Lets. ***king. Go.
The San Diego State Aztecs are back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in three years even though the wait has felt more like a decade. Since then not a lot of cool stuff has happened here in San Diego. The football program has improved but missed opportunities for big bowl games, the Padres made a free agent splash that year only to fail miserably (of course, now on the verge on something special), and the C-words moved to the worst place in the world between the Tijuana border and Santa Barbara. And I turned 30. Plenty of reasons to not even get up in the morning.
Just like that the Men's Basketball team has totally redeemed their disappointing overall season with an improbable run the last 4 weeks and have found themselves dancing in March. Coaches will tell you at this point of the year, that every week is a two game season. The Aztecs are two wins away from reaching the Sweet 16 for the 3rd time in school history, and for the 3rd time in their last six tournament appearances. Pretty, pretty, pretty good for a program that won their 1st tournament game in school history in 2011.
The Aztecs will play the Houston Cougars of the American Athletic Conference in round 1 on Thursday, March 16 in Wichita, Kansas. The game will start at roughly 4:20pm on TBS. Across the bracket Michigan (3 seed) faces off against Montana (14 seed) following the SDSU-HOU matchup.
The Cougars head to Wichita boasting a great record with plenty of resume worthy wins. They finished 14-4 in the AAC losing all games on the road that included at Wichita St, Cincinnati, and Memphis. They beat the Shockers in the semifinals of the conference tournament before losing to Cincy by 1 in the final on Sunday. The Cougars have not lost consecutive games all season.
Houston finished the season ranked 21 in the AP Poll, and also sit at 21 in Myron Medcalf's (ESPN) guide to every team in the Tourney under the "Now it gets interesting" category. What he says about the Cougars:
Record: 22-10
League: 5th reg season, MWC Tourney Champs
Wins against Tournament Teams: Gonzaga, Nevada (2x)
Best Player: Malik Pope (12.9 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 1.1 bpg)
Coach: Brian Dutcher (1st year)
Projected as a 12 seed before Selection Sunday, the recent run by the Tekkies was impressive enough to the committee to earn an 11 seed in the West Region. Don't let the seed fool you, if the Aztecs can continue to put it all together they will be a dangerous and scary team for higher seeds looking for an easy win. From CBS Sports:
Could have went a few different directions here. Seniors Kell and Pope are too important and will be seriously game planned for so they are eliminated. RS Frosh Jalen McDaniels and JR Devin Watson will have to continue to bring it as well, but don't make the cut here. But Matt Mitchell, the true freshmen from Riverside, will be the X-Factor for the Aztecs.
He ranks 3rd for State in scoring (10.7), rebounds (4.0), and minutes (26.7) per game and his performance will be pivotal for the team's success. He can shoot outside and he uses his HUGE frame to penetrate (easily) versus smaller guards. The Aztecs are going to need him to hit the open 3pt, while not overly relying on his shot and continue to attack the basket when he gets the right matchup. Speaking of Matchups.
 |
| Jalen McDaniels throwing it down Shaquille style |
The San Diego State Aztecs are back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in three years even though the wait has felt more like a decade. Since then not a lot of cool stuff has happened here in San Diego. The football program has improved but missed opportunities for big bowl games, the Padres made a free agent splash that year only to fail miserably (of course, now on the verge on something special), and the C-words moved to the worst place in the world between the Tijuana border and Santa Barbara. And I turned 30. Plenty of reasons to not even get up in the morning.
Just like that the Men's Basketball team has totally redeemed their disappointing overall season with an improbable run the last 4 weeks and have found themselves dancing in March. Coaches will tell you at this point of the year, that every week is a two game season. The Aztecs are two wins away from reaching the Sweet 16 for the 3rd time in school history, and for the 3rd time in their last six tournament appearances. Pretty, pretty, pretty good for a program that won their 1st tournament game in school history in 2011.
The Aztecs will play the Houston Cougars of the American Athletic Conference in round 1 on Thursday, March 16 in Wichita, Kansas. The game will start at roughly 4:20pm on TBS. Across the bracket Michigan (3 seed) faces off against Montana (14 seed) following the SDSU-HOU matchup.
Houston Cougars
Record: 26-7
League: 2nd in AAC (Season and Tournament)
Wins against Tournament Teams: Arkansas, Providence, Wichita St (2x), Cincinnati
Best Player: Rob Gray (#32); 18.5 ppg, 4.5 apg, 3.3 rpg
Coach: Kelvin Sampson (5th year)
Player Quote
"To beat Wichita State and lose by one to Cincinnati shows we are right in the conversation with those teams...We feel like we can compete with anyone we are matched up with." - Rob Gray
The Cougars head to Wichita boasting a great record with plenty of resume worthy wins. They finished 14-4 in the AAC losing all games on the road that included at Wichita St, Cincinnati, and Memphis. They beat the Shockers in the semifinals of the conference tournament before losing to Cincy by 1 in the final on Sunday. The Cougars have not lost consecutive games all season.
Houston finished the season ranked 21 in the AP Poll, and also sit at 21 in Myron Medcalf's (ESPN) guide to every team in the Tourney under the "Now it gets interesting" category. What he says about the Cougars:
Kelvin Sampson's team crushed Arkansas by 26 points in nonconference play. The Cougars beat Providence by double-digits, too. They embarrassed Wichita State in a 14-point win. They also beat Cincinnati. And that's why Rob Gray (18.1 PPG) and the Cougars might ruin brackets all over America during the first weekend.
X Factor - Devin Davis
While the Cougars certainly go as Rob Gray goes, my choice for their X-Factor is senior Forward Devin Davis. Davis is 3rd on the team in scoring (10.8 ppg), mins played (25.7), and leads the team in rebounding (6.2 rpg). He plays bigger than his 6'6 stature and how he plays tomorrow evening will have an effect on whether the Cougars advance or go home.
The former Indiana University standout has been through some tough adversity, including almost losing his life in an accident involving alcohol while at Indiana. He bounced back to JUCO and ended up at Houston after some persistence from Sampson (the link in the previous sentence leads to a great article about Devin's journey - really pulling for the kid, except tomorrow obvi).
San Diego State Aztecs
League: 5th reg season, MWC Tourney Champs
Wins against Tournament Teams: Gonzaga, Nevada (2x)
Best Player: Malik Pope (12.9 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 1.1 bpg)
Coach: Brian Dutcher (1st year)
Player Quote
"We're the most confident we've been all year, and we're as locked in we've been all year...We're finally all healthy. I mean, we're rolling right now. I don't think you want to play a team as hot as we are right now." - Trey KellAfter a extremely disappointing start to conference play, the Aztecs are on a roll with nine straight wins since Valentines' Day that includes steamrolling through the MWC Tournament last week in Vegas. Trey Kell is playing the best basketball of his career in an Aztec uniform, and the team is back to playing that Aztec Defense that became a staple of the program circa 2011.
Projected as a 12 seed before Selection Sunday, the recent run by the Tekkies was impressive enough to the committee to earn an 11 seed in the West Region. Don't let the seed fool you, if the Aztecs can continue to put it all together they will be a dangerous and scary team for higher seeds looking for an easy win. From CBS Sports:
"We have wins over three nationally ranked teams, two in the last week against Nevada and have a nine-game win streak, I think that got (the NCAA's) attention," said Aztecs coach Brian Dutcher, who's in his first year at the helm. "Our guys are playing with great confidence and swagger right now, so I don't think there is any pressure that they're feeling at all. I think they're just playing with great expectations."
X Factor - Matt Mitchell
He ranks 3rd for State in scoring (10.7), rebounds (4.0), and minutes (26.7) per game and his performance will be pivotal for the team's success. He can shoot outside and he uses his HUGE frame to penetrate (easily) versus smaller guards. The Aztecs are going to need him to hit the open 3pt, while not overly relying on his shot and continue to attack the basket when he gets the right matchup. Speaking of Matchups.
Matchup : Houston (6) vs San Diego State (11) - West Region
Houston has the better resume. Better record, better wins, and more wins against tourney competition. They score, assist, rebound more as a team, and they hold their opponents to fewer points. They are a 4 point favorite, and a sleeper team picked by some to reach the sweet 16 or further. The have multiple advantages on the location of the game including a shorter travel and that the venue itself is home to a league opponent. From BR:
The Houston Cougars are an early sleeper pick to make some noise in the tournament. And well they should. They won 10 of their last 12, beating Wichita State in the AAC tournament before losing a nail-biter to Cincinnati in the final.
However an alliance is rising:
 |
| Aztecs playing in Wichita, Shockers playing in San Diego |
An interesting take, again found at BR, who list the Cougars as a 'Favorite most likely to fall':
The Aztecs are hot right now, I feel they will not only beat the Cougars, but also give Michigan a tough game on Saturday, if not beat them. The Aztecs have too much size for Houston, and will let Pope and McDaniels navigate their way via the short corner and high post. Houston will be playing without their 6th man, Wes Vanbeck (lost to injury), the second best 3pt shooter on the team at 38%. The loss of this shooter will halt the Cougar offense, as the Aztecs switch from M2M to zone and shut down the paint. Aztecs 73, Cougars 68.
Listen to the "Express Lane Podcast" Episode 4 'Aztecs are Dancing'
Find/follow 805West Sports on SoundCloud
Prediction
It has been a Cinderella run this season for the Aztecs of San Diego State. Could they keep it going? I don't know, but I've heard that upsets are possible this time of year.The season didn't start well for San Diego State. They rang in the new year at 9-4, with losses to Washington State and Wyoming on their roster. That's not what you want.But they finished strong with a nine-game win streak and a Mountain West tourney title. They have Houston in the first round. I like Houston, but they'll need to focus up if they want to beat the Aztecs, who allow only 67.9 points per game.
The Aztecs are hot right now, I feel they will not only beat the Cougars, but also give Michigan a tough game on Saturday, if not beat them. The Aztecs have too much size for Houston, and will let Pope and McDaniels navigate their way via the short corner and high post. Houston will be playing without their 6th man, Wes Vanbeck (lost to injury), the second best 3pt shooter on the team at 38%. The loss of this shooter will halt the Cougar offense, as the Aztecs switch from M2M to zone and shut down the paint. Aztecs 73, Cougars 68.
Listen to the "Express Lane Podcast" Episode 4 'Aztecs are Dancing'
Find/follow 805West Sports on SoundCloud
Comments
Post a Comment