It was announced on Tuesday September 15th by Gary Parrish of CBS Sports that the NCAA has launched an investigation on the San Diego State University Men’s Basketball program. At this point, Parrish reports that the investigation hasn’t become a formal investigation, which means that NCAA isn’t working with SDSU right now with the investigation, but are instead doing the ground work for a potential investigation. I want to make it clear that this post isn’t trying to point fingers at SDSU, but is instead looking at how this will potentially affect and hurt the Lobos men’s basketball program and the other Mountain West basketball programs. We don’t know what sort of timeframe will be involved with this investigation, the penalties (if there are any), and how long those possible penalties will last. This is huge news for Mountain West basketball fans and it shouldn’t be taken lightly, as it isn’t good for the conference as a whole.

Steve Fisher: Love him or hate him, this conference needs Coach Fisher on the sidelines and representing the conference nationally. He is well-respected by the national media and is one of the, if not simply the, most well-known Mountain West coach of any sport. It is hard to see him coaching the Aztecs if there are any penalties that would hamper his program’s expectations, especially given that it has seemed possible for him to retire in the near future anyway. A few years ago, when it looked like the Aztec football team was heading to the Big East, sending all their other sports to the Big West, the prevailing thought was that Coach Fisher wouldn’t coach a game in the Big West, as it would have been a step down for the program. With this potentially hampering the program even more than that proposed move, it is hard to see Coach Fisher on the sidelines in two years if the Aztecs are under penalties. Whenever he leaves the conference, it will be a hit to the Mountain West’s prestige.

We Need SDSU To Be Good: The Mountain West Conference needs UNLV, SDSU and New Mexico to be good year in and year out to give credibility to the conference. Right now these are the top programs in the conference, with the best resources and largest national presence, to compete at the national level. As painful as it may be for some fans of other schools, the MWC needs SDSU to be good and be a Top 25 team, as just by having quality teams improves the chances of the conference receiving more invites to the NCAA Tournament. That means more prestige and money for the conference, which helps everyone with recruiting, scheduling, and with their resources. If there are any penalties, and they end up being program damaging, it could be a long time before SDSU would be able to get back to where they are right now.

Recruiting: The Mountain West teams need each other to recruit at a high level, and right now, aside from UNLV, SDSU is able to recruit at the highest level in the MW. The more success that SDSU has in recruiting, the more often New Mexico will also be at the table with many of the same student athletes. Again, this has to do with the conference’s prestige. If you get more talent in your conference and are able to develop those players, your conference becomes better as a whole. The MW needs SDSU to be able to recruit at the same level they have been. It isn’t good for SDSU right now as there is a cloud over the program with there being questions whether or not there will be penalties when a student-athlete would be in college. This can be damaging for certain recruits, making them decide to go elsewhere.

What Would Happen to SDSU: This is a question that we will not know the answer until the dust completely settles. If nothing is found and no penalties are given, they will be able to grow off of this past decade and stay at a high level as a program. If Level 1 violations are found, this could get real ugly for SDSU and the Mountain West Conference. SDSU might see a reduction in scholarships, reduced recruiting availability, or even postseason bans. It would likely take years for SDSU to recover from some of the more severe punishments. However, there are still a lot of question marks, so it’s best for us to keep waiting to see how this shakes out. As much fun as it might seem for a rival to be facing severe penalties, it might actually be better for us to hope that this is much ado about nothing.