Raising the Stakes

Think bricks when considering the state of the Cal State Northridge basketball program.

No, not those kind.

The Matadors might shoot a modest 46%, but they are first in the Big Sky Conference and 13th in the nation in scoring at 81.2 points per game.

Think real bricks, the kind that build something sturdy one piece at a time.

In Coach Bobby Braswell’s three seasons, Northridge’s improvement has come in solid, if unspectacular, increments.

* A program 56 games under .500 in its first six Division I seasons from 1990-96 is 42-41 in Braswell’s tenure.

* At 16-10 this season, the Matadors will finish with a winning Division I record for the first time.

* At 8-6 in Big Sky games, they are in fourth place in the nine-team conference, better than the seventh- and sixth-place finishes of the last two seasons.

* The Matadors have defeated the three teams ahead of them in the conference standings: Northern Arizona, Weber State and Portland State.

* Northridge won a Division I tournament for the first time, the PowerBar Invitational in Hawaii.

* The chronic behavior problems that plagued last season’s team and resulted in Braswell suspending five players have vanished.

Progress, however slow and steady, is undeniably evident.

But something dramatic is necessary for Northridge to realize Braswell’s dreams of national exposure and a packed Northridge gym.

And only one thing will do: Qualifying for the NCAA Tournament by winning the Big Sky Tournament.

Close won’t be good enough because it’s been done.

Two years ago, the Matadors came within a minute of winning the tournament final before falling to Montana. Last season, they beat Eastern Washington in the first round and lost to Northern Arizona in the semifinals.

“Our ultimate goal is on the sign hanging above our locker room door: Go to the Big Dance,” Braswell said. “But I don’t know how fair it is to say Northridge will only have achieved success by going to the NCAA tournament.”

Braswell is sensitive to suggestions that the improvement of his program already is less than substantial.

“If you look at where this program was when I got here, it has been a dramatic turnaround,” he said. “We’ve come a long way in a short time. Three years in a row we’ve qualified for the conference tournament, and 16 wins at the Division I level is a lot.”

Braswell points out that nine of 10 seniors received diplomas in his three seasons. And he said that none of the players suspended last season broke the law; they were guilty only of breaking team rules.

This season’s team is guilty of nothing more egregious than inconsistency on the court.

Only guard Derrick Higgins can be counted upon to bring his best game night after night. Ten players have scored at least 13 points in a game and seven have scored at least 19, but all 10 have been held to four points or fewer and six have been held scoreless.

“We have so many guys who have never played Division I basketball before or are new to this conference, and this is an education for them,” Braswell said. “People forget we are a very young and immature basketball team.”

Higgins is the only senior and six Matadors either did not play last season or are junior college transfers.

The regular season ends with road games at Weber State on Thursday and Sacramento State on Saturday. Little more is at stake than building momentum for the conference tournament, which will be held March 4-6 at the home of the Big Sky champion, either Northern Arizona or Weber State.

“The most important thing is that we are playing well heading into the tournament,” Braswell said. “Especially with a young team, it’s important for the players to feel good about themselves.

Imagine the thrill of winning the tournament. Braswell does all the time.

It would make all his frustrations worthwhile. He frets about Matador games not being on radio, about the absence of a strength-and-conditioning coach, about plans for an arena taking a back seat to a football stadium.

And he is especially irked about home attendance not increasing despite the team’s improvement. Northridge was only 5-3 in home Big Sky games, a mark Braswell believes would have been better with more fan and administrative support.

“It’s hard for guys to get fired up when they come out for introductions and there are only a few hundred people sitting there,” he said. “That breaks my heart for our guys.

“When I got here we were going to bring in young men committed to basketball, to academics and who have good character. We’ve done that and a whole lot has fallen into place.”

But there are many more bricks to lay. And one conference tournament to win.