Great Expectations Follow Long Beach

Long Beach State basketball Coach Wayne Morgan could only squirm during the recent Big West Conference media day. One coach after another raved about the 49ers. The talent. The depth. The experience.

Morgan had to take it. Finally, it was his turn to speak.

“I guess these guys haven’t been at any of our practices,” Morgan said. “We have lost [forward] Richie Smalls for the season. . . .”

Cal State Fullerton Coach Bob Hawking smiled and chimed in: “So, you’re only 10 deep then?”

A time will come when they try to bury Morgan’s team. Right now, all they will do is praise it. For good reason.

Morgan does have talent. He does have depth. He does have experience. In fact, he has everything necessary to win the conference title . . . on paper.

Now comes the hard part. Doing it. Of course, Morgan is used to the heat.

He inherited a program that had five consecutive winning seasons and two NCAA appearances. Morgan is 36-48 in three seasons.

It took a couple late-season victories and a lengthy meeting with Athletic Director Bill Shumard to prevent school officials from eating the last two years of Morgan’s contract. He has the talent, with seven returning players, to prevent them from whetting their appetites again.

Still, this is the Big West, where anything can happen. A year ago, UC Santa Barbara lost its first eight regular-season games, then won the Western Division title.

The only real guarantee is the conference will shrink after this season. Nevada jumps to the Western Athletic Conference next fall with Boise State following the next year. New Mexico State and North Texas join the Sun Belt in 2001-2002. Utah State and Idaho are pleading to join any conference that will listen.

A look at teams by division and in alphabetical order, excluding Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State and UC Irvine:

WESTERN DIVISION

CAL POLY SAN LUIS OBISPO

Coach: Jeff Schneider.

1998-99: 11-16.

Returning starters: 3.

Top players: Mike Wozniak (16.2 points), Chris Bjorklund (18.1 points).

Outlook: Wozniak, 55 points shy of the school scoring record, shot only 38% last season. The Mustangs lost hard-working forward Brandon Beeson, who had knee surgery, and Jabbar Washington, who transferred.

PACIFIC

Coach: Bob Thomason.

1998-99: 14-13.

Returning starters: 3.

Top players: Barry Marvel (8.5 points), Peter Heizer (transfer from Diablo Valley Community College).

Outlook: A lot will depend on Marvel, who has not had impressive practices so far. “Barry went to get a flu shot at our health center and I asked him to get a smart shot too,” Thomason said. “I watched him practice that day and figured it must take two days to kick in.”

UC SANTA BARBARA

Coach: Bob Williams.

1998-99: 16-11.

Returning starters: 3.

Top players: Brandon Payton (9.1 points), Eric Ashe (10.6 points).

Outlook: B.J. Bunton and Josh Merrill, the Gauchos’ top two scorers, are gone. It leaves two big holes inside and Mike Vukovich (6 feet 9), Adama Ndiaye (6-9) and Juliano Jordani (6-7) are untested. Payton has improved his overall game.

EASTERN DIVISION

BOISE STATE

Coach: Rod Jensen.

1998-99: 21-8.

Returning starters: 3.

Top players: Abe Jackson (7.5 points), Kejuan Woods (9.3 points)

Outlook: Too many questions. Is Woods’ injured knee healed? Can Jackson expand on his 16-point per game performance in the conference tournament? Is Michael Gely, a 7-0, 270-pound center from France, a force or just a guy who ate a lot of baguettes?

IDAHO

Coach: David Farrar.

1998-99: 16-11.

Returning starters: 2.

Top player: Gordon Scott (16.5 points).

Outlook: The Vandals still have one of the best perimeter players in the 6-5 Scott, but little else. Devon Ford is their best inside player, but he’s only 6-4. Clifford Gray, a 6-6 forward, is back after missing last season because of a foot injury.

NEVADA

Coach: Trent Johnson.

1998-99: 8-18.

Returning starters: 1.

Top players: Calvin Criddle (7.5 points), Terrance Green (freshman).

Outlook: This isn’t Palo Alto. Johnson spent the last four years as an assistant at Stanford, where the second team could start at most Big West schools. He inherits a group whose first team probably couldn’t carry towels for the Cardinal.

NEW MEXICO STATE

Coach: Lou Henson.

1998-99: 23-10.

Returning starters: 4.

Top players: Billy Keyes (13.7 points), Eric Channing (10.4 points)

Outlook: Henson restored some order in Las Cruces after the chaos surrounding Neil McCarthy’s dismissal. Keyes and Channing form one of the conference’s better backcourts. But leading scorer and rebounder Charles Gosa is gone.

NORTH TEXAS

Coach: Vic Trilli.

1998-99: 4-22.

Returning starters: 4.

Top players: Deginald Erskin (12.3 points), Dexter Tennell (10.8 points).

Outlook: The Eagles lost their first 12 games last season. The schedule is softer and the players are more experienced, so North Texas should be substantially improved. Erskin averaged 37.5 points in the last two games. Tennell scored 20 or more in three of the last four.

UTAH STATE

Coach: Stew Morrill.

1998-99: 15-13.

Returning starters: 1.

Top players: Troy Rolle (13.4 points), Bernard Rock (transfer from New Mexico Military Institute).

Outlook: Morrill had two suggestions for Aggie boosters: “Buy a program and be patient.” In other words, he has lots of new players and no idea what they will do. Rolle is solid and Rock could be, but there are only three returning players.