Busting Brackets
Fansided

San Diego State Basketball: Malik Pope returns to school

By Matt Wadleigh

Mar 12, 2016; Las Vegas, NV, USA; San Diego State Aztecs forward Malik Pope (21) shoots the ball against the Fresno State Bulldogs in the first half during the Mountain West Conference Tournament at Thomas & Mack Center. Mandatory Credit: Joshua Dahl-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 12, 2016; Las Vegas, NV, USA; San Diego State Aztecs forward Malik Pope (21) shoots the ball against the Fresno State Bulldogs in the first half during the Mountain West Conference Tournament at Thomas & Mack Center. Mandatory Credit: Joshua Dahl-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit

With Malik Pope returning, San Diego State basketball will be the favorite to win the Mountain West Conference.

The San Diego State Aztecs received some good news on Monday afternoon.

Related Story: Malik Pope declares for the 2016 NBA Draft

Sophomore forward Malik Pope announced that he intends to pull his name out of the NBA Draft and return to school for his junior season.

Pope, the 6-foot-10-inch forward, worked out for four NBA teams during the process – the Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics, and the Utah Jazz – despite not being selected to participate at the NBA Combine.

Although he wasn’t selected to attend the event in Chicago, Pope was projected as a mid-to-late second round pick, according to multiple mock drafts and draft experts.

Per NBA rules, scouts and general managers are refrained from commenting on underclassmen, but the rumors are that they wanted Pope to put on more muscle as well as more consistency overall in his game.

It’s no secret that Pope has potential to be a star in college and has all the tools to be a solid pro, but his 2015-2016 season was inconsistent to say the least.

Pope got off to a slow start this past year, but ended it on the right note, averaging 11.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and a 50 percent clip from beyond the arc in the season’s final 13 games.

With the new rules for draft prospects put forth just this year, it really helps players like Pope who wanted to test the waters.

“They’ve given players like Malik an opportunity to really have an option,” head coach Steve Fisher said. “Before, you put your name in and you couldn’t do any workouts before you had to pull it out. I’m sure they’ll tweak this a little in the future, but this was much better. It gives you a chance to get some real feedback from NBA people and make an educated decision.”

This helps Pope in many ways, and his return to San Diego State is great news for a team that already lost Winston Shepard, Skylar Spencer and Angelo Chol.

With the return of Pope, the Aztecs will almost certainly be the preseason Mountain West favorites for next season.

Fisher’s unit will have a tremendous level of talent and their starting lineup will be awfully difficult to stop.

Jeremy Hemsley, Trey Kell, Zylan Cheatham, Pope, and Montaque Gill-Caesar should be the starting five for the Aztecs. Dakarai Allen, Matt Shrigley, redshirt big man Nolan Narain and Indiana transfer Max Hoetzel will highlight the bench unit, while four-star power forward Jalen McDaniels could contribute if he doesn’t choose to redshirt.

The Aztecs also added transfer Valentine Izundu.

If Pope can have a breakout season, there is no question he can be a first-round or even a top 10 pick in the 2017 NBA Draft.

Next: 11 transfers off to greener pastures

As for the Aztecs, they can go a long way in 2016-2017 and get back to the NCAA Tournament with one of the deepest teams in all of the NCAA.