Promising Forward Smith Quits at CS Northridge : College basketball: Sophomore believes he would not play enough, forfeits scholarship but stays in school.

Martin Smith, the most promising player in the Cal State Northridge basketball program, quit the team Tuesday.

“I saw that I probably wouldn’t play that much this year so, the best thing for me to do is concentrate on my studies,” Smith said.

Smith, a 6-foot-4 sophomore from St. Bernard High, was viewed by Coach Pete Cassidy as “maybe the best (athlete) on the team.”

Smith showed potential in the third game of the 1990-91 season when he came off the bench against New Mexico State and scored 10 points.

Over the next 12 games, however, Smith was limited to five minutes per game.

“He is a whale of an athlete,” Cassidy said at the time. “Some games he’ll get a lot of time, others not as much. His time will come.”

Cassidy was unavailable for comment Tuesday.

Smith started two of CSUN’s last four games, including a win over Idaho State in which he had 12 points, five rebounds and six assists. He finished with an average of five points and 1.5 rebounds in 11.7 minutes a game.

The Matadors finished 8-20 last season, their first in Division I competition.

“It was real frustrating last year,” Smith said of his lack of playing time.

Smith, who gave up his scholarship but will stay in school, said he will consider walking on next season.

By then, two of the CSUN players competing with him for playing time at small forward--David Swanson and Keith Gibbs--will have exhausted their eligibility.

Smith feared the roller-coaster nature of his playing time would continue. “I was going by what happened last year,” he said.

Smith did not consider redshirting because it would require his participation at practice. A computer science major, Smith said he would rather use the time to raise his grade-point average.