San Diego State Basketball: Aztecs are salvaging an at-large worthy resume
By John Parker
A strong MWC campaign has the San Diego State basketball team back in the at-large conversation
During the early portion of Mountain West play, few would’ve pegged defending regular season champion San Diego State as the conference’s best candidate to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. That honor likely would’ve gone to a Boise State team that had a 9-4 non-conference record featuring three losses to surefire tournament teams, one questionable road loss to Montana, and a win over Oregon to its name.
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San Diego State entered conference play with a 7-6 record, losing on a neutral court to crosstown rival San Diego and at home to Grand Canyon and Arkansas Little Rock. Grand Canyon and Little Rock currently have 39 combined wins and just six losses, but at the time the losses looked likely to burst the Aztecs’ bubble.
Then came conference play. The Aztecs have been on a roll in the Mountain West. While many of the contests have come down to the wire, the team entered the day 10-0 in the conference and 17-6 overall. Despite its best win being against fellow bubble team California, San Diego State is racking up decent wins and avoiding the carnage that has so many other bubble teams in tenuous positions. On Thursday, Busting Brackets’ Doug Winkey projected San Diego State would earn the Mountain West autobid as a 12-seed.
On Saturday, the Aztecs hosted the New Mexico Lobos, who came into the day in second place in the conference at 7-2. The teams traded runs in a back-and-forth contest, and neither could open a double-digit lead all afternoon.
With 22 seconds remaining in regulation, it looked like San Diego State’s strange streak of 160 straight wins when leading with five minutes remaining in the second half would come to an end when New Mexico guard Elijah Brown hit a 3-pointer to give the Lobos a five point lead.
However, a New Mexico turnover following a Winston Shepard putback with 12 seconds left gave San Diego State the ball and allowed Malik Pope to send game to overtime with a 3-pointer. Aztec freshman Jeremy Hemsley scored eight points to dominate the overtime session and San Diego State escaped with a 78-71 victory.
With the win, San Diego State improves 11-0 in conference play and moves three and a half games ahead of the second place Lobos.
Considering the down year the Mountain West is having and San Diego State’s lack of quality wins, dominating the league will be necessary to give the Aztecs wiggle room if the team loses in the Mountain West Tournament.
San Diego State will likely be favored in each of its seven remaining games except for the return trip to New Mexico. Even in a down year for the conference, a 17-1 or 18-0 run through the Mountain West should garner respect from the selection committee, especially if the team is three or four games ahead of second place.
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From there, avoiding a bad loss in the conference tournament should leave San Diego State in a decent position to earn an at-large bid. It’s hard to imagine after such a rocky start to the season, but once again a San Diego State loss in the conference tournament could hold the key to the Mountain West sending two teams to the NCAA Tournament.
Can the Aztecs earn an at-large bid? Let us know what you think in the comments.