Burton has an entire crew of players that were here from the beginning when Fullerton Junior College became a University.  Foremost of these is senior stud Leonard Guinn.  Guinn is a tremendous athlete who dominated when he first got to Cali by way of Detroit.  He was brought in to play JC with his buddy Edgar Clark, but coach Alex Omalev saw them play in a pickup game and grabbed them to be the cornerstones of his burgeoning program even if it was NAIA.  Good choice.  Guinn averaged over 20 points his first year and would continue to do so if the defensive minded Dye had not taken over when this program jumped into D-1 basketball.  Undersized for a forward, Guinn can do almost anything on the court though his defense is not exactly prime time.  He never really fit into Dye’s schemes and his adjustment to the big time was anything but smooth though he still put up good numbers.  He has a fresh start with Burton and he will be let loose to raise havoc in the OC. Clark will also continue to contribute though he is extremely undersized for the post.  ‘Bean’ can score and board but his numbers have rapidly declined as have his minutes as the Titans try to hang with the big boys of the Big West.  Another senior Jon Brettman of Santa Ana might even be more athletic than Guinn.  The 6’3 wing can flat fly and finishes with fire off fastbreaks.  Brettman also has some range on his jumper and is a good defender.  He has not missed many starts since he got to town and fits Burton’s style well.  Neale Stoner, Jim Hatchett and Terry Hermann were also part of those early days here but that trio has either moved on (Stoner is moonlighting in the AD office) or have seen their roles decrease to mop up duty.  Too bad as these guys set the tone for this program and those teams were pretty dang good especially when you consider they were basically thrown into the deep end without any sort of life jacket. 

At the other end of the spectrum was a player recruited by Dye in junior forward Greg Bunch.  The San Bernadino kid turned down bigger offers to stay close to home and is the leader of this team.  His teammates know they could count on him at clutch time.  His propensity for big shots and big plays far overcame his natural talent though he has plenty of that as well.  Bunch was the primary carryover of the old school team and his ability to adjust and transition to the new style of play was hugely important to this team evolving into the team Burton wanted.  Burton relied on his team captain to do what he needed and he did just that. Bunch played out of position at power forward and still produced solid minutes.  Bunch is tough as nails and loves playing next to the basket and never takes a bad shot.  He sometimes gets overpowered down low due to his lack of size (6’6” and 190 lbs) but it was not due to a lack of effort.  Bunch knows how and enjoys mixing it up underneath.  Bunch shot over 50 percent as he barely travels outside of the key and all of the battling in the paint did catch up with him last year.  Still, he is the main man here and handles the responsibility well. 

Up front the Titans had another dichotomy.  Power forward is the very definition of the hard working overachiever who brings a lunch pail and gets the job done every game.  The Titans did have one of those guys but had to play him out of position at center due to a lack of big men on the roster (the Titans seemed to be filled with six foot six guys).  The Titans ended up rotating Bunch and another six foot six guy as Burton had to get his best players on the court.  If all things were even then teams would be able to get by with a lineup of six foot six post guys.  All things are not even as somebody has to guard Sidney Green, John Gianelli and Sam Lacey (the Titans went 0 and 7 against those teams last year).  That 6’6 guy is junior Mike Niles who should be playing the three as should most of these cats.  Niles is tough and has some girth at 225 and hangs tough down low with anyone.  Another LA kid, Niles has a hard time on the boards though and perhaps is least suited for the change of philosophy as anyone on the team.  Sophomore Tony Neal is by far the best board guy on the team and though he is only 6’ 6” (are these guys satanic worshippers?) he loves to bang down low.  Neal came on after a weird early season incident where he was kidnapped (yeah really) and became the ipso factor post man for this team.  You could not really call him a center at his size but that was what he was playing on a front line with Ceballos and Bunch in the infamous Motley Crue (shout at the devil).  Neal, another Santa Ana kid. is not a scorer but he does get some easy baskets and his board work was much needed.   Fellow Sophomore Henry Turner got some limited minutes at the forward but is more a wing than post though his athleticism does help on the boards.  Turner is a behemoth on this roster as he goes 6’7 but is skinny as a rail and gets dominated down low when trying to guard the likes of big Sam Lacey who goes all of 6’9.  Still yet another 6’6 sophomore is Gary Davis but he is not a post at all.  Davis is an athletic wing who loves to get up and down the court and has a real shot of some serious minutes with Burton running the show here.     

The backcourt was much more stable last year though an upheaval is coming.  Sophomore Richard Morton got a shot at the two spot in his first year and produced solid play throughout.  Morton is a 6’3 190 pound gifted scorer who plays a very physical game which relies on getting in the key and using incredible finishing skills.  This San Franciscan understands how to play the game and though he does not look like a two guard this kid produces baskets seemingly out of nowhere.  Morton can definitely hang with the big boys and can play point guard as he did some last year.  That will not be the case this year as the Titans have snatched a big time player from PAC-10 power to run Burton’s high octane offense.  Junior Keith Anderson was the point guard last year and did well though he is better suited for running half court sets.  Anderson is a clutch shooter who is adept at getting to the key and creating something especially late in games and can defend.  Anderson will not give up his job without a fight and this kid can play.   Junior Kevin Heenan is the returning sixth man and this kid gives you great long-range shooting off the bench.  This 6’4 scrapper from Elmhurst Illinois (one of the rare Titans not from SoCal) has become a huge fan favorite with his ability to hit threes and upset other teams with his in your face defense.  Nowhere near the athlete of Davis, Heenan will be challenged this year but his shooting proficiency will keep him on the court in Titan Gym. 

All in all the Cal State-Fullerton Titans have a long ways to go to gain not just notoriety but respectability in the Big West and beyond.  Switching drivers in mid-stream after some early success transitioning from NAIA to D-1 the Titans are having some growing pains.  The lines have become blurred as far as the roles of the players and Coach Bob Burton has to do a better job of not only defining these roles but filling the ones he does not have such as a center.  With no one on the returning roster Burton has made it a priority to bring in some post players who can score and board but most importantly guard the rim.  He has already acquired the rights to a local kid who did not like being a backup for the Wildcats of Arizona to run his high octane offense but he Titans already have a pretty good point guard.  Burton has went this same route using the portal to bring in kids from Wichita State (a true center), Kent State, Missouri, Western Kentucky and another PAC-10 school Washington State.  He is also not immune from recruiting in the JC ranks though he wants to build his system as much as possible with four year kids.  If the Titans somehow pulled off a miracle as they did a few years back and made a run to the Big Dance would anyone in LA notice?  After all, the bump some programs get with that kind of success did not happen!  They lost their coach to a mid-level program and now are rewriting their history with a new brand of basketball.  That was then and this is now has got to be the motto but one other truth is right in their face.  When they made their glorious run a few years back neither UNLV nor New Mexico State had joined the Big West (or PCAA as it was known) yet!  The times have definitely changed in a short period in Fullerton and those dogs they had to beat to go dancing have gotten much bigger!