CIRCULAR HOOPS: College basketball is getting underway,...

CIRCULAR HOOPS: College basketball is getting underway, and there is optimism at UC Irvine, where the men’s team looks to a solid class of recruits to help it rebound from last season’s 10-20 record. . . . But how will new and old Anteaters come together? Coach Rod Baker is hopeful based on his “informal sociological study” on team compatibility and its relationship to pre-practice stretching. “They’re never told where to stretch, but if the players get in a circle, that’s good,” he says. “If you have guys off to the side, that’s bad. So far, we’ve been pretty circular.”

PYRAMID POWER: A new home will do wonders for self-esteem. Ask anyone at Long Beach State, where The Pyramid--a $22-million, 5,000-seat facility for basketball and volleyball--debuts Nov. 30 when the 49ers play University of Detroit Mercy in a nationally televised men’s game. “Everybody is extremely excited,” says Aimee Periolat, 49er women’s player and graduate of Huntington Beach’s Marina High. “People are going to come to see The Pyramid, and we all feel we can keep them coming back.”

STAYING PUT: Nobody would have blamed Melody Earle for leaving Chapman University last year when the school eliminated her scholarship after it switched to an NCAA division that doesn’t allow them. Earle, No. 4 scorer in school history, had suffered through a 2-22 season, and UC Riverside offered a full ride. But the Estancia graduate stayed put. “It was a comfort-zone thing,” she says. Her loyalty may pay off: Chapman is expecting its first winning season since 1990.

AGAINST ALL ODDS: Cal State Fullerton is last in the Big West Conference men’s preseason coaches poll, but interim Coach Bob Hawking isn’t dismayed. . . . “Knowing how many people most teams have returning, it didn’t come as a big surprise,” Hawking said. “We were picked last last year and ninth the year before, and we finished better than that both seasons. That’s our goal, to finish higher than they think we will.” Hawking hopes the Titans will do well enough to win him the job permanently.