SDSU Players Torn Between Tests, Games

Coach Jim Dietz kept referring to the situation as a “big league problem” for his San Diego State baseball team. In a literal sense, the problem is academic.

SDSU was informed Monday that it will begin National Collegiate Athletic Assn. Central regional play Thursday in Austin, Tex., against Arizona at 2 p.m. (PDT).

However, several SDSU players, including starting shortstop Steve Montejano, have semester finals Wednesday and Thursday that could cause them to miss at least one game in the double-elimination tournament. Dietz said he would telephone SDSU President Thomas Day this morning to discuss possible solutions.

“This is going to kill us,” Dietz said. “Most schools are already through with finals. We have to figure out who can or can’t go. I just got chewed out big-time by one of our academic people, and I don’t blame him for it. The NCAA wants us to stress academics, then they put us in this situation.”

Dietz said the problem could have been solved if SDSU played in a West Coast regional. The Aztecs had budgeted money to transport players back and forth between finals and baseball games if necessary. They cannot transport players to and from Austin because of increased expenses, plus the two-hour time change would make it difficult for players flying in to be at the games on time.

UCLA is the host of the only West Coast regional, although SDSU, Stanford and Arizona also made bids. Last year, there were two West Coast regionals.

Three West Coast teams are in the Central regional--SDSU, Arizona and Pepperdine. Two others--Stanford and Oregon State--are in the Midwest regional at Stillwater, Okla. The West Coast regional includes UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, Loyola Marymount and Hawaii.

“It seems to me there are enough good teams on the West Coast to where there should have been two West Coast regionals,” Dietz said. “I don’t understand why we did what we did. As a former (NCAA selection) committee member, I probably would have opposed this.

“A few years ago, we decided to keep teams in their regions to save costs. The West Coast could have quite easily handled two four-team tournaments or one six-team tournament this year. We got away from what we tried to do before.”

NCAA spokespersons could not be reached for comment late Monday.

Texas (49-12) is top-seeded in the Central regional. In seeding order, the remaining teams are Pan American (41-17), Arizona (41-18), SDSU (42-21-1), Pepperdine (35-19) and Southern Illinois (39-20).

The Aztecs earned an automatic bid by winning the Western Athletic Conference tournament at home 10 days ago. Hawaii, which finished second in the WAC, is seeded fourth in the Western regional.

“I can’t understand why we’re seeded fourth in a six-team tournament and Hawaii is fourth in a four-team tournament,” Dietz said. “In some ways, it looks like we’re being punished.

“When you’re an at-large team, you are just happy to be going. When you are a conference champion, you don’t feel the same way. When you are a conference champion and seeded fourth, it’s real discouraging.”

And when some players may not even get to compete in the NCAA tournament, the situation becomes even more discouraging for SDSU.