | 1995-96 | Pacific Christian |
| Josh Porter | 1994-96 | Cal Poly San Luis Obispo |
| Keon Clark | 1994-95 | UNLV |
| Jeremy Garrett | 1993-95 | Southwest Missouri State |
| Damon Sims | 1993-94 | Cal State San Bernardino |
| Steve Ransom | 1992-94 | Kansas (walk on) |
| Arturo Clemente | 1992-94 | Northeastern |
| Chris Kostoff | 1992-93 | San Diego / Southern California College |
| Paul LaMott | 1992-93 | Cal Lutheran |
Bold is Division 1 School