Daniels to Teach A-B-Cs of ‘D’

Preseason practice for college basketball teams begins this weekend, and Cal State Fullerton men’s Coach Donny Daniels said his No. 1 priority will be developing a strong defense. “We want to establish a physical brand of basketball,” Daniels said.

Daniels, in his first season as Titan coach, has scheduled two workouts each on Saturday and Sunday before going to one practice a day next week.

“We’ll be spending a lot of time putting in our system and getting the terminology down,” said Daniels, a former assistant for Rick Majerus at Utah. “A lot of [the system] will be similar to what we used at Utah. I was there for 11 years, and I’m not going to walk away from that.”

Under NCAA rules, Daniels has been able to work with players on individual skills in groups of four, but he’s eager to start regular workouts. “There’s a limit to what you can do with the small groups,” Daniels said.

Daniels said the team will play a home exhibition game Nov. 3 against the L.A. Stars, a traveling team of former college players.

MIDNIGHT MAGIC

The basketball teams at UC Irvine will start as early as they’re allowed to, beginning practice at 12:01 a.m. Saturday at the Bren Center with a series of drills, a slam-dunk contest and a three-point shooting contest between members of the men’s and women’s teams.

Earlier in the evening, at 7 p.m. Friday, the women’s volleyball team hosts Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in Crawford Hall and the men’s soccer team hosts Denver at Anteater Stadium.

Doors at the Bren Center open at 11:15 p.m. Music, giveaways and contests are planned.

The men’s team returns senior guard Jerry Green, who led the team in scoring (22 points a game) during a six-game series of exhibitions in British Columbia in August. Senior forward Ben Jones averaged 19.3 points and 7.8 rebounds on the trip.

The men begin their season at home Nov. 3 against South Dakota.

The women, led by junior forward Krissy Duperon and sophomore forward Wendy Gabbe, have an intrasquad game Nov. 14.

OLYMPIC METTLE

Julie Swail says she has turned her thoughts away from the silver medal she won as captain of the U.S. women’s water polo team in Sydney and is working full-time as women’s water polo coach at UC Irvine.

“I came back and brought all of the energy of the Olympic Games with me and I want to channel that to my team,” Swail said. “There’s a lot of positive energy floating around the team right now. They’re a pile of clay and I can mold them into the athletes that they can become.”

Swail said she has yet to decide if she will attempt to make the 2004 U.S. team.

“Right now, I’m just relishing the moment,” she said. “I want to enjoy this. It was a terrific time. I’d do it again in a second, but I’ve got to see where my career and the Irvine team take me before I make that decision.”

WHERE THEY STAND

The men’s soccer teams at Cal State Fullerton (7-4-1, 1-0-1) and UC Irvine (7-4-1, 0-0-1) have reached the halfway point of the regular season and, after their 1-1 tie Sunday, the coaches assessed their teams’ play so far.

“From a national perspective, yes, I am disappointed,” said Fullerton Coach Al Mistri, whose team had won eight consecutive matches against Irvine before Sunday. “We lost to four nationally ranked teams this year and that is not what we wanted to do. But we’re very much in the hunt in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.”

Irvine Coach George Kuntz believes his team has the potential to advance to the conference tournament Nov. 10-12. The top two teams from the Northern and Southern divisions qualify.

But Irvine, which has won once in its last four matches, has been beset by injuries and illness.

Midfielder Chris Smalls has a bad back and midfielder Scott Bowman, a strong offensive threat, played Sunday on a sprained ankle.

TITANS DIG THIS VICTORY

The victory by the Cal State Fullerton women’s volleyball team Saturday over UC Irvine was the Titans’ first at Irvine since the 1996 season.

The Titans had 124 digs in four games. That was only four fewer than the school record set in five games against Irvine in 1995.

“We had 99 digs after three games, and that’s hard to believe,” Titan Coach Mary Ellen Murchison said. “I can’t imagine how many digs we would have had if we had gone five games.”

Michelle Merritt had a match-high 25 digs for the Titans.

“We had a real good week of practice and I think that helped us against Irvine,” Murchison said. “Hopefully this will get us going in the right direction.

Fullerton is 5-11 overall, 1-4 in the Big West. Irvine is 6-7, 1-4.

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Staff writer Paul McLeod contributed to this story.