No False Security Hampers Ventura

These are the dog days of college basketball, when good teams tired from the long season can lose focus and take false steps, sometimes irreparable ones.

No one understands that better than Ned Mircetic, the highly successful Ventura College women’s basketball coach.

Mircetic, builder and caretaker of the state’s top women’s program, knows that the Pirates are expected to challenge for their second consecutive state title.

Going into Wednesday’s game at Cuesta, they were 27-1 overall, 6-0 in Western State Conference Northern Division play and top-ranked in California.

But Mircetic, who coached Ventura to a 35-0 record last season, has warned the Pirates not to become complacent.

“We are talking right now about positioning ourselves to go back [to the state championships],” said Mircetic, in his seventh season with the team. “We don’t talk about going all the way. It would be premature to start looking past opponents.

“It’s very easy to get a false sense of security, so it’s really important for us to play up to our ability, regardless of who we are playing.”

History, not to mention all that talent, might be on Ventura’s side.

Before last season, the six previous state champions were repeat winners: Golden West in 1989-90 and 1990-91; Lassen in 1991-92 and 1992-93 and Harbor in 1993-94 and 1994-95. . . .

Speaking of Ventura, the recent announcement that former men’s basketball Coach Phil Mathews will be inducted next month into the California Community College Basketball Coaches Assn. Hall of Fame was no shocker.

Mathews, now the coach at the University of San Francisco, would have been a shoo-in sooner or later.

But the voting members of the association should also recognize Al Nordquist, the former Moorpark men’s coach who is now a dean at the school.

All Nordquist did was win 482 games in 28 seasons with the Raiders.

Maybe next year?. . . .

Glendale sophomore outfielder Karl Castro was batting .400 with three home runs and 11 runs batted in, helping the revamped Vaqueros to a 6-3 record entering Wednesday’s nonconference game at East L.A.

Let’s hope this Castro sticks to baseball. . . .

Hey, if Cal State Northridge Coach Mike Batesole recruits Castro for next season and shortstop Adam Kennedy returns for his senior year, could a Khrushchev be far behind?

After all, the Russians are now playing baseball. . . .

One of the key reserves on the Santa Clara men’s basketball team, which plays at Pepperdine on Friday night, is junior guard Craig Johnson, a former All-Mission League player at Notre Dame High. Johnson is averaging 7.1 points. . . .

Pepperdine (5-17, 3-7) is near the end of its third straight dreadful season but junior forward Bryan Hill hasn’t disappointed.

Hill leads the WCC in rebounding with an 8.3 average and could become the sixth Pepperdine champion in that category. Dana Jones, a former North Hollywood High standout, was the last Wave to do it, in 1992-93 and 1993-94. . . .

Ventura is nowhere near hiring a football coach to replace George Rosales, who resigned after last season, but Terry Morris said he is interested in the job.

Morris was Ventura’s assistant head coach and defensive coordinator last season, his first with the program after four seasons at Lambuth University in Jackson, Tenn. . . .

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is coming to Canyons on Wednesday.

Minus the NBA championship rings and the beer commercial controversy, that is.

This Abdul-Jabbar, son of the Hall of Famer, is a 6-foot-5 sophomore forward at Santa Monica, which faces the Cougars in a WSC Southern Division game that night. . . .