USD Catching San Diego State on the Rebound

In the national college basketball picture, the University of San Diego is no North Carolina.

At least, San Diego State hopes not.

The Aztecs, smarting from their season-opening, 99-63 loss Saturday to the fifth-ranked Tar Heels, face USD at 7 tonight at the Sports Arena. Although tonight’s intracity matchup might be a far cry from the clamor of 21,572 fans at the Smith Center in Chapel Hill, USD still is receiving a whisper of national attention.

The Toreros return 12 lettermen, including three starters, from last season’s 16-12 team. They are the favorites in the West Coast Conference. And they received seven votes in the lastest Associated Press college basketball poll.

Since tonight’s game is its season opener, USD might not play all the way up to those credentials.

At least, San Diego State hopes not.

“Right now, we’re in the developmental part of our season,” Aztecs Coach Jim Brandenburg said. “We’re just behind. We’re not as far along as we’d like to be because of injuries and illnesses and having so many new players.”

Toreros Coach Hank Egan has a different approach. “It’s something where we’re not coming out to check out new lineups,” he said. “We’re beyond that stage. We’re ready to play.”

Said Brandenburg: “Obviously, there’s some local bragging rights, but we will not take this game out of context. It’s important for us to put our best foot forward here in the city, but it’s awfully early to be putting too much stock into the second game of the season. We’ll be a much better basketball team in about a month.”

Egan: “I think it’s a good deal. We’re trying to promote San Diego basketball, and this is a neat thing. It’s a good rivalry. I think it’s an intense rivalry.”

SDSU won last year, 85-75, for the first time in four meetings, and the Aztecs own a 16-8 advantage over USD in the series.

Before the loss to North Carolina, SDSU had only five players on its roster with any kind of Division I experience, including center Mark Pollard who attempted just four shots in the 1987-88 season before going on a two-year Mormon mission.

That lack of experience was evident Saturday as the Aztecs shot only 40% from both the field and the free-throw line.

“Free throws is our big concern,” Brandenburg said. “A lot of first-year players missed a lot of free throws. I hope this isn’t the start of a trend.”

Conversely, Egan has needed to blend only two new players into the system and even that has been relatively simple. Reed Watson and Michael Brown were teammates at Mesa (Ariz.) College last season. Mesa was the top-ranked community college in the nation last year, and USD has three other former Mesa players already on the roster.

“I think we have the advantage there (in experience),” Egan said. “But they’re an improved ballclub. And no matter how bad things went (in North Carolina), they have one (game) under their belt. That’s important. We kind of offset one another in those areas.”

SDSU does have a considerable advantage in height. The Aztecs have four players taller than USD’s biggest, Dondi Bell, who is 6-foot-9.