Titans See No Breaks in Schedule

Cal State Fullerton is 1-4 in men’s basketball, and the road doesn’t get any easier before the Titans start Big West Conference play in January.

Fullerton has three more nonconference games in December against San Francisco, Utah and Montana, and the Titans probably will have a difficult time in all three.

Friday’s game at San Francisco will be Fullerton’s third in a row against West Coast Conference teams after losses to Gonzaga and Loyola Marymount.

San Francisco (4-3) defeated Pac-10 favorite Stanford, 59-58, and played St. John’s close before losing, 80-78.

Phil Mathews, a Fullerton assistant under George McQuarn, is in his first season as San Francisco’s coach after 10 seasons at Ventura College.

Utah (6-1) is nationally prominent, and Montana is a surprising 7-2, with one of its victories against Nevada, regarded as a contender for the Big West championship.

“I think ours will rank in the top 50 in the country in strength of schedules,” Fullerton Coach Bob Hawking said. “The Big West has asked all of us to strengthen our nonleague schedules.

“Our schedule is that much tougher when you’re facing it with a team as young as ours. It’s important for our players not to get down on themselves at this stage, and to keep playing hard the way they did against Loyola the other night. At some point, things will start falling our way. I’ve told our kids they can learn a lot by playing good people too.”

Fullerton’s biggest problem is matching up inside against teams with good size, and that’s been just about every team the Titans have played. “We were even smaller than Northridge,” Hawking said.

That lack of size makes it critical that Fullerton shoot well from the perimeter, and that hasn’t happened consistently.

In Fullerton’s only victory, against San Diego State, the Titans made seven of 12 (58.3%) from three-point range. In the other four games, Fullerton is shooting only 22% on three-pointers.

If that trend continues, rival defenses will converge even more inside on forward John Williams, who has been the team’s most effective scorer.

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The Titan softball team, which advanced to the Women’s College World Series last spring, will play in Australia and New Zealand in January.

“The NCAA allows one overseas trip every four years for each college team, and we arranged with the various sports organizations in those countries to host us,” Coach Judi Garman said.

“We’ll be having home stays, and that also will help to reduce the costs for us. The only cost will be the air fare.”

The players have been raising funds to help pay for the trip.

The team will leave Jan. 9 and return Jan. 25. The Titans plan to play three games in each country.

Fullerton made a similar trip to Sweden in 1981.

“I still get favorable comments from the players on that team about how good an experience it was for them and how much they enjoyed it,” Garman said.

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Outfielder Mark Kotsay, who won the Golden Spikes Award as the national’s top amateur baseball player, is in fast company in competition for the Sullivan Award, given annually to the nation’s top amateur athlete.

Among those competing for the award are Eddie George, the Heisman Trophy winner from Ohio State; Joe Smith, the Maryland basketball player who was college player of the year; Stanford golfer Tiger Woods, the two-time U.S. Amateur champion; track sprinter Michael Johnson, the first man to win the 200 and 400 meters at the World Championships; gymnast Jenny Hansen, the first person in NCAA history to win three consecutive all-around championships; and Rebecca Lobo, who led Connecticut to a 35-0 record and the NCAA women’s basketball championship.

The winner will be announced in January.

Kotsay this week was named to the preseason All-American team chosen by Collegiate Baseball. Catcher Brian Loyd was chosen to the second team.

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Collegiate Baseball has Fullerton No. 1 and Stanford No. 2 in its preseason rankings, which will put the spotlight on the season-opening, three-game series between the two teams Feb. 2-4 at Stanford.

Stanford was ranked No. 1 last season when the two teams met early in the season at Fullerton. The Titans won two of three games to show their early strength.

Both teams reached the College World Series, with Fullerton winning its third national championship with a victory over USC.

Collegiate Baseball has Louisiana State third, Tennessee fourth and California fifth. Pepperdine is rated seventh, USC 13th, Long Beach State 19th.

Titan Notes

Teresa Santana and Jerri Young of the women’s cross-country team and senior Shawn Cummins from the men’s team were selected to the Big West All-Academic teams for fall. Sophomore Melissa Blackler also was selected in volleyball. . . . The women’s basketball team has won two in a row after losing its first five games. Senior Shayla Bradshaw continues as the team’s top scorer with a 12.1 average.