SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State men's basketball team is ranked No. 19 and garnered 394 points in the preseason AP Top 25 Poll, which was released on Monday morning. It marks the fourth time in program history SDSU has earned inclusion on the initial AP poll, and all have come since the start of the 2010-11 campaign.
The Aztecs are the only program in the Mountain West to appear in the AP's initial poll.
In its three previous appearances in the AP preseason poll, San Diego State was ranked No. 25 and received 158 points to start the 2010-11 season, No. 20 with 463 points before the 2012-13 season, and No. 16 garnering 560 points to open the 2014-15 campaign. The last time SDSU was ranked in the preseason, in 2014-15, came following the team's run to the Sweet-16 the previous year.
This appearance marks the first time since the 2020-21 season the Aztecs have found themselves among the AP Top 25. On that occasion the team was ranked No. 16 in a poll which was published on March 15, 2021, the final poll of that season.
Overall, the Aztecs have been ranked in the AP poll 89 weeks, which is the most by any team in the state of California since the start of the 2010-11 season: ahead of UCLA's 68, Saint Mary's 44, Southern California's 35, and California's 11.
Among Mountain West program's total of weeks in the AP poll since 2010-11, San Diego State's 89 are more than three times more than Nevada and its 28 weeks. Others in the league who have appeared in the poll in that time frame are UNLV (27 weeks), New Mexico (25 weeks), Colorado State (10 weeks) and Boise State (two weeks).
In addition to today's AP poll, over the weekend Kenpom.com had the Aztecs as the No. 19 rated team in its initial 2022-23 ratings.
San Diego State returns fifth-year seniors Nathan Mensah, Adam Seiko, Aguek Arop, and Matt Bradley in 2022-23, and four-fifths of its starting line up from a team that went 23-9 last year. In 2021-22, San Diego State appeared in the championship game of the Mountain West tournament for the fifth consecutive year and competed in the NCAA tournament for the second straight season.
In addition to the aforementioned players, SDSU returns starters Lamont Butler and Keshad Johnson as well as newcomers Jaedon LeDee, who sat out the 2021-22 season due to NCAA transfer rules, Darrion Trammell, a transfer from Seattle U., Micah Parrish, a transfer from Oakland, and freshmen Miles Byrd and Elijah Saunders.
The Aztecs play an exhibition on Tuesday, Nov. 1, against San Diego Christian in Viejas Arena with the regular season opener set for Monday, Nov. 7, also in Viejas.
For more information on tickets for the 2022-23 San Diego State men's basketball season, contact the Aztec Athletics Ticket Office at 619-283-7378 or aztix@sdsu.edu.