Dominican Univ. of California






Online College Basketball





Kwamie Farmer
Kwamie Farmer - PF

Team: Dominican Univ. of California Penguins [ID #564] Bookmark Dominican Univ. of California Penguins

Location: San Rafael, CA (West)

Conference: I.1 [Division 1]

President: gards710 send message
          [since May 17th 2020 | last seen March 28th 2024]

Coach: Darren Cahill

Arena: Conlan Center

Rank: #1

Rating: 671.46 - Overall Position: #2

Fan Mood: 135.14

Alumni Mood: 239.65

Prestige: 252

Team Notes:

• Nov 26 2037: 3-star prospect Stevie Jeffers committed.
• Oct 13 2037: Rafael Ferguson was hired as the new assistant coach.
• Oct 13 2037: Assistant coach Jalen Zeller was let go.
• Mar 15 2037: Made the national tournament field.
• Feb 05 2037: 3-star prospect Chris Poston committed.
• Dec 18 2036: 2-star prospect Joey Wilson committed.
• Dec 06 2036: 2-star prospect Lance Fish committed.
• Oct 16 2036: Eric Strauss was hired as the new assistant coach.
• Oct 16 2036: Assistant coach Ryan Gaskins was let go.
• Jun 24 2036: Bill Marshall was drafted round #1, pick #18 by Boston.


Record:

Wins: 14 Losses: 1 Pct: .933     Conf Wins: 4 Conf Losses: 1 Conf Pct: .800 Conf Rank: 4     Last10: 9-1 Streak: L1

Pts Ave: 94.0 - 64.7     Pts Diff: +29.3     Team Power Index: 157.3

Press Releases:

Oct 08 2037: Raise Your Hands 🙌 For Rafiki - by gards710 on March 10th, 2024

We would be remiss if we did not issue our warmest appreciation for former head coach Rahsaan "Rafiki" McCartney, who we learned was recently let go from his most recent post at Northwest Missouri State. Rafiki was the coach at the helm during the rise of the Penguins, and also helped the Bearcats rise to the upper echelons of Hardwood. The Bearcats made an awesome tribute to Rafiki as well.

McCartney coached the Division 2 National Championship team with one of the most dominant seasons ever. He recruited two separate two-time National Players of the Year and coached two other top 10 picks in the professional draft. He was regarded as one of the great teachers of the game, imparting not just basketball knowledge, but life lessons. His tenure was nothing short of legendary.

We wish Rafiki all the best and hope he can cruise into retirement back at home in The Dalles, Oregon or on a tropical beach somewhere.


Oct 08 2037: DUCA Revvin in 2037, Ping-Wins to Final 4! Want to Elevate in 2038 - by gards710 on March 10th, 2024

Each season has its own peculiarities and Dominican's 2037 was no different. The rumors that president gards710 would stay at Dominican over other obligations spread like wildfire. Once it was confirmed to be true following a trip to Berkeley where president Oski was AWOL, the Penguins breathed a sigh of relief only to get slapped with a loss to the Cal Golden Bears. A surprising non-conference loss to former rival Chapman University indicated that the team just wasn't built for true success. But as the conference season unfolded, the Penguins found themselves near the top of the standings. The upperclassmen-laden lineup was firing on all cylinders it seemed. However, a home heavy first half masked underlying issues and once DUCA went on the road, those issues reared around. An untimely injury, one of the few the Penguins suffered all season, led to a slump. Mysterious inconsistencies and turnovers plagued the team, and the team struggled to find offense at times.

Once things settled down come the postseason, the Penguins decided to get their rest to gear up for a run in the National Tournament. And run they did. All the way to the Final Four, the second in the past 4 seasons, and president gards710's fifth all-time. "Truthfully, I wasn't sure that the team was capable of a postseason run like that. But guys just seemed to come together," said head coach "Doc" Cahill. The run was ended in the Final 4 to eventual champion North Carolina Central, as the Eagles cut through the Penguins stalwart defense. Word is that DUCA's athletic administration is petitioning the IUCN to bestow penguins as "birds of prey" to join the club of eagles, hawks, and owls.

With the 2038 season on the horizon, Dominican appears primed to make some noise, being ranked at #1 in the nation to start the season. While that is no guarantee of anything, the Penguins have hope. It helps to have a stud like Randy "Rockstar" Watson anchoring the team, as Watson has one of the most extensive postseason resumés Hardwood has ever seen with a conference title, an Elite 8 appearance, and two Final Four appearances. Marques Ford has grown to be one of the more skilled players in the nation, but it remains to be seen whether he can be a true leader or if he's just the ultimate role player. Point guard Louie Hickman also returns, but his spot in the starting lineup is in question after his rocky performance last season with turnovers. The remaining two spots appear to be up for grabs between big man Jack Grace and wings Russ Proffitt and Berry Ford. While wunderkind Berry "Fusion" Ford has been tabbed as the next Penguin star, he may have to wait his turn, with such talent on the roster and the high expectations. Redshirt freshman Derek Pittman reportedly put in a lot of work while redshirting and now looks like the future at point guard. RS SO Marshall Cooke will be cooking something hot and invigorating as the first big off the bench, while RS FR Kwamie Farmer begins his work in the field to bring what he can to the table. And RS SO Darren Mitchell won't be left behind as he bides his time.

The job for the coaching staff is to figure out how to best piece together the lineup to maximize everyone's performance and development. There is a logjam of talent on this team, which is a nice problem to have, but can lead to some unhappy campers. On top of the chemistry off the court, the fit on the court, will need to be solved, as this team certainly has its flaws. We won't give them away here, but they could drown these birds. With how slippery titles can be in Hardwood, the Penguins know there is not much room for error. Strong teams lurk just behind the Penguins in the rankings, as Missouri Western, the Mississippi Rebels, and Sioux Falls also have their sights on some hardware.


Recruiting
The Penguins bring in 3 new birds to the huddle:

Chris Poston - a guard from Los Angeles, Poston looks like a potential sharpshooting shot creator.

Joey Wilson - a big from Anaheim, Wilson fits immaculately with what the Penguins look for in a big man - big (duh), strong, fast, and skilled.

Lance Fish - the wing from Philadelphia. Mentioned earlier after committing for the strange choice to forgo a 5* recruit, Fish brings an enticingly sharp and appetizing skillset.

All three will redshirt, watching, learning, and growing from one of the game's best programs.



Dec 13 2036: 2036-2037 Report: Penguins Pick Fish over (Mc)Man(us) - by gards710 on February 2nd, 2024

“It was beautiful.”

No, that sentence does not describe Berry Ford’s +21 development nor does it describe Dominican signing their top target Derek Pittman on the first day of recruiting in the 2035-2036 season. One would think that sentence would describe perhaps the best season in program history, having notched the team’s best performance in the top conference with a 23-7 record for second place, tying the Temple Owls for first place and only ceding the honors due to 18 points of point differential. It was a truly beautiful battle between two of the top programs, if not the top two, in Hardwood and led to one of the closest races for the top crown in history.

However, that sentence would best describe the season and nightly performances that Bill Marshall put on for observers of the Penguins on his way to best scoring season in Penguin history. Marshall never failed to score less than 10 points in a game, sometimes to the detriment of the team. “FMBM was incredible, but I think we got predictable, relying on him. I think that might have cost us the Legends title,” admitted head coach Darren "Doc" Cahill. The Penguins would bounce back in the conference tournament and take home the trophy, earning the #1 overall seed in the National Tournament.

There, they seamlessly swam through the tides of the tournament, avoiding a major upset that befalls many others. Until their matchup with the Ripon Red Hawks, who dismantled the Penguins en route to their national championship victory.

With FMBM graduating, the stage clears for the next emperor of the Penguins. While most would expect that to be former 5* recruit Marques Ford, many within the program get the sense that it is the other Ford, Berry (not closely related), who will take the reins sooner than later. The Penguins will have to figure out how to get the two Fords to coexist.

As Dominican gets off to a strong start to the 2036-2037 season, they continue to make splashes across the Hardwood landscape. The Penguins struck early with the commitment of their first recruit, two-star wing prospect Lance Fish out of Philadelphia. The Penguins reportedly only started scouting him recently yet were ecstatic with the catch. Hook, line, and sinker. With Fish's signature though, the Penguins revoked their offer to 5* wing Lenny McManus out of Fremont, CA. Reportedly, the Penguins were not enthused with the local star prospect's lack of evident improvement in his senior year, as well as other factors like rumors that president gards710 has decided to give up other pursuits and stay at Dominican beyond 2040. Still, the decision to cede a top level prospect in their own backyard may signal weakness to other teams. McManus's decision has not been made any easier however, as he continues to debate whether to play for USC or San Diego.

Perhaps the bigger sign of weakness for the Penguins is their non-conference loss to Chapman, a team that established a rivalry with Dominican under their former president. Rumors that gards receives money from Chapman to beat up on the plucky Panthers have bounced around, but with the loss, those rumors have been quelled. And just as the Panthers pulled up to the Conlan Center, gards noticed their president was AWOL, breaking any prior relationship between the two. Nonetheless, that is a "dangerous team over there in Orange," said Coach Cahill.

Cahill and staff have the Penguins sitting at the top perch of Legends at the moment. But the Penguins of all teams know how hard that is to maintain, having had the honor last season for two thirds of the season before fumbling it away to Temple. "It's still too early to lay any proclamations, so we're just taking it game by game."

The team appears to be a classic Dominican-style variant, one of balance and built around defense. Marques Ford brushed off questions of whether he would redshirt or not in his last eligible year and now finds himself leading the team. However, he has struggled at times to do that, reportedly due to friction with the golden boy Berry. Luckily, seniors Amani Merritt and Deon Woods, along with dominant post presence Randy "Rockstar" Watson have picked up the load more often than not. New starting point guard "Souweeeet" Louie Hickman has a lot of support as he finds his footing and makes his bacon setting up others. Wunderkind Berry Ford has settled into his role nicely, albeit that role has been ever-changing. And the rest of the bench and role players like Russ Proffitt, Jack Grace, Marshall Cooke, and Darren Mitchell play to their strengths and help cover the team with strong depth. The focus for the Penguins was on "Fusion" Ford's development being of the utmost importance, but with the strong start, will Marques "Mustang" Ford's frustration boil over or will the rest of the team dissipate any conflict within the huddle?


Mar 09 2036: Your Legends Conference (Playoff) Champion - by gards710 on January 5th, 2024

Thanks to spirited team play, the Dominican Penguins have won their third Legends Conference Playoff Championship, finally separating from the pack of teams with two and joining the Mississippi Rebels as the only programs with three.

The Penguins were able to find a groove relying on players not named Bill Marshall, after struggling to do so during a midseason slump where they relinquished the lead to the Temple Owls. Alas, another conference title eludes gards710.

"With all this talk about private islands, I'll say this: we do have a private island. Only verysilentone and I are on it with 3 Legends trophies," said Dominican president gards710. "Some program called Mitchell is just jealous they could never beat us when we were rivals and trying to sling dirt on the name of this proud and distinguished program."

Afterwards, his hushed voice could be heard over the microphone saying "protocol delta" and in the blink of an eye, the president was gone.


Nov 17 2035: 2036 Preview: Penguins Prepare to Put Pressure on Premier Pool - by gards710 on December 2nd, 2023

As many may know, president gards710 has decided that 2040 will be the last season at the helm of the Dominican University of California. Many successes have come since gards’s hiring back in the early stages of the 2013 season. The most recent was the recruitment of Berry “Fusion” Ford, a promising Canadian high schooler who some evaluators think could be just as good as Penguin prodigies Brian Hofmeister, Marcus Choate, Will Clevenger, and soon-to-be Bill Marshall.

Speaking of Marshall, the Fire Marshall has lived up to his name, scorching non-conference teams to 27 points per game to go with elite shooting numbers, almost 10 assists a game, 2.6 steals a game, with very good defense to boot. While Ford and Marshall will only see limited time on the floor together this season, the program hopes that Fusion can pick up a thing or two from the redshirt senior as Marshall lights it up in his last season.

The rest of the roster isn’t just sitting on their hands as Marshall torches opponents either, with each player boasting threatening skillsets. Prominently, Randy Watson returns from redshirting last season to impose his massive interior scoring ability with the defense's attention on FMBM. Former 5-star recruit Marques Ford is perhaps the most talented 3rd option in the country and can fill up the stat sheet. Bigs Deon Woods and Quentin Howe form a deceptively destructive duo that can blitz unsuspecting teams. And Amani Merritt has emerged from the pile of young perimeter players to showcase his ability to fit with it all. Meanwhile Louie Hickman, Russ Proffitt, and Jack Grace continue to develop off the bench and have shown their strengths.

Incoming recruits Darren Mitchell and Marshall Cooke offer some unique skillsets that we look forward to seeing play next to Berry Ford in the future as they begin their development. And of course, back to Ford. The man who marks the beginning of the end. The Penguins will follow the path he travels. And if high school was any indication, that is a path of elite development. He is probably the player that president gards has been the most excited about in years, perhaps ever. And that includes Hof, Choate, and Marshall.

We certainly will enjoy the fireworks that Marshall and the rest of the team provide for as long as we can. And with conference play beginning, it’s time to turn up the heat.