Aztecs, Aggies meeting for the third year in a row
For the third straight season, San Diego State and Utah State will clash for the crown.
- WHAT: MW Men’s Basketball Tournament Championship Game
- WHO: No. 1 seed San Diego State vs. No. 2 seed Utah State
- WHERE: Thomas & Mack Center, Las Vegas, Nev.
- WHEN: Saturday, March 13, 2021 — 3:00 p.m. PT
- HOW TO WATCH
- TV: CBS
- STREAM: CBSSports.com
- CUT THE CORD: Try FuboTV with a 7-day trial
For all the talk this season about rejuvenated programs in Boise and Fort Collins, at the end of the day, the Mountain West Tournament comes down to the dynastic dyad of San Diego State and Utah State. The Aztecs and Aggies have dominated this event of late, having met in each of the two previous tournaments prior to this one.
The Aggies managed to win both of those games and cut down the nets, but the MVP from those USU teams — one Sam Merrill — is no longer around to knock down the big shot. SDSU will have a bitter taste in their mouths after last season especially, with a dream season spoiled by this moment:
UTAH STATE'S SAM MERRILL WITH THE GAME-WINNER TO UPSET NO. 5 SDSU 😱❄️
(via @ChristianWinn)pic.twitter.com/aJ7icqKhhz
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) March 8, 2020
But that’s ancient history now. It feels like a decade has passed since that moment, and San Diego State will be happy to overwrite this memory with a better one on Saturday. For Utah State, they’ll look to make it three years in a row that they send the Aztecs home with a silver medal.
No matter which team scores more points, there is one clear winner in this matchup: the fans. The 2021 Mountain West Championship should be yet another hotly-contested game, and we can only hope there’s another big shot in the final moments like we saw last season.
Andrew Dieckhoff is a USBWA member writing about college basketball for Mountain West Wire of the USA TODAY Sports Media Group. He is also an editor and writer at HeatCheckCBB.com and provides his proprietary analytics via The DPI Gradebook presented by Heat Check CBB. Andy is a returned Peace Corps Volunteer and a graduate of Portland State University, currently residing in Portland.
