Last year, San Diego State went to the National Championship game as the 5th seed in the South Regional. This year, they’re a 5th seed again.
Maybe it will mean more magic for the Aztecs.
SDSU is sitting 5th in the East Regional and will open against the University of Alabama-Birmingham on Friday morning with a 10:45 a.m. tipoff in Spokane, WA. The Blazers earned a spot in March Madness by winning the American Conference Tournament.
In 2023 the Aztecs opened with College of Charleston, a team head coach Brian Dutcher admittedly didn’t know a whole lot about. This year? He already has a pretty good idea what the Blazers are about. He has a relationship with their head coach.
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“I’ve known Andy Kennedy a long time. Very good coach, very good team,” says Dutcher. “Obviously very hot right now, winning their conference tournament. I watched them one time this year and was amazed at how athletic they were, how well-coached they were, and so it will be a real challenge for us.”
In all three games of their conference tournament, the Aztecs fell behind early. They were able to overcome big deficits against UNLV and Utah State but couldn’t climb the mountain against the Lobos. Falling behind early in the NCAA Tournament can be a dangerous game to play. SDSU doesn’t seem overly concerned about perpetuating the sluggish starts.
“The beauty of basketball is it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish,” says Dutcher. “We’ve been on the upper end of most of them lately, so we have to continue to find a way to win games.”
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All season long the Aztecs have gotten production from Jaedon LeDee. The senior forward is an All-American for good reason. What they haven’t had is a consistent secondary scoring threat. Finding a hot hand from the 3-point line to pair with LeDee’s is paramount because, on nights where they get multiple players into double-figures, they tend to win big.
“Yeah, we’ve gotta make jump shots. Everybody knows that. The 3-point shot is the greatest weapon in the game,” says Dutcher. “Against Utah State we made some, and multiple players made them, not just one guy. We don’t need everybody to make them on a given night but we need somebody to step up and get hot.”
If they can find that supplemental scorer … and Lamont Butler, Darrion Trammell, Reese Waters, Micah Parrish, Elijah Saunders, and Miles Byrd are all capable of it … this club is going to be awfully difficult to beat and is fully capable of another run deep into March.
