CSUN University News Clippings

Team preview: Cal State Northridge

(November 6, 2008)

COACH AND PROGRAM

If Bobby Braswell feels a little uncomfortable these days, it could be the lingering effects of injuries suffered in an off-season car accident.

Or it might be the result of his Big West coaching peers talking up Braswell’s Matadors as the league’s preseason favorite.

“I don’t like that position,” Braswell said. “I like it when they pick us sixth, like they did last year — and we ended up winning the championship.

“Those are the fun years for me. We’ve always felt like we’re the underdogs. We’re a little less funded and we don’t have as nice an arena as everybody else, so we always like going in as the underdog and having that mentality. But it is what it is. It comes with the territory.”

The territory the Matadors currently occupy is located at or near the top of the conference, and now everybody knows their address. After last season, when seniors Calvin Chitwood and Joey Heard led Northridge to 20 wins and a share of the league’s regular-season championship, there was no hiding anymore.

So even though Chitwood and Heard have moved on, the Matadors still reside in the Big West’s most prestigious neighborhood, thanks to the return of three all-conference-caliber players and a couple of high-level transfers.

And though he might not want to admit it, even Braswell knows it.

“We feel really good about our chances if we can stay healthy,” he said. “Now it falls on us as coaches to make sure our guys are focused on the task at hand and take one game at a time as we go through this process. Unfortunately, you can’t always control that, but it’s our job to make sure our guys are working hard every day and focused on the little things and improving every day. If we can improve every day in practice, get better every game, we’re going to have a chance.”

The Matadors have a better chance than any other Big West team because they are more than solid at three key positions — point guard, center and shooting guard — and they back it up with perhaps the best depth in the league.

Braswell, whose teams are known for their frenetic, pressing style that forces turnovers and drives up a game’s tempo, generally uses a lot of players, but said this season he feels even better about his bench than ever.

“We will go at least 10 deep,” he said. “I really feel comfortable about that, and we’ll probably be able to go as deep as 12.”

PLAYERS

Of course, it’s the top three on that list — Josh Jenkins, Deon Tresvant and Tremaine Townsend — who have the rest of the league buzzing the most. All three are seniors, all three posted double-figure scoring averages last season and all three ranked among the conference leaders in multiple categories.

For example, Jenkins (#52, 10.5 ppg, 6.4 apg, 1.6 spg), the 5-10 point guard, was by far the top assist man. His average of 6.4 per game was 1.5 more than anyone else, and almost three better than that of the next best returning player. He also ranked second in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.62) and third in steals as the defensive leader at the front of the Northridge press.

“Josh had a very good year last year, but he thinks he can play better and I think he will,” Braswell said. “He led our league in assists, but he really can score when he wants to, and hopefully, he’ll fit that into his role a little bit better this year.”

Tresvant (#5, 13.9 ppg, 1.7 rpg) has managed to fit scoring into his role quite nicely. Of course, it helps that scoring is his role. The 6-0 guard led the team in scoring thanks to a terrific shooting touch and a fearless finger on the trigger. Tresvant finished last season with the league’s fifth-best three-point percentage (.413, 83-of-201) and averaged 2.77 threes per game, second most in the Big West.

Townsend (#33, 10.1 ppg, 9.8 rpg, 1.3 bpg) emerged as an inside force, barely missing a double-double average with his league-leading rebound average. The 6-9 post man also led the conference in blocked shots and was second in field-goal percentage (.525). He had 10 or more rebounds in 20 of his 30 games last season.

“Fortunately, we’ve got returning guys who played very, very critical roles for us last year with the success we had, and we hope those guys can step up and lead this year,” Braswell said. “The great thing is those three were probably our most competitive guys, the ones who really don’t like to lose. Having them back is critical for us.”

While those three are Northridge’s biggest guns, they are not the only weapons in the Matadors’ arsenal. Senior Rob Haynes (#4, 6.8 ppg, 2.0 rpg), a 6-4 returning starter on the wing, is a deadly shooter and top defender, while 6-3 senior Rodrigue Mels (#11, 5.3 ppg, 2.1 rpg) added a year of experience in the Big West to the skills that earned him the MVP award at the junior-college national tournament — he led Midland College to the title in 2007.

Even the top newcomers are experienced. Mark Hill (#3), a 5-10 sophomore, started 10 games as a freshman at Tulsa, averaging more than three assists a game and putting up 17 in a game against Arkansas. He’ll become eligible in December, and he figures to get some playing time as Jenkins’ top backup.

“We’re extremely excited about him,” Braswell said of the Los Angeles native. “Boy, you talk about polar opposites between him and Josh Jenkins. Mark’s a jet, jet on top of a jet. Very, very quick, very strong, great passer, great defender who will lock you up 94 feet. He and Josh, that one-two punch at the point guard position, are really going to keep people off-balance.”

The inside version of Hill is 6-8 junior forward Willie Galick (#14), who sat out last season after transferring from Pepperdine. Galick left because Pepperdine’s guard-oriented offense left him out of the loop, but at Northridge he figures to step into the starting role vacated by the skilled and powerful Chitwood, providing a worthy foil for the more slender but athletic Townsend.

The only concern about Galick is that he is coming off shoulder surgery during his red-shirt season, but Braswell expects him to be full speed before the season opens.

Braswell has high hopes as well for the rest of his recruiting class. In 6-4 junior Kenny Daniels (#20) and 6-6 junior Vincent Cordell (#2), the Matadors have a pair of promising wings who figure to make an impact this season, Daniels as an outside shooter and slasher and Cordell as a multidimensional performer in the mold of Heard.

Junior Xavier Crawford (#23) brings big-time size at 7-0, 220 pounds, and he figures to get some time as a shot-blocking goalie at the back of the press, allowing Northridge to turn up the defensive heat. The transfer from Yuba College is the first 7-footer in the school’s 51-year hoops history.

“He’s a specialist guy for us,” Braswell said of Crawford. “He blocks a lot of shots and is a pretty good rebounder. He’s going to do fine for what we need him to do, which is set a lot of good screens and rebound, block some shots, catch the ball and turn around and dunk on people. He has the ability to do that. It’s just a matter of how quickly he picks things up.”

The only true freshman on the roster, 6-1 guard Dallas Rutherford (#45), is likely to be red-shirted.

But Braswell expects a lot from another new face, 6-9 junior forward Jermaine Smith (#13), who figured to play quite a bit last season until he suffered a knee injury that required surgery. He’ll provide inside depth and defense, blocking and altering shots around the basket.

Four returnees will battle for minutes. Therin Taylor (#22, 1.2 ppg, 0.7 rpg), a 6-5 junior wing, has shown promise as a scorer, while 6-7, 240-pound Michael Lizarraga (#42, 0.9 ppg, 0.9 rpg) is a banger who can create space inside.

Walk-on Tony Osunsanmi (#10, 0.5 ppg, 2.1 rpg), a junior, is 6-4 “in his dreams,” but plays much bigger on the boards, Braswell said. Osunsanmi earned a reputation as “our Dennis Rodman” by grabbing six rebounds and helping hold 6-11 Rider star Jason Thompson to 11 points — well under his 20-point average — in a one-point ESPNU BracketBuster loss.

BLUE RIBBON ANALYSIS

BACKCOURT: A-
BENCH/DEPTH: B
FRONTCOURT: B
INTANGIBLES: A

How deep are the Matadors? Last season, their leading scorer, Tresvant, did not start a game, and top rebounder Townsend started only eight. Despite losing some significant talent, Northridge looks just as loaded for a run at the Big West title this time.

In fact, it might be in better position because more of its core players have been in the system for a year. Last season, inexperience at some key spots prompted Braswell to back off from his customary 94-foot high-pressure defense, though the Matadors still led the conference in steals (9.1) and turnovers forced per game (18.6). Now he plans to extend his defense baseline-to-baseline.

“Last year, we actually played more half-court man-to-man defense than anything else,” Braswell said, “about 95 percent of the time. It was a change for us. This year, we’re going to turn it up another notch defensively. Now that we have a lot of veteran guys coming back, we feel we can build on what we did last year.”

While much of Northridge’s offense is generated by the defense, it helps to have a reliable scorer in the half-court game. The Matadors don’t have just one, they have three, and perhaps more if incoming players such as Daniels live up to their billing.

“That’s kind of how our system is built,” the coach said. “We definitely have some guys, who, if we need to get something done — whether it’s Josh handling the ball and breaking somebody down, or running a set for Deon to get him a shot or pounding the ball inside to Townsend — we have a lot of people we can go to. Kind of what we do in our system is, we want to make it hard for people to take away one guy and limit us.”

For the most comprehensive previews available on all 330 Division I teams, order the “Bible”of college basketball, the 2008-09 Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, at www.blueribbonyearbook.com or call 1-866-805-BALL (2255).

Publication: ESPN