Morgan Just Looking for a Few Good Omens

Handling controversy is part of a head coach’s job.

Exhibition games don’t count or really matter.

And injuries happen--so you deal with them.

Qualifiers aside, Long Beach State men’s basketball Coach Wayne Morgan wouldn’t mind some good news right now. Or a single good omen.

Life in Wayne’s World is pretty dreary these days, and the season hasn’t even started. Long Beach opens at home Monday night against Wyoming.

The latest blow came Thursday when prized freshman forward Greg Clark was found to have a dislocated left shoulder. He is expected to miss at least two weeks.

This comes on the heels of a rib injury suffered by standout junior guard James Cotton that sidelined him for the exhibition season. Junior forward Marcus Johnson was suspended Nov. 4 for attacking junior forward Corey Saffold during a practice. Johnson resumed practicing Friday and will be reinstated for the USC game Nov. 30.

And then there’s the 49ers’ play, which hasn’t done anything to boost Morgan’s spirits. In two exhibition games, the 49ers lost, 80-78, to Upstate Developmental Basketball League All-Stars Nov. 12 and to Global Sports in overtime, 91-88, Tuesday.

Global Sports lost to Cal State Fullerton, 89-72, on Monday. To say the least, Fullerton isn’t considered among the Big West Conference’s best teams.

Long Beach is the consensus pick of the preseason college basketball magazines to win the conference’s Western Division title.

“Quite frankly, I was very disappointed in our performance,” Morgan said. “Defensively we were just terrible and I don’t want to make any excuses.

“Technically we were often out of position. We didn’t make the right moves defensively. We’ve practiced since Oct. 15. A lot of the things we practiced just were not displayed.”

Cotton said he expects to be ready for the opener, so that should help. Senior center Ike Nwankwo becomes eligible Dec. 20.

The 49ers’ porous defense and lackluster offense are major problems until they prove otherwise. This team has all the ingredients for a very slow start, which will give the bandwagon types ample ammunition.

Morgan knows what’s wrong. He hopes everyone gives him the time to try to fix it.

“We have a lot of work to do,” he said. “But we have 12 guys learning a new system. We’re not bailing water out of the ship yet.”

*

Now it can be told: Brian Gimmillaro knew it would be like this.

On watching his team’s first practice in August, Gimmillaro, the 49ers’ women’s volleyball coach, thought he might have one of his best teams yet.

He was right.

The 49ers (28-1, 15-1 in the Big West) are ranked sixth in the USA Today/American Volleyball Coaches Assn. and Volleyball Magazine polls. They won the conference’s Western Division and play North Texas tonight at 6 in the first round of the inaugural Big West tournament at UC Santa Barbara.

“I’m a pretty good judge of talent, and I thought that this could potentially be one of our best teams ever,” Gimmillaro said. “I thought we had a chance to win every one of our matches. I thought injuries would be the only thing out of our control.”

Ah, they usually are. There have been key injuries along the way, but the 49ers have overcome them.

The 49ers can earn an automatic NCAA tournament berth by winning the conference tournament. Even if they don’t, they will receive an at-large tournament berth.

“It’s going to be very interesting to see what happens now,” Gimmillaro said. “It’s going to be more difficult, but I like our chances.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Coming Attractions

Here’s a look at key games this week for Long Beach State.

* Women’s volleyball vs. North Texas at 6 tonight at Big West Conference tournament at UC Santa Barbara.

* Women’s basketball vs. Fresno State at 7:30 tonight at the Pyramid.

* Women’s volleyball vs. UC Santa Barbara/Boise State winner at Big West Conference tournament at 8 p.m. Sunday at Santa Barbara.