UC Bearcats Basketball: Cincinnati Will Host San Diego State Aztecs This Season

Mar 27, 2014; Anaheim, CA, USA; San Diego State Aztecs mascot cheers against the Arizona Wildcats during the first half in the semifinals of the west regional of the 2014 NCAA Mens Basketball Championship tournament at Honda Center. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports

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UT San Diego is reporting that the San Diego State Aztecs will travel to Fifth Third Arena this fall to play the Cincinnati Bearcats. The arrangement is actually the back half of a home-and-home between the two schools. Here’s the kicker, though. The original deal was for football. Cincinnati visited San Diego State in 2007, with the Bearcats putting a beatdown on the Aztecs at Qualcomm Stadium 52-23. The return trip for SDSU was scheduled for 2012.

But the Aztecs spurned UC for a $850,000 payday from the Washington Huskies to play in Seattle during their home opener. As a result, the game with Cincinnati was delayed and eventually to the point where it was cancelled all together. UC and SDSU came to a creative agreement, however. The two schools decided that the makeup game for Cincinnati traveling to the West Coast would be a return trip by the Aztecs basketball team.

I’m definitely excited by the proposition of San Diego State visiting Clifton. The Aztecs are a premiere Mountain West program who have experienced a boatload of success under Steve Fisher. San Diego State has won at least 20 games every season dating back to 2005 and went to the NCAA Tournament six of those years. Most recently SDSU won 30 games, finished 1st in the Mountain West, and made it all the way to the Sweet Sixteen. So clearly adding the Aztecs to the 2014-15 schedule will bolster Cincinnati’s tournament resume and give a young but talented team a challenge early in the year.