Just four days after San Diego State’s upset win Saturday knocking off Utah State at home, they travel to Laramie, Wyoming to take on a struggling Wyoming Cowboys team who, according to ESPN, has only a 4% chance of getting the home win against the No. 7 ranked San Diego State Aztecs.
In fact, quite a few of the Aztecs upcoming games look similar to this one on paper. After starting 15-0, with five of those wins coming on the road against Quad 1 teams, the Aztecs have a very good chance of running the table in a mediocre Mountain West conference, especially after winning their toughest conference game of the year on Saturday.
San Diego State is already known for being a very strong home team, and almost all of their home games remaining could very well be victories. Although they have only played four true road games this year, a lot of the competition they are facing on the road in the Mountain West doesn’t get much tougher. Their toughest upcoming road game may be having to go into Reno to play Nevada in the last game of the regular season.
The Aztecs have an average 82% chance of winning per game for the remainder of the regular season. As mentioned previously, they won their last game Saturday on the road against Utah State, doing this without key players Aguek Arop and Nathan Mensah. Mensah has only been out a week with upper respiratory problems, and he is awaiting an appointment to get it checked out, according to reports. Arop, who has been out for an extended period of time with a shoulder injury, is expected to make a return within two weeks.
Mensah has provided key minutes for the Aztecs this year and is one of the key defensive contributors, averaging 6.8 rebounds per game and 1.7 blocks. Arop also provided quality minutes off the bench in his limited time earlier in the season.
So this Aztecs team actually has a legitimate chance of going undefeated in the regular season, but the real question is: how far into March can this run last? With important players returning and a much easier schedule in the second half of the season than the first, this San Diego State team not only has a decent chance at going undefeated, but also could move into the top three in the rankings by the end of the season.
It is also possible that they pull off a one-seed for the tournament come Selection Sunday, given the other top 10 teams’ schedules compared to San Diego State.
With this high of a seed in the tournament, the Aztecs would have a legitimate chance of going to the Elite Eight for the first time in school history, or even further. This Aztecs team is different than other program teams in the past because all past tournament Aztec teams had questionable losses and lower seeds.
This 2019-20 team, on the other hand, is off to the second best start in school history this far, and show no signs of slowing down. Different from the famous 2010-11 Aztecs who lost in the Sweet 16 to that year’s National champions, Uconn, this team has much more depth and veteran leaders like Malachi Flynn, Yanni Wetzell, Matt Mitchell, Jordan Schakel, and KJ Feagin. Although the 2010-11 team had superstars like Kawhi Leonard, Jamaal Franklin and Billy White, to name a few, this year’s team has shown no real weaknesses and has better chemistry.
Pending a second half of the season just as strong as the first, this Aztecs team has a chance to do what no other team in program history has done, and that is to make a real run at a college basketball title.