Matadors Have to Learn to Let Go

If the history of Cal State Northridge basketball were to be documented and packaged in a 10-video series, nine of the tapes would focus on last season.

Casting aside a largely mediocre history, the Matadors won the Big Sky Conference tournament and advanced to the NCAA tournament for the first time, sticking a firm elbow in the stomach of other local teams on the way to their best record (22-10) since joining Division I in 1990-91.

It will be tough for Northridge to forget its 78-74 victory over UCLA, the program’s first win over a nationally ranked team. Difficult to erase from short-term memory the camera lights and sound bites that went with making the NCAA tournament. A challenge to move forward from the scintillating statistics the team put up last season, ranking among the top 30 teams in 10 categories.

“I’d like to live off last year for a few years, but I don’t know if my boss is going to let me do that,” Coach Bobby Braswell said. “Expectations have definitely changed.”

It will be a season of challenges for the Matadors, with a retooled roster and new competition.

The Matadors lost five key players, including conference player of the year Brian Heinle, and they have stepped up in class, moving to the Big West Conference.

Thinking positively, they no longer have to travel to geographically undesirable Eastern Washington or Weber State. Thinking realistically, they now must face better teams with better schemes.

“In the Big Sky, you have teams that play half-court defense and half-court offense,” Braswell said. “We were sort of an enigma for them because we always wanted to run as much as we could on the offensive end, and defensively we liked to change up and really get after people.

“I think most teams in [the Big West] are probably going to play this way. More athletes are involved, bigger athletes are involved.”

Northridge had plenty of performers last season, finishing seventh in the nation in scoring (82.8 points a game), sixth in shooting (49.4%) and 16th in three-point accuracy (39.7%).

But with five of their top six scorers gone, the Matadors have some fixing to do. Point guard Markus Carr is a good start.

The 6-foot-1 senior led the nation in assists last season with 8.9 a game, although Braswell wants to see more in the scoring column, where Carr averaged 8.7 points.

“He’s special, but I told him he’s going to have to show people the other part of his game,” Braswell said. “He’s got to get used to stepping up and knocking down some threes and getting in the lane and finishing some plays of his own.”

Carr will be playing with unfamiliar faces. Northridge could have three or four freshmen in the lineup at the same time, a severe contrast to last season’s senior-laden team.

Braswell is particularly fond of freshmen Chris Davis, a 6-8 forward from Crenshaw High, and Ian Boylan, a 6-6 swingman from Norman, Okla. Braswell will also count on freshman Joseph Frazier, a 6-2 guard from Pasadena Muir, and redshirt freshman Gene Myvett, a 6-4 swingman from Littlerock.

The learning curve is high. Experience is low.

“There’s going to be some days when you’re going to look at our basketball team and you’re going to say, ‘Where are these guys coming from? What are they doing?”’ Braswell said.

“And then there’s going to be some days where you’re going to be around these guys and you’re going to say, ‘Hey, this is a really special group.’ That’s just the nature of the beast when you have young guys.”

Carr will be the steadying force, with some help from 6-4 junior forward Lionel Benjamin, a part-time starter last season, and 6-7 forward Joey Busch, one of three seniors on the team.

“We’re getting there,” Carr said. “Coach Braswell is very demanding. We’re not going to go to the Big West and back down. We’re going to put some wins together.”