Ten minutes before practice, the CSUN women’s basketball team has already taken the court. The players execute a shooting drill as coaches prepare for an intra-squad scrimmage. A photographer snaps player portraits under a basket. The only thing missing from the activity is head coach Jason Flowers. Yet, from the player’s attitudes to the copy of John Wooden’s “Pyramid of Success” taped to a whiteboard, his presence can be felt everywhere. “Coach Flowers has a saying, ‘I can’t hear what… Read more

After 14 seasons, multiple Coach of the Year honors and NCAA Tournament berths, preseason training should be rote for CSUN men’s basketball head coach Bobby Braswell. An influx of youth has added a different feel to the preparation for the 2010-11 season and has given Braswell something new to look forward to at practice. “I really enjoy teaching and when you get them young, they are open, like sponges,” Braswell said. “And I go home with a headache.” Despite his lengthy… Read more

As the four-piece indie band finishes their short set, a collection of friends, family and curious couples applaud. The room is near full. It’s Friday night at what could be any one of a number of open-mic nights in the Valley- except for the princess lying dormant just behind the kick drum, her worried father pacing madly amid the amps and the court jester skipping over the guitar cords. The scene is part of “The IN,” a mixture of scripted… Read more

It is an impressive shot. A man, at full stretch, skims the dark surface.  His ski, angled sharply, sends jets of water in every direction. He is captured in the magazine appearing young and vibrant and smiling. “My advisor brought me a copy and said, ‘John, look, you’re on the cover,’” said John Van Arsdale, CSUN professor and director of the Lake Castaic Aquatic Center. “I said, ‘Oh, that’s neat.’” For Van Arsdale, appearing on the cover of the May 21, 1962… Read more

The sound of an East Coast winter blew into Los Angeles nightclub The Music Box as the band The Walkmen arrived to support their new critically-acclaimed album, “Lisbon.” The New York–based indie rock outfit played a 90-minute set before a near-capacity crowd. Over the course of a 14-song set list, the band visited each of their five albums. The star of any Walkmen performance is the voice of lead singer Hamilton Leithauser.  Sounding like a rusty gate soaked in bourbon,… Read more

A brash, hard-hitting defense.  A matinee-idol quarterback with something to prove.  A defensive-minded head coach who doesn’t care about public perception. In a division where seven of the last 10 champions have been the same team, one question looms large. Can the young, upstart New England Patriots defy media projections and defend their AFC East crown? All right, perhaps that’s wishful thinking.  For better or worse, the New York Jets have dominated the off-season discussion.  From Revis Island to “Hard… Read more

The office has an unfinished look. A framed poster of Michael Jordan, captured in mid-flight, leans against the base of a wall. It looks like the office of a man starting a new project. “People say that we’re rebuilding,” Jason Flowers said.  “I like being in a situation where I have to prove people wrong.” Flowers is the newly hired head coach of the CSUN women’s basketball team. In his first collegiate head coaching job, Flowers is tasked with turning… Read more

  The CSUN women’s soccer team played its home opener Sunday night under a new lighting system completed this summer. It was the first night soccer game at CSUN in nearly a decade. CSUN President Jolene Koester welcomed a near-capacity crowd to the event, dubbed “Sunday Night Lights,” during a pre-match ceremony. Koester said students made the lights possible through the CSUN Campus Quality Fee. The Matadors (0-2) responded to the buzz of the night, falling 2-1 to No. 5 Portland at… Read more

Students registering for fall classes will pay $90 as part of the campus quality fee, that will increase to $100 for the spring semester, as per the fee proposal, according to the CSUN Student Affairs Office. William Watkins, vice president for Student Affairs and dean of students, does not believe the overall tuition fee increases will affect the campus quality fee. “There will be no additional increases,” Watkins said.  “None that I have heard of.” The campus quality fee was… Read more