Fullerton Preview : At Cal State Fullerton, Inside a Big Question, Outside Offers Answer

Last season, they proved there was, indeed, life after Leon Wood. This season, Cal State Fullerton’s Titans must prepare for life after Tony Neal.

There’s nothing unusual about that, of course. It’s the natural evolution of college basketball. Players run out of eligibility. Some even graduate.

But the progression of Titan basketball over the past two seasons is interesting because it is a study in what might be called George McQuarn’s Theory of Relativity.

After the 1983-84 season, the Fullerton coach was under fire. The Titans finished 17-13, and both the team’s record and the play of Wood were disappointing. McQuarn’s intense, discipline-oriented philosophy of coaching was openly questioned.

Last season, McQuarn suddenly was viewed as a motivator of young men and as a tactician who made the most of his team’s strengths. Neal played over his head--the top of which is less than six-and-a-half feet off the floor--and over the rim of the basket.

Neal was the leading rebounder of Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. and the Titans, with three freshman playing a great deal, went 17-13 again. But this time, it was a major accomplishment.

All of which goes to prove that even winning is relative to expectations--and that coaches’ livelihoods are decided by other people’s expectations.

That’s enough to make a guy paranoid.

“I’m just not going to be as sensitive (to criticism) anymore . . . even when someone is out to get me,” McQuarn said.

McQuarn, not one to show his feelings, is feeling pretty loose these days. The Titans open their season Friday at Hawaii, but McQuarn’s current state is more than being calm before the pressure begins.

The Titans are young again, but they seem to have the defense and outside shooting to battle San Jose State, UC Irvine and Fresno State for second behind perennial PCAA power Nevada Las Vegas. Still, because five of Fullerton’s top eight players are sophomores, the conference coaches and media predicted a fifth-place finish.

Expectations again.

Also, McQuarn has pleasant memories of the way the Titans played in January and February. Fullerton won 12 of its last 18 games and made it to the PCAA championship game before losing to Las Vegas.

The Titans say they feel as though they have momentum, even before the first game.

“We were one game away from being in the NCAA (playoffs),” said Kerry Boagni, a senior forward. “The same spirit has carried over from last year. We have a better attitude than we did early last year. Most of the team is back and we’re motivated.”

Neal is gone, though, and McQuarn wonders if his absence can be countered by sophomores Vincent Blow (6-8) and Tee Williamson (6-7) and junior Carl Pitts. Pitts is a 6-7 transfer from Trade Tech who was headed for UCLA but couldn’t meet admission requirements.

“We played well at the end of last year and that should help, but we’re very short on experience,” McQuarn said. “I think we have a chance to be a very good basketball team, but we’re not the same team I thought we’d be this summer.”

McQuarn was referring to the two front-line recruits--6-9 Ron Barnes and 6-7 Maurice Smith--he lost this summer. Barnes, from Independence (Kansas) Junior College, signed a letter of intent to attend Fullerton, but changed his mind and went to LaSalle. (The East Coast Athletic Conference doesn’t acknowledge the national letters-of-intent program).

Smith, of Barton County (Kansas) JC, had committed to Fullerton, and his departure came as a bigger surprise. Smith already had moved to Orange County and found a job when he left to enroll at Oral Roberts.

“He didn’t like California,” McQuarn said, shrugging.

Neither of those players is going to make anyone forget Moses Malone, but either might have helped fill the void left by Neal.

Then, McQuarn’s luck took a turn for the better. Fullerton had continued to recruit Pitts, who was in the service before enrolling at Trade Tech, despite the fact he was committed to UCLA. His efforts eventually paid off.

“I always had questions about him being able to get in there (UCLA),” McQuarn said. “So we stayed in contact and kept talking to him.”

A player good enough for the Bruins should be able to help the Titans, but Pitts, 25, suffered a groin pull, has hemorrhoids and missed all or parts of three weeks of practice. McQuarn said Pitts needs more work, and used him sparingly during an exhibition game against the Japanese National Team last Saturday. But there is little doubt Pitts will see plenty of action once he is healthy.

Blow averaged 10 minutes, 2 rebounds and 2 points as a freshman, but improved in the last half of the season. Williamson was a redshirt last season after playing at Arizona State as a freshman, though he practiced with the team all year.

Herman Webster, a 6-6 1/2 junior transfer from San Diego Mesa also will see some action at one of the two inside positions. And freshman David Moody (6-8) may get more playing time than McQuarn would like because of the lack of depth up front.

The perimeter--which means wing players Boagni and 6-3 sophomore Richard Morton and point guard Kevin Henderson--is Fullerton’s strength. UNLV Coach Jerry Tarkanian went so far as to say: “They have three great perimeter players. No one on the West Coast can match George’s team on the perimeter.”

Henderson, a 6-4 senior who plays both ends of the court exceptionally well and will likely be a first-round NBA draft choice, averaged 17 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, 1 steal and about 3 spectacular dunks per game last season.

“Kevin is an outstanding player and he’s getting better all the time,” McQuarn said. “He played on a team that toured Taiwan this summer and improved his play-making and defense.”

Henderson is the main man, but Morton, remarkably poised as a freshman, plays the supporting role to perfection.

“I was excited about getting a chance as a freshman, and I’m feeling really confident now,” Morton said. “I know I’m the No. 2 guard and I know what’s expected of me--some good outside shooting and helping Kevin get better shots than he did last year.”

Boagni, 6-8, isn’t a force on the boards, but he’s a fine shooter who can dominate a game.

“This year, I want to rebound more,” Boagni said. “And I’ve been working hard on playing the all-around game and not letting my shooting control my whole game. Last year, if I shot well, I generally played well. If I didn’t, my whole game was off.”

As Tarkanian is quick to point out, all three have a range that extends well beyond the PCAA’s 19-foot, 9-inch, three-point arc, and none of them is hesitant about taking that shot. That threat discourages zone defenses and, consequently, opens things up for the guys underneath.

“We’ve got the outside firepower,” McQuarn said. “In fact, we’ve never had a trio of their caliber at one time before. They’re all big-time jump shooters.”

The Titans have some depth on the perimeter, too. Sophomore Eugene Jackson, who started 10 games last season, will give Henderson an occasional breather. And junior transfer Alexander Hamilton, from Saddleback College, can play either the point or wing. He has the athletic ability to capably defend against any of the conference’s best shooters and can concentrate on defense because the Titans don’t need more shooters.

Henry Turner, a 6-7 sophomore who saw considerable action last year, is another wing player who adds a new dimension. His leaping ability has allowed McQuarn to “add the lob-dunk play to our system for the first time since I’ve been here.”

Freshman Chris Ceballos (6-5) will probably do a lot more watching than playing.

“We’re eager,” Henderson said. “We’ve got a lot of untested players, but we’ve got a lot of talent, too. The question now is will they hold up in Division I?

“We didn’t replace Tony Neal. You can’t replace Tony Neal. He did some things under there that nobody 6-5--if he was that--should be doing. But we’ve got some people who can complement each other on the boards.”

McQuarn agrees that if the Titans rebound well, they should have a good year. But, of course, there are always injuries, luck and other intangibles that make the pressures of coaching so much more tangible.

“We have two major areas of concern--experience and rebounding,” McQuarn said. “Experience will take care of itself, of course. But I’m not too happy with what I’ve seen so far in the rebounding situation. Tony’s gone, so we’ve had to change our attitude and emphasis.

“The month of December will be very important for us in terms of team development and confidence. As long as we don’t listen to what the writers say if we lose a few games in December, we’ll be all right.”

McQuarn, once intense and paranoid, has become relaxed . . . and paranoid.

Perhaps McQuarn, an avid Woody Allen fan, spent too much time in the off-season in front of the VCR watching his favorite’s films. McQuarn’s beginning to sound like the character Allen played in the movie Take the Money and Run.

“Just because you’re paranoid,” Allen told his psychoanalyst, “doesn’t mean that everyone isn’t out to get you.”

And he wasn’t even portraying a basketball coach.