By Bill Sheehan

For Cal State Fullerton, the NCAA men's basketball tournament is a road seldom traveled.

The year's team, which won the Big West title and faces Purdue on Friday, is only the third squad in the program's history to reach the tournament, joining the 1977-78 and 2007-08 Titans.

So who best to shed insight into this rare occurrence than players from those two teams? Former Titan standouts Scott Cutley, Greg Bunch and Kevin Heenan all were part of Fullerton's earlier journeys into March Madness.

"I remember how much fun I had being on that stage," said Cutley, a power forward on the team that lost to Wisconsin, 71-56, in its 2008 tournament opener In Omaha, Nebraska. 

"Although it was short-lived, it was a special moment," said Cutley, who fondly recalls the media attention and the opportunity to mingle with players from the other teams. "We kept it relatively close for one half. But they were so much bigger than us – they had a 7-footer and a 6-foot-8 forward, and I was our tallest player at 6-foot-5. In the second half, they slowed the game down, powered it inside and wore us down."

Cutley, who plays for Atenas in the La Liga Argentina league, cites his Fullerton predecessors for putting the 2008 team on a path to succeed. "The players who came along in the years before us, such as Bobby Brown, Leon Wood and Cedric Ceballos, really helped build up the program." 

"Another thing that comes to mind is just how long it had been since we had sent a team to the tournament," he said of the 30-year gap between the first two Titan tournament teams.

Cutley's team is based in Carmen de Patagones, the southernmost city in Buenos Aires Province. But thanks to digital news outlets and social media, he keeps up with the Titans' achievements despite the 6,000-mile distance.

 Following the Titans is a slightly easier undertaking for Bunch, who led Fullerton to the 1978 NCAA West Regional title game. He lives in Los Angeles and has stayed connected with the university for the past 40 years.

 "It was nice to see them win the Big West. They are peaking at the right time," said Bunch, a power forward who in 2005 was inducted in the inaugural class of the Cal State Fullerton Athletic Hall of Fame. "I'm excited for our new president [Fram Virjee]. It's a great time to be a Titan."

Bunch, who is married with two daughters and works in Glendale as an integrated marketing consultant for Salem Media Group, remembers Fullerton's 1978 tournament run as a magical time. The underdog Titans defeated New Mexico and the University of San Francisco before losing to Arkansas, 62-58, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

"I describe our team as an eclectic collection of players," said Bunch, a San Bernardino native. "Our coaches, Bobby Dye and Mel Sims, got us to believe in ourselves at the right time. We weren't expected to win those games. When a coach pours into you that you can do that, amazing things can happen."

Heenan, a teammate of Bunch's, agreed that squad's chemistry was an important factor in 1978.

"We had a real good group of guys who were very coachable and who happened to be good players. Our core group -- Greg Bunch, Keith Anderson, Mike Niles and myself -- had played together for several years, and we knew each others' moves," said Heenan, a sharpshooting small forward.

Hennan is in real estate and owns and operates a food manufacturing facility while serving as an assistant basketball coach at Vanguard University in Costa Mesa. He and his wife, former Fullerton basketball player Debbie Ricketts, have four children and live in Costa Mesa.

"I made it to a couple Fullerton games this season," said Hennan. "I like that the team plays with a lot of grit. The players are fun to watch."

The former Titans praise fifth-year Titan coach Dedrique Taylor, calling him a difference-maker.

"We've got one outstanding coach," said Bunch, who was a member of the search committee that recommended Taylor's hiring to Fullerton Athletic Director Jim Donovan. "During his interview, he conducted himself in a Titan-like manner. He was very professional and prepared, knew the history of the program, knew the athletes and had a vision. He was the right coach at the right time."

Cutley applauds Taylor for his perseverance. The coach had to deal with an assortment of injuries, off-court problems and departures in his few years before guiding the program to the conference championship.

"Coach Taylor had great grasp on what he wanted to build. I'm glad the athletic director and the school had the patience to stick with him. He kept on the path, and it's paying off now," said the Inglewood-born Cutley, who aspires to become a coach and visits with Taylor during his summer breaks from his Argentine team.

 Taylor said he loves to see former Titans reconnect with the program.

"A number of players from the past have reached out," the coach said. "They have a different level of pride." But alumni athletes aren't the only people Taylor has heard from.

"After the Big West championship game, I had 469 text messages," said the UC Davis grad. "It makes you feel good that so many people care enough to text."

Some media pundits have made note of a "Crazy 8 coincidence," with Fullerton's three March Madness appearances coming on years ending with the number 8.

"I wasn't aware of it, but I like it," Taylor said. "But I wouldn't want to wait another 10 years to get back in the tournament."

"The team saved its best game for the Big West title game," said Taylor. It's been a huge step for our program. It's been very rewarding to put in the work and reap the rewards."

Taylor, whose mantra is "defense, rebound, run," said guards Kyle Allman Jr. and Khalil Ahmad have instilled teammates with a strong work ethic. "Their productivity was noticed by the others. It's had a multiple effect."

"It's amazing to see the fruits of our labor on the court," said Ahmad. "It was a dream come true to get to the Big Dance."

His teammate, Allman Jr., says he has a strong understanding of what the team has accomplished so far. "If I had come to a school with a winning tradition, I wouldn't appreciate this as much," he said. "But it is something else to be building up a program."

Taylor says his team is embracing its role as an underdog. Hennan and Bunch see that as an advantage for the Titans.

"You've got to go out and compete," said the Chicago-born Hennan. "The team that usually plays better wins. Our team was the epitome of being an underdog, but we thought we could compete and have a chance to win."

Bunch says Fullerton's current slogan, "Titans Reach Higher," could be applied to the 1978 team's efforts. "We just had this will that we would not give up. In the tournament, all bets are off. You only need one game to advance."