Mid-Major Power Rankings: San Diego State Finding Its Final Four Touch

Mid-Major Power Rankings: San Diego State Finding Its Final Four Touch

The 2023 national runner-up, San Diego State, scored a pair of huge wins over Valentine's week. The Aztecs earned some love from the Bracket Reveal.

Feb 19, 2024 by Kyle Kensing
Mid-Major Power Rankings: San Diego State Finding Its Final Four Touch

Introduced as a No. 4 seed in the one-month-out bracket reveal on Saturday capped perhaps the best week yet for San Diego State basketball in the 2023-24 season. 

The Aztecs' positioning in the annual NCAA Tournament selection preview tabs them for the same seeding from which they emerged to reach the first Final Four in program history. 

More importantly, the bracket reveal was reflective of San Diego State's moves toward reclaiming the Mountain West Conference championship. The Aztecs defended home court with signature wins last Tuesday over Colorado State and Friday night over New Mexico, both by double-digit-point margins. 

The 71-55 victory over Colorado State was a defensive clinic in the second half, with San Diego State flexing its muscle on that side of the ball more impressively than at any other point this season. The Aztecs held the usually high-scoring Rams to just 11 points after intermission on an astounding 3-of-25 shooting from the floor, rallying from a 14-point deficit. 

"We got hit in the mouth in the first half," Jaedon LeDee said in the postgame press conference. "In any good fight, you get hit, and you just keep fighting."

And the Aztecs kept punching into Friday, this time owning the first half in an 81-70 win. San Diego State limited New Mexico, one of the nation's most prolific offenses, to just 28 points by halftime. 

"We kept waiting for New Mexico to make the run because we knew how talented they were," Aztecs coach Brian Dutcher said. "When they finally made a run, we were able to withstand it."

San Diego State has also been able to withstand the rigors of a strong Mountain West to head into the final full week of February tied for first place. Sole possession of the league's pole position is at stake on Tuesday when the Aztecs visit Utah State.  Remarkably, San Diego State goes into Logan as the MW's only team on a winning streak; Utah State is coming off a loss to Colorado State, which is only one game back of SDSU and USU despite the loss on Tuesday. 

In fact, seven teams are either tied or within one game of the top spot in the loss column of the MW; six of which appear in this edition of the FloHoops.com Mid-Major Power Rankings. 

Other noteworthy developments in this week's Power Rankings include a new addition last week spring-boarding up to No. 8. South Florida scored arguably the biggest win of the week with Selton Miguel and Chris Youngblood scoring 25 and 23 points in the Bulls' 90-86 win over FAU. 

USF is a winner in 11 straight and holds sole possession of first place in the American Athletic Conference. 

Put simply by Bulls head coach Amir Abdur-Rahim: "This ain't the same old South Florida, my brother." 

USF is 16-1 since a rocky, 3-4 start to the campaign, which included a loss on Nov. 30 at Hofstra. Hofstra is part of a logjam near the top of the Coastal Athletic Association not unlike that of the Mountain West, a byproduct of a wild week that began with the Pride's madcap finish at Drexel. 

Behind 34 points, six rebounds and six assists from Tyler Thomas, Hofstra nearly completed a comeback from down eight points in less than two minutes. However, the Dragons did just enough to hold off the Pride for the win. 

Drexel sits just a half-game behind Charleston for first place in the CAA, tied with UNC Wilmington after the Seahawks were shocked at the buzzer by Elon. 

The win was the second of the week for Elon against a CAA title contender, coming on the heels of a victory against Delaware. It was also one of two buzzer-beaters in the week for the CAA. 

Xander Rice capped a 37-point game against Campbell with a running fling from just inside midcourt as time expired. 

Rice's monster performance was one of two outstanding individual performances last week for Monmouth, with big man Nikita Konstantynovskyi following the Campbell win up with a 22-point, 20-rebound double-double on Saturday against Stony Brook. 

That came on the same day that Hofstra's Jaquan Carlos set a Pride program record with 19 assists dished against Northeastern. 

Hofstra is one of six teams within 1.5 games of first place in the CAA heading into the final stretch. The Pride's rematch with Drexel on Thursday is among the biggest games of the week around mid-major basketball. 

Tuesday, Feb. 20

VCU at UMass, 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT 

Akron at Toledo, 7 p.m./4 p.m. 

San Diego State at Utah State, 9 p.m./6 p.m. 

San Francisco at Saint Mary's, 11 p.m./8 p.m. 

Wednesday, Feb. 21

Western Carolina at UNC Greensboro, 6 p.m./3 p.m. 

Dayton at George Mason, 7 p.m./4 p.m.

UNC Asheville at Longwood, 7 p.m./4 p.m. 

Charlotte at Memphis, 8 p.m./5 p.m. 

Colorado State at New Mexico, 10 p.m./7 p.m. 

Thursday, Feb. 22

SMU at FAU, 7 p.m./4 p.m.

Monmouth at Towson, 7 p.m./4 p.m.

Drexel at Hofstra, 7 p.m./4 p.m.

Charleston at Delaware, 7 p.m./4 p.m.

Grand Canyon at Tarleton, 8 p.m./5 p.m. 

Friday, Feb. 23

Toledo at Bowling Green, 7 p.m./4 p.m.

Yale at Cornell, 7 p.m./4 p.m.

Fairfield at Quinnipiac, 9 p.m./6 p.m. 

Saturday, Feb. 24

Charleston at Towson, Noon/9 a.m.

St. Bonaventure at UMass, 2:30 p.m./11:30 a.m.

UC Irvine at UC San Diego, 4 p.m./1 p.m. 

Drake at Northern Iowa, 6 p.m./3 p.m.

Boise State at Wyoming, 7:30 p.m./4:30 p.m. 

Colorado State at UNLV, 8 p.m./5 p.m.

Sunday, Feb. 25

SMU at South Florida, Noon/9 a.m.

FAU at Memphis, 2 p.m./11 a.m.

Monday, Feb. 26

Drexel at Delaware, 6:30 p.m./3:30 p.m.

Feb. 19 Top 15

1. Saint Mary's 

Saint Mary's owns the nation's second-longest winning streak at 13 games after destroying Pepperdine on Feb. 15, 103-59. 

The Gaels put their unblemished West Coast Conference record on the line in the first of two marquee matchups down the stretch of this regular season, hosting San Francisco on Tuesday. 

2. San Diego State 

The surging Aztecs looked unbeatable at Viejas Arena last week, but they'll need to maintain that same energy on the road against Utah State. San Diego State is 13-0 at home on the season but just 4-6 on the road. 

3. Dayton

Dayton rebounded from an ugly loss at VCU to score a pair of impressive Atlantic 10 victories last week over Duquesne and Fordham. The Flyers' closing stretch is among the most difficult of any mid-major program, pitting them on the road against George Mason and Loyola Chicago teams before closing out at home with a rematch vs. VCU. 

4.  Colorado State 

Colorado State's week offered the quintessential summary of the Mountain West this season: Lose a tough one on the road, follow it up with an impressive win at home. 

The Rams' 75-55 rout of Utah State came behind an 18-point, eight-assist performance from Isaiah Stevens. 

5. New Mexico

Jamal Mashburn Jr.'s late-game 3-pointer powered New Mexico to a huge win last week at Nevada, keeping the Lobos in the hunt for the Mountain West championship despite the subsequent setback at San Diego State. 

6. Nevada 

Despite the heartbreak of losing to New Mexico, Nevada recovered nicely on the road against a UNLV team that has been a thorn in the side of multiple Mountain West contenders. 

Nick Davidson helped key a second-half rally in Las Vegas, posting a 19-point, 11-rebound double-double in the 69-66 win. Nevada's taken 4-of-5, with two of those coming on the road against teams in the upper half of the Mountain West standings (Utah State and UNLV). 

7. Gonzaga

Gonzaga's continued improvement over the back-half of its schedule included a pair of blowout wins last week: 91-74 at Loyola Marymount, and 102-76 vs. Pacific. 

The Bulldogs finish with 3-of-4 on the road, and a three-game stretch that could make or break Gonzaga's NCAA Tournament streak: Feb. 24 vs. Santa Clara, which beat the Bulldogs in the previous matchup; Feb. 29 at San Francisco; then March 2 at Saint Mary's. 

8. South Florida

USF's remarkable play since the start of American Athletic competition has the Bulls in position to control its conference-title fate. A home game against a tough SMU team looms on Feb. 25, but the Bulls cannot overlook a road trip to UTSA and a Roadrunners team that's taken a few of the American's best to the wire. 

9. Utah State

In spite of the loss at Colorado State, Utah State is in a favorable position to start the last full week of February. The Aggies play just one game, and it's a biggie with San Diego State visiting Dee Glen Smith Spectrum on Tuesday night. 

A win gives Utah State sole possession of first place in the conference. 

10. FAU 

FAU has had a challenging stretch since its seven-game winning streak was snapped. The loss at USF came just one week after the Owls needed overtime at home against a struggling Wichita State bunch. 

Despite the road loss in Tampa, FAU can finalize a strong NCAA Tournament resume down the stretch with matchups against SMU, Memphis twice and at North Texas. 

11. Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon's three-point win on Saturday over Cal Baptist was not as close as the final score suggests, but the 79-76 did serve as reminder that the Western Athletic Conference-leading Antelopes can expect every opponents' best shot for the remainder of the season. 

That begins with a huge matchup this week, as Grand Canyon travels to face a recently red-hot Tarleton bunch. 

12. Drake

Since losing at Indiana State, Drake's recovered to rip off four straight after a 95-72 blowout of Murray State. Coupled with Indiana State's recent stumbles, the Bulldogs are beneficiaries. They now sit atop the Missouri Valley Conference tied with the Sycamores after being two games back just a week ago. 

13. Boise State  

Boise State looms in the tight Mountain West Conference race with perhaps the most promising outlook for the next couple weeks. The Broncos draw cellar-dwelling San Jose State and Air Force, bookending a potential trap Feb. 24 at Wyoming. 

If they navigate that stretch at 3-0, they'll have a four-game winning streak going into the final push against New Mexico and Nevada (both at home) and visiting San Diego State. 

14. Indiana State

After reaching the Top 25 for the first time since 1979, Indiana State had reality crash down around it. The Sycamores lost back-to-back Missouri Valley contests against Illinois State and Southern Illinois, likely dooming their NCAA Tournament at-large prospects. 

That's the bad news for Indiana State. The good news is, if it can recover to finish out 4-0 over its final stretch, it will win no worse than a share of the Valley regular-season championship. 

15. McNeese

Appearing in the Power Rankings for the first time is surprising McNeese, which has a 23-3 overall mark and just one loss since Thanksgiving. Four Cowboys average in double-figures to power McNeese's 80.4-point per game offense, including Christian Shumate. Shumate's producing nearly a double-double per game at 12.2 points and 9.7 rebounds per. 

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