Busting Brackets
Fansided

NCAA Basketball: Arizona State’s rise, flawed San Diego State and other key questions

By Tristan Freeman

WACO, TEXAS - FEBRUARY 22: Devon Dotson #1 of the Kansas Jayhawks in the first half at Ferrell Center on February 22, 2020 in Waco, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
WACO, TEXAS - FEBRUARY 22: Devon Dotson #1 of the Kansas Jayhawks in the first half at Ferrell Center on February 22, 2020 in Waco, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) /
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SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 22: Matt Mitchell #11 of the San Diego State Aztecs (Photo by Kent Horner/Getty Images)
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 22: Matt Mitchell #11 of the San Diego State Aztecs (Photo by Kent Horner/Getty Images) /

2. DId San Diego State ‘s home loss to UNLV expose them as frauds?

Kinander

Absolutely not. This is still arguably the most well-rounded team in the country. Every team has blips—the Aztecs just so happened to have their first significantly later than everyone else.

Foley

One loss does not a season make, especially when nearly every other contender features a similar blemish on their resume. The Aztecs pass the eye test with a bevy of shooters and are one of just three teams featuring a top-10 offense and defense (joining Kansas and Duke). SDSU’s wins over BYU, Creighton, and Iowa in the non-conference portion of the schedule have also aged quite well.

Larson

In my opinion, going 26-0 and being frauds just doesn’t go hand-in-hand. San Diego State ranks 10th in 3-point percentage at 38 percent; they only hit 29.6 percent of their 3-pointers against UNLV. These kind of games are going to happen to great shooting teams, we shouldn’t define the rest of SDSU’s season because of it.

Chessler

San Diego State lost at home to UNLV in a close game, but that also happened to be the same day projected No. 1 seed Gonzaga suffered a convincing loss to BYU. This season many ranked teams are struggling to win both on the road and at home. I still believe SDSU can make a deep run in March if they use their first loss of the season as a blueprint for improvement. They are still the same Aztec team that started 26-0 and remain No. 5 in the AP Top 25 Poll. SDSU has the talent to be Final Four contenders.

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