My reaction upon watching Wednesday night's "City Championship" college basketball game won by San Diego State 69-62 in overtime at USD, was that neither team is going too this season as presently constituted, and that both probably sat in their post-game locker rooms wondering why they didn't win by double-digits.
The Aztecs were unable to capitalize on strong starts to each half and eventually fell behind in both periods. They can't shoot consistently from the outside to bust zone defenses and have difficulty with patient, experienced squads that play as a team. They lost to two such teams, St. Mary's and Pacific on the road, and struggled at USD. They are fortunate that the road game at Air Force doesn't come until the season finale, when maybe they will have pulled things together.
Observations after seven games:
-- DJ Gay is becoming a quality point guard. He took his matchup with Toreros G Brandon Johnson personally, it appeared, and he became a better player for it. If he can bottle that feeling, the Aztecs will be a tough team to beat.
-- Just because Tyrone Shelley came with a reputation as a big scorer, it doesn't mean he's a pure 3-point shooter, and he isn't. Coach Steve Fisher needs to find a way to get the Crawford/Christian alum the rock at mid-range.
-- You had to assume it would take C Brian Carlwell some time to get back in the flow after being hurt at Illinois and then sitting out a transfer year. Not this long, though. You have to think anything they get out of the big man this season will be gravy.
-- The best SDSU hoopster right now is G Chase Tapley. The freshman is somewhat hampered by a bad hamstring, but he is strong and has an eye for the basket on a team short on shooters. He might not be the best player at some other point, he's a freshman after-all, but he is right now.
Judging USD at this point is a little more difficult. They played SDSU very hard, and beat Stanford, Oklahoma and Houston. But they were crushed by Washington State in the Great Alaska Shootout final and probably should have defeated the Aztecs. Yet, they're just 4-3.
My thinking right now is they're nearly maximizing limited resources. That's not such a bad thing, because if the Toreros can handle New Mexico at the Phat Pharm next week, then they'll have a bunch of quality wins on the ledger -- assuming a decent conference record. It probably won't mean the NCAAs, but it could be enough for an NIT bid.
-- Johnson is still a great player despite only being 80 percent following last season's Achilles tear. You can tell he was gassed late Wednesday night after chasing Gay and trying to lose him all game. Can you imagine that guy healthy and at the point for the Aztecs. You'd have a Sweet 16 team, easy.
-- There are going to be games, like against SDSU, when they just won't have the athletes to match up. St. Mary's, Portland and Gonzaga will all be tough in the West Coast Conference. They do look good enough to be the best of the rest and, if they can steal one or two at home against the big guys, who knows?
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Dick Enberg doing about 120 Padres games on television? Awesome! I hope things go this well under Jeff Moorad on the baseball field, and it might if this is a hint at how he plans to run his operations. Mark Neely, bless his heart, might be the poster child for the way John Moores ran the franchise the last couple years. Neely grew on me late in the season, but he is what he's about to become, a quality substitute ... I still can't believe the Cotton Bowl would pass on a Nebraska team playing for the Big 12 championship, but most news sources say the Dallas-based bowl will take Oklahoma State and Mississippi. That's the Holiday Bowl's gain ... They'll have their choice of Pac-10 teams tied for second at 6-3 now that Oregon beat Oregon State for the conference crown. The choices will be the Beavers, Stanford and the winner between USC and Arizona, and even Cal if they beat Washington in Seattle. I think you can safely eliminate Arizona and Cal no matter what happens. The Beavers are a legitimate pick with popular former Chargers coach Mike Riley and local prep QB Sean Canfield. Stanford has a Heisman finalist in RB Toby Gerhart. USC is a dream entrant. None have played the Holiday. Tough call ... Aztec football aside, was there anything more disappointing than the SDSU women's basketball team tanking at the Paradise Jam, going 0-3 vs. Notre Dame, Oklahoma and South Carolina? Losing to the number five Irish was one thing, but getting crushed by the Sooners and falling to the Gamecocks isn't acceptable for a team that was talking about some March Madness wins.
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