Aztecs Already Find a Hitch in Trip to Laramie : Basketball: Balzer misses team flight and arrives late to site of WAC Tournament.

Welcome to Laramie and the Western Athletic Conference tournament, where San Diego State’s appetite for misfortune continues.

Because of a simple food run, Aztec forward Keith Balzer missed the team’s flight to Denver Tuesday afternoon, missed practice Tuesday evening and will spend the beginning of tonight’s Western Athletic Conference tournament game against Air Force (6:05 p.m. PST) on the bench.

The missed connection by Balzer, a starting forward averaging 10 points and four rebounds a game, wasn’t entirely his fault.

When an airport terminal announcement came that the team’s departure would be delayed about 30 minutes, Balzer and Bart Brandenburg, son of SDSU Coach Jim and a guard who is redshirting this year, went to get something to eat. Problem was, another announcement followed shortly, stating that the delay wouldn’t be as long as anticipated. When the passengers started boarding, Balzer and Brandenburg were nowhere to be found.

Jim Brandenburg and assistant coach Jimmy Williams asked officials if the flight could wait a few minutes, but the answer was no.

The flight took off, leaving Balzer and Bart Brandenburg to catch a later departure. They eventually arrived, but not in time for practice. Consequently, Jim Brandenburg said, Balzer will not be in tonight’s starting lineup.

“Damn right,” Brandenburg said.

Freshman Joe McNaull, averaging five points and four rebounds a game, will start in Balzer’s place. When asked whether Balzer’s playing time will be affected, Brandenburg replied: “‘We’ll see how it goes. . . .”

“I’m not real pleased. This doesn’t do much for my disposition.”

Was Brandenburg more irritated with the players or the airline?

“A little with all of it,” he said.

And so, two hours after the Aztecs arrived in Denver, Williams was sitting in Stapleton Airport, waiting for Balzer and Brandenburg, so the trio could make the 2 1/2-hour trip through the falling snow to Laramie.

No, tournament week hasn’t exactly gotten off to a rousing start for the Aztecs (12-15, 6-10).

They say they are not emotionally drained after Saturday’s devastating loss to Hawaii, which turned out to be the difference between eighth place and fifth place.

They say their recent road trips--to Laramie, to Honolulu and to Laramie again in the past 12 days--haven’t bothered them.

They say that the fact that they already have defeated Air Force (9-19, 2-14) twice this season shouldn’t work against them.

Tonight, we’ll see.

“The toughest game in the tournament to get is the first one,” Brandenburg said. “Once you get that win, now you’ve got a chance to do some damage. I’d love the opportunity to play the No. 1 seed.”

Tonight’s victor plays Utah, the No. 9 team in the nation, at 8:35 p.m. (PST) Thursday.

The biggest question is, can SDSU bounce back from Saturday’s 65-58 loss to Hawaii? A victory, and the Aztecs would have been fifth-seeded, would have gotten an extra day of rest and would have played host Wyoming Thursday. But the loss dropped them into the preliminary eighth-ninth place game for the third year in a row.

SDSU’s forwards were terrible against Hawaii, shooting a combined four for 22. Balzer (one for five) and Courtie Miller (zero for four), the starters, were especially awful.

“I guess (the Hawaii game) can be demoralizing,” Brandenburg said. “‘We just didn’t want to play all the way through.”

The lone bright spots were--as has been the case most of the year--center Marty Dow (19 points and 15 rebounds) and guard Arthur Massey (17 points). Massey, in fact, has been spectacular lately. He has averaged 18.5 points a game in his last six, and in his last five, he has 32 assists and only six turnovers.

All season, the Aztecs have been saying they’re better than the standings say they are. Now, with the rest of the WAC teams gathered here, is their chance to prove it.

Aztec Notes

Tonight’s game will be broadcast by KFMB radio (760) in its entirety, but it will be delayed until the conclusion of President Bush’s 6 p.m. speech. . . . SDSU defeated Air Force this season in Colorado Springs, 52-48, and in San Diego, 76-59.