Taft coach Romeo Lagmay Jr. to headline 2026 Top 40 Showcase

Romeo Lagmay Jr. was selected to headline the 2026 Women’s Junior College Basketball Top 40 Showcase, a live recruiting event that put Taft College in front of college coaches and scouting services at the right time and the right place. The showcase ran July 10-11 at College of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas, right in the middle of an NCAA-certified live recruiting period, which made every possession carry extra weight for players trying to move up to the next level.

The event was limited to 40 incoming junior college freshmen, rising sophomores and unsigned JUCO sophomores, and each player took part in four showcase games, including an all-star game. The published windows were 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday at 3200 East Cheyenne Ave. The showcase also was open to the public with paid admission, turning it into both a recruiting stop and a visible public stage in a sport where exposure can decide who gets a call from a four-year staff.

That is where Taft gained the most. The Cougars had two incoming freshmen on the floor in Alexcia Oaxaca and Naomi Emecheta, both Colorado prospects, giving them a national stage before they even logged a game in orange and black. For West Coast JUCO players, these showcases are often the cleanest way to get seen by recruiters who may not make it to every campus game. A single weekend can bring together scouts from NCAA programs, NAIA schools, junior colleges and other four-year college associations, and that concentration of eyes is exactly why a slot like Lagmay’s matters.

Lagmay’s selection was not a vanity invite. Taft says he is entering his fourth year as the program’s women’s head coach and carries 328 career wins, with his 300th arriving on Dec. 7, 2024. The Cougars also said he helped steer the program from four wins to 19 wins, a jump that tied the school mark for victories in a season and pushed the team into the second round of the state playoffs. Taft’s 2025-26 recap showed that rise was no fluke: the Cougars finished 19-11, placed fifth in conference and reached the second round of the state regional playoffs.

That record helps explain why Lagmay is being used to anchor a recruiting showcase rather than simply attend one. For Taft, and for a pair of Colorado freshmen stepping onto the stage with him, the showcase offered the kind of visibility junior-college basketball is built on.