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Second NIT Game Takes Titans to Old Foe THE QUICK SCENARIO: The Titans (20-10, 12-6) enter uncharted waters as they play a second game into the Post-Season NIT for the first time after a thrilling 85-83 overtime win at Oregon State on Wednesday night. The winner of Friday night’s game at San Francisco will advance to play Georgetown in the second round on Monday or Tuesday at a site to be determined (rhymes with nation’s capitol). The Titans are down to nine healthy players after backup point guard John Clemmons suffered a broken right foot in practice Tuesday night in Corvallis. Fullerton’s last previous post-season victory came over USF with Bill Cartwright and Company on March 16, 1978, in the NCAA Western Regional in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Fullerton was 0-2 in two previous NIT trips, also at Pac-10 venues, losing at Arizona State in 1983 and at Cal in overtime in 1987. ACCOMPLISHMENTS TO DATE: This has been arguably the
second best season behind the 1977-78 NCAA Cinderella team in Fullerton’s
Div. I history. The 2004-05 Titans have: “RADIO”: All games can be heard live on the internet on computers with sound cards. Listeners may access the CSF Athletics home page at www.titansports.org and follow the links. Mel Franks and Troy Bardy will be the announcers at San Francisco. PROBABLE STARTERS: OFF THE BENCH: SIDELINED: SERIES HISTORY: USF leads the all-time series, 4-3, including a win in the most recent game, a 75-61 Dons’ victory in War Memorial Gym on Dec. 28, 2002. Fullerton is 1-2 in War Memorial Gym, winning, 84-60, on Dec. 5, 1990, and also losing, 72-53, on Dec. 22, 1995. THE COACHES: Jessie Evans is in his first season at USF after a 132-81, 7-year run as head coach at Louisiana-Lafayette. He previously was an assistant to Lute Olson at Arizona (see Jay John at Oregon State). Bob Burton is 31-27 in his second year at Fullerton and career. Vs. THE WEST COAST CONFERENCE: Fullerton is 52-49 vs. the West Coast Conference, to wit: 3-4 vs. USF, 16-11 vs. San Diego, 13-11 vs. LMU, 8-11 vs. Pepperdine, 5-3 vs. Saint Mary’s, 0-2 vs. Gonzaga, 0-1 vs. Santa Clara and 7-6 vs. Portland. Vs. THE PAC-10: Fullerton is now 3-19 vs. the Pac-10. Of course, only one of those was a home game -- a 75-55 rout of Washington on Dec. 19, 1986, in Fullerton’s last previous NIT season. (The Huskies begged out of the return date in Seattle). The breakdown by school: 1-2 vs. Arizona (67-66 win on Dec. 1, 1983, in Tucson in Lute Olson’s first year), 0-2 vs. Arizona State, 0-1 vs. California, 0-3 vs. Oregon, 1-1 vs. Oregon State, 0-8 vs. UCLA, 0-2 vs. USC, 1-0 vs. Washington. DEFENSE WINS: While the Titans continue to lead the Big West Conference in team scoring at 75.5 points per game, their improved defense has been the glaring strength in the late-season success. For the first 14 games of the season opponents were shooting .491. Over the last 16 games, they shot only .442. Three times in that span the Titans held an opponent to 55 points -- Feb. 3 at UC Riverside, Feb. 7 at UC Davis and Mar. 10 vs. UC Santa Barbara. The Gauchos had the two lowest opponent field-goal percentages of the season -- .364 in a home loss on Feb. 24 and .347 in the Mar. 10 game at the Anaheim Convention Center. SO DOES REBOUNDING: Despite a diminutive roster and perimeter oriented attack, the Titans have found rebounding a strength in this memorable season. Fullerton is plus 4 in rebounding margin and has 126 more offensive rebounds than its opponents. THREE-PART SEASON: The Titans consider themselves 12-6 in Part III (without Hardy Asprilla) of a disjointed season. In Part I (without Ralphy Holmes and Jamaal Brown) they were 3-2. In Part II (with a full roster) they were 5-2. 7-4 IN CRUNCH TIME: The Titans are 7-4 in games this
year that went down to the final shot... RALPHY HOLMES: Selected to the All-Big West Conference second team despite leading the BWC in rebounding (8.6 rpg) and scoring (16.84 ppg ahead of 16.83 ppg by Idaho’s Dandrick Jones). Holmes was one basket shy of leading the BWC in scoring two years ago at 17.44 ppg to 17.46 by Varnie Dennis of Cal Poly. He has finished the season strong with 5 double-doubles in the last 7 games topped by the school’s first (at least back to 1980-81... no older records) Div. I triple-double with 14 points, 13 rebounds and a careeer-high 10 assists vs. Cal State Northridge on March 5. Has 10 double-doubles in all and was one rebound away from four others. It took until the UCI game on Feb. 10 for him to qualify for Big West Conference statistical rankings (75 percent of team’s games) but he has been in the top five of the two major categories from that point on. He was named Big West Player of the Week (thru Feb. 27) for two double-doubles in 79 minutes of play in wins at UCSB and Cal Poly. YAPHETT ADDS TO SCORING ‘POWER’: The loss of Hardy Asprilla turned Yaphett King into the power forward and he became a second-team All-Big West Conference selection. He has averaged 16.0 points over the final 15 games to end up No. 7 in the BWC in scoring at 14.0 ppg. He made the BWC All-Tournament team with 37 points & 14 rebounds in 2 games. He has been explosive -- a 19-point first half vs. Cal Poly, a 17-point first half vs. UC Riverside, a 17-point first half vs. Pacific, a 15-point first half vs. Cal State Northridge, a 15-point second half vs. UC Davis and a 16-point second half vs. Long Beach. Three times he has been the “go-to” guy down the stretch. Vs. Colgate on Nov. 20, he scored 9 of his 11 points and 9 of the team’s final 13 to hold off a Colgate rally. At Northridge, he scored 8 of the team’s final 12 points in regulation and added 4 more points in overtime including the game-winning bucket. At Cal Poly on Feb. 26 he personally erased a 3-point SLO lead in the final minute with a bucket and then a 3-point play with 9.1 seconds to play. And against Utah State on Feb. 19, his 3-pointer with 39 seconds to play was the back-breaker for the Aggies, turning a 1-point lead into a 4-point cushion with 39 seconds left. JERMAINE HARPER: The University of Virginia transfer is a textbook example of a “streak” shooter. For example, in three games vs. Utah State this year he was 2-for-9 in Logan, 0-for-7 in Fullerton and 7-for-11 in Anaheim from 3-point range. His scoring has been all over the board -- he has scored 4 points or less nine times (going scoreless 4 times) this season yet he has had four games of 20 or more points. In the other 17 games he has had between 7 and 16 points. He has taken 176 3-point field goal attempts and only 78 2-pointers this season. In conference play the breakdown was 94 treys and 36 deuces. He failed to score for three consecutive halves on Feb. 19 & 24 (2 vs. Utah State and the first half at UCSB), but had 8 second-half points (3-of-4 shooting) to help the Titans pull away from the Gauchos. His defense on opponents’ top perimeter shooter has been solid. His 65 3-pointers made rank No. 11 on the Cal State Fullerton single-season list. BOBBY BROWN: Last year’s freshman of the year in the Big West Conference made the honorable mention list this season. He garnered Big West Conference Player of the Week (thru Feb. 20) honors for his role in the home wins over Idaho and Utah State. He had 37 points (14-for-28 shooting) and 10 assists. He assisted on the two buckets to put away the Feb. 17 Idaho game in the final two minutes and vs. Utah State two nights later he made a spectacular 3-point play to put Fullerton ahead for good with 1:31 remaining. Despite a late-season shooting slump, he still is the conference’s No. 3 scorer (16.6 ppg, pending Spencer Nelson of Utah State at 16.4 ppg), No. 3 assists man (4.8 apg) and runnerup in 3-pointers made per game (2.67). With 80 3-point field goals, he has the No. 2 Titan single-season total (No. 1 is Don Leary with 89 in 1992-93), surpassing his 70 of last season, which rank No. 5. He ranks No. 3 career with 150 treys and trails only five-year players Chris Dade (191) and Chris St. Clair (185). JAMAAL BROWN ON A ROLL: Jamaal Brown’s play the past 15 games is probably the biggest reason for the Titans’ 12-3 record and earned him honorable mention all-conference honors. After averaging 8 points (8-for-23 FGs) in the 3-game losing streak, he’s had 180 points (78-of-149 FGs, .523) in the last 15 games with 106 rebounds (7.1 rpg). He made 10-of-11 shots at UC Irvine on Feb. 10 including the game-turning field goal with 25 seconds left and two clinching free throws with 6 seconds left. His defense on Spencer Nelson vs. Utah State in the second half on Feb. 19 was critical in the Titans’ rally from an 8-point deficit at the intermission. And he won the home finale vs. Cal State Northridge with a buzzer-beating tip-in for a game-high 19 points. His absence due to foul trouble (played only 21 minutes) was significant in the March 11 Big West Tournament loss to the Aggies. HOME MAGIC BACK?: Titan Gym used to be a “pit” to opponents. Between the 1981-82 and 1992-93 seasons, Fullerton had a winning home record every year with a total of 118 wins vs. 43 losses (.733). Under Bob Hawking (39-37) and Donny Daniels (13-26), the record fell to 52-63 (.452) for the 1994-95 thru 2002-03 seasons. But Fullerton was 10-2 (.833) this sseason, its best home mark since the 1982-83 team was 13-0. The Titans have won 15 of the last 18 at home. Last year’s team was 8-6 at home after a 3-5 start. ROAD MILESTONES: Fullerton finished Big West Conference play with a 5-4 road record, its first winning conference season away from home at the Div. I level (dates to 1974-75). At 8-6 (10-8 including neutral court games), the Titans have a winning overall away record for the first time since the 1988-89 team went 8-6. DOUBLE FIGURES: With five players averaging 9.7 ppg or more, it’s not surprising to see the Titans spreading the scoring load around. All five of the “current” starters have led the team in a game -- B.Brown 12 times, Holmes (9), King (5), Harper (2), J. Brown (4) -- and five times at least five players have been in double figures. Six Titans (B. Brown 21, Asprilla 16, Harper 16, King 15, Burns 14 and Quinet 10) did it vs. Hope International. NOT MUCH SCORING FROM BENCH: Conversely, the Titans’ bench is not much of an offensive threat. In the last 13 games, the bench has produced only 60 TOTAL points -- in reverse chronological order: 0, 0, 5, 3, 4, 5, 7, 6, 4, 3, 7, 9, 7. Of course, the starters don’t leave the floor much. In the last 16 games the starters are averaging 33.2 minutes per man (Holmes = 36.5; B. Brown = 35.6; J. Brown = 31.6; Harper = 31.4; & King = 31.8). STUDENTS GET FIRST LOOK: Remarkably, Cal State Fullerton did not play its first home game of the season with students in session until Feb. 17. The Nov. 27 Hope game came during Thanksgiving Holiday and the Dec. 23 game vs. Denver came during the Christmas recess. The balance came during intersession in January. A crowd of 2,076 showed up Feb. 17 for the Idaho game, making it the largest home gathering since 4,128 saw a win over UNLV on March 6, 1993. The Idaho total was later topped by the UoP game of March 3 when 3,576 showed up and the north balcony bleachers had to be utilized for the first time in years. 3-BOMBS AWAY: Fullerton is averaging 7.9 makes (to lead the Big West) and 22.3 attempts per game. The current totals of 237 made and 670 attempted are school single-season records (old marks: 196 makes last season and 551 attempts in 1996-97). As goes perimeter shooting, the results have seldom been “average.” They shot a season’s worst 3-for-18 vs. UC Riverside on Jan. 6 and two nights later a season’s best 10-for-18 vs. UC Davis. The 14 3-pointers vs. UC Irvine on Jan. 15 tied the school single-game record originally set on Dec. 9, 2003, vs. USC. The Titans made 10 in the second half of the UCI game and 9 in the first half at UCR on Feb. 3. They were 8-for-17 in the first half at Oregon State and 1-for-10 in the second half and overtime. ABOUT TIME: Fullerton has shot more free throws than its opponent only six times all season -- all wins, vs. UC Santa Barbara, at UC Davis, at UC Irvine, vs. Idaho, vs. Cal State Northridge and at Oregon State. Both Utah State and CSF shot 12 on Feb. 19. The season disparity is 597 vs. 415. In the two Pacific games, the Tigers shot 58 free throws to 19 by Fullerton. STRUGGLING LATELY: After shooting a respectable .702 from the free-throw line for the first 23 games, the Titans have made only 66-of-109 (.606) over the past seven games including 9-of-16 vs. UCSB on Mar. 10 and 9-of-19 vs. Cal State Northridge on Mar. 5. FLYING HIGH: The Titans have flown out of town after a win four times this season -- vs. Colgate at Central Connecticut, at Eastern Washington, at UC Davis and out of Portland on the way to Sacramento/San Francisco. Those four “air” wins surpass the PAST SEVEN SEASONS COMBINED, to wit: 1-6 in 1997-98; 0-8 in 1998-99; 0-7 in 1999-2000; 1-6 in 2000-01; 0-6 in 2001-02; 1-6 in 2002-03 and 0-5 in 2003-04 for a total of 3-44. Compare that to this year’s 4-4 mark (also lost to Samford in Connecticut, at Denver, at Utah State and at Idaho). NUMBER SWITCH: Jamaal Brown was going to wear No. 4 this season for the Titans in honor of his former Western Kentucky teammate Nathan Eisert, who committed suicide. Jamaal gave up that jersey at the TV taping and opted for No. 32, a number his dad wore. NETWORK EXPOSURE: ABC's highly rated Extreme Makeover: Home Edition came to Titan Gym on Dec. 8 to tape a tribute to Rodney Anderson, the former Titan player whose family received the full treatment from the show between Dec. 4 and 14, getting TWO new homes to replace their 1911-built residence in South Central L.A. The taping featured the retirement of his jersey (No. 4) and was included in a special two-hour episode that aired on Jan. 16 and a one-hour segment on Jan. 17. Rodney was shot in a mistaken-identity gang shooting near his home on Mar. 2, 2000, and is paralyzed and in a wheelchair. He is scheduled to graduate in June with a degree in human services. He and his girlfriend, Monique, were married on Dec. 13 in their new yard as part of the show. RATING THE PROGNOSTICATORS: Here’s the pre-season
conference predictions and the final standings: HUGE RECRUITING CLASS: The Titans signed probably
their largest class of November recruits -- both in height and numbers
-- ever. These six newcomers will join the program for next season (comments
by Asst. Coach Andy Newman):
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