The wait is over for Titans

Bob Burton isn’t much of a believer in fate, even though fate seems to be on his side.

The Cal State Fullerton basketball coach would rather have a roster loaded with blue-chip recruits and future NBA All-Stars as he heads to the NCAA tournament this week to face Wisconsin in a first-round matchup in Omaha.

But he’s making due with what he has, a hodgepodge of veteran players -- many of whom are castoff transfers from other schools -- and is taking to the Big Dance a team that won the Big West Conference tournament, is seeded No. 14 in the Midwest Regional and, some might say, is a team of destiny.

It has been 30 years since Fullerton made its last, and only, appearance in an NCAA tournament, making a magical run to the Elite Eight in 1978 while knocking off two ranked opponents along the way.

And because of some striking parallels between this team and that one, the Titans’ faithful believe that a miracle is possible, though Burton would rather rely on the players he puts on the court than the idea of a preordained outcome.

“It’s not so much the fate,” he said. “I think you have to have good players, and we have good players.”

Still, some of the similarities are interest piquing.

Burton is in his fifth season as coach, same as Bobby Dye was in 1978. Scott Cutley was selected conference co-player of the year; the only other Titan to win that honor was Greg Bunch, who won the award in 1976, but also starred for the 1978 team.

This team won the conference tournament as a No. 3-seeded team; so did the 1978 team. The Titans this season lost eight games during the regular season; so did the 1978 team. This team defeated Cal State Los Angeles, and so did the 1978 team. In the 29 seasons in between, Fullerton and Cal State Los Angeles never played.

“Those were different times and different places,” Burton said. “I just think that the NCAA is such a different thing now that it’s going to be hard to compare that, but hey, every once in a while a team kind of gets it going like George Mason and so forth, but we’re not going to make any promises.”

The 1978 team didn’t make any promises either.

That squad went into the tournament as such an unknown that it became dubbed “Cal State Who?” Those Titans then made a name for themselves by defeating national powers in the first two rounds.

First came Michael Cooper-led New Mexico State, ranked No. 4 in the nation. Then Bill Cartwright and San Francisco, ranked No. 1 for much of that season, fell in the second round.

It was a 32-team bracket then, so those two victories got the Titans one game away from the Final Four, but the magic ended with a 61-58 loss to Arkansas in the regional final.

Or did it?

“There was no reason in 1978 for people to believe we could do what we did,” Bunch said. “The teams we beat in that tournament, we were not supposed to beat. So if it worked once, then why not again?”

This season’s Titans are similar in that they are undersized and coming out of nowhere. Well, it’s more like they are coming out of everywhere.

Nobody on the Titans’ roster has played at Fullerton for his entire college career. Five are transfers from four-year schools, including Cutley, from Kent State; Frank Robinson, from East Carolina; and Josh Akognon, from Washington State -- the team’s top three scorers. The remaining six players are from junior colleges.

“A lot of guys accuse me of, hey, all you do is get on the AP and see which guys are transferring,” Burton joked.

But, he said, transfers add instant maturity to a team -- especially those who have to sit out before competing. Cutley will be 23 in June, Robinson will be 24 a few days before and Akognon is a 22-year-old junior. Point guard Ray Reed, a transfer from Georgetown, is 24.

“They’re not kids, they’re men,” Burton said. “Coaching them is like coaching adults. Really, it’s terrific. There’s not a lot of problems. I love guys like this because they aren’t kids. They’re mature.”

That the Titans are going to the tournament might be a miracle in itself. In the 30 years since the last NCAA appearance, Fullerton has had only 10 winning seasons.

When Burton arrived in 2003-04, he took over a team that had averaged only 8.7 victories and did not have a winning record over the previous 10 seasons.

In 1978, the Titans didn’t have a much better recent history. They had averaged only 11.5 wins in the previous 11 seasons.

“Every victory that season gave us a little more confidence,” Bunch said. “I could see the same with this team. They had a little more swagger after each conference tournament game and if they truly believe they can win, there’s no reason they can’t.

“I know that for a fact.”

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

First look

* How they advanced: Wisconsin (29-4), the Big Ten Conference regular-season champion, defeated Illinois, 61-48, in the Big Ten tournament final. The Badgers were No. 8 in the last Associated Press poll. Cal State Fullerton (24-8) tied for the Big West Conference regular-season championship and defeated UC Irvine, 81-66, in the Big West tournament final.

* Common opponents: None.

* When Fullerton has the ball: The Titans run an up-tempo offense that is fifth in the nation at 82.7 points per game. They have a strong inside-outside game with forwards Scott Cutley and Frank Robinson, equally effective from all areas of the court, and sharpshooting guard Josh Akognon ranking 11th in the nation with 3.6 three-pointers made per game. Those three average a combined 50.3 points. Sixth man Marcus Crenshaw is another outside threat, shooting 41.8% on three-pointers. The Titans shoot 38.5% on three-pointers as a team. The Badgers will counter with a defense that led the nation in points given up per game at 54.3 and limited opponents to 38.3% shooting -- fifth in the nation. The Badgers have struggled, however, against teams with good outside shooters such as Purdue, which handed Wisconsin its only two conference losses.

* When Wisconsin has the ball: The Badgers play a deliberate, disciplined offense with a lot of passing and patience. They will try to work the ball inside to 6-11 center Brian Butch and 6-7 forward Marcus Landry, who average a combined 23.8 points, but guards Trevon Hughes and Jason Bohannon shoot just enough three-pointers to keep defenses honest. The Badgers use two lineups: big and bigger. When Butch goes out, he’s replaced by 6-11 Greg Stiemsma, and Landry is spelled by 6-10 forward Jon Leuer. Fullerton will try to pressure the ball with a defense that averaged 9.1 steals a game, but Wisconsin has averaged only 12.8 turnovers.

* What to expect: A steady dose of Wisconsin big men. The Titans don’t have anyone taller than 6-5 Cutley and Marcus Morgan in the starting lineup. Forwards Kenneth Alexander and Andrew Green, both 6-6, are the tallest players in the regular rotation. That gives the Badgers post players at least five inches of height advantage, so feeding the big men will be a priority for Wisconsin. Morgan has been prone to foul trouble, having fouled out of four games this season, so he’ll have to be careful. Fullerton will try to push the tempo and tire those big guys, while taking quick shots from the outside before the Badgers can set their lockdown defense. Cutley and Robinson both shoot well from three-point range, so they may try to draw the big men outside and open things inside for Morgan.

* Stat factor: Wisconsin has held opponents to 60 or fewer points in 25 of its games this season. The Titans have scored 80 or more points 24 times.

-- Peter Yoon

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HOW THEY COMPARE

How Wisconsin, Cal State Fullerton, compare:

*--* WIS -- CSF 67.5 POINTS 82.6 449 FIELD-GOAL PCT. 476 708 FREE-THROW PCT. 706 354 THREE-POINT PCT. 386 36.1 REBOUNDS 36.1 *--*

*--* Brian Butch F/C 6-11 Sr 12.5 6.8 0.8 Trevon Hughes G 6-0 So 11.4 3.2 2.5 Marcus Landry F 6-7 Jr 11.3 5.3 1.3 Michael Flowers G 6-2 Sr 9.4 3.7 2.7 Jason Bohannon G 6-2 So 8.1 2.4 1.3 Joe Krabbenhoft G/F 6-7 Jr 7.5 6.5 2.7 Jon Leuer F 6-10 Fr 3.4 1.4 0.4 Greg Stiemsma C 6-11 Sr 3.0 2.9 0.7 Kevin Gullikson F 6-7 Jr 1.8 1.2 0.4 J.P. Gavinski C 6-11 Fr 0.7 0.9 0.0 Tim Jarmusz G/F 6-6 Fr 0.7 0.5 0.1 Tanner Bronson G 5-11 Sr 0.6 0.2 0.2 Morris Cain G/F 6-5 Jr 0.4 0.4 0.1 Keaton Nankivil F 6-8 Fr 0.4 1.0 0.1 Brett Valentyn G 6-4 Fr 0.0 0.3 0.3 Wquinton Smith G 5-11 Fr 0.0 0.0 0.0 *--*

*--* CS FULLERTON P HT CL Pts Reb Ast Josh Akognon G 5-11 Jr 19.9 3.2 1.5 Frank Robinson G 6-4 Sr 16.0 7.0 2.5 Scott Cutley F 6-5 Sr 14.8 7.6 2.9 Marcus Crenshaw G 5-10 Jr 8.9 1.5 2.2 Ray Reed G 5-11 Sr 6.4 1.8 2.6 Junior Russell G 5-6 Sr 6.1 1.5 2.6 Marcus Morgan F 6-5 Sr 5.9 6.3 1.5 Marcio Lassiter G 6-2 Jr 3.5 1.1 0.6 Andrew Green F/C 6-6 Sr 3.1 2.5 0.5 K. Alexander F/C 6-6 Sr 3.1 2.3 0.1 Eddie Lima C 6-9 Jr 1.7 1.2 0.2 *--*