On Saturday March 8, Cal State Bakersfield's basketball season ends with the women playing for the Div. I Independent Tournament championship.

The Roadrunner men concluded their season on Tuesday with an 84-80 loss to Cal State Fullerton, a potential NCAA Tournament qualifier, in a wild finish where the Roadrunners nearly came all the way back from a 20-point deficit in the final 10 minutes.

The thing to remember is an 8-21 season for the men isn't bad, considering they won only one Div. I game a year ago. In college athletics, the emphasis is on football and men's basketball at virtually every school, so to be competitive in men's basketball is more difficult than any other sport aside from football.

Progress is the key as each season progresses through the D-1 reclassification process. If CSUB sniffs at a .500 record next year (which won't be easy, but could happen), it would be a remarkable improvement.

It's a little easier for the CSUB women to be competitive, mainly because their sport doesn't put in the financial resources you see in men's basketball, aside from the cream-of-the-crop programs that rank among the best in the country. And when you have four-year starters at guard next season (Kelley Tarver, Krista Arase), it doesn't hurt, either.

The biggest issue is money. CSUB must find a way to be competitive with the other schools in its competition range (Big West Conf. schools) even though the money coming into the program from fundraising lacks what's going into those programs. You can be competitive with the money inbalance, but there's less room for error when a recruited athlete washes out. There may not be the depth to replace that athlete that you could see at other institutions.

But progress is being made, and it will be interesting to see how much better the men's and women's programs are by the time the reclassification process ends in three years.