The SDSU Aztec basketball team has a 10-3 record. The best start since the 1984-85 season. But, most of you expected that-right! Of course, SDSU has amassed a consortium of talent that has them tapping on the doors of top 25 preeminace. Well, hyperbole aside, they are good and they are only going to get better. The momentum is building every week. As I observe the play of this team in each game, I see positive trends that encourage as well as excite when contemplating the potential success of the team. The next 16 games will be conference play, and that presents many challenges given the fact that teams know each other and play each other twice in the season. So, will this team perfrom any different than in previous years? Well, maybe! Why you say, well I can’t put my finger on it, but there is something adrift in the air this year that has me believing that this team has finally reach the perverbial fork in the road.  A turning point in talent; respect within the MWC and around the NCAA, and the needed and coveted recognition that follows winning programs. SDSU is no longer the team that your glad to see on your team’s schedule. You know, “the easy win category.” No, they are now a powerhouse; a force to be reckoned with, and a bonified top 25 prospect.

Pre-Game Evaluation

Keys to the game: Stop Patrick Mill’s. He is averaging 20 points per game. Remember he is an Olympic athlete. He was also named First Team All-West Coast Conference and the WCC Newcomer of the Year. The dark horse for St. Mary’s is Ian O’Leary. Billy White and/or Lo-Wade must contain him; otherwise, he will serve as a spoiler if left free. This season, O’Leary had scored in double figures once; scoring 13 points in an 81-75 win over Providence. SMC is now 12-0 over the past two seasons when O’Leary scored in double figures.

Fact: Patrick Mill’s was as the youngest player in the history of Australia to compete in the Olympic Games in basketball…in six games he averaged a team-best 14.2 points per game while coming off the bench in each game…scored 20 points in the quarterfinals against the United States.

So, this team is good: Ranked 34th in the nation. They are averaging 10 steals per game which ranks them 19th in the nation. Both Carlin Hughes and Patrick Mills are leading with steals in West Coast Conference; the team is ranked in the top 50 in the country in steals per game. Both Mills and Hughes have 17 steals each and both are tied for 43rd in the country with 2.4 steals per game.

With that said, this will be a defensive battle to say the least; Richie and D.J will have their hands full. However, I give the edge to Aztecs with respect to overall defense play and aggressiveness. SDSU has a brutal full court press and an excellent transition game. Overall, (short of Mills) the Aztecs field a more athletic team and should when the game assuming they are playing their A-game.

Bottom line: The difference in the game will be in the shooting. IF, SDSU improves their post game (Kyle must hit from treville) while remaining aggressive in the paint, they will win the game. However, what lingers is the implosion-factor that seemingly plagues SDSU in the waning minutes of important games against better teams (i.e., in terms of rank).

Hopefully, Fisher has addressed this matter and made adjustments accordingly. This is a must win form a NCAA birth prospective. Need the “quality” win to yield to the nonsense that decides who gets into the big dance.

Annoying, daunting, relentless and unforgiving: adjectives that only begin to describe the suffocating defense of the mighty Aztecs. Nationally, the Aztecs are ranked 10th in the Nation, keeping every opponent except one under 60 points. Case in point, the ASU  Sun Devils (Top 25) have scored 80 plus points against 5 of 7 opponents; and 60 or more against all but one opponent; the Aztecs who held them to just 59 points, their lowest point total this season.

Steve Fisher indicated that he had made some changes, well its evident where some of those changes were made. What’s more promising is the intense play by a team that is absent one of the top players in the MWC, Lo-Wade. The USD game was not without its absent-minded play, but like Football, sometimes poor play coupled with a low scoring offense can be compensated by a hammerhead defense.  It’s a new direction for Aztec-ball, given that this style of play (full-court presses, forced turnovers, quickness and athleticism and aggresive rebounding) is something, well, something that is uncharacteristic for an Aztec team. It’s a welcome site, and one that will be needed if the Aztecs are to stand a chance against a good basketball club like the Arizona Wildcats.