No Talent Shortage : Dorsey Plays Taller Than 6-4 for Northridge

Are there no truth-in-advertising laws?

The Cal State Northridge men’s basketball roster lists Mike Dorsey as a junior, a forward, 6-foot-6, 205 pounds.

Right, right, wrong, wrong.

The year is right, and the position, too. But size? Wishful thinking.

Dorsey is 6-4--not even the “short 6-5” estimated by Pete Cassidy, Northridge’s coach.

The 205 pounds also is an exaggeration, although one that can be explained. Since the start of Northridge’s basketball season Dorsey has shed 10 pounds.

The weight loss can be directly linked to the grind of playing power forward, a position where he is routinely dwarfed by taller and heavier opponents.

“It takes a lot out of you, trying to get around big guys,” Dorsey said. “All the time I’m out there rumbling with some guy 6-8 or 6-9, 240, 250 pounds. I end every game with new bruises.”

Heck, perhaps there was a time when he really was taller.

Dorsey came to Northridge after earning the most valuable player award on a Los Angeles City College team that finished with a No. 13 national ranking.

His position in junior college was the same. The game, vastly different.

L.A. City was a high-scoring outfit that played full-court pressure defense and scored many of its points on fast breaks created by turnovers.

Northridge predominantly plays a slower-tempo, half-court game that requires Dorsey to bang inside the key and play with his back to the basket.

Occasionally faced by similar situations in junior college, Dorsey simply backed in, whirled around, and leaped over his opponent for a dunk.

Trying that now means risking unsightly imprints of basketball seams on his forehead.

“You just don’t get away with that at this level,” Dorsey said. “The players are not only big and strong, but they’re also real athletic.”

He learned that lesson early. In his first game for Northridge, Dorsey was matched against Ed O’Bannon, UCLA’s All-American forward.

“I remember walking out on the court and I was like, ‘This guy is going to the NBA, and I’m playing with him right here,’ ” said Dorsey, who admitted to being a bit awe-struck.

“That whole game was something I’d dreamed about. Big arena. Playing the No. 1 team in the nation. TV cameras with people watching me at home. It was a great experience.”

Like O’Bannon, Dorsey probably will have a professional basketball career, only his is likely to be in Japan.

The son of a Japanese mother and an American father, Dorsey maintains dual citizenship.

Japanese rules allow pro teams to have two players from the United States on their roster, but Dorsey, because he was born in Japan, would not count as an American.

“The team he would go to would have a huge competitive advantage,” said Mike Miller, Dorsey’s coach at L.A. City. “Basically, they’d have three Americans for two.”

Miller estimated Dorsey’s earning potential to be $80,000 to $100,000 for a six-month season in Japan, yet he discouraged scouts who wanted to sign him out of junior college.

“His experience playing Division I basketball will only make his stock go up,” Miller said. “He’s overmatched physically at his position in every game he plays, but in a way that’s good for him. That’ll make him stronger as a person.

“This way he has a chance to mature. He has family (in Japan), but actually living there is going to be a big culture shock for him. Basically, he’s still an American teen-ager.”

So, for now, board, books and tuition will have to suffice.

Dorsey isn’t complaining.

The chance to challenge O’Bannon and the Bruins at Pauley Pavilion--and games against six other 1994 NCAA tournament teams, plus three more squads that played in the National Invitation Tournament--was the main reason he accepted Northridge’s scholarship offer over Texas El Paso, Drake and Southern Utah.

That Northridge has a record of 5-14 and is winless in nine games against teams which last season made postseason appearances is just another dip on Dorsey’s personal roller coaster.

As a senior at Riverside La Sierra High, Dorsey played for a team that finished 26-2. After that, a 6-24 season at Seattle University. Then his transfer to L.A. City and a 27-6 campaign.

Now, another plunge, although Northridge is 2-0 in American West Conference games going into a game against league favorite Southern Utah on Saturday night in Cedar City, Utah.

“It’s been frustrating,” Dorsey said of Northridge’s season. “There are games we could have won where we didn’t come through at the end for some reason. But we still have a conference championship to play for.”

Northridge has four more conference games, then the conference tournament, March 10-11 at Southern Utah. Dorsey looms large in the Matadors’ plans.

He leads the team in scoring average (11.3), rebounding average (5.7), steals (22) and dunks (26).

Finally, numbers that don’t lie.