SDSU Will Open Tournament Against Old Nemesis of Brandenburg’s
For those not educated about the basketball team from Hardin-Simmons University, just ask San Diego State Coach Jim Brandenburg. He is all too familiar with the Cowboys.
Seems he has met up with them before. And while the record shows two victories in three tries, it was the one loss that he should remember the most.
It happened 2 years ago in his last season at Wyoming, the one that ended with his team in the final 16 of the NCAA tournament. The Cowboys from Hardin-Simmons, a Baptist-affiliated university of about 2,000 students, beat Brandenburg’s Cowboys by 7 points in an early-season game in Abilene, Tex.
It was one of those everything-to-lose-and-nothing-to-gain games that Brandenburg’s team lost. So why, when the Cowboys came calling this summer, did Brandenburg pencil them in as the Aztecs’ first-round opponent in their McDonald’s tournament that starts tonight at the San Diego Sports Arena?
“I guess I have a poor memory,” Brandenburg said. “But now I remember.”
A better answer might have been that the Cowboys lost four starters and their coach from a team that finished 18-10 last season, the most victories by Hardin-Simmons since 1966.
Gone are four starters who each averaged double figures in scoring and Dick Danford, who quit as coach in July to return to his native Florida to be closer to his ailing father and to his favorite hobby of scuba diving.
Only point guard Sedrick Evans (8.5 points per game last season) returns. He is joined in the starting lineup by a freshman and three players who totaled an average of 9.8 points last season. Coaching the team is Dennis Harp, who was an assistant to Danford the past 3 years.
But the Cowboys might be better known as the team with probably college basketball’s tallest twin towers--Jay Curran, a 7-foot, 1-inch sophomore, and Mike Lanier, a 7-6 freshman. Lanier is half of the world’s tallest living twins. His 7-5 brother, Jim, is a freshman at University of Denver.
That neither of the 7-footers--nor 6-10 junior Bill Seamon--start for a team that is 3-4, tells a lot about their development and the early-season plight of the Cowboys.
“They’re impressive in airports,” said Harp, with a laugh.
The first-round pairing is half of what could be one of the better fields in the tournament’s 13 years.
Tennessee (4-1), which was ranked 16th before its 2-point overtime loss to South Carolina Saturday, plays Alabama Birmingham (5-1) in the first game at 6:30, followed by the Aztecs (3-2) against Cowboys at 8:30. The winners of tonight’s games will meet Wednesday in the second game of a doubleheader starting at 6:30.
Tennessee is led by Dyron Nix, a 6-7 power forward who was a late cut from the U.S. Olympic team. Nix, who opened the season with a 40-point game against Tennessee Tech, is averaging 26.4 points and 11.6 rebounds. But the Volunteers likely will be without their second-leading scorer, senior forward Mark Griffin, for the second game. Griffin has not played since he sustained bruises in an automobile accident late last week.
Alabama Birmingham, whose only loss was at Wyoming (109-91), features sophomore forward Andy Kennedy (22.3 points per game) and senior forward Reginald Turner (10.8 rebounds per game).
Tournament Notes
This is the second name change in the past 4 years for the tournament that started as the Cabrillo tournament in 1976 and was changed to the Holiday Bowl tournament in 1985. It is the first time the tournament has been held before Christmas. . . . San Diego State, which beat Texas Tech in the final last year for its third tournament title and first since 1981, will be trying to repeat as champions for the first time.