The San Diego State Aztecs have been one of, if not the most efficient road team in the country this season. Being undefeated and having already played 13 road/neutral games is extremely impressive in itself, given only about 28% of teams on the road have emerged victorious this season.
Although they play in the Mountain West (a relatively light conference compared to the power five conferences), the Aztecs have won away from home against 3 teams that are top 25 in the AP Poll and Net Rankings, and have beaten no. 35 Utah State twice. The 13-0 record, as well as a good road resume, is a huge step up from a 7-10 record away-from-home last season.
Well, is it the coaching? Possibly, but not necessarily since the coaching staff has remained constant since last season.
It could be the players given that three of the five starters for the Aztecs are transfers. But since this is the first time any of the transfers have been on a winning team, that doesn’t exactly calculate either.
The Aztecs are the only team to not drop a road/neutral game this season which is extremely impressive considering San Diego is less than 100 feet above sea level and over half the teams in the Mountain West Conference are over a mile above sea level. So they clearly aren’t largely affected by high altitude or rattling crowds.
In fact, the Aztecs have the most away-from-home wins in the nation at 13 and have the best record at 10-0 in true road games. A huge part of this is Aztecs junior guard Malachi Flynn. Flynn averages nearly 17 points per game, along with 5.2 assists and 4.2 rebounds.
He is being mentioned nationwide for multiple awards and has really glued the experienced Aztecs team together. A good example of this is when the Aztecs played San Jose State, the whole team was seemingly off their game from the start and would’ve lost if it weren’t for Flynn’s heroic game-winner in the final seconds. Flynn is not only a scorer, but an elite distributor, defender, and most importantly, plays with a veteran mindset and knows how to close out games.
With the undefeated record, San Diego State could definitely have the no. 1 seed in the west and certainly would if it was not for the Gonzaga Bulldogs. Gonzaga is ranked higher than the Aztecs and will get the no. 1 seed in the west region if they do not lose.
In the latest Bracketology from Joe Lunardi, the Aztecs are the no. 1 seed in the East Region. So the question is would the Aztecs rather be on the West Coast as a no. 2 seed and potentially play Gonzaga in the elite eight in Los Angeles, or the no. 1 seed in the East region and have to play an east coast team like Duke?
Many people would say that the Aztecs would prefer the no. 2 seed in the West, but the way they are playing away from home this year, a game on the east coast against an east coast team, only seems like it would be fuel to the fire for these Aztecs.
Well, we’ll just have to wait and let Selection Sunday determine that.