COLLEGE BASKETBALL ‘92-93 : Something to Cheer About at Long Beach : College basketball: After dropping football and taking budget cuts, 49ers are hoping for a successful season.

In the midst of turmoil and upheaval in the Cal State Long Beach athletic department, the basketball team is on the hot seat to live up to its preseason billing as one of the better teams in the Big West Conference.

Since June, more than 20 athletic department employees have resigned, been laid off or been reassigned because of budget cuts, with more layoffs on the way. Boosters, angered by the sudden resignation of an associate athletic director and the firing of another, want more say in where the money goes. The school has never raised more than $450,000 per year, yet $6 million is needed to build a campus arena that was promised to recent prep signees.

All of this at an institution that is struggling with the void created when it dropped football last year.

“We are really excited about the basketball season beginning,” acting Athletic Director Dave O’Brien said. “We hope it brings us good news. With all of the things that have gone on as a result of budget cuts, we need some good news.”

The early news is expected to be good, especially with games against a Division III team, Southern California College; an NAIA school, Point Loma Nazarene, and Eastern Washington, 6-21 last season. But Long Beach also will play games at Virginia Commonwealth and Kansas, and Big West Conference coaches have picked the 49ers to finish third.

Three starters who accounted for nearly 60% of the scoring on last year’s 18-12 team that went to the National Invitation Tournament return.

Lucious Harris, a 6-foot-5 senior guard was an All-Big West selection and is expected to rewrite the 49er record book. A four-year starter, he needs to average 14 points per game to become the 49ers’ all-time leading scorer.

“Lucious Harris is more than half our basketball team,” third-year Coach Seth Greenberg said. “He is a guy that is a real pleasure to coach because you see that progress every year.”

Harris holds the 49ers’ record for most free throws made, 385; ranks second in steals, 142; third in scoring average, 17.5 points; fifth in field goals, 525, and sixth in free throw percentage, 71%.

Center Chris Tower, a 6-10 senior from Huntington Beach, averaged 13.3 points and six rebounds last season. His backup is Mike Atkinson, a 6-7 sophomore who made 59.7% of his shots and was voted to the Big West all-freshman team.

Forward Bryon Russell, who had 30 points and 12 rebounds in last week’s 98-91 exhibition victory over an Australian touring team, is the most improved player, according to Greenberg. The 6-7 Russell has worked on his jump shot and ballhandling. Last year he averaged 13.9 points and seven rebounds per game.

Greenberg expects to play two Prop 48 sophomores--6-6 forward Juaquin Hawkins from Lynwood High and 6-7 Terrance O’Kelley from Lakewood High.

Brian Camper, a 6-4 junior, becomes eligible to play Dec. 12. A transfer from Arizona State, Camper must sit out the 49ers’ first two regular-season games as an NCAA penalty for charging more than $700 in phone calls to a credit card belonging to a Sun Devil assistant coach. Camper repaid the debt.

Several players are vying for the job of departed point guard Bobby Sears, but nobody appears to have the ability that Sears had. Sears averaged 10.6 points and 5.1 assists, and was the team’s floor leader.

Junior Jeff Rogers, a reserve off-guard last season, is expected to start in Sears’ spot. Also returning is 6-6 junior swingman Rod Hannibal, who started 12 of 29 games and averaged 7.5 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.2 assists. Other hopefuls include 6-2 Ty Mays, a transfer from Paris Junior College in Texas, and Eric Brown, a 6-6 freshman who can play either guard or forward.

Greenberg says the 49ers--who made only 68.7% of their free throws last season--will be a better shooting team this year.

Although the players have largely been shielded from department problems, the normally effervescent Greenberg acknowledged that these are rough times.

“Hopefully, we can put our pettiness aside and realize, basically, that it’s time (for all of us) to be boosters and support the department and the kids,” he said.