NCAA Basketball: Tennessee, Baylor, Illinois rise in latest top 25 power rankings
By Joey Loose
18. San Diego State (18-6)
How would San Diego State follow up a season that ended in the national championship game? Well, they’re on a very short list of teams that hasn’t lost to any non-Quad 1 teams and have also looked pretty outstanding at home all year. Some things are certainly different from last year’s glorious run, with a few new faces and Jaedon LeDee’s development clearly the big changes, but they proved this week that not too much has changed.
The Aztecs hosted Colorado State on Tuesday night and played an insanely dominant second half, digging out of a 14-point halftime hole for a 71-55 victory over the Rams. LeDee starred with 27 points and 6 rebounds while Lamont Butler had 11 points and 10 rebounds himself. Three days later, San Diego State hosted another top contender in the MWC, this time winning 81-70 at home over New Mexico. It was once again LeDee leading the charge with 23 points while Butler added 13 and Elijah Saunders scored 12 off the bench.
Not only did the Aztecs get two quality wins this week, they also avenged road losses from earlier in conference play. San Diego State hasn’t been perfect in league play this season and certainly has a challenge on their hands, but they spent this past week showing that they’re still right here. After these two marvelous home wins, they have a big challenge at Utah State next week.