See if you can figure this out:
San Diego State beat a Long Beach State team that a few days later won at Michigan, beat preseason No. 23 Saint Mary’s by 25 and then beat Washington in overtime … and didn’t get ranked in either major poll. The next week, the Aztecs beat another Pac-12 school while four teams dropped out of the Associated Press Top 25 … and still weren’t ranked.
Last week they were underwhelming in a 20-point win against a Division II Point Loma Nazarene team missing its leading scorer, then won 63-62 on a buzzer-beater after being down 14 at UC San Diego, which was No. 246 in the Kenpom.com metric.
And got ranked.
SDSU (7-1) climbed two spots to No. 25 in the Associated Press poll released Monday morning, receiving 168 voting points — 20 ahead of a Virginia team that knocked off previous No. 14 Texas A&M. Three teams fell out of last week’s Top 25.
In the USA Today coaches poll, the Aztecs … dropped. They were sixth among others receiving votes, or de facto 31st. That’s down one spot and 11 points from the previous week.
Their metrics essentially split the difference. They’re No. 26 in Kenpom (after entering Friday’s game at UCSD at 19) and No. 24 in the NCAA’s NET that were released for the first time this season on Monday.
The confusion may come from the conflicting messages sent by their metrics.
Their lone loss is at BYU, a team that soared to No. 14 in AP, No. 8 in Kenpom and second in NET. But their victories aren’t as impressive as originally projected – Saint Mary’s is 3-5 and currently counts as a Quad 3 win, Cal is also 3-5 and counts as a Quad 4 win.
With Purdue and Connecticut both losing, Arizona and former Aztecs forward Keshad Johnson climbed to No. 1 in the AP poll. Johnson leads the Wildcats in rebounding (6.6) and blocks (1.1) and is second in scoring at 12.9.
Two teams on SDSU’s schedule both climbed: Gonzaga to No. 7 and Colorado State to No. 13 after wins against Colorado at home and Washington in Las Vegas.
