SDSU @ Arizona Game Night Open Thread Edit-Aztecs lead 26-21 at halftime.

San Diego State (7-1) takes on Arizona (5-2) in Arizona. On TV at FS Arizona (DirecTV channel 686, DISH Network channel 415) or AM 600 in San Diego. SDSU has lost six straight to Arizona and has never beaten a ranked Arizona team, however they have beaten unranked Arizona 5 times. Arizona is not currently ranked. Not sure if Wade will play tonight, if he does his minutes will probably be limited. Chase Budinger, alumni from my high school LCC in Carlsbad, is their leading scorer averaging over 20 PPG. GO AZTECS!

Franchione, Martz, and Walker head for second interviews?

According to the UT former Texas A&M coach Dennis Franchione, San Francisco 49ers Offensive Coordinator Mike Martz, and UCLA defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker will be having second interviews this week and SDSU will possibly be hiring the coach by this weekend. I don’t like Franchione, I don’t know much about him but from what I’ve heard from other fans is that he isn’t loyal and that there was alot of controversy surrounding him during his coaching days. Walker has Socal ties and is experienced in recruiting so that would really help the Aztecs. On the other hand, UCLA sucks and that’s not because of lack of recruitment. Walker also isn’t a big name and probably wouldn’t draw much interest from the fanbase or players that haven’t heard of him. Martz has Socal ties, is a big name, and is and offensive minded coach, which is what SDSU is known for. He has not been a head coach before and has coached at several colleges before. He was the offensive coordinator for the Rams “greatest show on turf” Superbowl win. He probably isn’t well versed in the art of college recruiting but his name is big enough that I think it will encourage recruits to take a good look. However, the 49ers released a statement that said Martz is NOT in the running for the job. So who knows. Out of those three I’d say Martz but of course these are just rumors and many other names have come up.

San Diego State Takes City Championship 57-46

ESPN Box Score. Yikes we didn’t even put up a game preview. Lorrenzo Wade was in uniform but didnt play. I hope he is able to get into the game for Arizona and Saint Mary’s. USD’s Brandon Johnson ruptured his Achilles Tendon at the end of the first half. That one hurts. Kyle Spain led the Aztecs yet again with 16 points and rising star Tim Shelton added 12. Once again, this isn’t much of a rivalry since USD doesn’t really ever beat SDSU. I didn’t see much of the game on TV because I was watching Manny Pacquiao beat the hell out of Oscar De La Hoya. USD came out strong with some good shooting but they were never really in the game after the Aztecs took the lead; SDSU scored 28 points off turnovers. Next game is Wednesday night at Arizona. They aren’t the same team they used to be but a win by the Aztecs would certainly go a long way as far as the national eye. Beat Arizona, Saint Marys, and win the rest of the non-conference schedule and we might even get nationally ranked.
Go Aztecs!

BURGLARY CHARGE DISMISSED AGAISNT LORRENZO WADE

Remember a few days ago I said that to be guilty of burglary you had to have entered a building with the specific intent to commit theft? Well guess what?

Judge Charles Rogers said he didn’t believe Wade, 23, had criminal intent to assist taking a woman’s television from her apartment near SDSU on Sept. 21. “The elements of burglary are real clear-cut,” Rogers said. “They require entry of a specified structure with certain specific intent. I find that Mr. Wade did not have that intent at the time he entered the structure. If in fact he did unhook that cable wire, that was an act, an intentional act, that was conducted after he was inside, and the intent was formed after he was inside.”

Ah, Justice. Sweet Justice. Wade wanted to plead guilty to a lesser charge but the DDA was too damn stubborn and insisted on a felony burglary charge. What an idiot. Wade WILL be back.

“We are very pleased for Lorrenzo,” SDSU coach Steve Fisher said. “I think it is the right decision. We are happy that he will not only continue in school but will return to the basketball team. When that return will come, we have not made that decision yet.”

Even Coach Fisher who is extremely tough on discinplinary issues knew this whole thing was BS. Like I said before as well, this is a special team right now and will be even more special with Wade on the floor. I don’t think it should be much of a distraction as all of the players on the team still believe in Wade. Oh man, Kyle Spain and Lorrenzo Wade ohhhh weeeee.

Aztecs 73 Northern Colorado 62

Well Crap. We gave up more than 59 points. At least we still held them to 13 points below their average. Tim Shelton was a perfect 6-6 from the field to score a career high 17, Billy White had a Aztec high 7 boards and Kyle Spain knocked down 19. We actually got out-rebounded 36-27 which is kind of depressing. We did hit 44.4% of our 3s, 90% of our FTs, and shot 45.3% from the field, which isn’t great, but with our defense it is good enough to win games.

Next game is on saturday at Cox Area vs. USD for the “city championship”. USD has never won at Cox Arena.

Game Night: SDSU @ Northern Colorado 6 P.M. PST

The Aztecs (5-1) will face Northern Colorado (2-2) tonight in Northern Colorado apparently. What’s with all these directional schools? This will not score points on Around the Horn. Anyway, the point is to keep winning and don’t worry about who your opponent is. If you worry too much about the opponent, that is when we will start having problems. Guess what? Northern Colorado beat us at Cox Arena last season and halted our home winning streak at 13. The game isn’t on TV but it will be on AM 600 with Uncle Teddy doing the play by play. I assume the gametracker will be on GoAztecs.com as well.

Let’s talk defense. It looks like so far the Aztec’s defense ranks (tied for) 10th in the entire nation. Tied for #2 if you count teams that have played at least 6 games, (Like SDSU has). The highest point total given up this season was to then No.15 Arizona State, at 59 points. Guess how many points they are averaging this season? That’s right, 75. So you can say all you want about SDSU’s opponents so far, but the Aztecs are only giving up 52.7 points a game and held one of the nation’s top shooting teams to 16 points under their average. Plus, you know they have had to score far more than 75 a game to reach that average after only scoring 59 agaisnt us. Mind you that was without our best player Lorenzo Wade and only after hitting some brilliant shots down the stretch. Through their first four games, Northern Colorado is averaging 78.5 points and put up 105 points in their last game. Tonight SDSU looks to hold its 7th straight opponent under 60 points.

Speaking of Lorenzo Wade, it looks like he will not be able to play this season. Apparently the DDA refuses to give him a plea and is adamant about bringing the case to trial despite the fact that they didn’t find any of Lorenzo’s fingerprints on the TV he allegedly stole. The trial itself probably won’t be that long but they schedule these things far in advance and by the time it was through basketball season will be over. The sad thing is he probably won’t even be convicted. They are charging him with first degree burglary which is a specific intent crime which require the DA to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that entered an inhabited dwelling with the SPECIFIC INTENT TO COMMIT THEFT. The DDA continues to insist they have the evidence to prove that, regardless of the fact they have no fingerprints, and I doubt they have witnesses that can testify to the fact they went over to the aparment with the specific intent of stealing the TV. The shitty thing is that with the way the team is playing right now this could be a very special team capable of making a deep tournament run with Lorenzo playing. It just sucks.

SDSU Hires Headhunters to Find New Football Coach

From SignonSanDiego.com

Looks like SDSU is looking at another $50-90k cost to find a new coach.  While it seems like a hefty fee it is par for the course. 

Take a look at the firm SDSU is using here: Parker Executive Search. Looks like their ultimate goal is to exceed their clients’ expectations. Sadly, I think SDSU’s expectations in football have been set pretty low so exceeding them shouldn’t be difficult. Seriously though, hopefully they find a good coach which will get a winning program back on the Mesa.

Aztec Women Lose Marriot Beach Title Game 87-71 to No.25/22 Iowa State

Jene Morris, Paris Johnson, and Quenese Davis all had superb games but the Aztecs fell short and their record also fell to 4-3. You can’t criticize them for playing weak opponents however having played No.1 Uconn a week earlier and its third game in as many days. Iowa State showed they deserved thier ranking in this game shooting 53.8% from the field. They made it to the final game by beating Hawaii and Prarie View A&M in the prior two games.

Aztecs 71 Hawaii 48

The Aztecs shot a season-best 49.2% from the field, got 14 steals overall and forced 27 turnovers. Center Paris Johnson dropped 31 points to go with 7 boards and 2 blocks as SDSU cruised to victory.

Aztecs 58 Prarie View 53

Paris Johnson continued her hot run with 23 points with 8 boards. Jennifer Layton-Bailes added her first double-double of the season with 15 points and 10 boards. Prarie View went on an 10-0 run about halfway into the second half to pull close but the Aztecs tightened up on defense and went on to hold them off.

Aztecs 71 No. 25/22 Iowa State 87

Jene Morris had a hell of a game by sinking 34 points including 5 triples to go along with 3 steals, 4 assists, and 3 boards. Paris Johnson stayed on fire with her third double-double of the season hitting 14 points and picking up 19 boards. However, Iowa State overpowered the Aztecs’ defense and led by as many as 18.

The team is inconsistant. However, it seems they are beating up on cupcake teams (see Prarie View and Hawaii) and getting blown out against strong opponents. I don’t really expect them to beat these strong teams, but at least they put up a good fight agaisnt Iowa State after getting anniliated agaisnt UCONN. I’m not really sure about the talent in the MWC right now so we’ll have to wait and see what kind of talent we will be facing later in the season.

Aztecs win Great Alaska Shootout

Coach Steve Fisher becomes the 10th coach ever to win a Shootout Championship and a National Championship. Kyle Spain is named tournament MVP and MWC Player of the Week for his performance in the three games against Western Carolina, Seattle, and Hampton; he averaged 18 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists in just 25 minutes per game over the three game period. Furthermore, the Aztecs win the tournament finale by the largest margin ever beating Hampton 76-47 and also setting tournament records for least amount of point given up by the defense.

SDSU 58 Western Carolina 57

As the other two games were blowouts, SDSU was lucky to make it out of this game alive. In fact, the Aztecs faced a 8 point deficit at the half and were trailing by a point with 11 seconds left until Kyle Spain was fouled and hit both of his free-throws to put the Aztecs on top for good. WC was called for traveling right after they inbounded the ball, sealing the Aztec victory. Kyle Spain led the game with 22 points 8 rebound 5 assists and 1 block.

SDSU 75 Seattle 56

The first of two straight blowouts in favor of the Aztecs featured the breakout game for Frenchman Center Mehdi Cheriet. He put up 11 points to go with 3 boards, and assist and a block. They Aztecs really spred the wealth in this game, 7 for Tim Shelton, 6 for Matt Thomas, 9 for DJ Gay, 7 for Billy White, 13 for Ryan Amoroso, and 15 for Kyle Spain. The Aztecs actually shot 50.9% from the field which is a huge upgrade from what they had been putting up in earlier games.

SDSU 76 Hampton 47

The Aztecs set tournament records in this game for margin of victory and for least amount scored by an opponent in a finale. DJ Gay had one of his best games of the season putting up 20 points including 6-8 from downtown and adding 3 assists and 2 steals. Kyle Spain had 17 points and 8 boards and center Ryan Amoroso also had 8 rebounds. The defense held Hampton to just 32.8% shooting from the field.

There isn’t much to say about this tournament. Tradionally there are a lot of powerhouses in this tournament but for some reason this year there was some pretty weak opponents. Regardless, its still tough to go out and play three days in a row away from home and take home three straight victories. The Aztecs take on Northern Colorado on thursday and cross-town “rival” USD on saturday at Cox Arena. I put rival in parenthesis because to be rivals USD would have to actually win once in a while. More on that later.

Back From Thanksgiving Vacation.

I was in Las Vegas in case anyone reads this and happens to care. I made a couple hundred bucks but now i’m back in San Diego and focusing on SDSU Basketball since the Chargers season is over. Updates on all sports tomorrow and the recap of the Aztec’s record setting win in the Alaska Shootout Championship game. The Aztec women also made it to the championship game of thier tournament, but lost to #21 Iowa State. See ya tomorrow Aztec fans!