There Is Life After Cage for Surprising Aztecs

Taking Michael Cage away from San Diego State’s basketball team has to be like taking makeup away from Boy George, television away from a teen-ager or the wedge and putter away from Tom Watson.

The Aztecs would be at a loss.

If I remember correctly, the Aztecs were only a C+ with Michael Cage in 1983-84. They were 15-13 overall and tied for sixth in the Western Athletic Conference.

In what was Cage’s senior year, he did everything but coach--and there were those who thought maybe he should have been doing that as well. In those 28 games, he led the Aztecs in scoring 27 times and rebounding 25 times.

“Michael Cage scored 40 points and had 21 rebounds,” the stories would report, “but . . . “

The disclaimer “but . . . they lost” haunted the Aztecs.

Wyoming, which visits the Sports Arena tonight, gave up 70 points in two games to Cage last year--and won them both. Cage’s teammates totaled 67 points for those two games.

It was as if Cage was the lead singer for a kazoo band. He could hit all the notes, but it always ended up sounding like a bunch of revelers blowing their horns at midnight on New Year’s Eve. It was as if Barrymore had been cast with The Three Stooges.

What was Cage doing with these guys? What if he had stayed closer to his West Memphis, Ark., home? Might he have made the cover of Sports Illustrated with Arkansas? Might he have made the Final Four with his chum Keith Lee at Memphis State? Wouldn’t he have been so much better off without the Aztecs?

It never occurred to anyone that the Aztecs would be better off without Michael Cage. What would the Jacksons be without their Michael?

Indeed, the Aztecs’ future looked bleak. They would lose only one player, but he happened to be the best they ever had. No one seemed particularly assured by the fact that everyone else was returning.

What’s more, San Diego State’s basketball program had been placed on probation by the NCAA for infractions that the grumbling university deemed rather petty. Among the sanctions was a cutback that would allow the Aztecs to recruit only one newcomer on scholarship.

Obviously, the Aztecs were in trouble.

However, Smokey Gaines, the coach, remained optimistic. He signed a new two-year contract. Gaines is obviously the kind of guy who would stand hip-deep in water on the deck of the Titanic and ask for a bucket.

“All across the country,” Gaines said, “people doubted us. We’d lost our all-time scoring and rebounding leader, but I still thought we could win between 15 and 20 games. No one believed me.”

As Gaines made his remarks, he was sitting on a training table below the stands in the Sports Arena. His Aztecs had just rallied from a 14-point, second-half deficit to defeat Colorado State, 75-72. Erstwhile doubters were gathered around him with pens and microphones.

Remarkably, Gaines may be wrong about his projected 15 to 20 wins. He may be low. The ragtag Aztecs, the bedraggled survivors of the Cage era, are sailing along with a record of 17-5. Six games remain, and five of them at home.

These Aztecs actually have a shot at the Western Athletic Conference championship. They are 8-3 and tied for second with New Mexico, one game behind UTEP. Should they beat Wyoming tonight, and they should, they will position themselves for the biggest week in the history of the program. UTEP and New Mexico visit the Sports Arena Thursday and Saturday, respectively.

Apparently, someone forgot to tell these guys that they can lose an athlete like Michael Cage and improve.

“We’re a more complete team,” said guard Bobby Owens, who came off the bench to score 16 points in 16 minutes against Colorado State. “It used to be you could beat San Diego State if you could stop Michael Cage.”

Not exactly. It used to be that you could beat San Diego State even without stopping Michael Cage.

Owens’ point, however, was that Cage’s absence has unleashed talents which had been kept in harness during the power-oriented days of having The Big Guy inside.

“We were a half-court team with Mike,” guard Anthony Watson said. “This year, we get our points anywhere we can get ‘em. We’re up-tempo on offense and up-tempo on defense.”

The big men were royalty and the guards were servants in that power-oriented attack. Anthony, old boy, try not to keep Mr. Cage waiting. Of course, it was not quite as easy as delivering tea on a silver tray. The opposition, concentrating on foiling such deliveries, did everything but build a moat around the Aztecs’ muscular power forward.

If you haven’t seen San Diego State yet this year, you might be surprised to learn that the guards are allowed to shoot. They scored only 35.9% of the Aztecs’ points a year ago, but now they are scoring 49.7%.

In Thursday night’s win, the Aztecs used three guards throughout their rally from that 14-point deficit. After relying for so long on a power forward, they accomplished the comeback without a forward on the floor. Gaines aligned guards Watson, Owens and Creon Dorsey with centers Leonard Allen and Gerald Murray and unsettled a disciplined team which would not figure to blow such an advantage.

Watson, the freewheeling junior from Detroit, is the leading scorer, but this is not really a “star system” team. As Watson said, the points can come from anyone.

Owens, for example, was the hero of the second-half comeback, but he didn’t even play in the first half.

“I was hoping I’d get in,” he said, “but the coach substitutes at his own discretion.”

Gaines’ substitution pattern seemed a bit haphazard in the first half, as though he was turning over cards in hopes of finding an ace. He won it in the second half, when he came up with that full house--three guards and two centers.

This year, the Aztecs are proving it is possible to win without an ace.