[jwplayer jF5wU66N-sNi3MVSU]
College Basketball Rankings: San Diego State Moves Up To No. 22
Aztecs climb in the rankings
Contact/Follow @MWCwire
The Associated Press Top 25 were once again released on Monday morning as the season inches closer to the Big Dance.
For the San Diego State Aztecs, they moved up from 25 to 22 after a couple of victories this past week over Fresno State.
Coach Brian Dutcher’s team has rattled off eight straight wins and haven’t lost since the middle of January as this team continues to peak at the perfect time.
The Aztecs were ranked early on in the season before losing to BYU and Colorado State in the span of a couple of weeks. Then they dropped a pair to Utah State after Matt Mitchell went down with an injury and it looked like things were going to unravel altogether.
However, it’s the Aztecs and this team doesn’t quit. Mitchell has returned and picked up where he left off, and Jordan Schakel and Terrell Gomez have been huge contributors during this win streak.
Talented freshman Lamont Butler has earned more minutes and rightfully so and fan favorite Keshad Johnson continues to make highlight-reel plays.
Watch out, this team is just as advertised: really good.
A two-game set against Boise State in San Diego is the only thing that stands in the way of a double-digit win streak to finish out the regular season and roll into the Mountain West tournament as the favorites.
The Aztecs were locked in as a one seed before the NCAA tournament got the ax last year amid the pandemic and they are essentially a lock this year, barring some unforeseen collapse and outright screw up by the selection committee.
Still, a win or two over the Broncos in blue this week and they would surpass them in the standings, especially if New Mexico ends up forfeiting their two-game series against the Aztecs from earlier this year.
It’s been an up-and-down year for everybody, and let’s just say that nobody wants to face this dangerous Aztecs team in the postseason if they can play this brand of basketball.
Boise State is the other Mountain West team to earn votes with six points.
PODCAST: What Happens When Teams Start Skipping Conference Tournaments?
AP Top 25
1. Gonzaga
2. Baylor
3. Michigan
4. Ohio State
5. Illinois
6. Alabama
7. Oklahoma
8. Villanova
9. Iowa
10. West Virginia
11. Florida State
12. Houston
13. Creighton
14. Texas
15. Virginia
16. Virginia Tech
17. Kansas
18. Texas Tech
19. USC
20. Arkansas
21. Loyola-Chicago
22. San Diego State
23. Wisconsin
24. Missouri
25. Tennessee
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1374]