Believe It or Not, Long Beach in First Place

Sadly lacking the 2-by-4, carpenter’s plank or aluminum bat these Big West archrivals needed to beat the basketball into submission, Cal State Fullerton’s Danny Robinson finally grabbed the damn thing long enough to fling it 45 feet, just to get it over and done with.

And the ball kicked off the back heel of the rim . . . and it rattled through the hoop for three points . . . and the buzzer sounded . . . and at last, after 40 minutes of official time had been exhausted, Thursday night’s game between Fullerton and Long Beach State had a highlight.

Mercifully, it had a winner as well: Long Beach, 73-57, in yet another molar grinder at the Pyramid.

A second or two later, the public address announcer felt compelled to add:

“Ladies and gentlemen, Long Beach is in first place in the Big West Conference.”

Upon hearing this, 4,442 witnesses shared one of two intimate thoughts as they staggered out of the building:

a) “I better get my ears checked.”

Or,

b) “I better get my eyes checked.”

Long Beach State, with no player averaging more than 12 points, with one player averaging more than 10 points, with no player averaging seven rebounds, with a team free-throw percentage of barely 60%, with a team three-point percentage of less than 30%, a first-place team?

With its lone potential star, James Cotton, long gone with torn ankle ligaments?

With three other regulars--Mike Atkinson, Juaquin Hawkins and Everett Ratleff--bounding in and out of the lineup with the very rare Contagious Ankle Sprain Syndrome?

With a sporadic offensive attack that ought to bear the motto: “Joe McNaull, and we wish we could stall”?

With no non-conference victories of note, other than an early-season triumph at home over Notre Dame?

The College of Notre Dame.

The numbers don’t lie, but at the moment, the Big West standings appear to be toying with reality.

Fact: Long Beach is 12-3 after 15 conference games, tied atop the standings with Utah State.

Fact: Long Beach has won nine consecutive Big West games, its longest conference winning streak since 1989-90.

Yet when Atkinson is asked if this feels like a first-place team, the steady senior forward laughs and says, “My first year here, when we had Chris Tower and Lucious Harris--I thought that was a first-place team.

“This team, we’re not bad, but first place wasn’t what we were planning for. We wanted to do well, of course, but New Mexico State began the year like gangbusters, and Utah State has a very good team. They looked like the favorites. I thought we had a pretty good team.”

The 49ers still look the part. They are ranked 83rd in USA Today’s latest Division I rankings and 60th in the national RPI power-index ratings. Yet in the Big West in 1995, where less has become more, pretty good is good enough for first place.

“I think the conference is down, overall,” Atkinson said. “We don’t have the UNLV of old, any real dominant team. The Big West used to have two teams ranked in the top 25 every year. Now, there’s nobody.”

Seth Greenberg, the 49ers’ coach entrusted with maintaining his team’s optimism index at a high level, put on a straight face to assert, “I think the Big West is up this year.”

And the Pyramid has a flattop.

“Hey,” Greenberg said, pressing forward, “New Mexico State was good enough to beat Alabama and win the (preseason) NIT--and they’re getting beat up in the Big West. Utah State was good enough to drill BYU. We’re a pretty good basketball team.

“I think the conference should get two berths this year. Two in the NCAA. And two in the NIT.”

And with that, Greenberg can hold his deadpan no more.

“What am I supposed to say?” he said, breaking into a shrug and a grin.

Seriously, now, Greenberg pointed out that “we’re 16-7. That’s pretty good. We lost by 10 at Michigan State after outplaying them for 36 minutes. That game was very winnable. We had a lot of people hurt against Nebraska and we hung in there with them. How far off are we?”

Greenberg grinned again.

“Of course, I’d like to get the Northridge game back.”

Northridge, which has never been confused with North Carolina, defeated the 49ers in early December, 64-58.

But, as Greenberg repeatedly claims, the 49ers have come a long way since then.

To the top, incredibly, of the Big West.

“We don’t have a win against a ranked opponent, so we get no respect,” Atkinson said. “And rightfully so.

“But when we go to Vegas, that’s when we’ll get our respect.”

Las Vegas is where the Big West tournament will be held in two weeks. “That,” Greenberg said, “is the only time I want to be in first place.”