Updated at 10:27 p.m. , Oct. 16, 2014
San Diego State was ranked No. 17 in the country in the Preseason USA Today Coaches Top-25 Poll on Thursday, the highest ranking in program history, regardless of the poll.
This is only the second time that the team has shown up on the preseason coaches Top-25 poll. The last time that happened was when they were ranked No. 20 to begin the 2012-13 season.
The news of the No. 17 ranking comes two days removed from the announcement that SDSU was picked to win the MWC in the 2014-15 Mountain West Preseason Media Poll and received the most first-place votes in conference history on Tuesday.
Here’s a look at how the voting shaped out for the media poll:
2014-15 Mountain West Media Preseason Poll
Team (First-Place Votes) Points
1. San Diego State (34) 383
2. Boise State (1) 275
3. New Mexico 270
4. UNLV 269
5. Colorado State 258
6. Wyoming 256
7. Fresno State 232
8. Nevada 126
9. Air Force 102
10. Utah State 98
11. San José State 41
As previously mentioned, the 34 first-place votes SDSU received are the most in conference history.
“We expected to be first,” coach Steve Fisher said. “We won the conference last year, we have a lot of players back, we have on paper a very good recruiting class, and there’s nothing wrong with expectations.”
Along with being picked to win the Mountain West, junior guard Winston Shepard and senior forward Dwayne Polee II were voted onto the Preseason All-MW team, making SDSU the only school with two members on the five-man team.
Junior-transfer Angelo Chol gained recognition as well, by being selected as the MW Preseason Newcomer of the Year. Chol — a graduate of Hoover High School, in El Cajon — transferred from the University of Arizona his sophomore year and sat out last season due to NCAA transfer regulations.
SDSU is returning three starters and eight letterwinners to a team that finished 31-5, and ended the season No. 13/12 (AP/Coaches Poll) en route to the programs second appearance in the Sweet Sixteen.
Fisher and the Aztecs begin their season Friday, Nov. 7 at 7 p.m. in an exhibition game against Point Loma Nazarene at Viejas Arena.