While the Cal State Northridge men return 76.5 percent of their scoring and 71.3 percent of their rebounding from last season, the Matadors usher in a new head coach to take them to the Big West Tournament. Looking to make their first appearance since 2009, CSUN welcomes Reggie Theus who was previously the head coach for New Mexico State (2005-07), the NBA’s Sacramento Kings (2007-09) and most recently the Los Angeles D-Fenders of the NBA D-League.
The Cal State Northridge women return eight letterwinners and four starters after a 16-16 season in 2012-2013 while welcoming eight newcomers to the squad that was picked to finish third in the Big West this season. Junior Ashley Guay was named to the Preseason All-Big West Conference Team after leading Cal State Northridge to a 9-9 finish in league last season with 13.2 points per game. The Matadors clinched a No. 6 seed in the Tournament last year before they fell 45-31 to UC Santa Barbara in the quarterfinals. CSUN is out to make its seventh appearance in the Big West Tournament in 2014.
JOSH GREENE
As the Big West’s active career leader in points at 990 and assists at 243, Josh Greene needs just 10 more points to become the 16th player in Cal State Northridge history to reach 1,000. The guard nabbed his second straight Honorable Mention All-Big West Conference nod last season after averaging 14.5 points per game, 11th-best in the league. Greene scored a career-high 37 points over Hawai‘i on March 7 last season to crack Northridge’s record book as the seventh-best scoring effort in the program’s history. To write his name in another category of CSUN’s all-time bests, the sharp shooter hit a team-high 63 shots from beyond the arc to rank fourth for a single year. His 2.1 three-pointers per game came in at No. 6 in the conference last season. The senior looks to create as many opportunities for his teammates in his final year as a Matador.
Q: As a senior, what advice would you give to an incoming player looking for their first minutes as a collegiate athlete?
A: As a young player, be coachable, have a great attitude, have a great work ethic, play hard, play together and play smart. Sometimes freshmen try to do too much which sometimes doesn’t give you the best results. Also as a freshman, be patient.
Q: What has your offseason routine been like?
A: I’ve been working on different facets of my game. That includes working on my weaknesses, which includes ball handling. The off-season has allowed me to polish my basketball skills, and just continue to work on my fundamentals. I’m expected to play more of the point-guard position this year, which means watching more film.
Q: If you had to describe your team in three words, what would they be?
A: Talented, competitive, hard-working.
Q: What is something that you are working on mastering on the court?
A: I’ve been working on mastering my play-making abilities on the court ... Creating opportunities for my teammates. People know that I can score and shoot, but if people know that I can expand other avenues of my game to help my teammates, it will make me more dangerous on the court.
Q: What can we expect to see from you and your team this season?
A: CSUN will be a talented team that will compete every night. Our maturity level has expanded on a team that will give it their best effort, even through adversity. Hopefully that will lead to a Big West championship.
HALEY WHITE
The senior guard enters her final season with the Matadors coming off of a 2012-2013 campaign in which she averaged 6.8 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.2 assists in conference contests. Haley White finished her inaugural season with Cal State Northridge as one of only two Big West players with over 100 assists for the season. White goes to war everyday in preparation for her time on the court and knows that her team has what it is going to take to “stay in the fight.”
Q: What will it be like before your first home game this season? Can you take us through your routine when you arrive at the gym to taking the court before the tip-off?
A: Our first home game is November 1st and we play at 5 pm. I will probably be at the gym around an hour before for our shoot around and film. After shoot around our team will eat pregame meal together four hours before tip-off. Once we’re done eating that I typically stay on campus in our locker room or the training room. In the locker room I will relax, watch some TV or hang out in the training room. We have to start warming up for the game an hour before so I will start getting dressed two hours before. Once I’m dressed I’ll heat in the training room, stretch a little bit, and after heating I will get taped and put on my game shoes. Following being fully dressed I will hit the floor, stretch, pray by myself and shoot. Once my whole team gets on the floor we will start our warm up routine.
Q: What is your team’s game plan this season?
A: Our team really wants to give everyone on our schedule our best shot every game. We don’t want to make any excuses for ourselves. Each person on our roster is very focused and come March we want to be able to look back and say everyone got our "A" game.
Q: What about the game has kept you playing this long?
A: I love the sport and I love being on a team. I also really love being a part of something bigger than me and being a part of women’s basketball is much bigger than one individual player.
Q: How does your coach get your team motivated before a game?
A: Our coaches are very honest and one thing that motivates us is the fact that he doesn’t schedule a team he doesn’t believe we can beat. The confidence he has in us is strong and that keeps us pushing forward. I think what also motivates us is one another every day in practice. He makes us go to war with each other and come game time we know each of us has what it takes to stay in the fight.
Q: How will you and your team surprise people this season?
A: I think we will surprise people in how much growth this program has made in the last four years. We have grown as basketball players each year in numbers and in skill sets. This season we make sure everyone who watches us play knows that we go hard every game all game.
PREVIOUS EDITIONS:
Tip-Off Countdown: Cal Poly Mustangs with Molly Schlemer and Jamal Johnson
Tip-Off Countdown: Cal State Fullerton Titans with Marquis Horne and Alex Thomas