AS SAM GOES . . . : SDSU Looks to Johnson for Leadership

In the words of Coach Jim Brandenburg: “He’s the glue in the mortar that makes our team go.”

The numbers don’t jump out at you when you peruse Sam Johnson’s statistics, but Brandenburg’s comment says all you need to know about the 6-foot-7 forward’s value to San Diego State’s basketball team.

Don’t be misled by the modest averages of nine points and 6.8 rebounds that Johnson will carry into tonight’s 8:30 game against Brigham Young at the San Diego Sports Arena. There is a lot more to this Aztec senior than what appears in the box score.

“Look at all the things he does for us,” Brandenburg said. “He’s a good defensive stopper, a good rebounder and a very good passer. It seems like he always gets the ball inside by making the entry pass.

“When he’s not in there, we’re hurt on offense, we’re hurt on defense and we’re hurt on the boards. Besides that, we miss his leadership. Usually as he goes, so goes the team.”

Though the Aztecs have lost seven of their past eight games, Johnson can hardly be blamed. As badly as they have played in many of their recent defeats, Brandenburg shudders to think how much worse they would have been without Johnson.

Johnson’s most important attribute is his defense. Against Tennessee, he held All-American candidate Dyron Nix without a basket in the second half. Against New Mexico, he held another pro prospect, Charles Thomas, to seven points.

“Those guys are big scorers,” Brandenburg said. “And he’ll be guarding another one when we play BYU--Michael Smith.”

Smith, a 6-10 senior forward, is among the nation’s scoring leaders with a 26-point average. He scored 35 points in BYU’s 85-81 victory over the Aztecs in Provo Jan. 12, but Johnson missed that game with an ankle injury. Brandenburg is confident that with Johnson dogging Smith’s every step, Smith won’t come close to that total tonight.

“Sam is a courageous young man,” Brandenburg said. “He’s had two serious knee operations, and the ankle he hurt in the North Carolina game has nagged him ever since. Still, he has found a way to play through the pain, and play very well. You have to have great respect for somebody like that.”

Actually, Johnson has had four knee operations, counting two arthroscopic procedures. “I’ve had both types of surgery on each knee,” he said. “I’m still not 100%.”

Johnson’s one regret at this late stage of his college career is that he has never been able to play a full season on two good legs. In two years at Eastern Michigan in Ypsilanti, near his home in Detroit, he was a little-used reserve. After he transferred to San Diego State, his knee trouble began.

“The injuries had a great effect on my leaping ability,” Johnson said. “Of course, it doesn’t take a great leaper to get rebounds. It’s mostly a matter of anticipation. I try to concentrate on blocking out. I bump the guy once and go. That throws him off his rebounding spot and I beat him to it.

“The worst thing about all this is that I’ve also lost a lot of quickness, and I doubt if I’ll get it all back.”

With center Mitch McMullen hampered by an Achilles tendon injury, Johnson has become the Aztecs’ primary rebounder. He has reached double figures in rebounds five times and has a season-high of 13.

“I’ve always felt I could rebound,” Johnson said. “Early in the season, we were shooting so great that there weren’t many rebounds. Now that we’re not hitting that well and Mitch is hurting, I have to try to do some other things.”

As for shooting, Johnson is hitting at an 80% pace from the free-throw line, up from 48.9% last year.

“I don’t bend my knees as much, and it’s pretty much all wrist now,” said Johnson, explaining his turnaround. “But basically, I just relax now and shoot the ball. Last year, I worried too much about it.

“When I was struggling, the coaches were trying to change my shot every week. Who wouldn’t, the way I was shooting? I tried so many different ways and nothing seemed to work. I finally decided to stand at the line in a way I felt comfortable.”

Brandenburg said of Johnson’s improvement: “I think he’s got a better stroke this year. It has a lot to do with having better balance in his knees.”

Johnson’s field goal shooting, however, has dropped from last season’s 44.4% to 39.6%.

“I’m taking shots I’m not used to taking,” he said. “I’m not always shooting from spots where I’m comfortable. A lot of times when I’m in the key, I drive toward the hoop and try to draw a foul. But I’m missing the shots, and the refs aren’t calling the fouls.”

Johnson, who will graduate this spring with a degree in accounting, was an all-state player and an honor student at Cass Technical High School in Detroit.

Work ethic and the value of education were instilled in Johnson by his mother, Minnie, a vice president of a Detroit bank.

“My father was shot and killed when I was young, so my mother had to raise the family,” Johnson said. “She’s done very well. She brought us (Sam and his brother) out of the ghetto. She worked her way through college by going to night school. She did things for us that even a two-parent family couldn’t have done.”

It was partly because of his mother’s wishes that Johnson enrolled at Eastern Michigan. But he really preferred San Diego State, which he had visited.

“I might have come here in the first place, but there wasn’t a scholarship available,” he said. “They had just one scholarship to offer and they needed a guard. So I went to Eastern and figured I’d see how things would go.

“As it turned out, the coach and I didn’t get along. So I came out here after two years and I’m very happy. It’s a much better system, a better program and a bigger school. Also, there are more things to do in San Diego than there are in Ypsilanti.”

Johnson and senior guard Tony Ross are the only remaining members of the Aztec squad who were recruited by Smokey Gaines, Brandenburg’s predecessor. Johnson had known Gaines since his grade school days in Detroit. But Gaines resigned two years ago, after Johnson’s redshirt season.

Where Johnson settles after graduation will depend on what profession he enters.

“If I get a nice job offer in accounting, I’ll stay here,” he said. “If I teach, I’ll definitely go back to Detroit. There aren’t a lot of good teachers back home, people who really care about what the kids learn. I feel that I could do some good for those kids because I care a lot.”

In any case, obtaining a degree is a must.

“My mom always preached it,” Johnson said. “I know several guys who were great players in high school and played four years in college, but still don’t have their degrees and they’re lost.

“If you don’t have a college degree, especially being a black male, it’s hard to make it in this life. That isn’t going to happen to me.”