Mountain West Basketball: 2020-21 power rankings heading into new year

Now, I mentioned Boise State has the best rotation in the Mountain West – But San Diego State has the deepest roster in the conference. Read that again.

Matt Mitchell is pretty much doing what we all expected, balling out for his senior year, averaging 15 points a game, and in the case of the Aztecs’ one loss to BYU especially, leading this team. Jordan Schakel is a sniper, and is reminiscent of Anthony Mathis, albeit in an Aztecs jersey. Big man Nathan Mensah being healthy has been vital to this team’s performance, after he missed more than half of the last season with injury issues.

Aguek Arop is great on the defensive side of the ball; Sophomore Keshad Johnson has shown flashes of what should be a great tenure with SDSU, while Trey Pulliam, Terrell Gomez (Cal-State Northridge), and Joshua Tomaić (Maryland) have all had decent showings throughout the first seven games.

Though there is no Creighton or Iowa on the schedule this year, the Aztecs do boast wins over then-ranked UCLA and Arizona State. After being upset at home by a solid BYU team and falling out of the AP Top 25, San Diego State responded by manhandling a Saint Mary’s squad missing a couple of key rotation players, but dangerous nonetheless.

The Aztecs must take care to improve on a few sluggish starts (Pepperdine, BYU), but when this team is rolling on all cylinders, the drop-off from last year’s top-five team doesn’t seem all that apparent. That’s saying something.

Until a Mountain West foe comes onto the court and proves otherwise, the league runs through San Diego this year.