CAL STATE FULLERTON NOTEBOOK : After Years of Coaching Against Them, Grant’s Now a Titan Fan

About 2,000 Colorado State fans left Titan Gym disappointed Saturday afternoon, but Cal State Fullerton won over at least one Ram--basketball coach Boyd Grant, who was most impressed with the Titans’ 62-60 victory.

“John Sneed (Fullerton coach) has done a superb job,” said Grant, who spent nine seasons (1978-86) as Fresno State’s coach. “I was in the Big West a long time, and to have almost a complete turnover in kids and have them so together and playing so well, I’m impressed. I hope he wins them all.”

The Titans, picked by conference coaches to finish last in the Big West Conference, weren’t expected to win many this season. They had only one full-time starter back--point guard Wayne Williams--from a team that went 13-16.

But thanks to the outside shooting of community-college transfer Joe Small, who is averaging 22 points per game, and a balanced inside attack of Aaron Wilhite, Ron Caldwell and Agee Ward, all averaging in double figures, Fullerton is 7-2 entering Wednesday’s conference opener at Fresno State.

While that mark seems inflated to some--the Titans beat a weak San Francisco team, marginal Butler and Portland teams and Division II Chapman--the Titans did defeat a solid Pepperdine team on the road, and Colorado State (7-3) was a quality opponent.

Few expect Fullerton to challenge Nevada Las Vegas or New Mexico State for the conference championship, but coaches don’t consider the Titans the Big Jest of the Big West, either.

“They’re not the worst team,” Fresno State Coach Gary Colson said. “I think conference coaches are really surprised. That Pepperdine win gave them a surge, and with a win over Colorado State, they’re gaining confidence. In the basketball world, Fullerton is buzzing.”

The Titans are likely to get stung Friday when they play top-ranked UNLV in the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. But Grant doesn’t think they’ll be easy prey for the rest of the conference.

“They play hard, they’re well-coached, and they do all the things they can do to win,” Grant said. “I don’t think anyone is going to beat them easily.”

With more than half of Saturday’s crowd of 3,729 consisting of Colorado State fans in town for the Rams’ Freedom Bowl football game against Oregon, Colorado State’s basketball team had a home-away-from-homecourt advantage.

“We had the crowd today,” Grant said after the game. “John (Sneed) didn’t have anything going for him but the floor.”

Sneed didn’t mind, though. He loved seeing the balcony seats in Titan Gym opened for the first time this season, even if they were filled with Ram fans. And it was nice having a little background noise for a change--Fullerton hadn’t drawn more than 1,750 fans in four previous home games.

“At some point, people in Orange County are going to realize this is a good basketball team,” Sneed said. “We deserve some support. I think fans would love our style of play. If we had that many fans in the gym (for every game), we could play with a lot of teams.”

Sneed won a game but lost a car last week when his Chevrolet Corsica was totaled in an accident near campus Wednesday. The coach said he was broad-sided by another driver who allegedly ran a red light.

Sneed escaped serious injury but was still sore Saturday.

“I feel like I was in an alley fight and got beat up,” Sneed said. “They towed my car and I walked to practice.”

Paramedics advised Sneed to go to a hospital, but Sneed said he refused further treatment.

“If I wasn’t on the floor Wednesday, we might not have won (Saturday’s) game,” he said. “The paramedics wouldn’t believe that.”

The Titan women’s basketball team (6-2) plays at St. Mary’s (10-2) today and then opens conference play Wednesday at Fresno State as part of a Selland Arena doubleheader with the men. Fullerton travels to University of the Pacific for a Friday night game.

As of Dec. 21, Titan senior center Genia Miller ranked third in the nation in scoring (27.5 points per game) and second in blocked shots (3.9 per game). She leads the conference in both categories and is second in rebounding (9.9).

Fullerton point guard Michelle Hennessey leads the conference in assists (7.0 per game) and is fifth in steals (5.0).

Titan Notes

The Fullerton football team, which hasn’t played a Pacific-10 Conference school since 1983, has been contracted for a game at Oregon in 1996, Titan Athletic Director Ed Carroll said. In its 21-year history, Fullerton has had just two games against Pac-10 teams, losing to Arizona, 37-16, in 1981, and again in 1983, 37-10. . . . The Titan basketball team’s seven-game winning streak is the school’s longest since 1986-87, when Fullerton sandwiched seven victories between one-point losses to Texas Tech and UCLA. The Titans haven’t won eight in a row since 1978-79, but they would need to upset top-ranked Nevada Las Vegas Friday to have a chance to match their all-time streak of 10 games in 1970-71. . . . Fullerton’s game Wednesday at Fresno State will be a homecoming of sorts for Titan forward Bruce Bowen, a graduate of Edison High School in Fresno. Bowen said many of his relatives will attend the game.