SEASON ON A TEAR : Dow not only returns from a tendon injury, the Aztec center comes back a little bit better

SAN DIEGO —  It’s 8 a.m., midweek, and in the physical education equipment room at San Diego State, the coffee is black and the laughs come quickly.

Marty Dow, the center on the SDSU basketball team, drinks from his mug and hangs out. The morning calm, the gentle sips . . . it’s a far cry from nights, and the banging underneath the basket and the roar of the crowd.

He had a class in this room last semester and, now, a new semester under way, he keeps coming back. Even at 8 a.m., in the middle of basketball season. He enjoys the company of Bill Smelko, 64, who has worked at SDSU for the past 30 years and has run the equipment room for longer than he cares to remember. Dow figures Smelko can use the help, so he volunteers for an hour or so before going off to class.

Look at Dow out on the court, and you might have a hard time believing he smiles and volunteers to do much of anything. He usually has a couple-days’ growth on his face, the glare of his eyes could turn water into ice, and then there is that Tasmanian Devil tattoo on his lower left leg.

“He’s a good kid,” Smelko says. “Wish we had more like him.”

Bonner Montler, a center on the SDSU football team and another volunteer helper, walks in, holding a racquetball racket. Smelko pounces.

Smelko: “Did a girl beat you?”

Montler: “It took two of them this time.”

They laugh. Dow laughs. He’s a good kid, wish we had more like him. So, too, does SDSU basketball Coach Jim Brandenburg.

Nearly one year after undergoing surgery for a torn tendon in his right foot, and two years into his SDSU basketball career, Dow, a 7-foot-1 senior, is relaxed, playing well and having the time of his life.

“I am having a lot of fun,” he said. “It hurts inside when you (lose), but there’s no sense in playing when you’re not having fun.”

As he takes the floor for today’s game against Wyoming at 6:05 p.m. in the San Diego Sports Arena, Dow leads the Aztecs (8-10, 3-5 in the Western Athletic Conference) in scoring (17.1 points a game) and rebounding (8.8). He is the only Aztec to start every game.

It hasn’t been an easy season--he has dropped about 25 pounds since it began. Most of it vanished because of simple, hard work, says Brandenburg. But Dow’s scoring average has increased over last year’s by five points a game, and Brandenburg has called him the most improved player, from one year to the next, that the coach has ever worked with.

“I think he’s better offensively, rebounding-wise, defensively--although not perfect,” Brandenburg said. “I think his passing is improved--although not perfect. We had a goal for him to step out and become more of a perimeter shooter; he’s done that. He’s more competitive. In all areas, he’s improved. He’s done a nice job.”

He has battled New Mexico center Luc Longley, a probable first-round NBA draft choice this summer, twice. The first time, Dow hit five shots from about 15 feet--the first time this season he unveiled his long jumper--and outplayed Longley. They both had 18 points, but Dow outrebounded Longley, 8-5, and led SDSU to victory.

The second time, Longley might have gotten the better of him, but Dow certainly didn’t embarrass himself. Longley outscored him, 23-19, but Dow held the rebounding edge, 12-9. New Mexico won.

“I really think Marty Dow is a very good post player,” New Mexico Coach Dave Bliss said. “If you don’t have somebody like Luc, taller and about as mobile, Marty can get away from you.

“We had trouble with Marty. He can hurt you inside or outside.”

Former UCLA and NBA standout Bill Walton has broadcast several SDSU games on Prime Ticket this season and has been impressed with Dow.

“He plays his best against the best opponents, which is a real good sign for an up-and-coming player,” Walton said. “I think he needs to be a little more aggressive and assertive. He has all of the physical skills. It was nice to see him hit the jumper against New Mexico--effective post men have to be able to step out to the 15-feet range and hit the jumper.”

Dow added that to his game last autumn. It was kind of a bonus because, once, he wondered whether his basketball career would even see the autumn.

The tendon in his foot had been bothering him for a couple of months last winter before it finally gave way Feb. 3 at Utah. Two weeks later, he underwent surgery and missed the rest of the season. The Aztecs went 1-8 in his absence.

“The doctor said I would be fine, but there was doubt in my mind,” Dow said. “Am I going to play again? Am I going to be effective?”

These are the kind of thoughts that race through your head when you faced with your first major surgery.

It all hit him on the night of his surgery, when he woke up about midnight with a throbbing foot. The painkillers had worn off, and he simply sat there in the darkness. This is it, he thought. I’m done for the rest of the season. Maybe forever. He tossed and turned, the way only a man who has had something he loves taken from him can toss and turn, and didn’t get back to sleep until about 4 a.m.

The rest of the season, he didn’t miss a home game. His vantage point was just different--a view from the bench, instead of a view from the middle.

The cast stayed on about six weeks; three more weeks passed before he could put any kind of pressure on the foot.

Then came the toe-raises. Dow’s physical therapist told him he couldn’t resume playing basketball until he could do 300 toe-raises. That is, while standing up, rise up on his tip-toes and back down again, 300 times.

So, in class, he would tap the toes on his right foot on the ground over and over. Try doing that, and you’ll feel pressure on your lower leg, down around your ankle. Dow was attempting to build up strength in this part of his leg, so he could do those toe raises.

“I know I annoyed everybody in all of those classes,” he said.

Nobody said anything.

“I just got a lot of looks,” he said. “‘When you hear it 20 minutes a day in class, people tend to get irritated.”

It was early summer before he could play basketball again. Over the summer, he started playing in pick-up games on 63rd St. near campus three or four nights a week. The level of competition varied. Sometimes it was pretty strong. Other times, it only smelled strong.

“There were times when I was playing with guys who were pretty intoxicated,” he said.

These weren’t the most productive nights, but they may have been the most interesting. Imagine a 7-foot-1 Division I basketball player on the court with a bunch of liquored-up players.

“They’d dribble it off their foot, or pass it 10 feet over your head,” Dow said. “It was an experience. And they’d all jaw, saying how good they were. You’d look at them and laugh and say, ‘Come back and tell me that when you’re sober.’ ”

But it wasn’t a bad summer. He came back to school engaged--he will be married in July--in shape and ready for a new season.

He was slowed before the season by a groin injury, which caused him to miss 10 days of practice. But, on his second day back--Oct. 30--he practiced with a vengeance, showing signs of what was to come this season. Brandenburg calls it “Black Tuesday.”

“He got into it and dominated,” Brandenburg said. “We said, ‘Wow, the level of his play has increased (from last year).’ ”

So, Brandenburg refers to Black Tuesday whenever Dow’s level of play slips in practice, or whenever he says he can’t do something Brandenburg asks. Brandenburg has that practice session on tape, so he brings Dow in to see it for a review from time to time.

“A couple of visual pictures make up for 10 million words,” Brandenburg said.

He hasn’t needed to roll the VCR too much. Dow has scored in double figures in all but two games this season. He is sixth in the WAC in field goal percentage (57.8%), third in rebounding and fifth in scoring.

It’s all pretty heady stuff for a guy from Aurora, Colo., who originally entered University of Cincinnati but left in frustration when he didn’t play much and felt lost in the shuffle. After a year there, he transferred to Northeastern Oklahoma A&M; Community College in Miami, Okla. After the school won a national community college championship in 1989, Dow went in search of Tasmanian Devil tatoo artist and signed on with SDSU.

“I wanted to be like he is on the cartoon,” Dow said, “and just kind of tear into everybody.”

Sometimes, on those mornings in the equipment room, he thinks about the twists and turns and tears his career has taken, and sometimes he wonders what’s next. He knows he would like to play somewhere next year, he just isn’t sure where. If the NBA won’t give him an opportunity, he is thinking of playing overseas. His brother Mike, 32 and 6-11 1/2, has played in Sweden for the past nine years and already has started telling people there about Marty. Dow is interested.

“I’d love to do that,” Dow said. “It would be a great opportunity to see a different country, a different culture, and do something I love.”

Walton thinks Dow may have a chance to play in the NBA.

“I think he can,” Walton said. “I think he has good skills. The three things he needs to develop--not in order--are consistency, assertiveness and aggressiveness.

“He’s obviously a hard worker--he’s the first one out (before games). I’d like to sit down with him and have a nice, long conversation.”

Said Dow: “I’d love to do that with Bill. He’s told me to keep working hard, keep plugging along and good things will happen for me.”

Which is all right for a guy who doesn’t consider himself particularly gifted on the court. The most difficult part of basketball for Dow?

“Truthfully, I think my whole game,” he said. “I’ve never thought of myself as a talented basketball player. Working hard is what’s gotten me where I am.”

And whether that’s sitting with Smelko and a good cup of coffee at 8 a.m. or whether it’s banging around on a basketball court, he doesn’t think it’s a bad place to be.