March 6, 2016
SAN DIEGO -
By Mick McGrane, GoAztecs.com Senior Writer
(@MickOnTheMesa)
The perception is that of a poor man's league, a sullied collection of second-rate riffraff whose chances of an NCAA Tournament bid lie somewhere between faint and the distant reaches of far-flung.
It's the league where RPI collides with RIP, where Sagarin Ratings and kenpom and BPI are supposedly employed only in the event of emergency.
But what it mostly means in postseason parlance is this: Either run the table or be dismissed from the discussion.
It's with this in mind that San Diego State's Mountain West champion men's basketball team readies for this week's conference tournament in Las Vegas, where winning three games in three days automatically ushers one into The Dance.
Granted, SDSU's early season inconsistency cannot be erased, but neither can its riotous run to the finish. The Aztecs, who all but made UNLV vanish with the wave of a wand in Saturday's 92-56 romp, have gone 16-2 since Dec. 30. They are 23-8 overall, sport an RPI of 42 and went 9-2 on the road this season, the fourth-best mark in the nation.
Must the Aztecs, a team that has plundered its last two opponents --- New Mexico and UNLV --- by an average of 31.5 points, be held accountable for the sins of others?
"My goal every year is to win the conference," said Coach Steve Fisher, whose team won its third straight MW regular-season title by a record three games. "My number one goal is to win the Mountain West Conference. It's a grind. You travel to places that no one wants to go and it is hard. It is hard to win and we are 16-2. We (finished) with great separation from the second-place team.
"This is a good basketball team. It is not my job to build a case for the league; it is all our jobs. Winning does that for you. We have had games where we are right at the doorstep of some really good teams: Kansas, Utah, West Virginia, Arizona, twice for Boise. (UNLV) beat Oregon, Indiana, and UCLA. This is a good basketball league. I hope that the people that are in charge see that this is a good basketball league and has been for a long time."
It is also a basketball league whose bell cow has lately taken on all the characteristics of marauding bull. SDSU, which tied the league record for most victories in a single-league season (16), a mark shared by the program's 2013-14 squad, has displayed little interest in taking prisoners in its last two outings. After dealing New Mexico its worst home loss (83-56) since 2002 last Tuesday, the Aztecs promptly handed UNLV its worst overall defeat since 2000. The New Mexico margin of victory was SDSU's largest in 82 all-time meetings, while the UNLV margin of victory was the largest in 64 all-time meetings.
The Aztecs, who had four players finish in double figures on Saturday --- Winston Shepard (18), Trey Kell (18), Malik Pope (12), Dakarai Allen (10) --- established season highs for points (92), field goals (32), three-point field goals (13), defensive rebounds (40), total rebounds (52), points in a half (50) and halftime scoring margin in a MW game (15). SDSU's 52 rebounds were most in a MW game in school history.
And while one can argue that injury-plagued UNLV was a sorely depleted side, rest assured that the Aztecs weren't harboring an abundance of sympathy.
"We've just been trying to continue to play and play to the best of our abilities," said Shepard, who arrived for postgame interviews sporting the net that had been cut down by the Aztecs in the aftermath of their second-largest margin of victory (36) in a league game. "I think we took another step in the right direction tonight. Obviously, UNLV is depleted, but like I said, we never make excuses and if that's the case, we did what we're supposed to do to them.
"We have eight or nine guys who can put the ball in the basket and play defense. The whole season we've been saying, ‘We're a good offensive team,' and everybody is looking at us sideways. But we're starting to come into our own at the right time. I think a lot of teams right now are on the decline and it looks like we're starting to peak at the right time. We just have to keep that going."
For those wondering, the Aztecs finished 7-0 this season against teams on their side of the bracket in the MW tournament. At present, whatever stands between SDSU and a run to a fourth tournament title would do well to be firmly entrenched. The Aztecs, perennially one of the best defensive teams in the nation, have averaged 77.8 points in their last five wins.
Three games in three days. A battle against teams not only familiar with your approach, but a battle against the perception of a league largely lacking legitimacy in the eyes of the NCAA Selection Committee. Fresno State, the league's second-place team, currently features an RPI of 80.
"We worry about San Diego State; that's all we can do," Shepard said. "From the outside looking in, a lot of people have a lot to say about it. But I believe this is as tough a league as any. When you go on the road, it's tough. To go to The Pit (at New Mexico), that place is tough to play. To go to UNLV (and win by 15), that was tough. We just we just worry about what we need to do. We can't worry about how (other MW teams) perform. We just need to go out and take care of San Diego State."