Aztecs Are Caught Off Guard as They Head for Game at Miami

Little about his first season as San Diego State basketball coach has been easy for Jim Brandenburg.

Just when the Aztecs are coming off two of their best games of the season--including their first road victory in two years--Brandenburg learns he must play the rest of the season with only two scholarship guards.

Ty Walker, a 6-foot 4-inch junior from Ingalls, Kan., has quit the team for personal reasons and will withdraw from school, Brandenburg said Friday. Walker left the team before the Aztecs departed Friday for a game against Miami (Fla.) today at 4:30 p.m. PST in the Knight Center.

Walker, a junior transfer from Garden City (Kan.) Community College, averaged 4.4 points and 1.6 rebounds playing an average of 16 minutes per game. He started five of the Aztecs’ 19 games and played in 18, missing one because of illness.

But Walker had not started the past six games, and he played a season-low eight minutes in a 59-58 victory at Hawaii Monday.

“He hid it real well that he was thinking about quitting,” Brandenburg said. “It was a surprise. I hadn’t seen it coming.”

Walker could not be reached for comment. His father, John, who coached Walker at Ingalls High School, said his son would be returning home and had no immediate plans to enroll at another college.

This is the second time Walker has left a four-year school. He played as a freshman at Kansas State but transferred after his freshman season to Garden City, where he averaged 18 points.

The loss of Walker leaves Brandenburg with only two active scholarship guards--Bryan Williams and Tony Ross. William Dixion, a freshman walk-on from the football team, is the only other available guard for tonight’s game.

Today’s game against Miami (13-8) will be the Aztecs’ last nonleague game of the season and is the second in a stretch of four consecutive games on the road. The Hurricanes are coming off a 64-62 overtime loss to Monmouth Thursday, which ended a four-game winning streak.

Miami is led by Tito Horford, a 7-1 sophomore center who is first on the team in rebounding (9.5 per game) and second in scoring (14.8 points per game). Eric Brown, a 6-6 junior forward, is Miami’s leading scorer at 17.6 points, but he has not started since he was benched four games ago for violating a team rule.

Brandenburg said that he will use forward Caldin Rogers more at guard in place of Walker and that he hopes that forward Juan Espinoza, who has been out the past three weeks because of a stress fracture in his back, can return shortly to provide help in the front court.

“This won’t hurt us too much defensively,” Brandenburg said, “but it could hurt us offensively.”

Walker was considered to be one of SDSU’s better outside shooters. He led the Aztecs in three-point field goal percentage at 46.2% (18 of 39) and had been working to improve his ballhandling and defensive play.

Although the departure of Walker leaves the Aztecs (8-11) short-handed for the rest of the season, help is on the way. Two other guards--junior Michael Best and sophomore Chris Singleton--are sitting out this season after transferring. Best will be eligible at the start of next season, and Singleton will be permitted to play in mid-December.

The Aztecs also have signed one guard for next season--Kevin Rembert, a senior at Santa Ana’s Mater Dei High School.