Both SDSU transfers have knee surgery

San Diego State basketball should get a volume discount on knee surgeries.

Indiana transfer Max Hoetzel had surgery Thursday to repair cartilage. Missouri transfer Montaque “Teki” Gill-Caesar had surgery Friday to remove a cyst in his knee.

“Both went well, no complications,” coach Steve Fisher said. “I expect them to be out four to six weeks.”

The key word in all that is transfers. There is no good time for a college basketball player to have knee surgery. But if you’re going to get it, if there’s no other alternative, the beginning of a mandated redshirt season is about as timely as it gets.

They are the third Aztecs players to have knee surgery in as many months, although neither Hoetzel nor Gill-Caesar’s procedures is considered as serious as Matt Shrigley’s reconstructive surgery for a torn anterior cruciate ligament in late July. Walk-on Parker U’u is just recovering from ACL surgery last February.

Hoetzel tore his ACL in high school and then tweaked the knee in practice, but Fisher said doctors examined the ACL during surgery and determined “it looks good.” Gill-Caesar arrived at SDSU with the cyst; it began bothering him and doctors decided to remove it.

The only downside is the Aztecs will have only 10 scholarship players available for practice for the next month or so. Walk-ons Ben Perez, Parker U’u and Niksha Federico have been getting plenty of rotations.

LEAF’S RECRUITING TRIP

Foothills Christian High senior T.J. Leaf has been on SDSU’s campus more times than he can count, but he took an abbreviated “official” recruiting visit this week with his parents. The five-star prospect originally committed to Arizona last fall, then decommitted in August and listed the Aztecs among eight candidates. Now the 6-foot-9 forward is down to three: SDSU, UCLA and Oregon.

He visited Oregon last week, SDSU this week and is scheduled for an official visit to UCLA next. He’s expected to make a decision in early November.

RANKINGS

The USA Today coaches poll was released earlier this week. The Aztecs are not in the Top 25, although they did receive votes and essentially are 38th. Three and possibly four nonconference opponents were ranked: Kansas at No. 5, Cal at No. 14 and Utah at No. 16. The Aztecs also could face No. 23 West Virginia at the Continental Tires Las Vegas Invitational over Thanksgiving.