Will CSN yield big numbers in basketball, too?

By Chuck Woodling     Mar 16, 2001

? Seldom, if ever, has the Kansas University football team put so much pressure on the Jayhawks’ men’s basketball team.

As the KU basketball players prepare for tonight’s NCAA tourney opener against Cal State Northridge, one burning question remains unanswered: Can the KU basketball team score more points against the Matadors than the football team did?

When: 6:40 tonight.Where: Dayton Arena, Dayton, Ohio.Television: Channels 5 and 13.Records: No. 4 seed Kansas 24-6; No. 13 seed Cal State Northridge 22-9.

It was just a couple of years ago when Kansas, seeking an NCAA Div. I-AA school to fill a hole in the football schedule, secured a visit by Cal State Northridge to Memorial Stadium. Final score: Kansas 71, CS Northridge 14.

I’m not going to go out on a limb to predict the Matadors will score more than two touchdowns and two extra points against the Jayhawks tonight, but I’m wondering if KU will score more than 71 points, win or provide another tourney Cinderella lose.

Both Kansas and Cal State Northridge average about 83 points a game, but NCAA tourney games are rarely high-scoring affairs. Moreover, Big Sky Conference teams have a tendency to bring out the worst in higher-seeded teams.

In 1999, for example, the Big Sky’s Weber State stunned North Carolina, 76-74. A year earlier, No. 15-seeded Northern Arizona scared the dickens out of Cincinnati before bowing, 65-62. And last year Northern Arizona, again a No. 15 seed, led No. 2 St. John’s, 56-55, with 30 seconds remaining before bowing, 61-56.

From this evidence I can only conclude that drawing a Big Sky Conference school in the first round is the equivalent of buying a ticket to a scary movie because you can expect plenty of nervous palpitations and potential fingernail damage.

“I think it’s one of the most underrated conferences in the country,” CS Northridge coach Bobby Braswell said.

Too bad the Matadors have to leave the Big Sky Conference. They’ll be joining the Big West Conference next year. Either that, or break the bank. Road trips to Billings, Bozeman, Boise, Pocatello and wherever the heck Eastern Washington is located were eroding the exchequer.

Here’s your $100 question: What was the average attendance of Cal State Northridge men’s home basketball games during the 2000-2001 season? A) 4,511. B) 1,445. C) 753. D) 7,778.

Uh, 4,511.

Is that your final answer?

Yes. Yes it is.

Oh, I’m sorry. That’s the Matadors’ average attendance away from home. The correct answer is B 1,445.

Well, it’s pretty obvious you can run out of airline ticket money in a big hurry with those attendance numbers.

“The Big Sky has been great for us,” CS Northridge coach Bobby Braswell said, “but we basically needed to make the move for financial reasons. We’ll play mostly schools in California now.”

I don’t know what an airline ticket from Burbank the closest airport to Northridge to, say, Bozeman costs, but I’ll bet its more expensive than flying from Kansas City to College Station.

To tell the truth, Cal State Northridge being in the Big Sky Conference was a terrible misnomer. You think of the Big Sky and you think of the wide open spaces of Montana and Idaho, the huge ceiling above the Grand Canyon near Northern Arizona and the vast expanse of apple orchards in Eastern Washington, wherever the heck it is.

Northridge is located in the smog-shrouded San Fernando Valley. I’m sure the sky is big there, too when Northridge-ites can see it.

Incidentally, Cal State Northridge has more students than Kansas University approximately 29,000 and a pet peeve. It doesn’t like to be called Northridge State or CSUN. According to the media guide, “CSN is preferred. Never CSUN or CSNU”

What’s strange about that is all the newspapers that cover the Matadors use CSUN in their headlines. I know this because the media in Dayton were provided copies of selected newspaper stories. I counted 16 instances of CSUN in headlines and not a single CSN.

Perhaps our California ink-by-the-barrel brethren believe CSN looks too much like a television acronym (Cable Sewing Network? Cable Snowboarding Network?).

You have to wonder, though, what might happen if Cal State Northridge knocks off Kansas tonight? Than perhaps CSN will push USC and UCLA out of the Los Angeles-area headlines.

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