Trojans coach Justin Piergrossi and the school is hosting the Northern California Junior College Jamboree, the only Bay Area showcase community college hoops event sanctioned by the NCAA this summer. There are 19 teams involved, and most of them will play four games each. Local teams participating include host Skyline and Cañada.

The action tips off Monday at 1 p.m., with two games going on at the same time with a 40-minute running clock. Four different teams take the court every hour after that. Skyline plays at 2 and 5, while Canada plays at 7 and 9. Teams do keep score but there is no elimination round or championship bracket. The purpose of the showcase is just that — to get junior college players more exposure to four-year schools.

So what’s the difference between a NCAA-sanctioned and unsanctioned showcase? It’s simple. In July there are two periods on the calendar where Division I coaches can be out evaluating players. Monday is the start date for one of those times. It also means the event is certified by the NCAA. There are two other unsanctioned showcase events this month in Northern California, but they’re unsanctioned. That means Division I coaches cannot be in attendance — legally at least.

“Typically most events do not go through the sanctioning process because there’s a lot of paperwork to be certified by the NCAA,” Piergrossi said. “There’s a lot of time, money and effort to make this happen, but I think it (all the work involved) is worth it. It’s important for Northern California community colleges to be able to play and have NCAA schools be in attendance.”

Piergrossi said coaches from Xavier, Nebraska, Houston Baptist and Stephen F. Austin will be at Skyline, along with the majority of the schools from the West Coast, Big West and Big Sky conferences. There will be a number of Division II, III and NAIA coaches showing up as well. Piergrossi emphasizes to his players not to put too much pressure on themselves just because four-year coaches are watching, but obviously a great showing can put them on the path toward a scholarship.

“We always tell our guys nobody ever has gotten or lost a scholarship on one day,” Piergrossi said. “Coaches are going to evaluate your performance over a longer period of time than one day. Of course, you can definitely get your name out there (with a great first impression) and there will be guys after Monday and Tuesday who all of a sudden are going to be recruited by certain programs where they had not been recruited before.”

In addition to giving players a great opportunity to display their skills, Skyline is using the showcase as a fundraiser while also getting plenty of people on its campus. The Trojans had their best season in the Piergrossi era this last year, finishing 18-14 overall and a better-than-it-looks 6-6 record in the ultra-tough Coast Conference North Division, good for third place behind powerhouse programs Ohlone and City College of San Francisco.

They also qualified and won their first NorCal playoff game, knocking off West Valley. Entering his sixth year at the school, Piergrossi has done a nice job transferring players to the four-year level. The former USF assistant said the wins are important but developing his players both on and off the court take precedence.

A lot of coaches preach that, but Piergrossi’s track record proves he’s backed up his talk. Two players off last year’s team signed with four-year schools. Wing Shawn Echols and center Matt Fochtman — the duo also played together at Mills High — will play for D-I Houston Baptist and D-II Colorado State-Pueblo, respectively.

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The Menlo-Atherton High girls’ lacrosse team had four players — Casey Burnett (Stanford), Alex Fanelli (Santa Barbara City), Adrian Holland (Cal Poly San Luis Obispo) and Rei Nakamura (Tulane) — who were named to the prestigious U.S. Girls’ High School Academic All-American team. Bears coach Bubba Sandford said in an e-mail that this is one of the highest honors a high school lacrosse player can receive.

“The competition is steep and the selection process rigorous as the student-athlete must meet a variety of strict and demanding academic, community and athletic standards,” Sandford said in the press release.

Emanuel Lee can be reached: (650) 344 5200, ext. 109, or emanuel@smdailyjournal.com.