San Diego State basketball just outside top 25 in KenPom's updated rankings

The Aztecs return multiple key pieces from last year's squad

Dec 21, 2024; San Jose, California, USA; San Diego State Aztecs guard Miles Byrd. | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

Despite returning three players with All-Mountain West expectations, the San Diego State Aztecs aren't showing up in the top 25 of many preseason rankings.

In fact, even the computers are projecting this team just outside the top 25. KenPom, the most well-known college basketball analytics site, released its preseason ratings on Sunday and the Aztecs came in at No. 30. The four teams between San Diego State and a spot in the top 25 were Mississippi State, Ohio State, Missouri, and Arkansas.

San Diego State is regarded by KenPom as a top ten defensive team, with the ninth-best defensive rating in the country, but the offense is down at No. 51 — the lowest rating among the top 30 teams.

The Aztecs had a disappointing 2024-25 season — finishing fourth in the Mountain West and getting crushed in a play-in game by North Carolina — but they had an excellent offseason. Coach Dutcher managed to retain exceptional freshman big man Magoon Gwath and star wing Miles Byrd — who each tested the NBA draft waters last year — as well as veteran guards Reese Dixon-Waters and BJ Davis.

Sprinkle in role players Pharaoh Compton, Taj DeGourville and Miles Heide, and transfer portal additions Sean Newman, Latrell Davis, and Jeremiah Oden, and you have the makings of a team that could easily be ranked in the top 25, and should compete to win the Mountain West one final time before joining the new look Pac-12 in 2026-27.

Dec 21, 2024; San Jose, California, USA; San Diego State Aztecs forward Magoon Gwath (center) rebounds against California Golden Bears forwards Lee Dort (center left) and Rytis Petraitis (31) during the second half at SAP Center. | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

KenPom does have the Aztecs atop the Mountain West, albeit barely. Utah State is just 12 spots behind them at No. 42, followed by Boise State (53), Colorado State (79), Grand Canyon (80), Nevada (92), and New Mexico (97), giving the league a whopping seven teams in the top 100.

The rest of the conference is as follows: UNLV (107), Wyoming (155), San Jose State (160), Fresno State (190), and Air Force (257).

The projected strength of the Mountain West is a good thing for San Diego State, who only play three of its ten nonconference games against top 100 teams at KenPom: Michigan (11), Arizona (15), and Oregon (37). Two of those games will come in the Player's Era Festival in Las Vegas, with an unknown third opponent who could very easily be a top 100 team as well.

The Aztecs do take on two other teams in the top 125 in Utah Valley (111) and Troy (124), as well as Long Beach State (210), Lamar (223), and Idaho State (286).

San Diego State will get things underway officially against Long Beach on Tuesday, Nov. 4 at Viejas Arena.