CCAA MEN’S PREVIEW : Parity Party Reprised; CSUN Tries to Upset Another Balancing Act

Let’s not bother with the rhetoric. The bottom line is, coaches in the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. predict the same old thing this season.

In a word, balance.

Heard this before? Probably last season, or just about any season before that.

And they are usually right.

Last season, five of the conference’s eight teams finished within two games of first place. This time around, there could be a bigger logjam.

“Last year there were six teams that could beat each other on a given night,” Coach John Masi of Riverside said. “This year there’s at least seven--maybe all eight.”

The consensus top three teams are Riverside, Cal State Northridge and Chapman, all of which begin CCAA play tonight.

Riverside, ranked No. 8 in Division II, won its first 10 games before losing on the road to Southwest Louisiana and Southern Mississippi, both Division I tournament teams last season.

The Highlanders pin their hopes on an array of outside shooters, the best of whom is Maurice Pullum, a 6-2 guard who helped Ventura to last season’s state junior college championship.

Pullum leads Riverside with an average of 15 points a game and has made more shots outside the three-point line (39) than he has inside it (22). Julius Thomas, a 6-4 senior, is almost as effective. He is 15 of 30 from three-point range and is averaging 14.3 points.

At the controls of the Riverside attack is guard Chris Jackson, which means the Highlanders are in very stable hands. Jackson played for Mater Dei High teams that went 99-2. Last season, he played on a Rancho Santiago College team that advanced to the state semifinals.

Masi went to the state tournament looking to sign a shooter such as Pullum, plus a forward and a center to replace Robert Jimerson and Paul Kapturkiewicz, the two best players on last season’s team. “We didn’t get our center, but we certainly got our shooter,” Masi said.

Riverside’s starting front line is 6-6, 6-4 and 6-4, and that could mean trouble against Chapman and Northridge, which by Division II standards are both fairly beefy across the front.

Chapman (9-4) has won four games in a row, seven of its past nine, and arguably has the conference’s best player in Kelly Huston, a 6-7 junior.

Huston has scored 30 points or more in three of the past five games and is averaging 23.4 points and 9.3 rebounds a game. He has led Chapman in scoring, rebounding or both categories in every game.

“One of the things that makes this conference so balanced is that there are no dominant players,” Masi said. “Huston is the only exception.”

Coach Kevin Wilson also has been pleased by the play of point guard Bryan Richetto, a 6-4 freshman from Stow, Ohio, who was a high school All-American last season. He has 10 assists or more in four games.

The conference’s most physical team is Northridge (8-4), which has 6-8, 270-pound Todd Bowser in the pivot. Ray Horwath, a 6-5, 220-pound senior and Pat Bolden, a 6-5 senior who leads the team in scoring with a 15.2 average, are the forwards. The top reserve is Alan Fraser, another NFL-sized post man at 6-6, 225 pounds.

The guards are Chuck McGavran, who is second on the team in scoring with a 14.6 average, and senior Troy Dueker. Jemarl Baker, a freshman from Manual Arts, and senior Carl Cooper are the top reserves.

The Matadors, who last won a CCAA title in 1985, can go with a big, strong lineup: Bowser, Fraser and Horwath across the front and Bolden moving to the shooting guard position. They can also field a quicker, more athletic combination with 6-3 freshman Sherdrick Bonner joining Bolden at forward and McGavran moving from off-guard to the point to make room for Baker.

“We have a balance between the two,” Northridge Coach Pete Cassidy said. “We’re quicker in spots than Chapman, but not as quick as Riverside. But we’re versatile. We can go half court or up tempo and we can put it in from the perimeter.”

Dominguez Hills, the defending conference champion, is a team that lived on perimeter shooting last season and William Alexander, the CCAA’s career scoring leader. Alexander has exhausted his eligibility, however, and the Toros could be pushed out of the race for the conference’s four-team, postseason tournament.

Anthony Blackmon, a 6-7 center, is Dominguez Hill’s best player. He is averaging 16.7 points and 7.2 rebounds.

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (7-4), which finished second last season, is in a similar situation to the Toros. The Mustangs are learning to live without forward Sean Chambers and center Melvin Parker, who provided almost all of the team’s scoring punch last season.

Mark Shelby, a 6-1 senior forward, leads the team with averages of 12.5 points and 6.5 rebounds. Coach Steve Beason is also pleased with the play of 6-5 forward Coby Naess, a freshman from Laguna Beach who is averaging 9.9 points and 5.3 rebounds.

Cal State Bakersfield, Cal Poly Pomona and Cal State Los Angeles all have new coaches.

Pat Douglass, who guided Eastern Montana into the Division II playoffs four times in six seasons, took over at Bakersfield, and after a 3-5 start, the Roadrunners have won five in a row.

Troy Price, a 6-4 forward who transferred to Bakersfield from Central Ariz. Junior College, leads the team in scoring with an average of 18 points a game and is second in rebounding at 6.2.

Dave Bollwinkel, who for served five seasons as an assistant at San Jose, has taken over at Cal Poly Pomona. The Broncos (5-8) are led by Tony Theisen, a 6-7 senior center who is averaging 16 points, 9.8 rebounds and shooting 61.5%. Theisen is slightly built at 210 pounds but uses his quickness to get good shots inside. He also has 58 offensive rebounds in 13 games.

At Cal State L.A., Coach Henry Dyer, a former professional football player, has taken over a team that won only two of 14 conference games last season.

The Eagles’ best players are guards Howard Loughridge and Ken Horton.

Loughridge, a 6-3 senior who played on the John Williams-led Crenshaw High teams, is among the CCAA leaders in points (13.4), rebounds (6.8), assists (4.2), steals (2.2), blocked shots (1.2) and three-point shooting percentage (48.7). Horton is averaging 15.3 points a game.