CAL STATE FULLERTON NOTEBOOK : Roller-Coaster Career Takes a Dip for Sykes

John Sykes still practices with Cal State Fullerton’s basketball team, but he might never play another minute for the Titans.

“I doubt it,” Sykes said as he worked on his shooting after practice this week. “I doubt it.”

For three seasons, Sykes has been the Titans’ center of contention. He is a free-thinking senior who hasn’t gotten along with two head coaches. Still, Sykes has maintained a legion of loyal fans who cheer and chant, “Syke-O, Syke-O” whenever he enters a game.

At 6-feet-8, 235 pounds, Sykes is a sturdy 22-year-old who looks as if he can dominate a game. But he has never done that at Fullerton, and he has gone from starter to bench-warmer too many times to count.

His game has always been a mix of ferocious two-handed dunks and sometimes-overzealous defense. For a time late last season, he played well, twice making game-winning plays during Fullerton’s late-season run. Against Fresno State in Titan Gym, he delighted fans with a between-the-legs bounce pass to Wayne Williams on the fast break.

But this season, he has not been effective. He was the starting center for seven games early in the season, but since has had a disciplinary suspension, a mysterious infection that made his eyes bleary-red for weeks, and a bout with strep throat.

He has missed five games, and played sparingly in others. Since his most recent start, at Utah State in early January, he has played only 91 minutes in 11 games.

He is averaging two points and four rebounds a game, and this time, his up-and-down career appears to be on its final decline.

If that much was in doubt, it was probably decided on Saturday in Stockton, when about a dozen fans sat behind Fullerton’s bench during a loss to the University of the Pacific. The fans cheered and they shouted. They were not members of Coach John Sneed’s fan club, and they even called for Sneed to be replaced.

“All family,” said Sykes, who is from Merced. “They were saying, ‘We need a new coach.’ They were on Sneed a lot, I know that.”

Could Sykes possibly play again, after that?

Chances are, his chances aren’t awfully good.

Sneed, who by now has learned that the most unobtrusive way to discipline a player is simply to leave him on the bench rather than publicly suspend him, no longer pays much mind to what Sykes does. Last week, even missing practice without an excuse didn’t draw a suspension.

“I was tired of the whole situation,” Sykes said. “I felt I had to take a day off and get away from the program.”

Sykes called Sneed to tell him he wouldn’t be at the Utah State game the day after the missed practice.

“He told me he was kind of sick,” Sneed said after the game. “I told him I was kind of sorry.”

Sneed is noncommittal about what Sykes’ role will be in the final five games. Instead, he chooses to praise the play of senior David Moody, who has become the starting center.

“At this point, Moody has played extremely well the past month,” Sneed said. “I needed somebody at the five-spot (center) to rise to the occasion.”

But there Sykes is at practice, still working out even though his playing career could well be over.

“I just want to stay in shape,” Sykes said, adding that he intends to play professional basketball next year, perhaps in Europe. “I’d hate to just sit out.”

As for his relationship with Sneed, Sykes only shrugs.

“We all have different styles,” he said. “He tries to restrict me offensively and defensively. I want to play ‘man’ defense; he wants to play zone. . . . It’s his philosophy. He’s the coach.”

Fullerton’s basketball season has turned into a disappointment after road losses to Fresno State and Pacific, which gave the team a 3-10 record away from home.

Before the season, the Titans were picked by some to challenge for second place in the Big West Conference.

With a 12-10 record entering a final stretch that includes games against UC Santa Barbara, New Mexico State, Cal State Long Beach and Nevada Las Vegas, the Titans will have to play well in order to finish with a winning record.

Fullerton is resting its hopes on Titan Gym, where they are 9-0 this season, and where they play four of their final five games. The Titans’ only road game is against UC Irvine, which is 2-19.

Fullerton’s 13-game home winning streak, which dates to last season, is tied for the 13th longest among Division I schools.

Two guys most likely to be working out after dark in the weight-lifting shed behind the Titan football house are Mike Pringle and Reggie Redding, both awaiting the NFL draft.

Pringle’s record-breaking season dominated the headlines last fall, but it is Redding, a 6-4, 270-pound offensive lineman, who probably will be the first Fullerton player taken in the April draft.

Don Morel, who coaches Fullerton’s offensive line, said Redding could be taken as high as the second or third round, based on conversations with scouts.

Pringle, who led the nation in all-purpose running and was second in rushing, figures to be drafted somewhat lower.

Both players participated in the recent NFL Scouting Combine at Indianapolis, where players are tested, timed and measured.

“It’s a meat market,” Pringle said.

Titan Notes

After seven games, Mate Borgogno is leading the baseball team with a .400 batting average and six runs batted in. . . . The early word on Cedric Ceballos’ competition in the College Basketball Slam Dunk & Three-Point Championship: Kendall Gill of Illinois and Sam Ivey of Wake Forest are the first players to accept invitations to participate in a dunking contest at the Final Four. Ceballos is one of eight seniors invited to the contest, to be held April 1 in Denver.