The Weekend That Was: SDSU

One of the problems with being a San Diego sports fan is reconciling your heart and desire with the modest results of your city's teams and universities.  Let's face it, our sports history stinks.  No championships outside the San Diego Sockers, some Taylor Cups for the Gulls, and a lone men's volleyball title for SDSU.  Our baseball team has a long-entrenched history of failure, to the point that my cohort Chris Ello called their 2004-2007 period the "Golden Age" for Padres baseball, and I'm pretty sure he was being serious!  Our Chargers have made the NFL's biggest stage only once, and performed such a convincing pratfall that they looked like the junior varsity on the wrong field. 

So, allow me to float this modest thought: this is the Golden Age, right NOW, for SDSU basketball.  Now.  This second.  Before tipoff tonight between the SDSU women and Stanford at Cox Arena.  Before the Aztecs men find out their opponent for Wednesday night's NIT quarterfinal showdown on the Mesa.  While we can still look back at the 25-win season for the men (most in school history) without knowing whether their tourney run will end in New York or San Diego.  While we can still savor 24 wins for the women and a first-round NCAA victory over DePaul, and dream of a much bigger upset tonight.  

OK, it's not much of a Golden Age, I'll give you that.  2 wins in the NIT + 1 win in the NCAA would equal two coaches on the hotseat at programs like UConn, North Carolina or Louisville.  But given where San Diego basketball has been, that our city's only NCAA win came when De'Jon Jackson somehow floated that last-second jumper in for USD last year, that SDSU once won 25 games in a five-year span, not a single season...this is pretty good for us.  There is hope right now.  For two programs at once.  Both still alive in the postseason.  And both with an opportunity on their home court to do something even bigger.

Alas, if you know our sports history in San Diego, then you know this as well: there is a behemoth standing in the way.  There always is.  In 1984, the Plucky Padres ran headlong into one of the greatest Tigers teams in history, a team that started 35-5 and finished by upper-decking the Friars into oblivion.  In 1994 the Chargers collided with one of the great 49er teams in history, and got treated like royal doormats for Steve Young's Hall Of Fame coronation.  In 1998 the Pads returned to the World Series, faced the Yankees, and naturally, it was the 125-win Yankees, the best team (by percentage) in the history of the team with best history in baseball.  

Now, tonight, Beth Burns will try to find a slingshot when her Aztecs take on Stanford.  Yeah, just Stanford, the 2nd ranked team in the country, the only team thought to be able to give UConn a run for the title this year.  That's all.  The paragon of women's college basketball on the West Coast.  Who else would you expect?  I'm just surprised Lisa Leslie and Candace Parker won't be running out on the court tonight against SDSU.  But the way things go for our city, I wouldn't be surprised if each of them discovered an extra day of NCAA eligibility and signed up with the Cardinal this morning.  

Tonight could get ugly.  And there's no guarantee that on Wedneday, the men will be able to get past either Davidson or St. Mary's.  But right NOW, we can dream.  Right NOW, we can hope.  Before the cold reality sets in, there is always the warm glow of hope and the comfort of dreaming big.  And in San Diego, that's usually the most we can expect to have.  So enjoy the Golden Age, while it lasts, whether that be for hours or days to come.  

So Disappointing

One more shot made in a 2-point loss.  One more win.  One less underdog winning another conference tournament, putting one less dead spot in the field of 65.  One more iota of exposure nationally for a good team and a good conference.  Any of this would have been enough for the SDSU men to make the NCAA tournament.  They got none of it, a perfect S-storm that managed to send 65 schools dancing while the Aztecs polish up their sandals to shuffle off to the NIT.  

Being the #1 seed in the NIT has to be the most hollow "honor" ever bestowed upon a basketball team.  I'm trying to search for the positives here: at least SDSU fans will get to watch Wade, Spain, Richie, etc at home again.  At least the Aztecs will get another gate or two, which helps the coffers.  At least SDSU will get to play on national TV, and if they do happen to roll off a few wins, they'll get second stage exposure.  On the flip side, you're #1 among the also-rans...so if you win the whole NIT, you're still big fish of the small pond, but if you lose, you were upset and underachieved again.  Awesome.

Do I think they should have made the field?  Yes.  They should have done it by beating St. Mary's at the Wooden Classic.  They should have done it by hanging onto their lead against Arizona State.  Or not blowing a 14-point second half lead against BYU.  Or by winning in Laramie against a defense-challenged Wyoming team.  Or by finding a way to put the ball through the hoop in the MWC final against Utah.  As they stood this afternoon, the Aztecs were probably still one of the best 65 teams in the country.  But if they had done ANY of the things listed above, there wouldn't have been any question.  

I have changed the poll: please vote as to whether you think SDSU got what they deserved, or got robbed of a spot in the NCAA's.