The San Diego State Aztecs take on the Stanford Cardinal. Check out our college basketball odds series for our San Diego State Stanford prediction and pick.
The San Diego State Aztecs are known primarily as a defense-first team under coach Brian Dutcher. This identity under Dutcher flows seamlessly from their previous years of excellence under former coach Steve Fisher, who led the Aztec program to prominence and then handed the keys to Dutcher a few years ago. San Diego State is commonly known as a rock-fight-style team, the kind of group which will get involved in ugly, low-scoring slugfests and will struggle to score at times but will always put up a good fight at the defensive end of the floor.
It had to come as a surprise to many college basketball observers, then, that the Aztecs got involved in a fast-paced and high-scoring game against BYU this past Friday night. The Aztecs were able to outgun the Cougars in an 82-75 victory.
What is really impressive and encouraging for San Diego State is that the Aztecs appear to have high-quality depth this season. Matt Bradley and Lamont Butler are expected to be two of the team's leading scorers and clutch shotmakers. However, in this game they scored a combined 11 points and had a hard time getting into the flow of the contest. Yet, the Aztecs were fine. Incoming transfer Darrion Trammell scored 21 points and Jaedon Lee poured in 23 to give the Aztecs ample scoring punch. If San Diego State has four or five different players who can score — with Trammell and Lee helping out Bradley and Butler — this team will be very hard to defend. If San Diego State has an offense which is hard to defend, the Aztecs' reliance on defense will make them a complete team and a very tough out in the Mountain West Conference this season.
The Stanford Cardinal have to be wondering how much longer they can continue with head coach Jerod Haase. He has coached the Cardinal since 2016 and has not made the NCAA Tournament. It is true that the pandemic hit in 2020 and disrupted what Stanford could do in the transfer portal and in recruiting, given the severe COVID-19 restrictions which existed in the Bay Area and particularly the local jurisdictions in which Stanford resides. That could reasonably explain athletic director Bernard Muir's patience with Haase, but the real reason for that lack of action from the Stanford administration seems to be that firing Haase is tantamount to admitting a mistake in the hire. That might be narrowly true, but schools fire coaches all the time. Stanford was a very successful basketball program from 1989 through 2008. It has reached just one NCAA Tournament over the past 14 years. If Stanford wants to have any real hope of making the NCAAs this season, it needs a high-end win over San Diego State to boost its resume and build confidence for the rest of the schedule ahead.
Courtesy of FanDuel, here are the San Diego State-Stanford College Basketball odds.
College Basketball Odds: San Diego State-Stanford Odds
San Diego State Aztecs: -4.5 (-115)
Stanford Cardinal: +4.5 (-105)
Over: 138.5 (-110)
Under: 138.5 (-110)
Why San Diego State Could Cover the Spread
The Aztecs are showing that they have a balanced lineup and can get points from several different sources. They also should be able to contain a Stanford offense which scored just 50 points in a recent Cardinal loss to Wisconsin.
Why Stanford Could Cover the Spread
Stanford is playing at home, and it likely learned a lot about how to improve its offense when playing against Wisconsin, another really good defensive team. That loss to Wisconsin could actually benefit Stanford here, toughening up the Trees for another challenging nonconference game.
Final San Diego State-Stanford Prediction & Pick
San Diego State is a better defensive team than Stanford, and its offense shows signs of being better than expected. Take the Aztecs.
Final San Diego State-Stanford Prediction & Pick: San Diego State -4.5
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