By Dan Hayes and Jared QuientSports Editor and Assistant Sports Editor
Oh, what a ride it was.
What began in a little oil town in West Texas with 12 individualplayers losing to Bobby Knight and Texas Tech, ended with thegreatest San Diego State men’s basketball team in recent memory,playing in the 2002 NCAA Championship.
So, how did it happen?
How did the same team that suffered an embarrassing 70-53 homeloss to Utah (Feb. 9) come back and beat BYU, Wyoming and UNLV onconsecutive days?
The short answer: The Aztecs matured.
But the long answer is much more interesting.
Before the season began, expectations were high, as they shouldhave been. Fisher’s three-year process of revamping the dormant men’sbasketball program looked to be working. Highly touted transfers TonyBland, Brandon Smith and Mike Mackell were about to join an alreadypromising corps of Randy Holcomb, Myron Epps, Deandre Moore and AlFaux.
At first, though, SDSU thought it could win on sheer talent alone.
But as the season progressed, the Aztecs began to mold into a team– a team that talentwise was as good as anyone in the Mountain WestConference.
And when SDSU won the MWC Tournament in Las Vegas, defeating bothWyoming and UNLV in what were akin to road games, the Aztecs provedit.
Guards
When the season began, SDSU was a little thin at the guardposition. Faux’s suspension along with Smith’s injury left the guardplay up to two juniors, Moore and Bland.
Both were up for the challenge. In the season opener againstNorthern Iowa, it was Moore who kept the Aztecs from being upset,hitting three 3-pointers in the first half. Bland (15.7 pts) wasdominant early on, leading the Aztecs in scoring for the first sixgames, compiling more than 20 points in each.
But then Faux came back. With the senior walk-on blazing fromoutside, Bland’s role was adjusted. His timely free-throw shooting,feathery mid-range jumper and improved rebounding were importantassets from the swing-man position, especially in the conferencetournament.
Bland’s play was expected, but Faux’s improvement was not. Duringthe summer, Faux transformed his game from being a deadly 3-pointshooter into an offensive machine, who by the end of the season,could burn you from outside, inside and everywhere in-between.
Not to mention in the clutch.
Faux (17.0 pts) had his quintessential game in his last as anAztec, when he led SDSU with 27 points on 6-of-9 3-point shooting inits 93-64 loss in the NCAA Tournament.
But the offense didn’t always fire on all cylinders. It took adecision by Fisher, moving Moore back into the starting lineup afteran eight-game demotion, to spark the Aztecs’ offense. Brandon Smithwas effective at times while a starter, but his tendency to get intofoul trouble early hurt his playing time.
By the time conference play was heating up, Smith
was relegated to backing up Moore.
Freshman Tommy Johnson saw limited minutes but did have a crucialrebound in the team’s road win over Hawaii (Dec. 14).
Senior Karlo Kovacic never got his 3-point shot going, and sawlimited action throughout the season. He did however, spark the teamin his only start of the season, the home finale against Air Force(March 2).
Frontcourt
Holcomb was very impressive in his first year at SDSU. In 2001-02,he raised the bar — tenfold. In his first campaign, the L.A. CityCollege transfer was counted upon to be the man. He became the team’sgo-to guy. He was the team’s biggest offensive threat, something thatmany coaches would say was unnatural because of his position.
It was a tough year because he was expected to take all the shots.But, he would have added weapons this year. People in the mediawondered how he would handle sharing the ball — and much to theirpleasure Holcomb found a way to let the game come to him and not tryto take it over.
What resulted was a season that should have garnered MWC Player ofthe Year honors (16.9 pts, 9 rebs).
Instead, Holcomb was slighted (Utah’s Britton Johnsen received theaward).
Not to worry.
He earned his revenge by earning Most Valuable Player honors forhis play in the MWC Tournament.
Mackell also earned validation late in the season. At the season’sbeginning, assistant coach Brian Dutcher pointed out that Mackellwould improve as the year went along — as he learned the SDSUsystem.
While the junior had shining moments in the second half of the winover Fresno State, he was mostly overshadowed by his teammates’ playduring the first half of the season. He looked lost at times,especially in his confidence.
Then came Winter Break.
Mackell took the extra time and bulked up in the gym — and thechange carried over into his mindset too.
The dividends paid off immediately on the first road trip ofconference play — as Mackell carried the team inside — andcontinued through the tournament. Compare his first half numbers (8.7pts) with the second half (12.2 pts) and you get an idea of thedifference.
It was a difficult season for Epps. The senior went from being athree-year starter in what hopefully becomes known as “the leanyears” to earning the dreaded “DID NOT PLAY” at Duke.
But, Epps shook off the DNP and a one-game suspension to play akey role down the stretch, becoming the team’s defensive stopper offthe bench.
Aerick Sanders’ and Chris Walton’s growth was hard to judge attimes. Both sophomores saw reduced minutes because of the lineupahead of them. Neither saw consistent time and at times it showed.
However, their development became evident in late February andMarch.
Sanders came off the bench to score 10 points and grab sevenrebounds giving the team crucial minutes when Mackell was in foultrouble in the second-round win over Wyoming.
Walton brought more fire, proving to be a huge factor in the NewMexico win (Feb. 28). He then added six crucial rebounds in thechampionship game win.
Outlook
What began as a group of individuals in November meshed into ateam in late February and March that will hopefully have SDSU fansbuzzing forever.
If you listened to the team from the start, you would havebelieved. The players spoke of the postseason, any postseason beingthe goal. But they longed to reach the NCAA Tournament.
The fans wouldn’t have it, though. They wanted proof that the teamcould produce. Now they do.
As Fisher has pointed out, this team is the first in the line togreatness. The members, departing and returning, are the buildingblocks of what could become a major Division I basketball power- at SDSU no less.
While the team is certainly losing key players, a strong cast iscoming back for the 2002-03 campaign.
Mackell, Sanders and Walton return along with highly toutedredshirt freshman Trimaine Davis to man the paint. While the loss ofHolcomb and Epps certainly hurt, the team and the coaches know theyare in good hands.
While the backcourt loses Faux and Smith, it too has capable handsin returning seniors Moore and Bland. Lest we forget Johnson andanother redshirt Steve Sir.
The team also has an early signee in guard Brandon Heath fromL.A.’s Westchester High.
And, with Fisher and his staff at the helm, it is almost acertainty that the necessary players will be brought in to fulfillthe coach’s successful blueprint to winning.
Buckle up.
The ride is just beginning.
