NCAA Tournament: Does SDSU Deserve a No. 1 Seed If They Knock off BYU?

The much hyped rematch between No. 6 San Diego State Aztecs and No. 7 Cougars of Brigham Young University is finally here.

After their first matchup in Provo, Utah, the college basketball world has been eagerly waiting for the second stanza of the series.

SDSU have not lost since falling to Jimmer Fredette and the Cougars and have huge tournament implications riding on the game later today.

Many analysts have speculated that if the Aztecs get their revenge against the Cougars, that they are a strong contender to be a No. 1 seed in the 2011 NCAA Tournament. The question is: Is SDSU worthy of a No. 1 seed?

SDSU is 27-1 with an R.P.I. of four going into today's game. Their record against the R.P.I. top-50 is 4-1.

SDSU owns six other wins inside the top 100 of the R.P.I. rankings and the rest of their wins fall in the 105-315 range.

If you compare their top 50 wins to the four other teams in contention for a No. 1 seed, SDSU is right their with them.

The records of the other contenders against the top-50 in R.P.I are as follows: Ohio St. 7-2, Kansas 6-2, Duke 6-1, Pittsburgh 8-3 and Texas 7-2. With a win today, SDSU will bump their record to 5-1 and is comparable to all the others in contention.

I think SDSU has as good of a chance as anyone grabbing a No. 1 seed if they can beat BYU today.

We'll have to wait until selection Sunday to find out if the rest of the NCAA world finally gives the Aztecs and the Mountain West the respect it deserves.