CSUN Men's Basketball Back on Winning Map Page 1 of 2

LA Daily News - CSUN men's basketball back on winning map Page 1 of 2

"We're getting more fans and that's CSUN men's always good," said Heard, one of two seniors on basketball back on a team made up mostly of junior-college transfers. winning map Even the college basketball world is noticing. CSUN was mentioned in ESPN's recent NCAA By Roman Veytsman, Special to the Daily News Tournament Bubble Watch feature, despite

Article Last Updated: 01/14/2008 10:41:10 PM PST playing in a conference that has little chance of earning an at-large bid. Joe Lunardi's Bracketology has the Matadors earning a No. 13 seed and playing Butler in the tournament. Not Shortly after the Cal State Northridge basketball that Braswell is looking ahead. team beat Pacific on Saturday - defeating the Tigers for just the second time in the past 13 "If you asked me two weeks ago about being 4- meetings - Matadors coach Bobby Braswell 0, I'd laughed at you," he said. "We huddled his team together and delivered a stern don't think about that." message: This is Braswell's 12th year at Northridge. "Welcome to having a target on your back," he His shining moment came in 2001, when the said. Matadors won the Big West championship and made it to the NCAA Tournament, losing to The victory put the Matadors at 12-3 overall and Kansas in the first round. 4-0 in the Big West Conference. CSUN, which plays at UC Riverside on Wednesday, is a game Braswell isn't shy about reminding his ahead of Cal State Fullerton (3-1) for first place players about that team. in the conference. "I think sometimes our guys get frustrated It's the best start for CSUN since 1981-82, hearing about the past teams," he said. "I told when it played in Division II. And even though them (Saturday), `You guys are writing your own forward Jonathan Heard is still asked exactly history."' where Northridge is, he and his teammates are beginning to grab at least a small share of the Braswell said he thinks this team shares some of spotlight. More important, local fans are the same characteristics as his last NCAA beginning to notice. The Matadors aren't Tournament team, including a willingness to selling out the 1,600-seat Matadome yet, but the listen and learn. stands haven't been as empty lately.

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"I've had teams in the past where you say "Those three teams are not our competition," things and it goes in one year and out the other," Heard said. "We are each other's he said. competition, so it's not a surprise that we're winning these games because of how Not this one. hard we work and the dedication that we put in."

The Matadors seem to be especially keen The Matadors lead the Big West in rebounding, listeners at halftime, having made the necessary assists, blocks, steals and field-goal percentage adjustments to collect four come-from-behind defense. They are second in scoring, due in part victories, including a victory over conference to forcing a conference-high 20.7 turnovers per favorite UC Santa Barbara in which they game. Pacific, a team that averages 14.5 overcame a double-digit deficit. turnovers per game, committed 27 Saturday.

"We've been a second-half team the whole The Matadors have the Big West's leader in season," said junior Deon Tresvant, who leads assists - Josh Jenkins, who didn't start until the team in scoring. the seventh game - and Tremaine Townsend is the top rebounder in the conference despite The key is depth and unselfishness. Nine players coming off the bench. play at least 13 minutes per game and no one averages more than 13.3 points per game. The Matadors' depth might get tested. Calvin Chitwood, who suffered a high ankle Another key is getting 11 newcomers sprain against Pacific, will be sidelined 2-3 accustomed to the system almost immediately. weeks, the school announced.

Practices have bred competition. Playing time "We hope he gets better and gets better quick, was up for grabs, and Braswell's players but we can't cry about it," Heard said. responded. Braswell is confident someone will fill the void. "We knew that the first day of practice how hard That's how it's been all season. we went at each other and the way we compete," Everyone has taken on a role. Heard said. And that's why, as family and friends told CSUN has already defeated the three teams Tresvant, "Northridge is back on the map." picked to finish at the top of the Big West in the coaches' preseason poll, including a 17- point blowout of Pacific in which the Matadors shot 70 percent from the field in the second half.

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Conference victory over Washington State was as Bruins, Cougars gave fans entertaining as a game needs to be. real treat It's time to say goodbye

Article Last Updated: 01/15/2008 12:59:55 AM PST Today is the deadline for college juniors (or third-year sophomores to file paperwork declaring their desire to be eligible for the April 26-27 National Football League Draft.

Among those expecting to add their names to the early-entry list today is DeSean Jackson, a junior and two-time All-Pac 10 selection at Cal.

The Cal sports information department has scheduled a teleconference with Jackson, a 2005 Poly graduate, at 1 p.m. in which he will make his There might be more "entertaining" college decision public. basketball games, per se, than the one that was played in Pauley Pavilion on Saturday afternoon. If he announces "I'm coming back to be a

Golden Bear as a senior!" it will be about 50 But there isn't going to be another game in times more stunning than when, during a Fox Southern California this season, including during Sports telecast almost three years ago, he said the first- and second-round NCAA Tournament he was signing with Cal and not USC. contests that will be held in the Honda Center on March 20 and 22, with a matchup of teams that In the most recent ESPN.com Insiders' Draft are as good as the UCLA Bruins and Washington Central rating of the top 32 prospects (with State Cougars are. juniors and seniors in the equation), Jackson was

No. 11 and the top-ranked receiver. And, of course, if you get a kick out of terrific half-court defense (which was provided, most of Arkansas junior running back Darren McFadden the way, by both clubs), dazzling post play is projected to go No. 1 overall (to the Miami (courtesy of Bruins freshman Kevin Love) and Dolphins) and it's hard to second-guess that some bordering-on-the-unbelievable jump evaluation. shooting (the Cougars knocked in seven 3's in a row in a stretch of a minute and 22 seconds From my far-from-expert's perspective, he down the stretch), UCLA's 81-74 Pacific 10 sure looked like a superior prospect to NFL

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Rookie of the Year Adrian Peterson. the 49ers with the destination Pauley Pavilion and a match against No. 4 UCLA. I read last week that a university president is lobbying hard with the NCAA powers-that-be to Yes, volleyball season is officially upon us. bring about a playoff system for the NCAA 1-A level (which includes the schools in the Pac 10, More hoops stuff Big Ten, Southeastern and Big 12 conferences, for example), instead of the Bowl Championship Long Beach State junior Donovan Morris picked Series-driven collection of bowl games that up his second Big West Conference Player of the make up post-season play right now. Week honor, although the 49ers split their two games while conference-leading Cal State Not surprisingly, that president, Michael Adams, Northridge, as well as UC Irvine, swept their works at the University of Georgia, whose games last week. football team, coaches and followers, no doubt, believe they got the short end of the BCS stick The transfer from Fresno State is proving to be when the Bulldogs didn't get to play in the one of the more efficient, and productive, "championship" game and had to settle for offensive players in the West. whipping on the Hawaii Warriors in the Sugar Bowl on New Year's Night. If you're willing to give him a mulligan for his 1-for-15 shooting and two-point I wonder if he would have been as adamant if performance during the 49ers' opening 74- Georgia, and not fellow SEC member LSU, had 34 loss to BYU, he is averaging 19.3 points per been selected to slap Ohio State senseless in game while shooting .553 from the field, New Orleans on Jan. 7? including .517 from behind the 3-point arc.

Long Beach State's sweep in Hawaii on Coach Dan Monson's team (1-3 in the Big Thursday and Friday nights moved the 49ers to West, 4-11 overall) will try to stretch a winning No. 5 in the newest American Volleyball Coaches streak to two for the first time this season when Association national Top 15 ratings Monday. it plays at UC Riverside on Saturday night at 7.

Coach Alan Knipe's 4-0 team makes its Bobby Braswell's Cal State Northridge Walter Pyramid debut Wednesday night at 7 squad has gotten to a 4-0 start on its Big West when it faces UC Irvine (3-3 and No. 7 in the schedule. ratings) in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match. And (after double-checking the math), although they've polished off just a quarter of their And then it's a trek up the 405 on Friday for conference slate, the Matadors can rightfully be

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deemed the front-runners for the Big West regular-season crown.

They've rallied from 10- and 9-point second-half deficits for wins against two of the upper-tier teams in the conference (at UC Santa Barbara and at home to Pacific), and blew out UC Davis and Cal Poly by 37 and 21 points, respectively.

Barring an upset loss at UCR in a Big West game or at Chicago State in a nonconference tilt, Braswell's team - which has only lost to Duquesne, Gonzaga and Washington on the road - should be 5-0 in conference and 14-3 overall when it plays host to Long Beach State on Jan. 26.

The Long Beach State women's coaching staff will hold a "Coaches' Chalk Talk" Saturday afternoon in the Walter Pyramid, from 2 to 3:30 p.m.

There isn't a charge and coaches on all levels of basketball are invited to participate.

To register, contact Mario Trutanic at [email protected] , or (562) 985-2210.

Come back on Wednesday. There's plenty more basketball news where this came from.

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Published Monday, January 14, 2008 11:11 PM PST Sports COLLEGES: Anteaters back on the road By BARRY FAULKNER The 2007-08 UC Irvine men’s basketball schedule is one only Willy Loman could love.

Coach Pat Douglass’ Anteaters are 6-0 in games played on their campus this season. But, they have already spent separate stints of 21 and 26 days without playing within Irvine city limits. UCI, which plays six of its next seven games on the road, will play just one home game (Jan. 26 against UC Riverside) in a 33-day span that began after Saturday’s home win over Cal Polo San Luis Obispo.

Should the ’Eaters (7-9, 2-1 in conference) merely split those next six road dates, including Thursday’s clash at UC Davis, they should still be in position to vie for one of the top two spots in the standings, which would mean a bye into the semifinals of the eight-team Big West Tournament.

But any major slippage — such as only one or two wins in those six league road dates — and the Anteaters could be looking at their second straight losing season, as well as a less- than-exciting stretch run with which to draw the ever-elusive UCI fans for the five home games with which they could complete their regular season (Feb. 23 to March 8).

With wins over preseason conference favorite UC Santa Barbara and 2007 conference and tournament runner-up Cal Poly, the rugged preconference schedule lined up by Douglass (and ranked 45th toughest in the Jan. 11 Sagarin ratings among 328 Division I programs) may be paying dividends.

Meanwhile the strong starts of some other conference teams would indicate their scheduling preference was considerably less challenging.

Conference leader Cal State Northridge (13-5, 4-0) is off to its best start since joining the Division I ranks.

Cal State Fullerton (10-5, 3-1), won its first three conference games for the first time since 1984.

And UCSB was off to its best start in 19 seasons, before stumbling at UCI on Thursday.

Junior guard Brett Lauer, who scored a career-high 20 points in the 73-69 triumph over Cal Poly, was the Anteaters’ nominee for Conference Player of the Week.

Buy the award went to Long Beach State junior Donovan Morris, who averaged 26 points

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per game in a loss to Pacific and a win over UC Davis.

UCI’s meeting Saturday at Pacific will be televised by FSN Prime Ticket at 7 p.m.

Meanwhile, women’s basketball programs at Vanguard and Orange Coast College face marquee matchups this week.

The Lions (9-2. 5-0 in the Golden State Athletic Conference), ranked No. 3 in NAIA Division I, will visit No. 7-ranked Azusa Pacific (13-2, 5-0), Saturday night at 5:30.

Vanguard plays host to San Diego Christian (5-8, 1-4), tonight at 5:30, while APU is at Fresno Pacific (7-9, 0-6) tonight.

OCC (18-2, 2-0 in the Orange Empire Conference), ranked No. 3 in Southern California and No. 5 in the state, visits Fullerton (11-10, 1-1), ranked No. 9 in SoCal and No. 16 in the state, Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.

Coach Mike Thornton’s Pirates are led by reigning conference Player of the Year Courtney Ford. Ford is 48 points shy of surpassing Lisa Schumaker (1,130 points from 1985-87) to become the school’s all-time leading scorer.

Former Pirates Lance Ortiz and Valerie Katayama are leading their respective teams to big seasons on the four-year level.

Chavez, a 6-foot-1 senior guard at Cal State San Bernardino, is averaging a team-best 12.6 points for the Division II Coyotes (13-1, 6-0 in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn.).

The Coyotes, who also include OCC product Reggie Brown (averaging 6.4 points as a junior), are ranked No. 6 in the Division II poll.

Katayama, a 5-5 guard, has led Redlands to a 9-3 record, 2-0 in the Southern California Interscholastic Athletic Conference. Her 9.3 points per game rank second on the team, as do her 5.2 rebounds per contest. She leads the team in assists with 5.3 per game.

Katayama was first-team All-SCIAC last season, when she averaged a team-leading 12.3 points per game. She was named team MVP as a junior, when her 110 assists ranked sixth in school single-season history.

Redlands will be in Orange County to meet Chapman University on Feb. 5 at 5 p.m. in Orange.

Adam Rodenberg, a 6-7 junior who left the UCI men’s basketball program with a hernia after starting the first six games and averaging 6.8 points and 2.7 rebounds, had surgery last week and has enrolled at the University of Northern Iowa. It remains unclear whether he will attempt to play at the school.

Luis Tovar, who hit .231 (six for 26) in 22 games last season as a redshirt freshman, has left the UCI baseball program.

An infielder, his lone RBI came in the eighth inning of the Anteaters’ 13-0 win over Wake Forest in the opener of the Round Rock Regional at Dell Diamond last season.

BARRY FAULKNER may be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at

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