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Hacksaw’s Monday Bonus Podcast…(1:30pm)
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“AZTECS BASKETBALL..NOT WHO WE THOUGHT THEY WOULD BE”
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Part of me expected more from San Diego State basketball this winter
Part of me understands teams and players are never the same year to year
We have become so used to wins-not losses, dominance not downturns, we are spoiled.
SDSU is (15-6)..in second place in the conference, have half a season to get healthy and get ready for the MWC tourney.
What a waste of time fretting over Quad 1-wins, strange losses, crybaby criticism of refs, trips to altitude. Just play and get better.
And SDSU has, at least till the trip to Utah State on Saturday in that 10am body time start.
Knew it would be hard. The Aggies are (17-3), play really well at home, have a mixture of veterans, transfers, athletes and grinders.
They are built differently than SDSU with bluechip recruits, an electric blend of young athletes, and some select veterans.
Searching for consistency is still a big story for the Red & Black.
Looking for outside shooting to become part of their DNA. Hoping the rebounding gets better.
For Miles Byrd, wondering where his game has gone, for someone who spent the summer working with NBA players, I expected more and his team needs more. No consistency from Wednesday to Saturday. For every 23-point game, there are clinkers. Byrd 1-basket one game; 3-hoops the next. Long stretches where he does. not touch the ball. Some days he strokes it, other days he disappears. Saturday he was (3-of-12) shooting
Magoon Gwath’s physical issues continue to be a problem, and who knows what his conditioning is like now with the hip injury, and where his real confidence is all the months after the knee surgery. Not the same player for sure.
As we move thru the halfway point of the winter schedule, looking for BJ Davis to bounce back to form.
Really pleased with the grit of Reese Dixon-Waters; the growth of Pharow Cooper; the flashes of Elzie Harrington; the overall improvement-toughness of Miles Heide.
The emergence of Tae Simmons and Taj DeGourville has been impressive and they pile up more and more minutes each night in conference play.
But Saturday was an example of why SDSU is not where we thought they would be.
Defense was fierce for chunks of time. Other times they got beat down the floor. They got blasted (46-21) on the boards. SDSU had 1-basket in a (7:25) stretch, then went scoreless for nearly (4:00) in another.
Gone quickly were 11-point leads and 7-point leads. USU had spurts of (11-2) and (9-0) vs the Dutcher-led defense.
Leading scorer MJ Collins was (0-10) shooting, then buzzed off back to back threes.
SDSU let the Aggies bigs, Karson Templer-Ad Elamin combine for (35P-15R) and dominate in all the traffic. Somehow the Utags won despite 18-turnovers and 10-missed free throws. Somehow USU survived (6-26) on 3s.
Not the end of the season, for there is still time left on the clock. Still time to get guys back, further define roles. Hope Byrd can be what he was a year ago. Still time to come together.
But it is obvious, SDSU is not a national power this year, despite the blend of really good young athletes playing lots of minutes. Very evident too, they are Public Enemy #1 in every road game they play, target on their back, getting the best effort other teams have when you go into their building.
The USU loss felt like SDSU got a dose of its own medicine. Beaten by a rugged defense; creamed on the rebound stat sheet. Saw the other guy hit 3’s to incite a raging crowd. Hit critical free throws at crunch time too.
We have seen alot of great basketball in the Steve Fisher-Brian Dutcher era, but this team is not one of those type teams.
Not who we thought they might be, not yet, but still time to get better, hopefully.
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