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Monday, December 17, 2007
Cloudy forecast for Midshipmen
Talk about luck, or maybe a lack thereof: Navy gets a trip to San Diego, leaves Annapolis with a winter nor'easter bearing down, and arrives in usually sunny southern California to find foggy skies and highs barely reaching the 60s.

That's about 20 degrees warmer than forecast for Annapolis today, but hardly what you hope for when you head to a place like San Diego at the holidays.

The good news: they leave after tonight's game with San Diego State before the rain starts to fall for the rest of the week. The bad news, the forecast for tonight's game is worse than the weather in either locale.


SCOUTING SAN DIEGO STATE: Coached by Steve Fisher, who won a national title at Michigan, the Aztecs are, in a nutshell, a deep, talented side that can shoot the lights out. Three guys average in double figures, three others are 8.4 points per game or better, and that is without 6-7 Tim Shelton, who was averaging 10 ppg when he suffered a season-ending knee injury.

When Shelton went down, the Aztecs (8-2) barely skipped a beat. Freshman Billy White (6-8) stepped into the starting lineup and is shooting 64.3 percent from the field and averaging 8.4 ppg.

Lorenzo Wade, a junior who started his college career at Louisville, is a 6-9 leaper who is considered one of the top defensive players in the Mountain West Conference. The All-MWC pick is also an offensive force, shooting 50 percent from the field, 43.3 percent from the arc and averaging a team-high 14 ppg.

Juco transfer Kelvin Davis (6-3) is scoring 11.6 ppg while shooting 54.2 percent from the floor and 45.2 percent from the arc and 6-5 junior Kyle Span scores 12.3 ppg while shooting 44.8 percent from downtown (43.5 percent overall).

Junior Ryan Anderson is another big kid (6-8) who can score the ball. The Marquette transfer is averaging 9.8 ppg.

As a team, San Diego State is scoring 71.6 points per game while shooting 47.4 percent from the field as a team (39 percent from three-point range).

The defense is not horrible, either. Opponents are shooting 42.5 percent while averaging 61.9 ppg.

The Aztecs have won 10 in a row at home. One caveat about their record: None of the wins are particularly impressive and they lost the two games they played against top-caliber foes (Cal and St. Mary's).
BONUS LINKS:
  • San Diego State stats
  • San Diego State game notes
  • A role player at El Camino, Sprink returns as Navy leader (North County Times)
  • More than usual, San Diego a Navy town this week (San Diego Union-Tribune)

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    • Published at 9:37 AM by Hoop Time.
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