San Diego State Basketball: 5 reasons why Aztecs can win 2019-20 national title

5. Aztecs have a player who can carry them in Malachi Flynn

One of the biggest questions fans and analysts ask about teams in March is whether they have an individual who can take over in crunch time. San Diego State has an obvious answer in Flynn, who leads the team this season with 16.5 ppg. His 5.0 assist average and 1.8 steals a night both lead the Mountain West. He’s the heavy favorite to win Mountain West Player of the Year this season unless Nevada’s Jalen Harris averages 30 ppg the rest of the way.

As a finalist for the Bob Cousy Award for best point guard in the country, Flynn has shown that he’s capable of putting up big numbers. He’s reached double figures in all but one game this season, which happened to be the nine-point effort against San Jose State that included the game-winning three-pointer. The 6’3 guard has reached at least 20 points six different times, including a three-game stretch against Iowa, Creighton and Colorado State in the non-conference.

Flynn is very efficient overall as well, close to the elite 50-40-90 club in shooting percentages (45-39-86). He distributes the ball at a high rate and plays very good defense as well. Because of the high-level defense, Flynn and the Aztecs don’t have to score much to win games. But if it’s close, San Diego State has a capable closer to help them in what should be tight contests in the NCAA Tournament.

This Aztec team won’t blow you away either on the court or on paper. And that’ll be the reason many causals and non-believing analysts will have San Diego State as an early upset favorite when filling out brackets. But that’ll be a mistake since this team in more than capable of winning several games come March. And with the traditional powers being a bit “down”, why not a team who’s elite on both ends of the court being the last one standing? Sleep on the Aztecs if you want but be prepared to end up ripping those sheets in the end.