CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE: THE MOVE TO DIVSION I : THE DATING GAME : Cassidy Finds Potential Foes Often Cagey in Scheduling

It seemed easy enough.

Cal State Northridge men’s basketball Coach Pete Cassidy had to satisfy only two NCAA Division I scheduling criteria before his team could compete at that level for the 1990-91 season.

First, Northridge could play no more than two games against opponents below the Division I level. Second, one third of the team’s games had to be played at home.

Sounds simple, right?

Wrong.

“It was a pain,” Cassidy said. “I could have had 50 games in December, but January and February were another story. I really had to scramble to get those games.”

Such is the life of an independent.

After 30 seasons in the Division II California Collegiate Athletic Assn., Northridge will be a team without a conference in its initial foray into the Division I basketball ranks. And that has caused problems.

Most potential basketball opponents for Northridge had few openings in their schedules after the early part of the season because of their conference obligations. But those teams were lining up at Northridge’s door to schedule games in late November and December.

“Most coaches probably figured that we can’t be geared up to play well that early in the season,” Cassidy said. “They probably figure that they can stomp on us. That we’re easy pickings.”

Whether that’s true remains to be seen, but Cassidy did face certain logistic problems.

Unlike in previous years, when a 14-game CCAA schedule filled the second half of the Matadors’ regular season, Cassidy was forced to line up opponents for every Northridge game.

The result was a schedule that tentatively began at 24 games (eight at home) and ended with 28 (11 at home).

Dayton, Xavier and Wyoming were opponents when the schedule was published at the start of last season, but none remains on the final version.

Wyoming couldn’t play Northridge because of a conflict with its Western Athletic Conference schedule, and Dayton and Xavier dropped off the schedule after the two schools engaged in an argument about which team would play host to Northridge first, according to Cassidy.

“They argued about it for quite a while,” said Cassidy, who is entering his 20th season at Northridge. “Finally, I just said, ‘Look guys. Let’s just forget about it this season. Let’s try it some other time.’ ”

Northridge later added Cal, Cal State Long Beach, Weber State, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, the University of San Diego, and Division II’s Cal State Los Angeles.

That left Northridge with 26 games against Division I opponents--including 1990 NCAA tournament teams Cal, Colorado State and New Mexico State--and two against Division II teams (Cal State L. A and Cal State Sacramento).

Of those 28 games, 17 will be played on the road. Ten will be played against Big Sky teams and seven against Division I independents.

Last season, Northridge played 14 of its 27 games at home during a 12-15 campaign. The Matadors were 0-4 against Division I teams, all four losses coming on the road.

“Obviously, this will be the toughest schedule we’ve ever had,” Cassidy said. “But I’m looking forward to it. I think we’re going to surprise some people.”

While the men’s basketball schedule will undergo the biggest face lift, each Northridge program’s schedule will be affected to some extent, except for men’s volleyball, in which Northridge has always played at the Division I level, and football, in which the Matadors will remain at Division II.

According to NCAA guidelines, at least half of Northridge’s opponents in the upcoming school year in each sport except football must be from the Division I ranks.

As a result, the baseball team, the 1990 NCAA Division II runner-up, tentatively is scheduled to play seven games against Division II teams next season after playing 44 such contests in 1990.

Northridge will play three games each against highly regarded Cal State Fullerton--which qualified for this year’s Division I College World Series--and USC, and two contests each against UCLA and Arizona.

The women’s volleyball team, which played 33 of its 37 matches against Division II opponents last year, will play only four matches against Division II teams this season.

The soccer team, which played only three Division I opponents last season, will play 13 of its 20 matches against Division I teams this year.

The softball team, this year’s NCAA Division II runner-up, dramatically will increase its number of games against Division I competition from 32 to 52 next season. Eight games will be played against Division II teams.

“I’m not really positive what the exact (scheduling) numbers are, but we’ll have no problem meeting them,” said Gary Torgeson, Northridge’s softball coach since 1982. “My attitude is (that) to be one of the best, you have to play the best. Except for a few schools, I don’t want to play any Division II teams. There’s no reason to.”

Northridge will play nine softball games against Pacific 10 Conference teams, largely because the Pac-10 is only Pac-6 in softball and has many nonconference dates to fill in its schedule.

“Scheduling games in February and March was a piece of cake,” Torgeson said. “But things were more difficult in April and May, when a lot of schools begin conference play. Luckily, we were able to fill in some dates with games against Pac-10 schools, which had breaks in their conference schedules.”

Walt Ker, the women’s volleyball coach at Northridge since 1979, is excited about the move to Division I, but he said that he had some reservations when he lined up CSUN’s opponents for the upcoming season.

“I want us to play the big girls,” Ker said. “But I also want to schedule some of the middle-level Division I schools. And to be honest with you, I’m not all that sure who those teams are at the Division I level.

“At the Division II level, I knew every team, inside and out, backwards and forward. I knew who was coming back and who was gone. But it may take me a couple of seasons to develop that type of knowledge at the Division I level.”

Because Northridge will be a Division I independent in all sports except men’s volleyball (Western Intercollegiate Volleyball Assn.) and football (Western Football Conference), the quality of the Matadors’ schedule will be more important than if Northridge were in a conference.

If the Matadors were in a conference, they would have a good chance to qualify for the playoffs by winning the regular-season title. But because they play as an independent, qualifying for postseason play could be based on several factors.

If Northridge’s schedule is tough, the team still could qualify despite a record that is less than spectacular. On the other hand, if the schedule is soft, Northridge might compile a good win-loss record but lose out in playoff consideration because it didn’t play enough quality opponents.

“It’s a very tricky situation, especially in our formative years at Division I, because it could influence our recruiting for years to come,” Ker said. “You don’t want to have your team play the real tough opponents too early in the season when they’re not mentally and physically ready, but you need to play them sometime to establish credibility at this level.”

Aside from the men’s volleyball and football teams, the track and field and swimming teams are expected to make the fewest changes in their schedules.

Both programs have faced competition against several Division I teams regularly in the past and thus there will be only minor adjustments in their schedules.

“The scheduling aspect of going to Division I isn’t going to be that difficult for us,” said Don Strametz, men’s and women’s track coach. “Nearly half our meets were against Division I opponents last year.”

The swim program, probably Northridge’s strongest in its history at Division II, did not need to make severe scheduling changes because qualifying for the national championships is based not on win-loss records but on meeting standards in individual events.

Pete Accardy, Northridge’s men’s and women’s swimming coach since 1970, said the move to Division I primarily will affect his program two ways.

“First of all, we’re not going to be contending for any conference or national team titles in the near future,” he said.

“And secondly, we’re not going to have the luxury of qualifying a bunch of people for (the NCAA championships) in December, then concentrating on training until nationals. . . . We could very well have to peak people just to qualify for nationals.”