San Diego State and BYU Square Off in Mid-Major Showdown

Jimmer Fredette, who leads the nation in scoring, will try
to lead his BYU Cougars over the 4th ranked and
undefeated San Diego Aztecs on Wednesday night.

The Mountain West Conference has received plenty of publicity over the past year primarily because of the success of some of the conferences football programs.  The TCU Horned Frogs come to mind.

But the conference is competitive in other sports as well and that talent will be on display Wednesday night as the undefeated and 4th ranked San Diego State Aztecs travel to Provo, Utah to take on the 9th ranked BYU Cougars in a Mountain West Conference showdown.

Who would've thought that two teams from the Mountain West would be playing each other with a combined 1 loss on the season.  The teams have combined for a 39-1 record.

But much like in football, teams from the Mountain West Conference, as well as other mid-major conferences still don't get the credit they likely deserve, even after Butler danced all the way to the NCAA Finals before succumbing to Duke. 

San Diego State has been particularly surprising this year, coming out of the gates with a 20-0 record, including victories over high quality teams like Gonzaga and Wichita State, two teams destined to dance with the Aztecs this March. 

San Diego State is led by their senior point guard D.J. Gay, who averages 12.8 points and 3.2 assists per game whiles serving as the Aztecs on court and emotional leader. 

"(Gay) has been the lynchpin," Aztecs coach Steve Fisher said of the smallest player (6-0, 170 pounds) on the Aztecs roster. "He's been our point person. ... He keeps a level of composure that permeates throughout our locker room."

In the meantime, in case you haven't heard or him, Jimmer Fredette, the 6 foot 2 inch senior guard for BYU, is leading all of NCAA Division 1 basketball in scoring at 26.7 points per game. 

Fredette isn't the only Cougar that can put the ball in the net, as BYU is 5th in the nation in scoring, netting 85.2 points per game. 

The Cougars shoot an amazing 37.5% as a team from 3 point range, an amazing percentage.

As the ACC, SEC, and Pac 10 struggle, the nation is in for a treat as these two teams from the tiny Mountain West square off in what could turn out to be one of the epic regular season battles of this years college basketball season. 

Fredette is confident that it will be fun to watch. 

"It's going to be crazy," Fredette said of Wednesday night's showdown. "If we play well, our crowd will be into it. We need our crowd to rattle them a little bit. But it's going to be a great one."