This year’s installment of the San Diego State men’s basketball hasn’t had much success in the win category, but they do have some talented players.

Sophomores Marcus Slaughter and Brandon Heath have both delivered standout seasons. Provided that neither enters the NBA draft this spring, the Aztecs (10-16, 4-9 MWC) will have a better chance next year.

Heath has been dominant at the guard position, scoring a team high 17.7 points to go along with his 3.62 steals per game (fifth in the MWC) and his conference-leading 2.12 steals per game.

Slaughter has been equally dominant as a forward. Slaughter averages 17.3 points per game, nine rebounds (second only to Bogut in the MWC), 1.28 steals and 1.12 blocks.

SDSU head coach Steve Fisher said that with such a talented lineup, the Aztecs won’t be making excuses for their poor record.

“We are all disappointed with our 10-16 record,” Fisher said. “You could point to a host of things that may have contributed to it-some might be excuses and some might be facts-but the bottom line is that we are 10-16. None of us like that.”

The Aztecs have played well in several games this year, only to walk away losers. After losing four overtime games this season, Fisher said that misfortune hasn’t helped matters.

“We haven’t gotten lucky either,” Fisher said. “As a rule, you create your own good fortune. When you lose three overtime conference games and four overtime games, you just don’t get a lot of bounces to go your way. We haven’t been able, for whatever reason, to make a play often enough to win a game. It’s more disappointing than frustrating.”

For now, the Aztecs are left with the hope of making a miracle run through the MWC Tournament to earn an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. Otherwise, their season will end whenever they lose in the conference tournament.

Should the Aztecs defeat the Utes this Saturday, their chances of making that miracle run through the conference tournament would be improved. Admittedly, they will still have to defeat Utah eventually, but if they lock up the No. 3 seed in the conference tournament, the Aztecs won’t see the Utes until the final game. That would at least give San Diego State several games to get warmed up before they face Utes.

In all reality, the Aztecs are a team built for the future, not for today.

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