Misfortune Prefaces CSUN’s Season : College basketball: Matadors to skip traditional midnight practice after jarring loss of four players.

The tradition of Midnight Madness will leave a collection of college basketball players bleary-eyed Sunday morning.

Midnight tonight marks the beginning of NCAA-approved basketball practice. Therefore, some gyms will be packed with vociferous and faithful fans ready to raise the roof at the stroke of 12.

The prevailing hope is that this dose of Midnight Madness might evolve into something larger, such as March Madness, a berth in the NCAA tournament.

At Cal State Northridge, however, it will be dark and quiet.

The Matadors, who will start practice Monday at 3:30 p.m., have chosen to skip Midnight Madness. They have no delusions of March Madness.

There are, however, recollections of an entirely maddening off-season.

Coach Pete Cassidy’s original cast of front-court recruits for this season has been swept away--and at a juncture when the future looked fairly promising.

After 10 consecutive losses at the start of last season, Northridge finished 11-17, defeating, among others, Montana State, Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Cal State Sacramento (twice) and Loyola Marymount. The Matadors also played Washington close, dropping a 61-57 decision in Seattle.

The Loyola victory, which was played prominently in the sports segments of local network newscasts, was perceived as particularly important for morale and recruiting.

Cassidy, for one, thought Northridge had cashed in.

“With the recruiting we did this year, the kids we signed to come here and the players we had coming back, we had a chance to be very competitive with a lot of people, including some people we weren’t supposed to be competitive with,� he said.

Then misfortune struck.

Geoff Gorham, a swingman from Riverside City College, decided to take the season off to enable his broken leg to mend. Then, tragically, John Flowers, a swingman from Phoenix who was the Matadors’ top recruit, lost both legs in a car accident during the summer.

This fall, the roster has continued to dwindle.

Victor Camper, a foot-8 recruit who was expected to start at forward or center, is academically ineligible until he completes a junior college math class. His absence was compounded when Percy Fisher, a 6-7 three-year letterman, quit the team to concentrate on his studies.

Cassidy has adjusted his projections accordingly.

“We’re going to be competitive with a lot of people on our schedule,� he said. “Others we shouldn’t be very competitive with.�

Those significant “others� are UCLA, Dec. 22 at Pauley Pavilion; Alabama-Birmingham, Jan. 25 in Birmingham; Missouri, Feb. 3 in Columbia; and California, Feb. 10 in Berkeley.

Northridge, which will open Dec. 1 on the road against Fresno State, faces its toughest schedule with only six front-court players--and half of them are either freshmen or walk-ons.

Still, Cassidy is stoic.

“We’ve been dealt some bad hands, but to get down in the mouth, that’s not going to help anybody,� he said. “I’m not going to sit here and say woe is us. I have some guys who are pretty tough who believe they can do it, and that’s half the battle won right there.�

Northridge will depend heavily on guards Andre Chevalier and James Morris, its two most experienced players.

Chevalier, a junior, averaged 10.3 points and four assists last season. Morris, a senior who came to CSUN after two seasons at Imperial Valley College, averaged 7.9 points.

Brooklyn McLinn (6.4 points) and Ryan Martin (5.1 points), reserves last season, also are likely to be given plenty of playing time.

“I thought our strength was our guards to begin with,� Cassidy said. “I’d be a fool to think we’re not hindered because of the loss of some very key people.

“We may just have to do things different than we originally planned.�

As of Sunday, they will have a month to figure it out.