Three thoughts on San Diego State’s 79-78 win over Nevada on Saturday night to wrap up the regular season:
1. Tip times
The second semifinal of the 2017 Mountain West Tournament was scheduled to tipp at 9:30 p.m. but was closer to 10 due to “early” game delays. Colorado State defeated SDSU, then had to play the finals – the Rams’ third game in three days – less than 15 hours later (and lost).
Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson called it “brutal” and admitted it had been a hot topic earlier that day in meetings with presidents and sporting directors over the conference’s next television deal. The decision was whether to take less money for more control.
Thompson said, “We were told directly by our television partners, ‘The later you play, the more value you bring to us.'”
The Mountain West is in the second year of a new television deal with CBS and Fox Sports worth about $3 million per year per school. The peak time for Friday’s second semi-final in Las Vegas this week: 9 p.m
The Aztecs know. They pulled the dreaded 3 seeds this week, meaning the late game on both Thursday (8:30pm) and Friday, then the short turnaround until last Saturday at 3pm if they win them.
“As tough a turn as it is in college basketball,” said coach Brian Dutcher. “If the conference made the decision, they would make it sooner. But it’s the television that drives the peak hours, not the conference. Once we’ve signed a TV deal, that’s just the reality at the moment unless there’s something they can work on that constrains it.
“Television determines the seasons. They want the Mountain West to fill slots at certain times, and that’s exactly what it is.”
CBS Sports, which airs both semifinals, moved the late game to 8:30 p.m. for the last three years of the old contract after the 9:30 p.m. riot in 2017. The new contract began in 2020-21 and lasted until 9 .
Thompson is an easy target, but the wrong one; it only acts on behalf of the member institutions. It is the university presidents who ultimately approve the television contract presented to them by their athletic directors, charged with balancing the budget at a time of rising spending and dwindling revenues.
You’re committed to student and athlete welfare, which doesn’t mean playing your third game in three days (or fourth in four) with a 15-hour rest. But it was this or that money. They took the money.
2. Being squeezed
There is a saying in basketball about pressing a pressing team. It doesn’t make sense…until it makes sense.
The Aztecs have been increasingly effective in extending their defense through midfield, a key factor in several recent wins, but on Saturday the Air Jordan was suddenly on the other foot. A 17-point lead in eight minutes shrank to one thanks to six turnovers in the last four minutes against Nevada’s full-court press.
Dutcher called it the “perfect pressing storm” because there was one team that was desperate, aggressive and taking risks (Nevada) and another that attacked with no intention of scoring but was trying to gain an advantage defend by running clock (SDSU). It’s the same recipe, only the roles reversed as the Aztecs overcame a 20-point deficit with 10 minutes remaining in Colorado State and almost won.
“They had to push because they were so down,” Dutcher said of the wolf pack. “They had to throw it out there. We’ve been pretty good against the press all year. But it’s like missing free throws. Sometimes they crash. We felt uncomfortable. We panicked.
“I told them we have three timeouts and the next jump ball. You tell them that but you go out there and it’s a whole different ballgame when they catch you and they wave their hands and you try to throw it across the court or you dribble into traffic if you had it should cancel.
But here’s message for teams looking to relentlessly pressurize the Aztecs in the Conference tournament: Go for it.
For the first time in a month, they have the opportunity this week to “work on themselves,” as Dutcher is fond of saying, after constantly jumping from one opposing scouting report to the next with so many games postponed.
“The best way to learn lessons is when you can win and learn, and that’s what we’re going to do,” Dutcher said. “There is always something to do in basketball. We will work on the press offense and make it worse.”
3. Prices for all conferences
For the past several years, Mountain West’s media has voted on their own postseason awards, which will be announced Monday. The conference’s coaches hand out separate awards, which were announced on Tuesday.
They differ in voting methodology (coaches cannot choose players for their own teams, media can) and transparency (coaches do not publish overall votes or individual votes, media can and do).
In the interest of the latter, here’s the ballot from the San Diego Union-Tribune:
coach of the year: Leon Rice, State of Boise. You could argue that Brian Dutcher deserves it after taking a team to No. 230 onceth in offensive efficiency save for one game of another regular-season title. Wyoming’s Jeff Linder took a team from eighth place to fourth place in the preseason poll. But there’s a simple rule when it comes to this award: the idea is to win the title, and the best coach is the guy who does it. After Rice booted Arizona transfer Devonaire Doutrive after a 3-4 start, the Broncos won 14 straight and 21 of 24.
player of the year: Abu Kigab, Boise State. A similar approach to “victors go to the loot”. Kigab may not make the first team conference on some ballots because he doesn’t have the stunning stats of other candidates (14.7 points, 5.9 rebounds, 50.8 percent shooting). But he’s the best defenseman in the conference not named Nathan Mensah (and the only guy to regularly take out Matt Bradley with no help or double teams), and he’s the heart, soul and guts of the championship team.
Newcomer of the Year: Bradley, SDSU. No competition.
Defender of the Year: Mensah, SDSU. No competition.
Freshman of the Year: Tyson Degenhart, Boise State. No competition.
Sixth Man of the Year: Chandler Jacobs, State of Colorado.
First team conference: Kigab, David Roddy (Colorado State), Orlando Robinson (Fresno State), Bradley and Hunter Maldonado (Wyoming). The underdog is UNLV’s Bryce Hamilton, the conference’s top scorer with 24.1 points, who deserves to also be a first-team player.
second team: Hamilton, Graham Ike (Wyoming), Justin Bean (Utah State), Isaiah Stevens (Colorado State) and Marcus Shaver (Boise State). Shaver hit four 3s in the last minute that tied or won games for the Broncos.
third team: Mensah, Grant Sherfield (Nevada), AJ Walker (Air Force), Jamal Mashburn Jr. (New Mexico) and Brandon Horvath (Utah State). Mensah only averages 7.4 points, but SDSU isn’t #2 in Kenpom’s defensive efficiency without him.
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