Thoughts From Press Row
CSUN vs. CBU, November 15th
My first time in the CBU Events Center, and man, what a facility. Great viewing experience, not a bad seat in the house, with overall vibe that’s very fan-friendly. Loved the bar-styled seating along top of the concourse, with easily accessible concession stands. Student section turned out in force, especially when you consider it was a Tuesday Night game. Nice to see kids today, still bopping to OutKast, even if it was “Hey Ya.” (Nothing against the big hit, buy would have loved to have heard more obscure tune from ‘Kast catalogue. But hey, you take what you can get.)
CBU Head Coach Rick Croy has been active in the transfer portal, since the team moved up to Division 1, but it seems this year, he’s been particularly ambitious. The Lancers’ rotation on Tuesday, featured transfers from Utah, Georgetown, LMU, South Dakota and New Hampshire. (A Sixth-D1 Transfer, Mikey Frazier, from Utah Tech, didn’t play.) Guessing that CBU being eligible for NCAA Post-Season may have been part of the attraction for the newly-minted Lancers. Things could get interesting, once conference play starts, in the WAC.
As far as the Matadors, looks like they’ve found their point guard, in Dionte Bostick, the transfer from Murray State. Coming off of a 31 point performance, Saturday, in St. George, where CSUN rallied back from 21 points down, to trim the lead to six, Bostick was solid again, with 13 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists, in his 34 minutes. With all the new additions for CSUN this season (eleven new players, including five true freshman), point guard was going to be a key position, and although it’s early, Bostick seems to be up to the challenge to fill that role. One of CSUN’s issues last season was Assist/Turnover Ratio, where they finished 10th, in an eleven-team Big West Conference. The previous three seasons, with Darius Brown at PG, the Matadors were 2nd, 1st and 4th, in that category, while DB2 led the conference twice, and was 5th in the NCAA back in 2021. Brown, by the way, looked good for his new team, Montana State, on Sunday, back at The Pyramid, vs. Long Beach State.
Aside from the argument about “Who is the GOAT?” nothing divides the basketball village more than their opinion on the game box +/- rating. There are those who consider it the great answer to all questions about defense, while others dismiss it, as just another nerd annoyance that’s ruining the game. For what it’s worth, over the last two games, Fidelis Okereke, has emerged as the CSUN leader in this category. It seems when he’s on the court, the Matadors’ defense runs fairly efficienctly. In Saturday’s loss, he was one of four CSUN players with a positive plus/minus, at +13, despite having played just 12 minutes. He was on the floor late, when CSUN made their run, cutting the Trailblazers’ lead from 21 to 6, in about a six-minute stretch in the 2nd Half. Tuesday, at CBU, Okereke was a plus 7, in 25 minutes. John Wade III (5 min) and Dearon Tucker (16 min) were both even at 0, as Fidelis was the only player on the court with a positive plus/minus. We’ll need to delve into this more as the season goes on. In the second half of his Freshman year, Okereke emerged as a willing and aggressive defender, out on the wing. Last season, he showed flashes on offense, in the low post. Matador faithful hope the King/Drew standout can continue to blossom on both ends for CSUN, as the year moved on.
Matadors ran out to a big lead early, which CBU gradually chipped down, tying the game at 28-apiece, right before the half. The Lancers took the lead for good, just past the sixteen minute mark of the second period, on LMU transfer, Joe Quintana’s three-pointer, which broke a 36-all tie. The Matadors crept to within 57-55, with just over two minutes remaining, but missed a couple of threes, and the front end of a one-and-one, which allowed CBU to pull away, as they’d score the last five points of the contest. The Matadors held the Lancers to 35.5% from the floor, but CBU hit 6-16 from long distance in the 2nd Half, after going just 1-10 over the first twenty minutes, as compared to CSUN’s 3 for 17 from long-distance. Also, the Lancers held a thirteen-point advantage, when you combined Points off Turnovers and Second Chance Points. The Matadors weren’t able to secure a couple of crucial defensive rebounds late in the game.
Final thought, the photo you see at the top of the piece, was our vantage point for Tuesday’s broadcast. More and more, that’s becoming the norm, for visiting radio. It’s not an entirely new experience, as for many years, UC Davis had radio at the top of the lower bowl, at The Pavilion, and some years ago, calling a tournament at Little Rock, we were up on the concourse as well. There are a variety of reasons for this, none of which really take the radio broadcast itself into consideration, but the sight lines for CBU were probably as good as it gets, for not being on the floor. You could see all ten players at once, and the scoreboard was in clear and plain view. We were up top at Utah Tech, which was adequate, but still not as good as CBU, you can judge for yourself, here.
It’s a little higher up than we were at CBU, and a little steeper, in terms of the sight lines, with Burns Arena, its current incarnation, having been renovated in 1998, some nineteen years ahead of the CBU Events Center’s opening in 2017.
BONUS TIDBIT: With basketball season approaching, right after Halloween, I immersed myself in Pat Conroy’s “My Losing Season” which was a memoir of his Senior season in 1967, as a college basketball player, at The Citadel. Among Conroy’s other literary works are: “The Great Santini,” “Prince of Tides,” and “The Lords of Discipline.” I’ve always been enamored of Conroy’s work, but wasn’t even aware of “My Losing Season’s” existence, until I signed up for one of those Library Apps, where you can access audio books. (By the way, if you’re an Audio Book Person, I highly recommend both HooplaDigital and Libby, which are both free, with a library card) In addition to being a tremendous supplement to “The Lords of Discipline” which was also set at The Citadel, it’s a winding journey through that era of college basketball. Lefty Driesell, Dean Smith and Frank Selvy, are among the names you come across in Conroy’s work, and the behind the scenes descriptions of the Citadel program, as well as the Conroy-trademark family and team dysfunctions, are what make the read so intriguing. Everyone remembers winning teams, but what happens when the members of a losing team (The Citadel went 8-16 in 1967) come together after nearly thirty years? Quite a unique take on the “Jock Reminiscence” trope. By the way, Conroy, a 5-11 point guard, who honed his game on the DC playgrounds, before moving to South Carolina in High School, was named team MVP for 1967. Bravo, Mr. Conroy. Until next time, see you on Press Row.