San Diego State quarterback Jalen Mayden in motion on the Hawaii BowlSaturday, Dec. 24, 2022, in Honolulu. The Aztecs males’s basketball program will probably be taking part in in its first Remaining 4 ever this week, and the varsity could possibly be a candidate to affix the Pac-12 if the league chooses to increase. Marco Garcia, Related Press
San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher holds the stays of the online and is falls into the arms of his crew after a Elite Eight victory over Creighton within the South Regional of the NCAA Match, Sunday, March 26, 2023, in Louisville, Ky. San Diego State gained 57-56. Mike Stewart, Related Press
San Diego State reached the Remaining 4 for the primary time at school historical past Sunday.
It marks the Aztecs’ newest accomplishment. SDSU’s basketball and soccer packages have been extremely aggressive and profitable through the previous 20 years.
“Greatest accessible West Coast market aside from Los Angeles, Southern California location, good amenities, funding of their packages, and so on. Seems like Utah to me.” — retired Fox Sports activities Networks president Bob Thompson on SDSU and potential transfer to the Pac-12
For months, SDSU has been linked to reviews that it will likely be leaping from the Mountain West Convention to a Energy 5 league.
“Realignment is right here,” Aztecs basketball coach Brian Dutcher stated over the weekend. “So everyone is simply ready for the subsequent shoe to drop. Whether or not that’s the Huge Ten or the Pac-12 or the Huge 12 or ACC. There’s going to be extra realignment.”
With USC and UCLA bolting the Pac-12 subsequent 12 months, leaving the league with simply 10 members, plainly the convention can be smart so as to add SDSU to its fold to assist offset the lack of the Trojans and the Bruins.
The league has been exploring enlargement and San Diego State checks all of the packing containers of what it wants.
“The Aztecs are a no brainer for the Pac-12. San Diego State has the lecturers, tradition and Pacific Time Zone geography,” Pac-12 insider John Canzano wrote this week. “It could additionally add 1.1 million tv households in a area the place the Pac-12 badly wants it. We’ve talked about San Diego State as a potential Pac-12 addition for months. The convention goes so as to add someplace between 0-4 new members. It might resolve to remain at 10. However I simply don’t see how the presidents and chancellors can ignore the chance to get again into Southern California. I additionally don’t know why it ought to wait.”
Canzano requested Bob Thompson, a retired Fox Sports activities Networks president, about the opportunity of SDSU becoming a member of the Pac-12. Thompson agrees that the league ought to add the Aztecs.
“Greatest accessible West Coast market aside from Los Angeles, Southern California location, good amenities, funding of their packages, and so on.,” Thompson stated. “Seems like Utah to me.”
Utah and SDSU performed on a yearly foundation when each have been members of the Western Athletic Convention and the Mountain West Convention from 1978 to 2010.
Wrote ESPN.com’s Pete Thamel: “With the Pac-12 anticipated to obtain readability on its subsequent tv deal within the upcoming weeks, the potential has loomed for months that the convention might add packages at any time when that deal is accomplished. San Diego State stays on the forefront of that dialog, due to the varsity’s location and a powerful run of success in each soccer and males’s basketball to go together with strong teachers.
“San Diego State athletic director John David Wicker stated that this system, no matter whether or not it’s within the Mountain West or Pac-12, will be capable to promote regional journey to recruits. He sees the quantity of journey that USC and UCLA should do for league play as a possible recruiting benefit for San Diego State. When the Aztecs have been flying to Orlando for the opening weekend, he stated he talked about 2½ hours into their journey that they’d be solely midway to many Huge Ten colleges.”
Final 12 months, Doug Haller of The Athletic wrote that SDSU is taken into account a main goal for the Pac-12.
“The Athletic requested a few trade sources about Pac-12 enlargement candidates, and each began right here. The Pac-12 has by no means appeared to take San Diego State critically, largely as a result of it operates within the California State College system, however it’s time to present the Mountain West college a powerful look,” Haller wrote.
“San Diego has the twenty eighth largest tv market, which isn't best, however including the Aztecs would give the Pac-12 a presence in some a part of Southern California. This can't be ignored. Athletically, San Diego State lately has outperformed many Pac-12 colleges in soccer and males’s basketball, in order that’s not a problem. The soccer program has posted 5 seasons of 10-plus wins over the previous seven years. The lads’s basketball crew has made the NCAA Match (now 10) instances because the 2009-10 season.
“Most vital, the Aztecs have confirmed a dedication to taking the subsequent step. This fall, they're scheduled to open the $310 million Snapdragon Stadium as their subsequent soccer residence. There’s some momentum right here.”
Will SDSU develop into the subsequent member of the Pac-12? A choice could possibly be coming quickly.
San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher holds the stays of the online and is falls into the arms of his crew after a Elite Eight victory over Creighton within the South Regional of the NCAA Match, Sunday, March 26, 2023, in Louisville, Ky. San Diego State gained 57-56.
Mike Stewart, Related Press