As the 2024-2025 non-conference schedule comes to a close, the 8-2 San Diego State basketball team stands tall coming in at #20 in both the AP and Coaches National Polls. Now Aztec Nation can focus in on the Mountain West schedule at hand. Sons of Montezuma has a preview for you with a twist: a ranking of Mountain West teams Aztec fans should hate the most.
Let me start by stating the obvious fact that San Diego State is the consensus undisputed team despised by all fanbases in the Mountain West. If we weren’t Aztec fans, we would probably hate us too.
The motto of SDSU’s student section The Show is “Nobody Likes Us & We Don’t Care”– a phrase endeared by Aztec fans who exude brashness for the team’s unrivaled success in the Mountain West.
Now about the rankings.
If your team is high on this list, congratulations! You’re either winning and/or getting under the skin of Aztec fans like myself. Much respect to you.
If you’re disappointed that your team isn’t ranked higher—plain & simple, do better at your craft.
Stay tuned to the Sons of Montezuma “Kiss The Rings” podcast all season long for bulletin board material for your team. Let the hate begin.
10. San Jose State
It’s hard to hate a team when their only fan is a college student dressed as a lovable duck carrying a loaf of bread. Coach Tim Miles is a likable coach who is coming to terms with the fact that San Jose State is just not a basketball school—or any sport for that matter.
The Spartans have had one (count with me) ONE winning season since they joined the Mountain West in 2013-2014. That one season may have very well been a miracle, considering every decent player they get is looking to transfer to a more relevant program.
This season San Jose State has four decent starters—but little depth. The Spartans finished the non-conference portion at 7-6, the same record as last season when they finished with only 9 wins.
It will be an uphill battle for the Spartans to get out of the 1st round of the conference tournament and not serve as the unofficial doormat for the Mountain West yet again.
9. Air Force
No team has been hit harder from the new transfer portal and NIL rules than Air Force. You can’t help but feel sorry for a team of servicemen who have sworn to protect our great country, but will never compete for conference championships.
That sympathy is short lived as the new 20 game conference season ensures two more Quad 4 games per year for the Aztecs, with one coming on the road at 7,258 feet.
Add in the fact that Air Force plays the most boring style of basketball, the Falcons are hated for simply being a member of the Mountain West.
The Falcons (3-9) have had one winning season since “W” (pronounced Dub•ya) left office and there is little hope on the horizon that things will change anytime soon in Colorado Springs no matter who is in the oval office.
For the love of college basketball, Princeton style offenses used by teams like Air Force are a sick form of torture that need to be banned from the college game so hoop heads like us don’t suffer anymore from watching it.
8. Fresno State
Former SDSU Assistant Coach Justin Hutson made it hard to hate on the Bulldogs for years. Now that Coach Hut was fired and replaced by Fresno area high school coach Vance Walberg (no not that Walberg), let the hate resume.
For one, it’s Fresno State—home to the on-campus Sheep Unit, where grave injustices have been committed. It’s the 2nd closest Mountain West road trip for Aztec fans that no one wants to attend.
The upside is that you’re less likely to get assaulted than you would at a Bulldong football game, and that’s simply because Fresno State fans don’t support its basketball program.
Will Coach Walberg bring Fresno State (4-8) back to a respectable level in college basketball? Who really cares. This may be the worst roster in the Mountain West especially after leading scorer Amar Augillard left the team. The Bulldogs could finish dead last in the conference standings and no one would be one bit surprised or interested.
The Aztecs already beat the Bulldogs handily to start their conference season in an earlier matchup.
7. Wyoming
What’s worse than a splinter of wood in your eyeball? A road trip to Laramie in January or February. Wyoming (7-5) is a program the Pac-12 bound Aztecs will be more than happy to leave behind in a few years due to the travel, lack of oxygen, and lack of competition.
The new coach in Laradise sure has a spiffy name though. Sundance Wicks is coming home to the state of Wyoming after one Mid-successful year at Mid-major Green Bay. And that’s exactly what the Cowboys head coaching job attracts—being very “mid”.
Obi Agbim, a senior guard transfer from D2 Fort Lewis College has been a revelation averaging almost 19 ppg on 47% shooting from deep. The Pokes have a couple of decent guards in Jordan Nesbitt and Kobe Newton. The rest of Coach Wicks roster are Mid-major players who averaged 3-6 points per game at their last stops.
It’s just another land mine for the Aztecs to step on in conference play and does nothing for the NCAA tournament resume. Just a whole lot of yuck in boots, if you ask me.
6. Colorado State
The Rams are coming off an NCAA tournament appearance under head coach Niko Medved. They even won a tournament game—laying the wood to ACC power Virginia 67-42 in the 1st round.
Coach Medved was a great hire by Colorado State after uber-douchey Diet Coke guzzling, co-ed fraternizing, Larry Eustachy was run out of Fort Collins.
What Aztec fans can hate now is how good Medved has been at recruiting players who fit his system. The Rams added 3 impact transfers in Bowen Born, Ethan Morton and Jaylen Crocker-Johnson while retaining Mountain West 3rd teamer Nique Clifford, Jalen Lake, and a few other promising young players.
Ok, ok…Enough with the Medved flowers.
Colorado State (7-5) played a tough nonconference schedule but have been unimpressive outside a win at Nevada in their conference opener. A bad loss to UC Riverside at home likely means the Rams have to win the conference tourney to get into March Madness.
This year’s team looks like it’s headed for a CBI tournament bid or a spot on the couch to watch more worthy teams represent the Mountain West in postseason play.
Is there a program in the Mountain West that goes more out of their way to make the San Diego State game at home their Super Bowl? Every year it’s some gimmick like an “Orange Out” to pack the entire city into Moby Arena. If the Rams win against SDSU, Colorado State students are guaranteed to rush the court even if they were favored to win the game.
While Aztecs fans should be flattered, it reeks of desperation which is why the series is not much in terms of a rivalry.
Now that we have revealed the bottom half of the league, stay tuned for the next article in this series where we reveal the top 5 teams in the Mountain West that Aztec fans should hate in the 2024-25 season.
Discover more from
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
One Response