31.   Neither Brown nor Robinson made their decisions public until Wednesday, the first day of the national signing period.

32.   No way this was the NBA of tough injuries, base-year compensation, trading deadlines, and free agent signing periods.

33.   Now the free-agent signing period may not begin until the weekend, giving general managers more time to work privately in an effort to improve their teams.

34.   On Wednesday, Ponciano expects to lock up several recruits on the first day of the letter-of-intent signing period.

35.   One, a free-agent signing period of about three weeks is needed to fill out rosters.

36.   On Wednesday, Northridge announced the signings of seven players on football- signing day, which is the first day of the spring signing period.

37.   Otherwise, the team is looking for help at almost every other position during the free-agent signing period, which began at midnight last night.

38.   Other teams in the Southwest Conference also had good days as the fall signing period opened.

39.   Pepperdine hopes to minimize those losses with the players coming back, plus two gifted recruits who the Waves secured in the early signing period.

40.   That could take months, lasting through the summer, through the free-agent signing period and into next season.