Mountain West Basketball: Preseason power rankings for 2020-21 season

Projected Starters:

Guards – Terrell Gomez-SR* Jordan Schakel-SR, Matt Mitchell-SR

Forwards – Aguek Arop-JR and Nathan Mensah-JR

Bench – Che Evans-FR, Trey Pulliam-SR, Adam Seiko-JR, Joshua Tomaic-SR*, Lamont Butler-FR,  Keith Dinwiddie-FR

In three seasons as the Head Coach of the Aztecs Brian Dutcher has found a way to not only keep them relevant coming off of the legendary career of Steve Fisher but in 2019-20 he won 30 games and matched Fisher’s highest AP Poll ranking of 6th in the final poll.

Assuming Dutcher doesn’t chase a power conference promotion, he looks to have San Diego State entrenched as the favorite to win the conference championship year over year, and despite the loss of consensus All American Malachi Flynn, the Mountain West will go through San Diego in 2020-21.

A big reason for that is Dutcher brings back an elite senior backcourt led by Matt Mitchell (12.2 Pts, 4.8 Reb, 1.7 Ast), an all-MWC selection in his junior season. Mitchell will be joined by one of top graduate transfer point guards in the country in Terrell Gomez who average 20 points a game for Cal St Northridge a season ago.

Gomez is not Flynn, but you couldn’t ask for a much better replacement, swapping one veteran scoring point guard for another. Gomez spurned multiple major offers to be an Aztec and the expectation is that he can be an all-league caliber player in his final college season.

We’ve got to talk a little more about the backcourt as it is one of the most experienced in college basketball. Jordan Schakel (10.0 Pts, 3.4 Reb, 0.6 Ast), a 6’6 wing and former 4-star recruit started 31 games last season and is primed for a breakout senior year as is Trey Pulliam, who will look to increase his 17 minutes a night in potentially a starting role, depending on if Dutcher elects to go big or small.

Adam Seiko (2.9 Pts, 1.0 Reb, 0.6 Ast) and a duo of top-400 freshmen, Lamont Butler and Keith Dinwiddie will come off the bench. It’s possible there’s a redshirt somewhere among the guard rotation.

The Aztecs look like they are going to be able to replace Flynn by committee in the backcourt rather easily, but the depth down low isn’t as impressive. It may be a bigger ask to replace Yanni Wetzell at center, one of the most efficient 2-point field goal shooters in the nation in 19-20.

Lucky for San Diego State, Nathan Mensah (6.9 Pts, 6.8 Reb, 0.3 Ast) is back for his junior year. Before being sidelined due to injury he plays 20 minutes per game in 13 total contests last season and averaged 1.7 blocks in that time. When healthy he is one of the premier defense big men in the country.

The lone freshman expected to see big minutes early is Che Evans, a 3-star prospect who played his senior season at the acclaimed Neumann-Goretti High School. Evans is seen as a do it all small forward that is a triple-double threat and has an opportunity to play starter minutes as a freshman.

Brian Dutcher has certainly honored the legacy that Steve Fisher left by winning 73 games in his first three seasons at the helm, but there is no question that the cancellation of last March’s NCAA Tournament rocked this program more than most.

The table is nicely set, however, for 2020-21 to be another magical season in Aztec country. They will be pushed by UNLV and Boise State, but there is no question that the Mountain West still goes through San Diego.