San Diego State’s basketball team is unanimous pick to win the Mountain West title
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San Diego State’s basketball program loves hanging banners at Viejas Arena, and the Mountain West media predicts the Aztecs will hang at least one more by winning the league title this season.
The Aztecs were the unanimous pick to win the championship in their final season in the conference. In a poll released Thursday morning at MW media day in Las Vegas, they received all 26 first-place votes from media members who regularly cover the conference, and 312 points. That’s well ahead of Utah State with 275 points and Boise State with 260 points.
Being the runaway top choice will heighten the expectations around coach Brian Dutcher’s Aztecs, who already have been drawing serious attention due to the strength of their roster.
The league’s media also recognized junior guard Miles Byrd as the Preseason Player of the Year, guard Elzie Harrington as the Preseason Freshman of the Year, while naming Byrd, senior guard Reese Dixon-Waters and sophomore forward Magoon Gwath to the 10-player Preseason All-Mountain West Team.
The poll
Following SDSU, Utah State and BSU are newcomers Grand Canyon (224 points) and New Mexico (184). UNLV was sixth (174) while Colorado State and Nevada (164) tied for seventh.
Rounding out the poll are Wyoming ( 96), San Jose State (82), Fresno State (65) and Air Force (30 points).
This, of course, is the final season in the MW for SDSU, BSU, Colorado State, Fresno State and Utah State. They are moving to the new-look Pac-12 next season, where they’ll join holdovers Washington State and Oregon State, and fellow newcomers Gonzaga and Texas State.
The perspective
The Aztecs join Utah and Utah State as the only programs to be unanimously selected to win the conference in its preseason poll. Utah picked up all 28 first-place votes in the league’s initial season (1999-00) while Utah State gained all 17 votes in 2019-20.
San Diego State is predicted to win the league for the 11th time overall, including for the fourth time in the last six seasons.
In nine of the 10 previous times the Aztecs were predicted to win the league, the team advanced to the postseason, including seven NCAA Tournament bids and two NIT appearances.
SDSU has been predicted to finish either first or second in the Mountain West preseason poll in 10 of the last 11 years. It is also the 16th time in the 27 Mountain West seasons that San Diego State has been picked first or second in the preseason poll.
San Diego State finished fifth in the MW last season and lost to Boise State in the conference tournament quarterfinals. The Aztecs were then routed by North Carolina in an NCAA First Four game.
The Aztecs expect to go a lot deeper in March Madness this season.
What’s next
SDSU lost 67-60 to preseason No. 12 UCLA in an exhibition game on Friday night at Viejas Arena. It plays another exhibition game against San Diego on Oct. 29 before opening the regular season at home against Long Beach State on Nov. 4. The MW opener is at home Dec. 17 against Air Force.
The Aztecs will be tested with some marquee non-conference matchups. They’ll face No. 7 Michigan and Oregon in the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas during Thanksgiving week, with a third opponent to be determined. They face No. 13 Arizona in Phoenix on Dec. 20.
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-bd678ba4dbad4f453246f539ee56a3b4.jpg "Bernie Wilson")
Bernie Wilson recently retired from The Associated Press after nearly 41 years, including stops in Spokane, Los Angeles and, for the final 33 years, San Diego. He grew up in Coeur d'Alene and graduated from the University of Idaho.