Over the weekend it was announced that San Francisco Pro-Am Alum and St. Ignatius point guard Trevor Dunbar was verbally committing to Washington State. This marked a great moment for the San Francisco basketball community. It doesn’t take more than one hoop fan’s set of hands to count the born and raised San Franciscans that have accepted D1 offers in the last decade.

However, on a greater scale it is important to college basketball history in the way it will continue the tradition of talented point guards that have taken their crowd pleasing skill set from the Bay Area up to the Pacific Northwest. Dunbar will be following in the footsteps of area legends like Gary Payton, Brent Barry and most recently San Francisco Pro-Am standout Dominic Artis.

This exciting moment for Bay Area basketball almost didn’t even happen.

Despite his elite talent and his time with the legendary Oakland Soliders AAU team, Trevor was not getting a lot of concrete interest from big schools. “Just in the last couple weeks this all came together with Washington State and Coach Kent,” said St. Ignatius assistant coach Rob Marcaletti. Former St. Ignatius and Boise State guard Joe Skiffer made a call up to his former coach at Boise State Greg Graham, who is now the lead assistant for WSU. Skiffer spoke with Graham about Dunbar’s Pac-12 level talent. Trusting his former floor general Graham took the suggestion to head coach Ernie Kent. Kent liked the idea and they checked out Dunbar’s tapes. After follow-up conversations with Graham’s fellow assistant Curtis Allen, Trevor and his father then met with Kent and the staff. “After that, they said, ‘we love Trevor, we want him’. Trevor never told me about a particular school that he wanted to go to, but I know that he liked the Pac-12 and that was a goal to play in the Pac-12.” Trevor has accomplished his goal.

Marcaletti explained that he’s had countless conversations with coaches that were skeptical of Dunbar’s size. His response was always the same, “What he lacks in size he makes up in how easy he makes your job as a coach. We never installed a press break! Trevor was a one man press breaker and he did it against some of the best defenses in the state.” This is a fact that is not hard to believe when you think of the way Dunbar was able to navigate through professional and division 1 level defenders throughout his time playing here in the San Francisco Pro-Am. It was staggering to see the way a teenager carved through and attacked grown men – many of whom were a decade his senior. One of Dunbar’s most impressive attributes that cannot be overlooked is his confidence and fearlessness no matter what opponent is in front of him. This should go a long way for Trevor next year against experienced Pac-12 guards.

Like those local products who came before him, Dunbar will head to Pullman armed with a lightning quick handle to break his man down off the dribble and a breathtaking ability to find the open man. Dunbar’s crowd pleasing flair is rarely seen. His ability to share the ball and make teammates better is really what makes him similar to those greats before him. Payton averaged almost 8 assists a game during his career at Oregon State and led his team to three NCAA tournament bids. Barry (also at Oregon State) was known as a smart player and great passer much like his father (NBA Hall of Famer Rick Barry) before him. Artis, while no longer at Oregon, averaged close to 4 assists a game before getting injured in his freshman season. During his healthy stretch his ability to make his teammates better was apparent as the team went 17-2 with him in the lineup and 5-4 with him out.

Dunbar can score as well, there is no question about that. Against Serra High School this year he went for 40 and averaged 22 a game on the season. He will arm the Cougars and new coach Ernie Kent with some fire power. However, it will be Dunbar’s ability to share the ball the way he did this season (6 assists a game) that will really give him an elite asset at the Pac-12 level.

The most glaring skepticism of Dunbar going forward is his diminutive 5’10 frame. It is the first knock on him by all recruiting sites. That said, Ernie Kent had quite a bit of success with smaller guards during his time at Oregon. Kent pupils Tajuan Porter(5 foot 7 inches) and Aaron Brooks(listed at a very generous 6 foot) were both considered to be too small and are still playing professionally. With Kent’s affinity for small quick guards as well as his Bay Area ties from his time at St. Mary’s, Dunbar should get his opportunities. Now the rest is up to him. He appears to have all the tools and flair to carry on the torch of great point guards to make the Bay Area proud. The City and the Bay Area are certainly sold, lets find out what the rest of the country thinks in the next couple years.

Cleveland Cavalier’s All-Star Kyrie Irving seems to be onboard.