CSUN MANIA MATADOR FANS SAVOR THE MOMENT.

Byline: Dana Bartholomew Staff Writer

NORTHRIDGE - To celebrate CSUN's stunning debut in the National Collegiate Athletic Association national tournament this Friday against the University of Kansas, alumnus Paul Stein is going all out: Twenty bucks at 13-to-1 odds.

``Goin' to Vegas,'' Stein, class of '95, announced Monday as he picked out a new CSUN T-shirt at the Matador Bookstore for the trip to Nevada.

``Gt to represent the team.''

All across the Valley, students and alumni at the San Fernando Valley's only four-year university not only flaunted ``the team'' but a new dawn at California State University, Northridge.

``Exuberant, exuberant, everybody around here is exuberant,'' said Barbara Crockette, a 20-year campus employee, from behind copies of Monday's edition of the student newspaper the Daily Sundial. The publication's front page proclaimed, ``All Hail the Champs.''

The team's NCAA berth is just one in a recent string of victories for the university:

--Administrators accustomed to sweating in cramped trailers since the calamitous Northridge Earthquake in 1994, will begin moving today into virgin digs - with windows - at University Hall.

--Student attendance, which plunged after the temblor, has hit a 10-year high of about 29,000.

--By next month, the last of a $407 million quake reconstruction will be completed with three state-of-the-art university buildings.

With fund raising at an all-time high and rankings touted by college counselors at some of the city's best high schools, CSUN is rising.

This season the college even had its name dropped twice on TV drama ``West Wing'' in the same breath as Caltech. Not a bad turnaround, indeed.

``It's been a fabulous year; it really has been,'' said Louanne Kennedy, provost and vice president of academic affairs.

Said President Jolene Koester, still excited from Saturday's basketball victory, during an interview from Sacramento, ``It's a pretty exciting place.''

``There's a better feeling on campus,'' she said. ``The victory over UCLA and the overall success of our basketball team has brought us some very pointed attention. But every day, CSUN students and faculty achieve the same kind of success.''

Following this weekend's victories, students enjoyed a tank-top afternoon Monday, with a light breeze and fresh optimism about school prospects.

At the campus bookstore, CSUN garb prompted brisk sales. Orders were piling up for ``NCAA March Madness 2001'' memorabilia. Many students, like art student Ryan Cheney, 21, wore a CSUN T-shirt Monday for the first time.

``I think everyone is still in shock,'' said Julian Morral, 25, a bookstore clerk, student and guide for freshmen. ``They didn't think we could possibly win.

``People are proud to wear CSUN T-shirts - before, they weren't.''

The Matadors are on the map, especially with high school guidance counselors.

``I think they've made some strides,'' said Elenna Turner, college counselor at El Camino High School in Woodland Hills, winner of eight Academic Decathlon city championships.

``Academically, their Presidential Scholarship program is really drawing top-of-the-line students,'' she said, referring to the four-year paid scholarship. ``I had a student who got accepted into (UC) Berkeley and UCLA, and he chose CSUN - that's a true story.''

Even before the basketball team's success, CSUN was recognized nationally for its strong programs in education, television and deaf studies.

``I tell you, in many of our fields, we really are much better than them,'' said Kennedy, referring to the University of Southern California or the University of California, Los Angeles.

In addition to producing more credentialed schoolteachers than any college in California, CSUN will soon be the first university to host a high school campus, the first to be built in Los Angeles since 1972.

Plans call for a 800-student high school on the university campus that will feature a teacher training academy.

``There's more cosmopolitan faces,'' said Steven Jackson, 24, a CSUN arts student of five years. ``It's a lot more open. It's less like a commuter school.''

For Imran Iqbal, 28, class of '95, who joined Stein's T-shirt run, the school only gets better after Matador wins.

``It brings more money to the school, without a doubt. More people will come here, without a doubt. It's now equivalent to UC - CSUN is a very good school - without a doubt.''

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2 photos

Photo: (1 -- color) From left, CSUN alumni Imran Iqbal and Paul Stein shop for T-shirts in the student bookstore.

(2 -- color) CSUN's Daily Sundial hails the team victories leading to the NCAA tournament.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer