Pointed Remarks

Containing ol’ what’s her name, Colorado State’s All-American guard, isn’t the point.

Tina Greer says so, and she is fast becoming an expert on the matter.

“I don’t even know her name and we’re not going to give her any special attention,” Greer said. “I’m not going to stop being me just because she’s an All-American.

“If she scores 25, she’s going to earn 25. We have no special game plan. We’ll play the same [defense] we’ve been playing.”

For the record, ‘ol what’s her name is Becky Hammon, three-time Western Athletic Conference most valuable player. Hammon is the main reason the Rams (31-2), seeded No. 2 in the West Regional, are favored over No. 15-seeded Northridge (21-7) in a first-round NCAA tournament game Friday at Colorado State.

But Greer knows no fear. Northridge’s point guard runs the offense and her mouth with equal directness.

Greer talks the way she looks: Short. Quick. Supremely confident.

From Washington High by way of a freshman year at Xavier, the 5-foot-4 sophomore sat out last season as a Division I transfer. Since her return, she made up for lost time, harassing opposing ballhandlers.

Edniesha Curry, who earned freshman All-American honors as a point guard last season, gladly made way for Greer by moving to off guard. Curry’s game hasn’t suffered and they give Northridge one of the top backcourts in the West.

Greer averages 8.3 points, mostly scoring on fast breaks and twisting layups through traffic. She leads the Matadors with 70 steals and has 89 assists, one fewer than Curry.

“Tina can aggravate a point guard to death,” Curry said. “She’s on you for 40 minutes, nonstop.”

As is her voice. Greer is a self-avowed trash talker.

Her favorite lines are suitable for the family but disruptive just the same.

Said Greer: “If I steal the ball, I’ll say, ‘That was stupid,’ or ‘You’re scared,’ or ‘The pressure is getting to you,’ or ‘Don’t ever do that again.’

“If they respond, it adds fuel to the fire.”

It’s not that she doesn’t respect her opponents. Greer was the first Matador to poke her head into the coach’s office Monday morning. Nobody was there, so she popped a video tape of Colorado State into the VCR and began taking notes.

“I just see them as a regular team,” she said. “I haven’t seen anything special yet. I don’t see what all the hoopla is about. I respect any opponent, but I think we have the same players they have, five on the court.”

Greer’s attitude is infectious and should help Northridge remain confident in the face of a large partisan crowd at Colorado State’s Moby Arena.

As long as she doesn’t say something to draw a technical foul. Greer made that mistake in Northridge’s opener, and the following day at practice Coach Frozena Jerro had her running until she vowed to never again lose her cool.

“Tina does a good job of keeping her aggressiveness under control,” Jerro said. “She’s been in a lot of big games and played in front of big crowds.”

Greer honed her skills against boys--including point guard Jason Hart of Syracuse--at Jesse Owens Park in Los Angeles. She played in the U.S. Olympic Festival in 1992 and ’94 and was All-City Section three years in a row at Washington.

As a senior, Greer led the Generals to the City championship. Washington lost in the state playoffs to Palmdale, whose point guard was Curry.

National power Old Dominion was among several schools that recruited Greer. But despite a 3.4 grade-point average, her Division I eligibility was in question because she didn’t take the SAT until late in her senior year.

By the time she received her qualifying score, Xavier, a parochial school in Cincinnati that competes in the powerful Atlantic 10 Conference, was the only prominent school with a scholarship available to her.

Impatient with Xavier’s methodical style, Greer left after the season despite starting 15 games.

She happened to be at the home of a former Washington teammate during a recruiting visit by Michael Abraham, then the Northridge coach.

“I told him my situation and he said, ‘I’ll give you a scholarship today,’ ” Greer said. “I took a visit to Northridge and decided, ‘Yeah, I like it.’ I liked the players.”

Others didn’t approve of her decision.

“My parents and friends said I should have gone to USC,” Greer said. “Now, of course, they are totally for Northridge. Everybody is real proud of me now.”

As Northridge’s first NCAA tournament game approaches, Greer’s faith shows no sign of abating.

“I don’t do anything just to do it,” she said. “We’re in this game. We might as well win it. That’s my attitude.”