Those were Fullerton’s 15 seconds

Twenty-nine years ago today, Cal State Fullerton came within a jump shot of making the Final Four, a feat almost as improbable as FoxSports.com running a list of all-time NCAA basketball Cinderellas and not including the Titans.

The FoxSports.com item included a top-10 ranking of the “Prettiest Cinderellas” -- 1983 North Carolina State is No. 1 -- and mentioned eight other teams that were considered. But no Titans.

In the interest of refreshing some memories, the 1978 Titans qualified for their only NCAA tournament by upsetting San Diego State and Long Beach State in the PCAA tournament, and then knocked off, in order:

No. 4 New Mexico and Michael Cooper, 90-85, in the first round.

No. 11 San Francisco and Bill Cartwright, 75-72, in the West Regional semifinals.

Then, in a West Regional final played on March 18, Fullerton staged a furious rally against No. 5 Arkansas and had a chance to tie in the final seconds before losing to the Sidney Moncrief-led Razorbacks, 61-58.

Old Titans fans with elephant’s memory shake their heads nearly three decades later and mutter wistfully, “If only Keith Anderson had driven the lane instead of pulling up at the foul line ... “ It was lightning in a bottle for “Cal State Who?,” which unfortunately put together its incredible highlight reel one year before the birth of ESPN.

So, future chroniclers of NCAA Cinderellas, you have been warned and advised.

Remember the Titans.

Trivia time

How many players from that 1978 Fullerton team went on to play in the NBA?

Week 11 Power Rankings

This was the week Pete Rose bet it all on never making the Hall of Fame ...

1. March Madness: For three weeks, everyone is a college basketball expert. Even Billy Packer.

2. Kobe Bryant: New jersey number finally explained: Old jersey number multiplied by three flagrant elbows = 24.

3. Phil Jackson: Says even Jesus Christ couldn’t help Lakers these days. Hmm. Maybe Moses Malone is available.

4. Teemu Selanne: Becomes first NHL player over 35 to score 40-plus goals in aching-back-to-aching back seasons.

5. Chargers’ new unis: Good news: They brought back an updated version of the old white helmet. Not so good news: They also brought back an updated version of the old Norv Turner.

6. Randy Moss: New Packer? Must have been a bad rumor. We’re still stuck with the old one.

7. Cinderella: Once she ranked much higher. But then came the “SportsCentury” expose.

8. Chief Illiniwek: Officially retired by the University of Illinois.

Life goes on, though. The Chief’s next gig: “Dancing With The Stars.”

9. Sylvester Stallone: Caught while traveling with a stash of 48 vials of HGH. Who knew Rocky was so into baseball?

10. Desert(ed) tennis: Federer, Sharapova, Hingis, Jankovic -- all gone before the quarterfinals. Tournament has been renamed the Pacific Lite Open.

Same old Snake

For Jake Plummer, it has been the usual, logical career progression.

From the Arizona Cardinals ... to the Denver Broncos ... to not the Tampa Bay Buccaneers ... to the Colorado Open handball championships.

From football to handball, Plummer has found

an athletic

outlet as he transitions into retirement. Plummer entered the recent tournament with his older brother Eric, a development that did not surprise Broncos fans.

Plummer’s team lost in the semifinals to the eventual champions.

Trivia answer

Two. Greg Bunch played in 12 games with the 1978-79 New York Knicks and Mike Niles made 44 appearances with the 1980-81 Phoenix Suns.

And finally

Monday’s 20th anniversary of Woody Hayes’ death prompted this e-mail from reader Ed Goldstein:

“A great story about Woody was when he got a call one day from a local brewery in Columbus. One of his players was drinking the free beer and was getting out of hand.

“They asked Woody if he would come down and get him.

“When he got there, he said to the kid, ‘Come on son, they can make the beer here faster than you can drink it.’ The kid responded, ‘I know coach, but I’ve got them working a second shift.’ ”

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mike.penner@latimes.com