There were about 14 seconds left in the first half of the men’s hoops game between San Diego State and USD Sunday night. Aztec point guard Jason Richey took the ball and zig- zagged up the court. He wasn’t rushed. Wasn’t pressured. He was in control.
Six seconds. Five. Four. Three. (Richey gets to the top of the key …) Two. Richey stops. Jumps. Shots. Swish. End of the first half. Aztecs 40, USD 30.
As Richey jogged off the court he raised both arms and pressed an imaginary Torero over his head. Richey was raising the roof off the joint.
He makes things look so easy. He’s so fluid. So smooth. So in control. When he shot that three-pointer, I know what he was thinking: “OK-there’s-one-second-left-I-think-I’ll-just-go-ahead-and-swish-this-shot-right-now.” If he wasn’t thinking that, he sure as heck fooled me.
Richey had 17 points by halftime. Finished the game with 27. Make no mistake about it he is The Man. USD point guard Alex Davis hadn’t even seen film on Richey before the game. He admittingly didn’t know much about him. Big mistake by the Toreros coaching staff.
Richey made this poor Davis kid look about as bad as Craig Koch’s shirt and tie combination Sunday night. (No offense, coach Koch, but that shirt with that tie was an atrocious combination).
These Aztecs have come to a crossroads, so to speak. They surpassed the expectations of many already this season. This team is good. They are solid. They can play. They are talented.
Chad Nelson will have a career season. Tye Fields is improving. And Richey is better than Raymond “Circus” King will ever be. Richey is the best point guard in the WAC. He’s even better than Fresno State’s Dominick Young. He plays better defense than Young. He’s a hair quicker than Young.
Yesterday Richey was named WAC Pacific Division Player-of-the-Week.
When Circus transferred, I thought Trenkle would never be able to replace such a talented point guard. I thought it spelled doom for the program. I was wrong.
So the Aztecs have overcome the early season doubters such as myself.
They are better than expected. Got to give credit to Trenkle for that. But I couldn’t help but think about the Aztecs next challenge they must overcome: Winning when they are expected to win.
The fans’ expectations just jumped up three notches with this team. They are now expected to win. They are expected to compete, whether it be with Utah or Fresno State.
It will be a challenge for the simple reason that coaches will know not to take this team lightly. The Aztecs will no longer have the good fortune of surprising teams.
“My first year here we surprised some teams,” Trenkle told me yesterday from his hotel room in Austin, Texas, where his team was preparing to play Southwest Texas tonight. “Nobody is going to overlook us anymore.”
Yes, Coach T, the days of being looked upon as the skinny runt that everyone beats up on are over. Now it’s a matter of how far can this new and improved Aztecs team can go.
You fairweather Aztec fans better jump on this stagecoach quick because it’s going far.
