Patience Will Be Key to Sunderland : Basketball: Titan point guard will slowly make transition from community college to Division I.

Reports out of the Cal State Los Angeles summer league on Aaron Sunderland were complimentary and concise. This new Cal State Fullerton point guard, most observers agreed, could play.

He was quick as a wink, tenacious on defense and unselfish on offense. He was a blur on the fast break, improvising in the open court like Robin Williams in a crowded room.

He thrived in the liberating atmosphere of summer league, where there were no zone defenses, no pre-planned offensive strategies, no coaches screaming in your ear.

But how will Sunderland, a playground wizard, fit into the more rigid confines of a Division I basketball program? Titan fans will find out beginning tonight when Fullerton opens the 1991-92 season at home against the University of San Francisco.

If Sunderland played any other position, the transition from community college to Division I might not be so difficult for the former Connors (Okla.) State College standout.

But with point guard comes many responsibilities--knowing when to push the ball and when to pull back, recognizing defenses and knowing what plays to call against them, spreading the shots around and getting the ball to those with the hot hands, keeping your poise under pressure.

Titan Coach John Sneed has this advice for fans expecting the second coming of Leon Wood: Be patient.

“We need to bring him along slowly,” Sneed said. “He doesn’t have the mentality to make decisions yet. If he gets the system down he can be a positive force, but he goes too quickly for himself sometimes.”

Making the transition more difficult is the external pressure on any new Division I player--large, hostile crowds in unfamiliar arenas, pressure-packed games that go down to the wire.

“You can’t totally remove pressure because what creates it is the opponent, the crowd, the atmosphere of the game,” Sneed said. “I can only help get him through that.”

Sunderland’s response?

Bring the noise.

“I like the pressure, being in a situation where everyone is wondering what the game is going to come down to,” said Sunderland, a 5-foot-11 junior. “It’s a challenge. There’s a lot I have to learn, but I’ve been playing this position for a while. The things that are new, I expect to learn.”

Perhaps not right away, though.

“There will be times when I’ll be confused,” Sunderland said. “There are more things going through your head, but a point guard has just got to learn and get through it.”

It will help to have several experienced players nearby. Bruce Bowen and J.D. Green are back sharing the small forward position, and Joe Small, the Big West Conference’s second-leading scorer last season, is back at shooting guard.

“Joe is like God’s gift to me,” Sunderland said. “I’ve never played with anyone who can shoot like him. He’s my first look all the time. I feel good when he shoots.”

For Sunderland, it will feel good to play this season. He had to redshirt last season because of irregularities in his letter of intent--he had signed with Georgia in the fall of 1989 but changed his mind and then signed with Fullerton in the spring of 1990.

It’s against NCAA rules to sign two letters of intent, and Sunderland was forced to sit out the 1990-91 season.

“I wanted to play so badly last season--it was an experience not playing a whole year when you’ve been doing it for so long,” Sunderland said. “I’m real eager to play this season, but I think good things happen to those who wait.”

Things actually couldn’t have worked out better for Sunderland. Had be been eligible last season, Sunderland would have split time with Wayne Williams, a junior and a three-year starter.

But when Williams was ruled academically ineligible and transferred to Cal State San Bernardino, Sunderland slid into the starting point-guard slot.

Some thought Sunderland would have beaten out Williams last season, but Sunderland didn’t want to dwell on that.

“I guess people are really high on me and I appreciate their comments,” he said. “But I’d rather show it to them than brag.”

Sunderland, who helped Connors State win the national community college championship in 1990, showed last summer that he has plenty of skills, but that was a whole different ballgame.

“The summer league was just go, go, go,” Sunderland said. “There were no plays, no organization. You shot when you were open. It was like the NBA.”

Now, Sunderland must downshift to the NCAA, but he doesn’t think he’ll grind gears.

“I think I’m better in an organized game--it gives me more options,” Sunderland said. “You can run a play instead of just kicking the ball out and shooting it. I love getting everybody into the game.”