NCAA Basketball: Buy or sell BYU, San Diego State, Belmont as Sweet 16 teams?
By Bryan Mauro
San Diego State – Buy
Rinse and Repeat with San Diego State being a team who is going to gain a lot of traction as a mid-major who ends up in the second weekend. The Aztecs have been the most consistent program in the Mountain West for quite some time.
San Diego State has built up a reputation as one of the premier programs in California as well as one of the premier defensive teams in the country. Head Coach Brian Dutcher has been able to build the foundation for the Aztecs on the ability to play defense and get out in transition for easy baskets.
San Diego State plays slow and they don’t score a ton, but they make it miserable for their opponents on the offensive end. Just ask Mountain West favorite Colorado State who recently got beat by 30 points at the hands of San Diego State.
The Aztecs much like San Francisco, are a team who is hard to prepare for on short notice and they give everyone they play problems because of their aggressive defense. They play hard and they play physical and are going to get teams who don’t like to play like that. They also contest everything from deep and have an elite rim protector in Nathan Mensah.
San Diego State has yet to advance past the first round under head coach Brian Dutcher, however the Aztecs were going to be a 1 seed in the 2020 tournament and were likely headed for a final four that year before the season was cancelled due to the Covid 19 pandemic. The Aztecs were a six seed last year and had a very disappointing showing in the first round of the tournament against Syracuse.
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It takes a great shooting night from deep to beat San Diego State and if they continue of their trajectory, they will be a higher seed again and are going to have a great chance at winning two games. This is the year that coach Dutcher finally gets his guys past the first round.