Chapman’s Past Far From Being Perfect : Wilson Cleans House in Attempt to Sweep Out Last Season’s Miseries

Time heals all wounds, they say, and now that nine months have passed since the end of Chapman College’s inglorious 1984-85 basketball season, Coach Kevin Wilson can look back on The Year That Wasn’t and describe it in such terms as “transition” and “a learning experience.”

Uh huh. And that little encounter the Titanic had with an iceberg was “a fender bender.” And Custer’s Last Stand was “a bad day.”

There’s no point in dwelling on the past, but in brief, let us say this about Wilson’s first season as head basketball coach at Chapman:

It began with Wilson on crutches--the result of a knee injury suffered during a pick-up basketball game--and proceeded downhill from there.

Wilson sent two key returnees from Walt Hazzard’s last Chapman team packing before the opening day of fall practice. Two more quit in December. Two others missed a week of play because they didn’t enroll for their second-semester classes.

By the time an injury wave hit the Panther roster in February, Chapman was down to eight able--and eligible--bodies. Hardly shocking, the losses mounted. So did the tension surrounding the team, with Wilson refusing to talk to the press during one bad stretch.

The Panthers wound up 13-14 overall, their first losing season since 1979-80, and 4-10 in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn., placing them seventh among eight schools. As a team, Chapman shot .419 in conference play, worst in the CCAA.

In short, a tough year.

So, one can understand why Wilson wants to shove those memories into some dark, dank corner and let them rot. If you’re planning on a pleasant, lengthy conversation with Kevin Wilson, best not mention the numbers 1984-85.

Wilson: “The other day in practice, I wanted to make a point to a player--’Well, last year . . . ‘ I cut it off there. We don’t talk about last year.”

This philosophy is best illustrated by Chapman’s 1985-86 roster. Old is out, new is in.

The Panthers suit up 14 players, 10 of whom wore different uniforms last season. Of nine underclassmen who played for Wilson last year, only four returned.

Karl Cato, leading rebounder and third-leading scorer--gone.

Jerry Ross, fourth-leading scorer--gone.

Wali Jones, part-time starter--gone.

Derrick Clark, reserve swingman--gone.

Mike Brennan, backup center--gone.

Wilson has a stock answer for their departures: “They left for academic and personal reasons.”

Specifically, Cato was academically ineligible, Jones quit to work on improving his grades and Brennan to concentrate on baseball.

The only player off last year’s team who figures among Wilson’s top seven is guard Mike Kelly, who led the Panthers in scoring as a junior (11.2 points a game).

If Wilson was looking for a fresh start, he most certainly has one.

“I’m a lot more comfortable with this group,” Wilson said. “I feel so close to these guys. Any one of them, I’d be proud to have as a son. That’s a step in the right direction.”

During the off-season, Wilson went on a recruiting binge. The object was to bring in some kids who could pass the basketball and, maybe, some classes as well.

“(Chapman) President (G.T.) Smith told me when he hired me, ‘I don’t care if you go 0-28--I want these players to graduate, I want them to get good grades,’ ” Wilson said. “The kids we have now, they’re all grade-conscious. It’s different from last year. From a coach’s standpoint, it’s a relief.”

OK, so these Panthers can cruise a term paper and are dynamite with a multiple-choice test. They hit the books.

But can they win basketball games?

Wilson thinks so.

He points to the winning backgrounds of the Chapman newcomers. New point guard Jimmy Saia played on a high-school team that won 56 straight games. New forward Jon Samuelson won a CIF Southern Section 2-A championship at Sonora High. New center Karl Tompkins won a conference title for the College of the Canyons last season.

Wilson also points to the size of the newcomers. Of the 10, seven stand 6-5 or taller.

That’s a definite difference from last year, when it wasn’t uncommon to see Wilson put a 6-2 player at the post.

“We basically went with a three-guard offense all last year,” Wilson said. “Now, we’re running a 1-4. We’re inside-oriented now.”

Samuelson, playing at his fourth school in four years, is a big reason why. A 6-6 junior, Samuelson has done a lot of traveling to get from La Habra to Orange--Sonora High in 1983 to Cal State Fullerton in 1984 to Fullerton College in 1985 to Chapman. With the exception of Cal State Fullerton, where George McQuarn tried to make him into a point guard, Samuelson has always shown he can shoot--and, better yet for the Panthers, score.

Samuelson was CIF Southern Section 2-A co-player of the year in 1983 and finished second in the South Coast Conference in scoring with a 13.3 average last year. “He’s been shooting the heck out of the ball for us in practice,” Wilson said. “He’s a real dominant player. He can put the spark back into the personality of this team.”

In Wilson’s 1-4 plan of attack, Samuelson will play “left wing,” opposite Kelly, who Wilson is stumping for conference player of the year. “Mike’s our team captain, he led the conference in free throws (95.8%) and he’s a great shooter,” Wilson said. “He’s the guy we look to for leadership.”

At the double-post will be Tompkins and Paul Rollins, backed up by Kelly Huston and John Bragg.

Tompkins (6-8) averaged 13 points and 9 rebounds as he led the College of the Canyons to a 22-6 record last season. Rollins (6-6) was a teammate of Samuelson’s at Fullerton College, where he shot 56.4% from the field and averaged 12.1 points a game.

Huston (6-6) and Bragg (6-4) averaged 14 and 8 points, respectively, in junior college last year.

Running the show will be Saia, a 6-1 junior who averaged 10.8 points and 2.9 assists at the College of Marin in 1984-85. “He’s super intense, a fun kid to watch,” Wilson said. “The kind of kid who runs into walls.”

Reserves include returning guards Pat O’Hern (1.7 points per game) and Wayne Briggs (5.1 points); returning forward Andy Marusich (4.3 points); high school recruits Adam Lockwood (Estancia), Matt Honikel (Servite), Todd Mooney (Estancia) and Jon King (Shadow Mountain of Phoenix).

Wilson is high on this group and, noting that the CCAA has adopted a postseason tournament format for its top four teams this year, thinks the Panthers can reach the playoffs.

“Cal State L.A. and Bakersfield are clearly ahead of us, but I think we can get third or fourth,” Wilson said. “Because we’re so inexperienced, it’s going to take us a while to play our best basketball. By the end of the season, though, we could sneak into that tournament and maybe win it.”

Or maybe Wilson is thinking wishfully. Consider this evidence:

--Chapman’s 66-65 exhibition loss to that basketball giant, Manitoba. Manitoba, a Canadian university team touring the Southland during November, returned to size against two of the Panthers’ CCAA rivals, Bakersfield and Cal Poly Pomona. The Bisons lost to both.

--Chapman’s sixth-place finish in a preseason CCAA poll, conducted by conference coaches and officials. Only Pomona and Northridge ranked lower.

Wilson prefers not to consider such things, but he admitted, “Our best team will be next year’s. We’ll have everybody coming back except Kelly.”

That’s breaking a cardinal rule of basketball, coach. Remember: You never, ever look ahead.

Except, maybe, at Chapman. There, the worst thing a Panther can do is look back.