FASTBREAKING WITH A BIG MAN
Having players capable of feat can be tactical bonus
Three thoughts on San Diego State’s 85-54 win against San Jose State on Monday night at Viejas Arena:
1. The dunk
Former Aztecs coach Steve Fisher watched the game, as he has this season, on television at his North County
home. Midway through the second half, he saw sophomore forward Keshad Johnson fly down the lane on the break and emphatically dunk over two Spartans players.
“That was impressive,” Fisher said. “I smiled when I saw it.”
He did for the entertainment value of Johnson’s mesmerizing athleticism. And he did for what most people probably didn’t notice about the play, that a 4-man rebounded the ball at the opposite end and dribbled the length of the floor before the highlight finish.
It is one of the signature qualities of a Fisher and now Brian Dutcher team, the willingness to break with convention — rebound, outlet, fill the lane — and allow their bigs to lead the break themselves. They recruit it. They teach it. They practice it. They encourage it.
“I think the real trust came at Michigan, when we had all those really good big players that could do it,” said Fisher, whose Fab Five teams in the early 1990s had a 6-foot-8 point guard and helped usher in an era of positionless basketball. “It's an added bonus if you can do that, a great luxury. You have to work at it. You can't just say, ‘Anybody who wants to, just dribble it whenever you want.' But you don't want them afraid to do it.”
At SDSU, he had long, athletic, versatile forwards like Mohamed Abukar, Marcus Slaughter, Lorrenzo Wade, Billy White, Winston Shepard, Malik Pope and, of course, Kawhi Leonard. Even last year, 6-10 Yanni Wetzell dribbled behind his back on the break a few times.
There are tactical advantages. Sometimes the point guard is covered or out of position for an outlet pass, and waiting for him to break open gives the defense valuable time to organize. A big man with longer legs can cover the court in fewer dribbles (it took Johnson six on Monday night) and scan the floor easier with his height. And then there's the sheer shock of a 6-8 stallion galloping at them with the ball — the you-got-him, no-you-got-him moment.
There's also a recruiting component. No doubt future prospects will see clips of Johnson's coast-to-coast dunk, just as he saw White doing the same when the Aztecs were courting him.
“Every guy with size wants to be a guard and say, ‘I can dribble, I can pass, I can shoot, I can do everything,' ” Fisher said. “You want to recruit versatility and athleticism. If you've got that with size, then you've got a special kind of player and team.”
2. The return
Aguek Arop limped through most of his freshman year with a painful hip impingement that required offseason surgery and six months of rehab. He missed 10 games during his sophomore year after dislocating a shoulder and then dislocating it again.
He missed a game this season with a cut on his hand, another game (and was limited in two others) with a stomach virus, then two more with vertigo.
It's easy to forget sometimes how valuable he is.
His greatest attribute: the arbitrary, unquantifiable entity of energy.
The 6-foot-6 junior with the 7-1 wingspan and relentless motor entered a tie game with 11:39 left in the first half. San Jose State was inbounding under SDSU's basket; Arop stole the pass and scored.
On the next possession, he perfectly timed a baseline cut behind the Spartans' 1-3-1 zone for another easy basket. On the next possession, he drew a foul and went to the line. Two minutes later, he trailed Lamont Butler on a fast break, snagged Butler's missed layup and scored.
On the next trip, he had two offensive rebounds that resulted in two free throws by Jordan Schakel that started a 20-5 run to close the half.
“I definitely haven't been through what he's been through,” Schakel said. “But it just shows what type of guy he is, never one to pout, never one to feel sorry for himself. To play as well as he did tonight, I think he was feeling good. I think he's feeling a lot better. It's nice to see.”
Or look at it this way: Arop didn't play in the loss against Colorado State and had two, two and zero points in the other three losses.
In his last three games, he's made 10 of 12 shots and has 10 offensive rebounds — and the Aztecs have won by 37, 32 and 31.
“That's what this program is built on, doing the little things,” Schakel said. “You don't win without the little things. It doesn't matter how many points you score, you have to do everything right. It's just contagious, when everyone plays that way. When AG came in the game, it was (tied) and he got big steal. It says he only got five rebounds, but it felt like 20, honestly.”
3. The standings
A year ago, the Aztecs were clinching the regular-season Mountain West title with four games to play. Not this year.
In mid-January, they were 3-3 and tied for fifth place while staring up at a pair of 8-0 teams in Boise State and Utah State. The hardest part of the schedule was behind them, but they also needed help to get back in contention.
And they got it. Boise State and Colorado State both are tied in the loss column with SDSU (8-3), and first-place Utah State (11-2) still has series against second-place Boise State and fifthplace Nevada.
If the Aggies win out, they're the outright champion and No. 1 seed in the conference tournament. But if Colorado State, Boise State and the Aztecs make up missed games and run the table, they all are guaranteed a least a share of the title.
The wild card, of course, is who makes up what. SDSU has missed four games so far, Utah State three, Colorado State two, Boise State one.
Here's a look where they stand and what they have left:
• Utah State (11-2): With this week's series against Wyoming postponed, they're left with tough series at Boise State and home against Nevada. Winning out will be tough.
• Colorado State (11-3): Two games against New Mexico this week have been postponed, but the Rams still have the easiest remaining schedule of the top four, with series at Nevada and 10th-place Air Force.
• Boise State (10-3): After opening 9-0 against the bottom half of the conference, the Broncos are 1-3 since. And they still have UNLV and Utah State at home, followed by SDSU on the road plus a possible makeup game against Fresno State.
• SDSU (8-3): Even if the Aztecs win the five remaining games on their schedule — San Jose State today, two at Fresno State, two against Boise State — and get to 13-3, there's still the issue of four missed road games against UNLV and New Mexico. The former could be played in early March. The latter have been officially canceled and may be deemed forfeits to help balance the standings.
“Obviously, everybody has tough games left,” Dutcher said. “On any given night, any one of them playing at a high level can compete. I think it's going to go right down to the last weekend.”