Thirty years after Leon Wood bolted the Arizona Wildcats to become one of the most decorated players in Cal State-Fullerton history, disgruntled college basketball players are still finding the grass is greener at the north Orange County school.
Because it is. Literally, at least, and in some cases figuratively.
"What's appealing is Southern California," Titans coach Bob Burton said, "and the style we play."
And, of course, the minutes.
Burton, formerly a successful junior college coach who once mentored late-'90s Wildcat forward Bennett Davison, has been offering jucos and disgruntled Division I transfers a new life and a new opportunity in the warm-weather backyard of Disneyland for the past seven years.
Don't like playing slowdown at Washington State? Come aboard, shooting-minded guard Josh Akognon (2007-09) and finish sixth in the nation in scoring (23.9 points per game in 2008-09).
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Not finding a fit with Mike Montgomery at California? Head south, just as Omondi Amoke and D.J. Seeley did, although both are sitting out this season after transferring to CSUF.
The formula has resulted in Burton winning 56.5 percent of his games with the limited-resources program. He also led the Titans to two straight 20-win seasons, in 2006-07 and 2007-08, though they are 3-5 entering tonight's game with Arizona (7-1).
"It's really been successful for us," Burton said. "The players we've gotten as bounce-backs are way better than we could recruit (as freshmen). … Any time you get them, they know it's their last stop, so the attitudes are gone."
Here are five guidelines to Burton's plan:
Just call or stop by, and it's a done deal
Relying on transfers means recruiting takes on a whole different meaning at Fullerton. Instead of being courted for months or years - and taking one of those indulgent 48-hour recruiting visits complete with meals, football games and social gatherings - many transfers don't spend a lot of time finding a new home.
"Sometimes you've gotta get a recruit to visit but, to be honest, most of the time there isn't even a visit," Burton said. "With Seeley, we walked around campus, and he said he was coming. Kwame (Brown, from the University of San Francisco), we had him for one day. Forty-eight hours is too much time. You end up baby-sitting a lot. They usually know where they want to go."
High schoolers may not want to apply
Even though Arizona guard Kyle Fogg was once a lightly recruited standout at nearby Brea-Olinda High School, where Burton's wife teaches special education, the Titans didn't want him.
Sort of. Burton said Fogg could have played well for the Titans but that, as a high schooler, he might not have fit in. (Fogg was not among the players the UA selected for interviews this week; thus, he was unavailable for comment.)
Burton has only two players on his current roster who arrived from high schools.
"A freshman's got to be unique for us," Burton said. "It's not only hard (on the court) with older players, but socially it's tough."
Burton said he wasn't sure if Arizona was a fit for Fogg, either, although that was a common thought at the time.
"Everybody in America made a mistake on him," Burton said. Former UA associate head coach Mike "Dunlap took a chance on him. I remember talking to him about it, and I didn't know if Kyle could play at Arizona."
You will need to stay healthy
Because Burton extends so many offers to Division I transfers who use up a scholarship while sitting out a season under NCAA transfer rules, he never has the full 13 scholarship players available to play.
This season, the Titans have three redshirt transfers, meaning they have only 10 active scholarship players. And when they went to a tournament in Hawaii last month, two of their best players (Jer'Vaughn Johnson and Andre Hardy) were hurt - and another, Steve Jurich, hurt his back during the tournament.
The Titans finished the event with seven healthy scholarship players - and three losses in three games.
"I've never seen anything like this," Burton said.
Hard work is not an option
With little time to mold each season's team, Burton can't mess around with loafers. So Monday, when the Titans didn't begin practice with intensity, Burton abruptly ended practice and instead put his players through 90 minutes of running exercises.
"If you don't want to play hard, we'll put the balls away," Burton said. "We can spend time on Arizona, but if you don't work hard, it's not going to help. So we spent the day trying to get tougher."
The Titans' pace of play is always fast
Unlike New Mexico State and Bethune-Cookman, which attempted to slow their usual fast pace down to stay in games with Arizona last month, Burton says the Titans are committed to the up-tempo game.
Fullerton is averaging 71.4 points a game, though its opponents average 75. Arizona averages 84.0 points, but Burton says that won't change anything tonight.
"I told our guys that the smartest thing we could probably do is slow the game down and try to win," Burton said. "But unfortunately, that's not the way we try to play. If you want to go in, get better and keep learning, you keep working and play your way."
That philosophy worked well three seasons ago. After Arizona beat CSUF 91-65 on Nov. 28, 2007, the Titans went on to win 24 games that season - and reached the NCAA tournament for only the second time in school history.
On StarNet: Read more Arizona basketball news on reporter Bruce Pascoe's blog at go.azstarnet.com/pascoe
TODAY
• Who: Cal State- Fullerton at Arizona
• When: 6:30 p.m.
• TV: Ch. 58
• Radio: 1290-AM, 107.5-FM, 990-AM (Sp)
