Reality Cuts Into Aztecs Drive For No. 1 Seed

In the wake of BYU's 80-67 win over San Diego State at Viejas Arena Saturday, a couple of troubling facts that have risen in the background the past couple of weeks became very evident.

First was that while SDSU got by Colorado State by a buzzer-beater, were lucky to win at undisciplined UNLV and were sloppy against revved up TCU, BYU was pounding those teams by large margins.

Second was that some of those supposedly meaningful wins last fall now don't look all that exciting. Wichita State has compiled a fine record but if the Shockers don't win the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament, they might be NIT-bound. Cal is a mid-level team in a mid-level Pac-10. Gonzaga and Saint Mary's are both pretty so-so. Even the Mountain West Conference is looking rather average, all of a sudden, beyond the top two places.

For the last couple weeks, these were annoying thoughts in the back of our minds. But when the Cougars threw down a few slam dunks in garbage time to open up the margin of Saturday's game, they became major facts in Aztec reality.

The loss hurts, but is not devastating. Barring a letdown in the final two games, they will be seeded second in the MWC Tournament in Las Vegas, but you have to figure all three games are going to be rough no matter who they play. If they win out and win the MWC tourney, they'll earn a three-seed in the NCAA Tournament. I don't see them going lower than fourth. However, a fourth seed then has to beat a fifth seed to make the Sweet 16, so the road just got tougher.

Learning the upper limit of your team is okay, but it sucks for it to be BYU that hands out the lesson...It also stinks that those AP poll voters who refused to move SDSU over some of those teams that lost the week earlier were correct. The Aztecs team that showed up Saturday probably doesn't even deserve the No. 6 ranking. I can see them dropping to No. 10 on Monday...National Coach of the Year? Dave Rose might give Steve Fisher a run for his money, and deservedly so. He has Fisher figured out, and the reverse is not true...That pre-game dunk-fest by the Aztecs was almost worth the price of admission by itself, but while all that was going on, the Cougars were quietly preparing in a businesslike manner.