The San Diego State Aztecs finished the 2004-05 season with a record of 11-18 straight up, which included a Mountain West Conference record of 11-14-1 against the spread to finish sixth in the league.
San Diego State fared little better against the college basketball gambling lines as they covered just eleven out of twenty-six games against the board including just four of their final twelve to end the season as one of the least desirable teams amongst college basketball gamblers.
Profitable start
San Diego State began the season with a 67-55 win at Alaska Fairbanks as an 8-point chalk. That was followed by a discouraging 63-66 loss at Illinois-Chicago as 5.5-point chalks. The Aztecs had a nice rebound, however, with a 79-51 win over Southern Mississippi as 6.5-point neutral court chalks for a profitable start of 2-1 ATS.
San Diego State Aztecs Over-valued early on
San Diego State next scored an 80-53 home win over Albany in an unlined game. Back on the board at San Diego, however, the Aztecs suffered an 80-90 loss to their intra-city rivals as 4-point “road”chalks. That was followed by an unlined home win over Point Loma.
In their next game at California, the Aztecs suffered a poor 64-82 loss as 7-point dogs, which was then followed by a 49-60 home loss to Washington State as 4-point chalks as the Aztecs proved unable to hang with Pac-10 competition.
The bleeding briefly stopped with a 66-54 home win over Santa Barbara and then a 58-45 unlined home win over Maryland Baltimore City but the Aztecs proved to be over-valued early on with another failure against the spread in the form of a 65-80 loss at Providence as 9.5-point dogs.
Finally starting to click
San Diego State head coach Steve Fisher, who was the man that built Michigan’s infamous “Fab Five” teams, didn’t seem to be able to get the Aztecs turned around as they were again off to a sluggish start. But starting with an 84-68 home win over Loyola Marymout as 7-point chalks, things proved to be finally starting to click.
San Diego State next won over Colorado State 83-75 as 1.5-point chalks. That was followed by a 62-65 win at Air Force as 9-point dogs. Next came a 72-67 win at Utah as 4-point dogs followed by an 83-67 home win over UNLV as 4-point chalks. The Aztecs then got a seventh straight payoff with an 88-61 blowout home win over Brigham Young as 6.5 point chalks.
Brief dip San Diego State Aztecs
Those seven straight payoffs by the Aztecs certainly got the attention of the college basketball gambling public and caused San Diego State to suffer a brief dip with that increased attention from the gambling public, the oddsmakers, as well as their on court opponents.
The Aztecs first beat New Mexico 75-69 as 10-point home overlays and followed that up with a 78-77 overtime win at Wyoming as 1.5-point chalks. The Aztecs then got back on track with an 85-81 win at Colorado State as 1-point chalks, which was then followed by a 61-51 home win over Air Force as 4-point chalks as San Diego State had just won their eighth consecutive game straight up and twelfth in their last fourteen, while getting their ninth payoff in eleven games.
Slowing down
The “word” was out on San Diego State amongst both the gambling and the basketball fraternities and the Aztecs starting slowing down with a 65-67 home loss to Utah as 10-point chalks. That was followed by an 81-70 win at UNLV as 3.5-point dogs. Next came an 83-71 win over TCU as 15.5-point overlays followed by a 90-100 loss at BYU. That was then followed by SU&ATS wins at New Mexico and at home over Wyoming before an unlined home win over South Dakota State in the regular season finale. The Aztecs won the MWC tourney before losing to Indiana in the NCAA tourney as they went 3-1 SU but 1-3 ATS as overlays in post season.