To lose or not to lose. That is the (stupid) question.
Of course, the streaking San Diego State Aztec basketball team -- despite many naysayers to the contrary -- should not hope to lose a game before the end of this amazing regular season. I say win 'em all if you can. All seven of the remaining regular season games in Mountain West Conference play, all three games in the Mountain West conference tournament -- and most importantly, six-straight games in the NCAA Tournament.
Amazingly, I've run into a lot of people who don't want it to go that way. "They need a loss before the tournament," goes the thinking that I don't quite understand. "A loss will refocus them and put a chip back on their shoulder. You can't go undefeated, so they need to get their loss out of the way."
Here's how many things are wrong with that way of thinking: For one, this Aztec team doesn't need a loss to get re-focused. It has been all season, and remains now the most focused team in college basketball. Take a night off? Not this team. You don't go 22-and-0 without being focused every single time out. Plus, the chip is on their shoulder already. I mean, nobody -- except the most optimistic of Aztec fans -- really thinks this team can run the table, finish 38-0, and become the first undefeated team in college hoops since Bobby Knight's Indiana Hoosiers did it in 1976. And since nobody believes it, Brian Dutcher's group continues to have built-in "us-against-the-world" mentality every time it steps out on the court.
Most importantly, just "getting a loss out of the way," is only going to serve as fodder for other teams around the conference and the country to think that the Aztecs can be beat. Right now, nobody can be 100-percent sure of that. In order for SDSU to lose, somebody out there has to think they can beat them. I say, don't leave that as a potential loophole.
Regardless, win or lose before the end of the regular season or in the MWC Tourney, this Aztec team is going to be judged only by what it does in the NCAA's. And they're quite well aware of that. I remember in 1973, after their undefeated season the year prior, the Miami Dolphins lost their second game of the regular season to the Oakland Raiders. Their mystique seemingly had finally been eroded. But their Hall of Fame Coach Don Shula, after the loss, put things in proper perspective.
"Winning every game and going undefeated again was not our goal coming into this season. Not by a longshot," Shula said. "Our goal is to get back to the Super Bowl and win it again." Miami then reeled off 11-straight victories, finished the season 12-2 and did win its second-consecutive NFL title. The Aztecs, should they lose one in the next few weeks, should have the same air about them. The goal now is to get to Atlanta and the Final Four. And then to cut down the nets when they're there.
If 38-0 happens, call it a bonus.
Supporting the claim of the naysayers is the last two teams to go undefeated before the NCAA Tournament in college basketball. Unheraled Wichita State ran the regular season table and won its conference tournament to head into the NCAA's unbeaten in 2014. After winning in the first round, the top-seeded Shockers fell to a stacked, but under-seeded No. 8 Kentucky team that would go on that year to the Final Four. The following season, Kentucky was undfeated into the Tournament, but was upended in the Final Four by Wisconsin.
So because of those two occurances, the Aztecs should lose one? When would that loss be best? This Saturday night, when they go for 23 in a row at home against Utah State and retire Kawhi Leonard's number 15. How about on the road the following week at Air Force? Or any other game for that matter? Lose and the Aztecs will fall in the rankings like a stone. Who wants to see that?
Lose and all hope of a No. 1-seed in the NCAA's goes out the window for good. Some have said it would be better to be a No. 2-seed in the West, anyway. It wouldn't -- especially if talented Gonzaga is the top-seed in the West as expected. It's almost a Catch-22 situation, but not quite.
A Catch-22 is when there is no right answer -- or in this case, no way you can win. I say, in this case, there's no way you should lose.