Drecksel Can Account for Playing in CCAA Instead of the NBA

When guard Paul Drecksel transferred to Cal State Northridge from Brigham Young last year, his decision to attend CSUN had less to do with basketball and more to do with Northridge’s accounting program.

But his decision to leave BYU, which has a respected accounting school, was based on playing basketball. More correctly, a lack of playing basketball.

After two years on the BYU bench, Drecksel realized he didn’t figure prominently in the Cougars’ plans. He looked around for a decent business school that might also need a shooting guard. He found CSUN, a school he had never heard of while growing up in Utah.

At Skyline High in Salt Lake City, Drecksel showed major-college promise. He averaged 28 points, 12 rebounds and 7 assists a game. He was named a high school All-American by Street and Smith, Converse and Basketball Congress International.

In fact, during the BCI national tournament in 1980, Drecksel was named to the tournament’s 10-member all-star team. Other players chosen included Ed Pinckney, Chris Mullin and A. C. Green. “Everybody on the team is now playing in the NBA, except me,” Drecksel said.

Among the 75 colleges recruiting Drecksel were Notre Dame, BYU, University of San Francisco, Utah and Wyoming.

Drecksel selected BYU because the Cougars had just finished in the top eight at the NCAA tournament the year before and, of course, because of the accounting program.

Drecksel’s basketball career took a downhill turn at BYU almost immediately.

During the first week of classes in 1981, Drecksel discovered he had a ruptured disc that needed to be removed. He left school, had the operation and spent eight months in bed.

He went back to BYU in the fall of 1982 and spent his freshman year on the bench. As a sophomore, the 6-4 guard saw little action--and little hope of playing time in the future.

Drecksel transferred to Division II Northridge and redshirted last year.

CSUN Coach Pete Cassidy believes that Drecksel will never return to the form he exhibited before back surgery.

“He’s only here because he knew he wouldn’t play at BYU,” Cassidy said. “He’s still a great shooter and he can take it to the hole. We’re relying on him this year.”

In seven games, Drecksel has averaged 13.3 points, second highest on the team.

CSUN’s leading scorer is 6-3 forward Jimmy Daniels.

Daniels transferred from Glendale College, where he was named the most valuable player of the Inland Valley Conference two years ago. This is his first season at Northridge.

When the Matadors opened the season at Wyoming, Cassidy discovered that Daniels is superstitious. Said Cassidy: “Before the Wyoming game, Jimmy came up to me at the shoot-around and asked, ‘Coach, what do we do at a shoot-around?’

“I told him, ‘Well, Jimmy, mostly we shoot.’ He said, ‘Coach, I can’t shoot before a game. I’m superstitious. I’ll go 0-for-10.’

“So I told him, ‘Don’t worry. If you go 0-for-5, you’ll never have a chance to go 0-for-10. You’ll be sitting next to me on the bench.’ ”

Daniels ended up shooting 3-for-10. CSUN lost the game, 86-49.

Add Northridge: From assistant coach Mark Felix, on the Matadors inexperienced roster: “This year will be a learning experience. None of our guys are seniors. They don’t really understand where they are going--they don’t know how good or bad they are. We have an identity problem.

“All of the guys are playing out of place. They’re not in their true positions.”

CSUN’s starting lineup includes: 6-4 sophomore forward Pat Bolden; Jimmy Daniels, a 6-3 junior forward; 6-6 junior center Paul Hobus; Paul Drecksel, a 6-4 guard; and 6-0 sophomore guard Troy Dueker.

Last add Northridge: In seven games this season, Paul Hobus, who has never been mistaken for a finesse player, has picked up a team-leading 33 fouls. That works out to an average of 4.7 fouls a game.

“Hobus just plays hard,” Cassidy said. “He likes getting position--then there’s going to be some contact.”

The center has fouled out of five games.